Planning USA Trip

richardw

blindman wrote: »

.... I take it you will not make it for the LCY-DUB leg?

The only caveat is that if the Ryanair flight is cancelled is there another after that or is this the last flight of the day?

They'll be engineering works on the DLR to LCY, unfortunately.

Yes, the Ryanair flight is not the last of the day.

duchy

I'd probably chop it up

Vegas with the boys

Stay on in Vegas after (or do it whilst they are there as a group) for Grand Canyon

Drive or fly to LA (flying with just one person may be more economical although your Vegas friends might want to fly out of LA and do disney or Santa Monica with you before flying home - maybe ?)

Day at Disneyland

2 days Santa Monica
1 day Hollywood
2 days San Diego

fly to SFO
Do San Francisco
Hire car and drive to Sequoia for a couple of days at least
back to SFO and fly home

With just one driver an not wanting a lot of driving each day this might work better - LA traffic is horrible so rather than base myself in one place I'd book one of the hotels right outside Disneyland (personally I'd do it for 2 nights and have a bit of pool time too) one night in Hollyweird- You can see everything in a day using a tour then a couple of days chilling in Santa Monica (beach , cool bars) before the longer drive to San Diego -couple of nights there and hop a plane to Northern California

John259

There's rather more to Yosemite than just trees!

Bear in mind that the OP was asking for ideas if they stayed in one place. Given that condition, it's likely that the places are going to be fairly similar to each other.

If you drive further then you get more variety, both inside and outside of national parks, and with cities.

It's difficult to explain to someone who's never visited the USA just how wonderful and varied the national parks are, how much excellent scenery can be seen outside of the parks while driving, and how easy the driving is (other than in big cities of course). All these are things that most people have to experience in order to understand them.

But aiming for a good balance on a first trip is a very wise idea.

duchy

Whilst I agree driving in the US is easy and I've done it - personally I prefer NOT to drive -it's just not my idea of a fun vacation so I think dismissing a preference of not wanting a lot of driving isn't always useful.

My next trip is a long weekend to Michigan and Chicago. I'll be using domestic flights and trains and a couple of local taxis or Uber . A car isn't always essential. I'm quite excited to be trying out Amtrak.

Bodders11

duchy wrote: »

I'd probably chop it up

Vegas with the boys

Stay on in Vegas after (or do it whilst they are there as a group) for Grand Canyon

Drive or fly to LA (flying with just one person may be more economical although your Vegas friends might want to fly out of LA and do disney or Santa Monica with you before flying home - maybe ?)

Day at Disneyland

2 days Santa Monica
1 day Hollywood
2 days San Diego

fly to SFO
Do San Francisco
Hire car and drive to Sequoia for a couple of days at least
back to SFO and fly home

With just one driver an not wanting a lot of driving each day this might work better - LA traffic is horrible so rather than base myself in one place I'd book one of the hotels right outside Disneyland (personally I'd do it for 2 nights and have a bit of pool time too) one night in Hollyweird- You can see everything in a day using a tour then a couple of days chilling in Santa Monica (beach , cool bars) before the longer drive to San Diego -couple of nights there and hop a plane to Northern California

Duchy - do you know me? This sounds almost perfect for me. I did Disneyland in Orlando so unsure whether I'd want to do it again, but I would want to do one or two theme parks.

I'd also like to take in a game of baseball and/or 'football' as this is something I didn't do in Florida.

San Diego zoo appeals and then I need to determine the must sees and dos whilst in California and New York. Death Valley for the experience is up there.

Bodders11

Okay, so my friend and I agreed (loosely) our itinerary today, as follows:


14th September - Southampton to Dublin - Afternoon and evening in Dublin


15th September - Dublin to Las Vegas - Air Canada flight with layover in Toronto



4 nights in Las Vegas


19th September - Fly Las Vegas to San Francisco


3 nights in San Fran. Pick up a car after 3 nights and spend 11 nights 'cruising' through California (places to stop/visit to be determined)


3rd October - Fly LA to New York overnight


4th October - check in to NY hotel and spend 3 nights sightseeing (although I will try to do 4 nights if I can twist my friends arm).


7th October - overnight flight to Dublin


8th October - flight to Southampton from Dublin


All of the above flights I can obtain for £656.00 (without baggage charges).


I am sourcing accommodation for Las Vegas, San Fran and New York whilst my friend is planning the 11 day itinerary. I'll post again once this is developed.


Thanks for all the advice so far!

John259

Bodders11 wrote: »

spend 11 nights 'cruising' through California (places to stop/visit to be determined)

A suggestion for your consideration:
San Francisco > Lake Tahoe (two nights; during the day take a leisurely drive right round the lake) > Yosemite (three nights) > Monterey (two nights) > via the Big Sur section of the Pacific Coast Highway to Morro Bay (one or two nights) > via more of the Pacific Coast Highway to Santa Monica (one night; expensive so you might want to explore alternatives) > Anaheim (for Disneyland; one or two nights) > LAX

MK55

I am planning a 30 day US trip for our honeymoon later this year. I'm going to keep my eye on this thread your last comment of trip looks amazing!!

Murphy_The_Cat

my 2p worth.
spend a bit of quite time jotting down the things that you'd like to do whilst in California, It'll help enormously in your planning.
If you can make it far as San Diego, all the better. Its a nice place to spend some time.

p.s. avoid LA (except for flying away from it). There are plenty of much nicer places to enjoy in CA.

John259

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

p.s. avoid LA (except for flying away from it). There are plenty of much nicer places to enjoy in CA.

Amen to that but Santa Monica isn't bad and Disneyland is a great experience for one day if you've never been to one of their other parks.

IMHO it's a pity that the OP plans to fly from Las Vegas to San Francisco, missing out all the wonderful country in between including Death Valley, US395/Owens Valley and the Tioga Pass. But it's the OP's holiday...