Deep South USA -tips & moneysaving?

Murphy_The_Cat

lynzpower wrote: »

*Do you seasoned state-side travellers find flights get cheaper/more expensive dependent on carrier if you are trying to negotiate it over the phone?
*Or do you find the flights online? if so where
*is there any other discounts/bonuses/freebies etc going with flying with delta?
*does ANY airline fly overnight arriving in Atlanta ( or surrounds? ) in the morning? that would add an extra day for us to explore if this were possible?

I've never tried to book flights on the phone, sorry. But I'm quite happy to run the fare route through 5 or 6 search engines to get the best deal that I can.
Always online (TBH, I always fly AA and they have a lowest price promise, so any other sites are just for interest purposes)
Delta have a frequent flyer/loyalty card, but I don't know how good it is.
sorry, I don't know - but don't forget about the effects of jet lag !

Philippa36

I fly regularly into Atlanta (my Dad lives in Chattanooga) and I've always flown during the day, usually around 10am outward flight time, arriving midafternoon in the US, which means just enough time to get to wherever I'm staying, have a light meal and crash!

I've never booked flights over the phone either. I use Kayak, Expedia and travelsupermarket.

simonSE15

lynzpower wrote: »

Simon

Read your blog!! Tremendous, thanks SOOOO much for sharing, you got some great snaps there, and seems like exactly the sort of trip we are looking at doing. :beer: and at exactly the same time!! thanks too for the Arkansas tip on accom, if we miss out on Gracelends & surrounds motel, then we'll look at that! Out of interest, just how bad ( and we do expect bad!) was the traffic around this time/ place?
!

Thanks Lynz.

Generally the traffic wasnt bad at all. Even at Gracelands during Elvis week we didnt encounter any traffic jams. The only places I recall bad traffic was Baton Rouge and the queue for the ferry to Galveston in Texas.

Make sure you let us see your pics!

Simon

dmg24

Just a little vote for Alabama. I spent two months there in my teens ... it is heaven!

We flew into Atlanta and then got an internal flight to Huntsville. In Alabama we stayed in a big house by a lake in a place called Grant, which did seem to be a road that went on forever and ever!

Other than just soaking up the atmosphere, I do remember the Space Centre being a particular highlight. Not normally my kind of thing, but this really captured my interest.

Enjoy! x

IamJen

I think lynzpower's got the location down, but far east Texas is very similar in climate/culture to northern Louisiana, so it kinds sneaks in there too.

I've never done tickets over the phone either, but 568 seems like an awful very lot to me, if that's pp. ?

WishI'dReadSooner

lynzpower wrote: »

*New Orleans
*Drive through Baton Rouge, and up the missisipi river, possibly through the Natchez parkway, not really sure...
*Memphis - we are hoping to be there for Elvis week, we are quite up against it at the mo as we will have to book some accom for this, like NOW!
*nashville
*possibly into Kentucky, distilleries, backwater driving, - and across to the mammoth cave NP
*down through the Smokies to Dollywood
*Atlanta & surrounds

We had considered the florida aspect ( weve found some super cheap Fly drives)

Hubby is from New Orleans - he said you must be out of your minds going in August. Hot, humid, overbearing, hard to breath, constantly dripping like someone took a waterhose to you. BUT if you REALLY MUST! Some things to bear in mind.

Natchez Trace Parkway is restricted to 25-30mph - whatever you do don't exceed this & get a ticket as the fines are horrendous & you risk possible jail time - they have REALLY cracked down!

It's not only Memphis you need to get accommodation booked quickly (like yesterday) Dollywood -Gattlinburg should have been booked 6 months ago. August is primetime American vacation time so ALL of the above will already be booked up.

Backwater driving - hubby laughed & said MOST of where you're driving will be backwater driving - he asked are you familiar with the word Rednecks??:rotfl: You'll see plenty of old pick up trucks with confederate flags & rifle racks visible in the rear view window.

Flying into Florida - forget it, it'll be a waste of 2 days of your holidays. We did it to save money one year + we wanted to do Disney again, but it took us 14hrs to reach New Orleans from Orlando. (probably could have done it in 11hrs if we hadn't stopped for lunch & at the TI's).

If you haven't seen New Orleans & you want to - do it now as they haven't built the levees up to a pre Katrina standard. If another hurricane comes through even of a modest strength, it's unlikely to be rebuilt. Run like hell if they blow the whistle while you are there & pray your hotel rooms elsewhere are not taken over by evacuees.

£1000 per person is WAY too high to Atlanta. KLM & Northwest should fly into Memphis. We managed to get return flights into New Orleans via Atlanta with Delta last month (when there were gliches) with Delta for £254 each inclusive of all taxes, flying in April.

Baton Rouge - nothing much to see except LSU & state capital. Went to visit family for a week :eek: - they suggested the above & the mall YAWN! Couldn't wait to go elsewhere.

As far as scenary goes driving around the deep South MS, LA, TN, AL - forget it! Of course if you're into pine tree, pine tree, pine tree for hundreds of miles you'll enjoy it. There are a GREAT number of miles between cities. There are a GREATER number of pine trees also - far too great a number!
There are also numerous road accidents - the roads are so boring that people put the cruise control on & either have road hypnosis or fall asleep at the wheel.

This might not be what you want to hear but it's reality - from someone who lived in Southern US for 40+ yrs.

Erikin_2

Bears out much of my limited travel experience in the area. Good review.

moneylover

three years on I am resurrecting this thread!
Have looked around the website for deep south thats mentioned on the thread seems to be official tourist info site. No tourist office in London anymore.
Husband wants to do deep south end May, beginning June, we are thinking about 15 days. He is leaving it to me initially but I am finding it difficult getting started. He loves the music I don't but love the history so happy to go. Can anyone suggest best city to fly to and a possible sensibly itinerary for around 15/16 days that I could use just as a starting point? We are used to driving in the USA and happpy to cover reasonable distances.
Also would like suggestions as to guide books.
Went to pick up some brochures on fly drive from travel agents that might give some ideas but none in anywhere in Chelmsford for some strange reason!
Am as interested in places to give a miss as well as places to go!
Where else should I post - Lonely Planet maybe? Am concerned really to get flights booked and a trip roughly sketched out then I can fill in all the detail later
Many many thanks
Hilary

lynzpower

We got lonely planet from the library then we bought@ LP 'Carolinas Georgia and the South' for about 10er.

totally depends on what you like waht you dont like: SOme will tell you to give memphis ( just go gracelands + leave types) a miss some would say its essential to stay for a few days, we did a few days was nowhere near enough for us. We didnt go to the Rock + Soul Museum in Jackson, wish we had now, seeing as we were there anyway!

We visited Asheville, Nashville, Memphis, Jackson ( TN) Smokey Mountains NP and Mammoth Caves NP truthfully we did just over 2 weeks and it was nowhere near enough. We did not see any of Atlanta or any of the blues corridor, eg Natchez.If you prefer the blues over bluegrass then you may want to look more over MS or AL.We also did hardly any outdoor activities compared to what we thought we would do. Did visit Dollywood though and it was a dream come true

We had a awesome time just the right mix for us but nowhere near enough time to see all we wanted to. We went beginning of JUne be aware it was HOT to the max. 102f in Nashville, and man-oh-man it was close humid and burning heat. If you can take it that is fine but do be aware, even into the evening after dark it was BAKING hot.

CMA festival is the 7-10 of June so you will struggle to get a hotel room around this time in Nashville so if you want to go for fest BOOK NOW, if you dont, make your plans to avoid the city as a) its packed b) hotel rooms are at a massive premium. We had an awesome time but we booked our hotel rooms about 8ms in advance and managed to get an OK deal ( a usually 40usd hotel for 50 quid a night was a deal) http://www.cmaworld.com/cma-music-festival/tickets/2012-tickets. The hotels will be booked from at least the Tuesday preceeding in this week. If you want tickets, get them now.

not the cheapest holiday we have ever had but definately up there with the best ever.

torbrex

I flew into Memphis at the end of May 2010 and the nearest thing I got to any of the music tourist side of the area was Dollywood, I did try to see the sights in Nashville but there had been flooding the month before and most of the places were closed for renovation so I just drove on, Graceland had a queue for tickets that went right round the block so I gave that a miss as well.
My road trip consisted of seeing the sights that the country had to offer and I stayed away (mostly) from the cities, I was at the Shiloh battlefield, Smoky Mountain national park, Jack Daniels distillery, Tuckaleekee Caverns, Cumberland Gap National Park, I also went south into Mississippi and Alabama taking in among other places the Space Camp at Huntsville. I also headed north into Kentucky and W Virginia where I did a bit of white water rafting.
On the way back to Memphis for the flight, I was involved in a game of 'leap-frog' with some tornados and lightning storms, I was not actually close to a tornado but I would get to an area just after one or I would hear on the news that one had hit the area I had just left, it was a bit hairy at times but what an experience. On my last couple of days on the road, I did not get to where I was going because of a cross state border manhunt for a couple of guys that had shot a policeman so I ended up taking a leisurely drive along the banks (or almost) of the Mississippi river going north through Arkansas and Missouri.
As far as hotels went, I had nothing booked as I had no idea where I would be at any given time but I did have the advantage of not being near any big cities and the smaller towns always had vacancies and were on average 20% cheaper even for the same chain. I did my usual of 'roughing' it in the really cheap ones for a few days while I was doing the long drives then getting a slightly more upmarket hotel in an area i was staying for a couple of days using the money I had saved.
Eating out - I always asked the hotel staff for the best tasting food close by that was not a fastfood joint and I was never let down, I even got coupons a couple of times and they turned out to be some of the best and I would never have found them by myself.