Planning USA Trip

Murphy_The_Cat

Bodders11 wrote: »

I had a quick play with Google Flights this evening and actually felt like Sky Scanner was easier to navigate,

hi Bodders
I find sky scanner easier to navigate as well - but it is a much simpler piece of kit.(I've just run my 2016 flights through it and it wouldn't bring them up)
If the prices are coming up the same/similar - job done :beer:

duchy

Bodders11 wrote: »

I had considered travelling the evening before for that reason so your comment has only added value to that argument. Thank you. Might even get to see some of Dublin. Where do you conduct your flight searches? I'm primarily using Sky Scanner. I seem to find a cheaper/better option every time I look at the moment.

I hadn't considered the baggage charges foolishly. Silly me. I'll add them on.

I tend to use google flights, http://www.momondo.co.uk/ and https://www.kayak.co.uk and usually find the best options on kayak.

Travelling from Dublin often has a variety of options the main two either been choose an evening flight from Dublin with an overnight lay over in London (for Gatwick Yotel is in the terminal and yards from the Virgin check in and hotwire will usually come up with a Bath Road hotel which is really close and you can even get the bus for free to the airport instead of the £5 Hoppa from there for around £50 ....or alternatively an early departure from Dublin (with the advantantage you clear US immigration and customs at Dublin IF you are on a direct flight to the US) and stay at an airport hotel .

I've dodged the bags situation before now by flying to and from the same airport - eg flying Gatwick to Dublin with Ryanair and Gatwick Vegas with Virgin - and leaving my case in left luggage at Gatwick before flying to Dublin and picking it up before checking in for the Virgin flight the next morning. £5 for a bag rather than Ryanair's charge and no bags to lug in Dublin.

duchy

Bodders11 wrote: »

I had a quick play with Google Flights this evening and actually felt like Sky Scanner was easier to navigate, but both produced the same or similar results. I think I'm almost there with my flights starting on 14th September with a trip to Dublin the day before I go to Vegas nice and early in the morning.

The harder part starts now with accommodation. I am definitely booking Vegas and New York hotels before I go and I'm sure the New York prices will be extremely expensive!

Good advice for both Vegas and New York on here in the respective threads about each will help keep the hotel costs down.

duchy

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

hi Bodders
I find sky scanner easier to navigate as well - but it is a much simpler piece of kit.(I've just run my 2016 flights through it and it wouldn't bring them up)
If the prices are coming up the same/similar - job done :beer:

You really do need to check them all- I've found cheaper fares on Kayak that simply weren't there on google flights (and vice versa but not so often)

Murphy_The_Cat

duchy wrote: »

You really do need to check them all- I've found cheaper fares on Kayak that simply weren't there on google flights (and vice versa but not so often)

previously on Kayak,. they weren't very accurate on pricing up child and 'youth' tickets, but looking now, all seems to be good in the hood.

I've just relooked at this years trip and KAYAK hasn't pulled up my flights - but it did pull up some other options, that whilst being very unattractive to me, could work for others.:beer:

blindman

duchy wrote: »

Good advice for both Vegas and New York on here in the respective threads about each will help keep the hotel costs down.

Vegas Thread
Book early then look out for last minute promos.
BTW
There are hostels in Vegas if you really want to go cheap.

New York Thread
Maybe use Priceline but I see you are a solo traveler so this may not be cost effective

Bodders11

Thanks all. I haven't tried Kayak yet so will take a look at that site. I will post my latest flight itinerary tonight. Someone mentioned the risk (I could be wrong) of booking through a third party - although this will enable me to make one booking (I assume). I will contact some airlines directly as already advised, but I wondered if any advice to keep the number of bookings (and paperwork) to a minimum!?


Blindman thanks for the links I will take a look through the threads.


It is likely I will now be travelling with a friend so costs will be shared on rooms. I am surprised how seemingly expensive New York is for accommodation and what you get for your $$! I thought London was bad. £200+ for a bunk bed?!?! Vegas is fine and doesn't appear costly at all in comparison.

duchy

Think of New York like London - if you stay in the well known areas (Manhattan) it's mega expensive- if you go a few tube stops out - the prices drop.

As I don't usually care exactly where I stay in New York -I tend to either stay further out or use priceline or hotwire who guarantee the area and star rating but you don't know exactly which hotel you've booked til you've paid and are locked in . It has always worked well for me in manhattan although I wouldn't book below a 3.5 star level doing this.

Main thing to remember with Vegas is that Sunday to Thursday rates are good but Friday and Saturday nights are always at least double - so try to avoid the weekends if you can.

blindman

Bodders11 wrote: »

Someone mentioned the risk (I could be wrong) of booking through a third party - although this will enable me to make one booking (I assume). I will contact some airlines directly as already advised, but I wondered if any advice to keep the number of bookings (and paperwork) to a minimum!?

Booking through a third party can cause headaches if you want to change the itinerary or there are other problems as you are not dealing with the airline direct.

However, with some multi trips you cannot use one airline to book the whole thing so must either (added risk) bolt on extra separate flights or use (say) Expedia who can ticket it all on ONE ticket.

The ONE ticket itin protects you for missed connections due to the airlines fault.

I've had to do the Expedia booking for my USA trip in August as we are flying Ex Dub (on BA) to LHR, then Virgin LGW\Vegas\LGW

And then of course we will fly LHR-DUB as the final leg :cool:

For this extra risk of third party I have saved about £2K

pelirocco

John259 wrote: »

California is about 770 miles north to south, and about 250 miles east to west. So to see various places you will in general have to move around and stay in different towns.

Except in the big cities driving in the USA is very easy, on high quality well signposted roads with low traffic levels.

Using motels is extremely convenient. All but the smallest of towns in the USA have motels so you're not limited to the major cities for places to stay.

Here are a few possibilities if you want to stay in one place, but most of them are outside California and some involve a long drive to get to them:

(1) Stay near Fresno (California) and visit Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

(2) Stay in St George or Cedar City (Utah) and visit Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks, Cedar Breaks National Monument, and Snow Canyon State Park.

(3) Stay in Moab (Utah) and visit Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Dead Horse State Park, and drive the Upper Colorado River Scenic Byway.

(4) Stay in Cortez or Durango (Colorado) and visit Mesa Verde National Park, drive US550 (the Million Dollar Highway) and ride the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.

If you want to follow up any of those ideas then you can use Google Maps to check where the places are, and distances.
https://maps.google.com

Wikipedia has articles (often with photographs) about each of the places and roads.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

The US National Park Service web site has lots of practical information about visiting each of the wonderful national parks and the numerous other similar areas that they administer such as the national monuments.
http://www.nps.gov

Each state also has its own state parks, some of which are superb. You can use Google to find the web site for each state's parks.
California State Parks http://www.parks.ca.gov

Here's some recommended YouTube videos, playlists and creators that you might like to sample:

Traveling Robert (trips by plane, car and RV in the USA and elsewhere):
https://www.youtube.com/user/TravelingRobert

Cheap Family Travel (informative videos made by the children of a US family):
https://www.youtube.com/user/cheapfamilytravel

A British family's California road trip:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLb-8Gy55ZLXaVGaWY3_O_KUo2H5cgmb7P

The Grand Circle around the Grand Canyon in Utah, Colorado and Arizona:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_6z7C5ecTk
(The people who made this video did some extreme hikes, but nearly all the US national parks also offer easy walking paths and hiking trails.)

A dashcam video of the beautiful Big Sur section of the Pacific Coast Highway in California:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypfy7XHjRl4

Now while Yosemite , Kings Canyon and Sequoia are lovely parks, doing all 3 can leave you feeling all treed out lol , plus by September rivers and waterfalls are practically non existent , so very much depends on whether the OP is into trees
OP , we we were California the first 2 weeks of September last year , it was very hot and dry .
One of the highlights of the trip was Monterey and whale watching