Touring holiday to Nevada, California & Arizona

MOLLYBRUSH

Hi Murphy

Just to say thank you again. Checked out South West airlines as you mentioned on here - got a great deal on a flight from SF to Vegas. Could not decide whether to go from Mammoth Lakes to spend 7 nights in LV but would have missed out on the drive down the Coast, so opted to drive back over and spend a few days back on that coast and then fly over to LV. Only costing £80 for the three of us - bargain. Would have never heard of SW airlines if you hadn't have mentioned them.

Murphy_The_Cat

monty100 wrote: »

Been following this thread on and off as am planning our family trip to West Coast this summer (July/August - doh - the joys of being a teacher!). After a week in Rhode Island we are flying into:

Las Vegas (2 nights),pick up car, then Grand Canyon (2 nights), then Needles (via Oatman) 1 night, San Diego (5 nights) then Los Angeles (3 nights), then fly home via 4 nights New York.

Altogether spending 3 weeks away and my question for those of you who have done this sort of trip before is "how/what do you pack"? We are hopeless at 'economical packing'. How do you keep the weight down?

Top tips please!!!

Thanks:T

The short answer ? Not so much !!!! You're going to places where its going to be warm/hot - so 3 pairs of shorts, 3 polo shirts, some smalls, 2 hats, 3 pieces of foot wear, a 'dressing up set of togs (if you can be bothered !) and thats your lot. If you nee some long sleeves, but some whilst you're over there.

Pleae remember that you'll only have limited space in your hire vehicle and vesides which, to many togs are a PITA;)

Have fun :j

blindmam wrote:

Stayed in the Excalibur in December, all OK. Most of the hotels are the same(not the Mandalay or Mirage, they looked posh), fancy on the outside, just a hotel on the inside, Its just a place to crash out, our demands for a hotel ended up being, does it have free wifi, and does it do waffles for breakfast! Most of the Vegas hotels inside reminded me of amusement arcades you find in seaside holiday places, even down to the red patterned carpet. Having traveled for a week around California before Las Vegas I wasn't keen, so many other far nicer places to see, but the fact is you have to see Las Vegas!!

pretty much my sentiments as well. For us (this time) Las Vegas is merely the start point of our holiday& the Excalibur is somewhere to recharge our batteries (although MTK) likes the idea of stating in a ;'castle'.

On the holiday planning front, we've added 'Legoland' at Oceanside to our list of 'to do's' and knocked off Sea World.

malid

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

hurray, its only 5 weeks/35 days to blast off and I'm starting to get REALLY excited :j:j

I've got a Las Vegas question for people (I haven't posted it on the Las Vegas Thread, as most people seem to say Don't Take Children To Vegas !).
We'll be in our room at the Excalibur about 5.00pm local time 01.00am GMT, so the children will be absolutely cream crackered. Depending on how screwed up their body clocks are (& from experience on previous TransAtlantic flights) they will be up about 4.00am local time on our first day :eek::eek:. We'll keep ourselves educated in our room for a bit and then it will be sleep time again.
I'm currently thinking that we'll spend some (a lot ?) of time around the pool, but does anyone have any suggestions of things to do in LV, with a 1 year old and a 4 year old that doesn't need a car ? I don't need loads of things to fill loads of days, just ideas like 'walk up to the Bellagio and watch the fountains' or 'have you seen the gondolas in the Venetian'? etc etc.
The two nights in Vegas at the start of the hols are more for getting over the flight. Comes Friday morning when the car comes and we can start our Touring holiday properly.

Good morning. I was doing a bit of surfing this morning and came across this trip http://travel.yahoo.com/trip-journal-719288-2006_las_vegas_w_the_kids
I know you have had lots of responses on the LV question, but if you're like me, the more the better! As with everything, there are two views re children in Vegas. Also, the views are very polarised. As I said before, I have been there 4 times and always with 3 or 2 children in tow. We have always enjoyed but it is a 'limited stay' (would not want to be there a week as I would be exhausted!). At the last visit in 2005, the the strip did appear to be a bit more 'sleezy' at nights. Sleezy being defined as girls coming up to males (including teenagers) with 'calling cards' etc - you get my drift. But walk on by!
We will go back again as it is such an experience.

BTW, I'm trying to price trip to NY for 5 nights end of June beginning of July for 3 adults. Flexible from around 26th June. £1060 is the cheapest I get (June 25) with AA; so I'm going to see if I can get 15% off (without taxes). :T

Murphy_The_Cat

malid wrote: »

Good morning. I was doing a bit of surfing this morning and came across this trip http://travel.yahoo.com/trip-journal-719288-2006_las_vegas_w_the_kids
I know you have had lots of responses on the LV question, but if you're like me, the more the better! As with everything, there are two views re children in Vegas. Also, the views are very polarised. As I said before, I have been there 4 times and always with 3 or 2 children in tow. We have always enjoyed but it is a 'limited stay' (would not want to be there a week as I would be exhausted!). At the last visit in 2005, the the strip did appear to be a bit more 'sleezy' at nights. Sleezy being defined as girls coming up to males (including teenagers) with 'calling cards' etc - you get my drift. But walk on by!
We will go back again as it is such an experience.

BTW, I'm trying to price trip to NY for 5 nights end of June beginning of July for 3 adults. Flexible from around 26th June. £1060 is the cheapest I get (June 25) with AA; so I'm going to see if I can get 15% off (without taxes). :T

That sounds like a very fair fare (IMO) Near in mind that that fare is part of the 4 day seat sale offer which was supposed to finish yesterday (23rd March) so it may be an idea to reserve it sharpish to secure the price and then contact AA later on today to blag the discount. BTW, for some reason, its currently a few $$ cheaper to get to LV via Man, rather than London, so if you're based to the North of London and don't want the complete ballache & hassle of using Heathrow, its another option to think of.

as for Vegas, thanks for the linky :beer:

jackieblack

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

On the holiday planning front, we've added 'Legoland' at Oceanside to our list of 'to do's' and knocked off Sea World.

We LOVE SeaWorld! Spend at least 3-4 days there when in Florida, and have it as a 'must do' when we have few days in San Diego at the end of our trip next year.

jackieblack

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

pretty much my sentiments as well. For us (this time) Las Vegas is merely the start point of our holiday& the Excalibur is somewhere to recharge our batteries (although MTK) likes the idea of stating in a ;'castle'.

Ditto! As long as it's clean and has a pool and comfortable beds, it'll be fine just few a few nights.

Murphy_The_Cat

jackieblack wrote: »

We LOVE SeaWorld! Spend at least 3-4 days there when in Florida, and have it as a 'must do' when we have few days in San Diego at the end of our trip next year.

Without sounding too much like a hippy, I'm not into the idea of performing animals as entertainment, plus, even if I was going to compromise, I'd want my daughter to be a little bit older, so that she could appreciate what she's seeing (she's only 1). In a few years time, MTK will start to learn scuba diving and then he'll (hopefully) get to see sea life in a more natural enviroment (plus, we're going on a whale watching trip later in the holiday :j:j). Its all horses for courses, just not my cup of tea :beer:

jackieblack

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

Without sounding too much like a hippy, I'm not into the idea of performing animals as entertainment, plus, even if I was going to compromise, I'd want my daughter to be a little bit older, so that she could appreciate what she's seeing (she's only 1). In a few years time, MTK will start to learn scuba diving and then he'll (hopefully) get to see sea life in a more natural enviroment (plus, we're going on a whale watching trip later in the holiday :j:j). Its all horses for courses, just not my cup of tea :beer:

I do understand, I'd never go to a circus, for instance, that had animal acts and plan to avoid the Lions and White Tigers in the Las Vegas hotels, but we really feel SeaWorld (among others) has done so much to educate people about marine life and their conservation/rehabilitation programs are excellent. Animals don't breed in captivity if they're not well looked after and happy.

Last time we were there (Orlando) one of the Orca was sulking and didn't want to 'perform'. Believe me, if a whale doesn't want to play, it won't! Her trainer simply moved her out of the pool and invited another whale in.

As you say, it's horses for courses and, as you also say, if your daughter is only 1 she probably wouldn't find much to keep her amused.

The whale-watching trip sounds great though, where are you doing that?

Murphy_The_Cat

jackieblack wrote: »

The whale-watching trip sounds great though, where are you doing that?

Hopefully, we're going to do it from Santa Barbara but possibly from Morro Bay (nr San Luis Opisbo). The Santa Barbara trip uses larger boats, so ATM, that one looks like the favourite.

jackieblack

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

Hopefully, we're going to do it from Santa Barbara but possibly from Morro Bay (nr San Luis Opisbo). The Santa Barbara trip uses larger boats, so ATM, that one looks like the favourite.

Thanks Murphy, I'll check those out!