Tips for a US Trip with my daughter this Summer? (Or Maybe South Africa???)

tightauldgit

Looking at doing something special with my daughter this Summer holidays and looking at flights the two options I've identified are either doing a US trip or maybe a South Africa trip. I'm just looking at what might be doable and fun for a dad and a 12 year old and while I'm happy to splash a bit of cash to make it special, every penny counts at the minute so I'd like to get the most bang for my buck. I'm fairly familiar with the US but its been a few years so i might be out of date on a few things. 

So while I'm in the early planning stages, if we do the US ... 

- I'm pretty OK with flights, they seem fairly reasonable. Plan would possibly be NY, LA, and maybe San Diego and/or Las Vegas and/or SF (not sure how cool LV is for a 12 year old) probably do 3 or 4 days in each. Does anyone have any really strong recommendations outside the usual suspects? Or experience of doing these with a tween kid?

- Hotel costs seem absolutely extortionate, £200 a night for the US equivalent of a Travelodge in NY. Is there anything I am missing or is that just a bite the bullet thing? 

- We would I think be OK with public transport in NY, but we would hire a car on the West Coast. Just did a rough search and it looks like the going rate is about £40-50 a day? that seem about right? Never hired a car in the US, anything important I should know? 

- if we are doing LA i'm quite keen to do maybe 2 days of disneyland anaheim - any tips on this? Never done any of these theme parks before. looks like its $150 a day for a ticket, is buying the ticket direct and just finding some nearby accommodation the best approach?

-Toying with the idea of doing a day trip from San Diego to Tijuana, has anyone done this? Is it sensible?  

Orrrrrrrr... if we binned that and went with Plan B.

- Has anyone done a safari trip in South Africa? Where would I even start in planning that while trying to stick to a sensible budget? 

baser999

Checked what vaccines you may need before you book anything? Don’t you still need full Covid jabs for the States?

tightauldgit

Yeah I'm full COVID jabbed up. Not an issue. 

MikeJXE

Have you asked your daughter what she would prefer ? 

I have 2 12/13 year old granddaughters who would be right miserable if I took them somewhere they weren't interested in no matter the cost 

tightauldgit

MikeJXE said:

Have you asked your daughter what she would prefer ? 

I have 2 12/13 year old granddaughters who would be right miserable if I took them somewhere they weren't interested in no matter the cost 

Yes, and we will obviously discuss more before we book. The only thing is obviously she's never been to these places so she doesn't know what she doesn't know. We've done loads of European trips so her request this time was a continent she hasn't been to. 

She expressed an interest in doing Australia but at £1500+ a flight and with only really 2 weeks to do the trip I don't think that's feasible this time.  

El_Torro

I’m not a fan of Las Vegas so maybe my opinion is biased, however I wouldn’t go there with a 12 year old. I would skip it until they’re old enough to enjoy the gambling, etc…

A 2 week road trip in California sounds like it could be good. Starting in San Francisco and ending in San Diego, or vice versa. I wouldn’t include New York on the list, there’s plenty to do in California if you have 2 weeks available. Adding New York just means more expensive flights in my opinion. 

hugheskevi

- I'm pretty OK with flights, they seem fairly reasonable. Plan would possibly be NY, LA, and maybe San Diego and/or Las Vegas and/or SF (not sure how cool LV is for a 12 year old) probably do 3 or 4 days in each. Does anyone have any really strong recommendations outside the usual suspects? Or experience of doing these with a tween kid?

That would be a lot of flying/driving in a short space of time, I'd only go to a couple of different places in such a short time. US roads are great, and 200 miles in a day isn't too bad, but once it gets to 300+ miles in a day that is a lot of driving, and 400+ miles in a day is painful.

- Hotel costs seem absolutely extortionate, £200 a night for the US equivalent of a Travelodge in NY. Is there anything I am missing or is that just a bite the bullet thing? 

Remember that in some places you will have a car so there is no need to stay central - it takes very little time to drive into most US cities and parking is pretty cheap (not LA).

I found AirBnb was usually cheaper than hotels.

- We would I think be OK with public transport in NY, but we would hire a car on the West Coast. Just did a rough search and it looks like the going rate is about £40-50 a day? that seem about right? Never hired a car in the US, anything important I should know? 

Insurance. Collision Damage Waiver is similar to hiring a car here or in Europe, but you also need Supplementary Liability Insurance. This covers medical bills if you are responsible for an accident - by default only State minimum cover will be provided which is woefully inadequate - for example, State minimum may cover $20,000 whereas something more like at least $1m of cover should be in place (many say get cover to at least your net worth). The cost of insurance is very significant, and may be as much as hiring the car, depending on what cover you want.

- Has anyone done a safari trip in South Africa? Where would I even start in planning that while trying to stick to a sensible budget? 

I prefer Kenya and Tanzania for safaris - I think they have some of the best places and animals on the planet.

There are lots of good places, but if you want to keep it quite easy to arrange I'd suggest looking at Ol Pejeta Conservancy and Kilimanjaro Heroes Adventures. Either (or both) places can arrange most of the details for whatever trip you might want, eg, I flew into Nairobi and had pre-booked a car to go to Ol Pejeta from the airport, then they sort all food, accommodation and activities - it is all very easy and whilst safaris can be as expensive and luxurious as you like, their budget option ("The Stables") is just $55 pppd with 3 meals included and is absolutely fine (big room, en suite, in a bungalow type building with thatched roof, pretty limited choice of food, as it is an all-eat-together type arrangement).

michele-p

If you've only got 2 weeks, then I'd reccomend the West Coast of America, don't try to do everything all at once (we've been guilty of this!)

San Francisco is a great starting place, with Alcatraz if she's interested, and all the sea lions at the wharf. Then you could do a road trip on the Pacific Coast highway down to LA. Monterrey and Carmel are lovely places to stop.

Yosemitee is worth the trip inland and a couple of nights. Santa Cruise for the beach vibe.

I'd maybe leave of Vegas, I'm not sure in rules for youngsters in the casinos, you'll pay a fortune in resort fees on top of hotel prices. It will be flipping hot too!

We didn't like LA really, but I'm sure she would like universal and Disney if it's her thing, and a visit to the stars on the pavement in Hollywood is enough, its quite a seedy area away from the main drag through. Santa Monica and the beach seemed nice, but might be too far from the parks.

My road trip advice,.... build in some 2 or 3 night stays at places on interest, rather than try to move on every day. It gets exhausting.

I've no experience of SA to compare to, but loved California for our honeymoon. 

As said above, we tried a road trip with my step daughter when she was 14, though Norway, she seemed as miserable as sin the whole time! Hopefully a 12 year old hasn't reached that stage yet! Find things she'll enjoy and plan together maybe.

Have a fab time.

strawb_shortcake

I went to LV at 16, it was interesting and whilst there is a lot to see I did feel quite restricted to where I was actually allowed to be, not a bar and sticking to walkways within a casino.

Agree with the above, Hollywood boulevard was grim, it felt the dirtiest place I'd seen in the US, Rodeo drive we were advised not to bother with unless we could afford to shop there. 

Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Solvang and San Francisco I loved! Though I've heard more negative comments on San Fran in recent years due to the high levels of homelessness, when my friends went a few years back they did say it was very expensive, breakfast at the like of Denny's was around £25pp

tightauldgit

Yeah I've actually been to all these places in the states myself but never with daughter coming along. My suspicion on Vegas was the same as people say here...most of the activities are better for adults so probably not worth the trip. 

Just doing the west coast probably would make sense but I reckon she'd really enjoy New York and I reckon we can fly into NY and then out of LA and not be too stressed. 

I'll have a chat with her at the weekend and see what she thinks ... We will probably decide something totally different like going to see the Pyramids! 

daveyjp

Only you know your daughter, my daughter loved NY, but she was 16.  Friends took 14 and 11 year old daughters and neither of them were impressed.

Said they could have gone to London instead and not had hours on a plane and in airports!