Touring holiday to Nevada, California & Arizona

tingtong

torbrex wrote: »

Big thing to remember about driving in the States is the roads are straight and wide so your average speed will be a lot higher than it is in this country, I have always found that once onto the freeway I could set the cruise control to 60 and not have to touch it for 300 miles and would be at my destination in about 5 hours whereas here it could take 7-9 hours to do the same journey.

I totally agree, driving in UK is so stressful because of traffic jams, roadworks etc. In USA, we did 2200 miles in 11 days and only came across one lot of roadworks which delayed us for less than about 10 minutes. No stress, just cruise along at 60-70mph in most places.

By the way, I found that planning the route on Google Maps gives you quite a good indication of travelling times, much more accurate than my TomTom910.

Murphy_The_Cat

tingtong wrote: »

I totally agree, driving in UK is so stressful because of traffic jams, roadworks etc. In USA, we did 2200 miles in 11 days and only came across one lot of roadworks which delayed us for less than about 10 minutes. No stress, just cruise along at 60-70mph in most places.

By the way, I found that planning the route on Google Maps gives you quite a good indication of travelling times, much more accurate than my TomTom910.

You're right, it does.

Also, using Google Earth is really good for checking a hotels situation in relation to things like Interstates and railway lines - as well as things like parks/playgrounds.:j

Murphy_The_Cat

If anyone is fancying visiting the Big Sur region of California and staying in Santa Barbara, this Money Saving tip may be of interest.

If you register with Santa Barbara Car Free you'll get access to a load of discount vouchers for hotels, eating & attractions, (some are 10%, some 20%, some are free meals some are discounted hire rates etc, etc) plus 20% off Amtrak tickets for journeys to/from any of the Santa Barbara stations.

20% off a $54 whale watching trip is well worth it (or 20% off your accomodation costs is even better :j)

Alikay

Thanks for this - am hoping to see some early whales heading back North when I visit in 3/4 weeks. I was also pleasantly surprised by the Amtrak prices and now planning to jump on the train for a daytrip to LA from Santa Barbara. We're flying into SFO and meandering down to San Diego over 2 weeks (nice open-jaw flights!) but had planned on skipping LA as it's not great for driving around. This way DH gets a driving-free day, and we get a scenic train journey and a few hours in LA to do the main touristy stuff.

Has anyone used Amtrak Business class, and is it much better than regular/economy?

Murphy_The_Cat

Alikay wrote: »

Thanks for this - am hoping to see some early whales heading back North when I visit in 3/4 weeks. I was also pleasantly surprised by the Amtrak prices and now planning to jump on the train for a daytrip to LA from Santa Barbara. We're flying into SFO and meandering down to San Diego over 2 weeks (nice open-jaw flights!) but had planned on skipping LA as it's not great for driving around. This way DH gets a driving-free day, and we get a scenic train journey and a few hours in LA to do the main touristy stuff.

Has anyone used Amtrak Business class, and is it much better than regular/economy?

Whales from Santa Barbara in Springtime

If you can be tempted to stay in San Luis Obispo and the take train to Santa Barbara, you'll be rewarded with one of the most scenic trips in North America - but I've never travelled Santa Barbara to LA to compare it against.
Business Class gave you better seats, a LOT more room and complimentary snacks and drinks.

If you do stay in SLO, try and make it on a Thursday Night when the town is closed down for the Farmers Market its a real treat and worth visiting just for that --- and if you DO stay in SLO, and you DO fancy living it up for a night, this place is a great indulgence. (oh happy, happy memories)

lynzpower

hiya all

Great thread murphy.

We to have been considering a trip like this, but in August. I cant get hold of the LP from the library at the mo, and its v difficult to work out what the temperatures are doing in August, as ythe books Ive got only tell us what it is in JUly ( 102 f) does it get cooler or hotter do you know towards August. Some websites show cooler, some hotter

We are currently in the blank paper stages, of a 2 week jaunt, either 'your way' going for something like L vegas, GC, Yosimete, death valley and out of somewhere else my fave choice is salt lake city, but again we havent really looked at it. My concern is that it will be too hot and hiking and driving conditions nightmarish ( ie blowouts/ tyre melts on deserted highways etc)

The other option is Deep South, probably in and out of Atlanta again very early in planning. Personally, if the temperatures are the same in both regions then I would prefer Atlanta/tennessee etc.

One thing I wanted to ask you MTC is on page 2 or something you said you would never hire a convertible again. Could you explain why, this is something we thought about doing, and suprised to see that, aqfter all driving a convertible is usually pretty fun!! is it to do with cost, driving conditions? or what?

bafty_crastard

lynzpower wrote: »

One thing I wanted to ask you MTC is on page 2 or something you said you would never hire a convertible again. Could you explain why, this is something we thought about doing, and suprised to see that, aqfter all driving a convertible is usually pretty fun!! is it to do with cost, driving conditions? or what?

Obviously don't know why MTC wouldn't do it again but I know we wouldn't either. We hired one in Florida in July and it was just too hot to have the roof down most of the time. At least in the front we could have the AC on which helped a bit but the kids in the back were miserable. Only people we saw with the roofs down were tourists! We're going to Death Valley, Monument Valley. GC etc in July this year and want our car to be cool and comfortable. Luggage space is poor as well cos the roof folds into the boot.

lynzpower

thats bafty ( what a great name BTW!)

I did wonder about that TBH, whether there is much point.

We dont need much lugtgage space and we dont have kiddies - just the 2 of us going, so mabe we might go for it anyhow, although good deals on these seem a bit thin on the ground anyhow.....

Murphy_The_Cat

lynzpower wrote: »

hiya all

Great thread murphy.

cheers chuck - from time to time, I can do a guddun

We to have been considering a trip like this, but in August. I cant get hold of the LP from the library at the mo, and its v difficult to work out what the temperatures are doing in August, as ythe books Ive got only tell us what it is in JUly ( 102 f) does it get cooler or hotter do you know towards August. Some websites show cooler, some hotter

We are currently in the blank paper stages, of a 2 week jaunt, either 'your way' going for something like L vegas, GC, Yosimete, death valley and out of somewhere else my fave choice is salt lake city, but again we havent really looked at it. My concern is that it will be too hot and hiking and driving conditions nightmarish ( ie blowouts/ tyre melts on deserted highways etc)

The other option is Deep South, probably in and out of Atlanta again very early in planning. Personally, if the temperatures are the same in both regions then I would prefer Atlanta/tennessee etc.

One thing I wanted to ask you MTC is on page 2 or something you said you would never hire a convertible again. Could you explain why, this is something we thought about doing, and suprised to see that, aqfter all driving a convertible is usually pretty fun!! is it to do with cost, driving conditions? or what?

hi lynzpower

ok, from the top.
The weather in September will be very hot is Las Vegas, stiflingly hot in Phoenix (my FiL lives in Phoenix and he tells me that anyone who can get out of Phoenix in Aug/Sept does so), glorious in San Diego and the rest of Middle California, but comparatively cooler in San Francisco. I haven't been to Death Valley/Yosemite, so I couldn't honestly say.
Likewise, I know little about Georgia, but Tennessee/Kentucky are great places to tour (IMO).

As for the convertible - in theory, it should have been great fun, but in practise, it doesn't work that way. We had one in San Diego for 3 days

and we found that if we were on the Freeway the windnoise was so great that you couldn't hold a conversation/listen to the radio and the constant booming from the wind got very tiresome -- and if you were travelling in an urban area you felt like you were getting baked while you drove around. We then flew from SD to Las Vegas where we didn't have a car and then flew from Las Vegas to Los Angeles where we picked up our 'full size luxury' class car (same price as the convertible, but I dispute the luxury tag, I think that Airline Network charged us for luxury, but gave us Premium !) for the remaining 8 days of the trip. It was fun having the topless car for a little while, but the Chrysler 300M

was a much, much more comfortable and pleasant driving experience.

The only time that the convertible was getting something like comfortable, was when the roof was up - which rather defeated the object !

lynzpower

what is airline netowrk charging you this time MTC and what are you getting.

Ive had a very quick look and |I was quite staggered at the cost, if I picked up in orlando, obv way cheaper than Atlantas- it seems?