Best way to travel to USA

ACG

I want to go to America this year and visit LA, Vegas, New york and possibly florida.

As none of them are really all that close im wondering whether its cheaper to jump on a flight to one of them (lets say LA) visit all of the other places and jump on a flight back from new york or florida or whether I should do all of my visiting and then fly back to LA to then fly back to the UK... if that makes sense?

Has anyone done this before?

I dont mind driving some of it but im not sure 2-3 weeks would be enough.

SW17

You shouldn't need to go back to your first arrival city to get a good deal on the return, "open jaw" tickets are available at similar cost on many transatlantic airlines. Depending which airline you choose, you may have to go/return via one of their gateways, especially if it's a US carrier, though most of them serve NYC directly (at least from London, not sure from Manchester).

You can drive from LA to Vegas (takes 3.5-5 hours depending on traffic and how you view speed limits), but you might get a flight thrown in as a stopover with some fares. The rest of the distances are long if you have only 2-3 weeks in total, though of course you would go through some interesting places on the way.

BA has a sale on at the moment and they have a lot of codeshares with AA and US Airways now for the internal flights. Virgin likewise with Delta. Check them out, or post your itinerary and likely dates of travel, to get more advice.

HHarry

The only reason to fly back from the airport you flew in to would be cost, and from experience it's never much more expensive to fly in to and out of different airports.

On various trips we've flown in to, and out of; New York & Boston / Las Vegas & Miami / San Fran & Los Angeles. It's really easy to do.

So you could fly into New York, quick flight down to LA, drive to Vegas, flight to Miami, then home. Sounds like a great trip!

John259

Open-jaw flight ticket options can sometimes be called "multi-city" or some similar wording.

One-way drop-off fees on car rentals can be hefty. If you book the car rental through an agent outside of the USA then you should be able to avoid a one-way rental drop-off fee for rentals within the California/Nevada/Arizona triangle (for example Las Vegas to Los Angeles or vice-versa).

Would driving this loop appeal to you? Los Angeles > Pacific Coast Highway > San Francisco > Yosemite > Death Valley > Las Vegas > Los Angeles. It's got a great variety of different types of cities and different types of scenery.

ACG

Thanks for the replies.
Most of myprevious holidays have been to ibiza with the lads or somewhere around the med with my girlfriend so were pretty easy to arrange. This has a bit more to it and is already beginning to look complicated.

The whole trip is pretty open. Those are the places between us we want to visit. I actually like seeing different places so would be happy jump on a train or drive bits of it. My girlfirend is less patient and wants to be somewhere rather than on the way to somewhere.

I wouldnt mind seeing san franciso, I would also love to see new orleans and nip over to Canada but realistically we are there for 2 weeks, possibly 3 depending on how much it all costs so I cant see it all happening. I imagine if we are running around all of those places then towards the end we are probably going to want to end up somewhere like miami/florida just to relax for a few days.

Time wise, somewhere between April-September, no kids so can do it literally whenever.

Is it better to do something like this through an agent rather than try and do it all myself? To be honest, im actually happy enough to jump on a plane over there and see where we end up but that could end up costing a fortune.

PeacefulWaters

I can heartily recommend the loop John suggests above. Car hire is cheap, fuel is cheap, motels are cheap and the scenery and cities are impressive too. Except for LA.

You could probably do 10-12 days driving and then fly to New York for 3-4 days. Personally I'd stick to one coast per trip - three weeks doing John's route (fit in the Grand Canyon and Sedona too) would be relaxing and wonderful. Each flight takes a day off you. Flights will probably be cheaper outside the summer months.

tomtontom

I would agree with sticking to one coast for the trip - the "quick flight" from NYC to LA is nearly six hours!

John259

fit in the Grand Canyon and Sedona too

Yes indeed, but be sure to go to the real Grand Canyon (the national park) and not Grand Canyon West (West Rim) which is generally but not quite universally regarded as a highly inferior rip-off.

Given extra time that loop could be extended in a few other ways, for example Lake Tahoe (on the California/Nevada border in the Sierra Nevada Mountains), Zion and Bryce Canyon National parks (in southwestern Utah), and/or San Diego (on the coast south of Los Angeles).

ACG wrote: »

would be happy jump on a train

You could do that on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor service between Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington DC. Otherwise, train travel between cities in the USA is a fairly painful experience.

I wouldn't mind seeing San Francisco, I would also love to see New Orleans and nip over to Canada

These are all great ideas and I'm not trying to put you off, but do go into Google Maps (or similar) and check the distances - they are huge. BTW did you know that Canada is the second largest country in the world and only Russia is bigger?

Is it better to do something like this through an agent rather than try and do it all myself?

Doing the planning and booking yourself has the potential to get you a far superior result at a much lower cost but it takes time and effort. A lot of people find the planning as enjoyable as the holiday but a lot of people have neither the time nor the desire to do it.

zagfles

ACG wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.
Most of myprevious holidays have been to ibiza with the lads or somewhere around the med with my girlfriend so were pretty easy to arrange. This has a bit more to it and is already beginning to look complicated.

The whole trip is pretty open. Those are the places between us we want to visit. I actually like seeing different places so would be happy jump on a train or drive bits of it. My girlfirend is less patient and wants to be somewhere rather than on the way to somewhere.

I wouldnt mind seeing san franciso, I would also love to see new orleans and nip over to Canada but realistically we are there for 2 weeks, possibly 3 depending on how much it all costs so I cant see it all happening. I imagine if we are running around all of those places then towards the end we are probably going to want to end up somewhere like miami/florida just to relax for a few days.

Time wise, somewhere between April-September, no kids so can do it literally whenever.

Is it better to do something like this through an agent rather than try and do it all myself? To be honest, im actually happy enough to jump on a plane over there and see where we end up but that could end up costing a fortune.

Your gf has the right idea, you'll end up doing nothing but travelling if you try to see too much. You wouldn't try to the see the whole of Europe in one holiday, the US is similar size. Going to NY and LA in the same holiday is like going to Paris and Athens on the same holiday. As others said stick to one coast if you only have 2-3 weeks. If you do the LA-LV-SF loop you could get a day-trip flight from LV to the Grand Canyon, as it's out of your way to drive on a short holiday.

Plan it all yourself, travel and driving in the US are easy particularly the west coast and unless you're going at peak times you probably only need to book accomodation at the national parks and possibly in the cities. On our US trips we rarely book more than the first night (sometimes not even that) and at national parks which can book up very early.

theEnd

Stick to one area. The South West is your best bet. In and out of LA or SanFran, (but don't spend long in LA). Loads and loads to do/see around there. 2-3 weeks just for that won't be enough.

NY is a trip of it's own, but shorter flights from here.

blindman

theEnd wrote: »

Stick to one area. The South West is your best bet. In and out of LA or SanFran, (but don't spend long in LA). Loads and loads to do/see around there. 2-3 weeks just for that won't be enough.

NY is a trip of it's own, but shorter flights from here.

Totally agree-You're trying to fit too much in

I wouldnt mind seeing san franciso, I would also love to see new orleans and nip over to Canada

I've done this-Taken me 15 years :eek: of once yearly 3 week trips :cool:

SouthWest USA thread has lots of tips and itineraries.

I once did a LHR-NYC (stopover 3 days NYC marathon) then NYC-LAX\Canyon Lands\LAS-LHR trip in 10 days so it is feasible.

Not long enough for the second part-so I went back again, and again, and again...

When to go?

Early June avoids UK and USA hols, also decent weather in US, or late September.

DIY-it's easy