USA, multiple places for one holiday.
USA, multiple places for one holiday.
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Discussion

jmorgan

Original Poster:

36,010 posts

314 months

Sunday 14th August 2011
quotequote all
Not the usual go to New Yoik for a week or Florida for two. Want to get around a bit but a firm to take the hassle (or examine the DIY if it is painless). Say New York, then Yellowstone ending in Florida for example, any firms do this and are above board etc? Or is it better to build it yourself?

saleen836

12,515 posts

239 months

Sunday 14th August 2011
quotequote all
With a little time and effort it is easy enough to sort out yourself, and the best bit is, you will more than likely save yourself a good amount which can be used for spending money rather than paying a fee to someone to do the same job you can do yourself.

Simon Brooks

1,527 posts

281 months

Sunday 14th August 2011
quotequote all
there will be plenty of firms that will take your money, however if you are prepared to invest a little time you should be able to orgainse a trip yourself, might be worth think about restricting your trip to east, west or central states or you may find you spend a lot of time enjoying various airport departure gates, dont forget the USA is huge with more than enough to do for a couple of weeks by visiting just a couple of places#

have fun

davepoth

29,395 posts

229 months

Sunday 14th August 2011
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And it's not like the USA is particularly difficult to organise stuff in - if you use the phone at work it's not even any more expensive either. Not that I ever did that. Much.

Roo

11,504 posts

237 months

Sunday 14th August 2011
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I've always organised my trips myself.

Frommers guide and trip advisor are brilliant for things like this.

jmorgan

Original Poster:

36,010 posts

314 months

Monday 15th August 2011
quotequote all
OK. DIY then, any pitfalls for internal flights anyone know about?

CO2000

3,177 posts

239 months

Monday 15th August 2011
quotequote all
jmorgan said:
Not the usual go to New Yoik for a week or Florida for two. Want to get around a bit but a firm to take the hassle (or examine the DIY if it is painless). Say New York, then Yellowstone ending in Florida for example, any firms do this and are above board etc? Or is it better to build it yourself?
How about the SF/LV/LA triangle for a small starter ? or add San Diego on if you have the time & $$$'s.
There is bus tour Holidays that cover them (well SF/LV/LA anyway) or hire a car ?

fatboy b

9,665 posts

246 months

Monday 15th August 2011
quotequote all
jmorgan said:
OK. DIY then, any pitfalls for internal flights anyone know about?
Make sure you check in online as soon as you're allowed. Don't leave it to the airport until you check in, you'll find yourself on standby for the later flight - if there is one.

jmorgan

Original Poster:

36,010 posts

314 months

Monday 15th August 2011
quotequote all
fatboy b said:
Make sure you check in online as soon as you're allowed. Don't leave it to the airport until you check in, you'll find yourself on standby for the later flight - if there is one.
OK, not with you here. I don't go through airports often so to me check in means being there in person.

Simon Brooks

1,527 posts

281 months

Monday 15th August 2011
quotequote all
have a play around on skyscanner to look for flights

jmorgan

Original Poster:

36,010 posts

314 months

Monday 15th August 2011
quotequote all
CO2000 said:
How about the SF/LV/LA triangle for a small starter ? or add San Diego on if you have the time & $$$'s.
There is bus tour Holidays that cover them (well SF/LV/LA anyway) or hire a car ?
We wanted to do New York, Yellowstone Florida home sort of thing. But looks like we will not have the time. Yellowstone ain't going anywhere unless it goes bang.

Driving. I have driven in Canada, three days to get to Calgery but I was over there for six weeks. This time we will have less so internal flights methinks.

fatboy b

9,665 posts

246 months

Monday 15th August 2011
quotequote all
jmorgan said:
OK, not with you here. I don't go through airports often so to me check in means being there in person.
Check in for the flight online (internet thingy with your flight ref no.) - normally a day before hand.

Matt..

4,031 posts

219 months

Monday 15th August 2011
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jmorgan said:
We wanted to do New York, Yellowstone Florida home sort of thing. But looks like we will not have the time. Yellowstone ain't going anywhere unless it goes bang.

Driving. I have driven in Canada, three days to get to Calgery but I was over there for six weeks. This time we will have less so internal flights methinks.
Yellowstone is in the middle of nowhere and so if you fly from NYC you will probably have to stop off in somewhere like Denver to change planes. You are choosing 3 places to go that aren't all that close together. Maybe try and select places that are nearer each other? or at least go to more than one place in each area?

Oh and if Yellowstone goes bang, then that wipes out about half of the US biggrin

jmorgan

Original Poster:

36,010 posts

314 months

Monday 15th August 2011
quotequote all
Probably explains why I cannot find an easy way to do Yellowstone as I get my head around it. SWMBO wants shopping. I'd skip NY quite happily. OK, Yellowstone for another year.

fatboy b

9,665 posts

246 months

Tuesday 16th August 2011
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I think it's still hard to beat California for a good drive about followed by a few days in one place. We've done it a few times now, and may do it again next year.

Fly to San Fran for a few nights, up to Lake Tahoe for some skiing. Down to Yosemite, and back to Napa for some sipping.

andrew311

6,426 posts

207 months

Tuesday 16th August 2011
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jmorgan said:
Probably explains why I cannot find an easy way to do Yellowstone as I get my head around it. SWMBO wants shopping. I'd skip NY quite happily. OK, Yellowstone for another year.
Haven't picked up when you're looking to travel? I've travelled quite allot to the US in recent years sometimes taking in a variety of places spread across the country others concentrating on one area such as California. Depends on how long you have but even over 3 weeks what you originally suggested can feel like you're spending allot of time flying, travelling to and being at the airport. I love NYC and connecting flights (airline dependant) will often connect to get to the west coast anyhow so it's not really a detour at all AA, BA, and Continental all use NY area airports as hubs.

It sounds like NYC is not really your thing, I hate shopping/following my other half around shops and there are certainly many shops. My tip would be to head to California, I've never been anywhere in the world that offers beaches, cities, national parks, deserts, and skiing in a relatively small-ish area. 3 weeks is a nice amount of time to do 'a loop' of the state-it could be done in less or cut shorter. We went in September/October, flew into SF few days there, pick up Mustang, head to Napa/Sonoma wine areas, up to South Lake Tahoe-although no skiing well worth seeing, Yosemite camping-simply stunning and more accesible than Yellowstone, Death Valley-most people just use it as a stop off from Vegas to LA but I spent 4 nts there and wasn't short on things to do and see, it's a unique and weirdly wonderful place.

Drive down to San Diego or LA is a bit dull. Allot of people who visit LA and stay in the city seem not to like it, I'd go for one of the costal town such as Santa Monica which are within easy driving distance of the main city attractions. The drive up the coast gets very scenic after a while, Santa Barbara is very nice. You can drive from LA to SF in about 7 hours if you wanted to but I'd recommend breaking it up with at least one night somewhere in the middle, Cambria is nice and much more affordable than say somewhere like Big Sur.

The Monterey Peninsula is another place that needs a few nights, Carmel, Monterey Bay, and Pacific Grove are all within spitting distance of each other so doesn't matter where you stay. We went whale watching which was an experience.

You could trim that to suit your own interests or if you don't have 3 weeks. You could fly into SF or LA and out of the other but you'd miss highway 1, or include it but find you're going back on yourself a bit. Dropping SLT, San Diego, and DV would knock a week off the above. For us the holiday was as much about the journey as the destination and there were some awesome drives in there.


andrew311

6,426 posts

207 months

Tuesday 16th August 2011
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Some pics:



San Francisco



Sonoma Valley



South Lake Tahoe



Entering Yosemite



El Capitan- Yosemite Valley



Death Valley



Devils Golf Course- Death Valley



Santa Monica



Highway 1 near Big Sur



Elephant Seals outside Cambria



Whale watching at Monterey



The big red chariot, 3 weeks and 2800 miles=awesome.

jmorgan

Original Poster:

36,010 posts

314 months

Tuesday 16th August 2011
quotequote all
andrew311 said:
lots of good stuff
Not saying when, call me paranoid wink

Not thought of it that side and that way to be honest, stuff to digest. Cracking pics though, not sure we are up for a drive and unfortunately limited to two weeks. I think I have set my sights too high, I get loads of leave, the missis doesn't.

andrew311

6,426 posts

207 months

Tuesday 16th August 2011
quotequote all
jmorgan said:
Not saying when, call me paranoid wink

Not thought of it that side and that way to be honest, stuff to digest. Cracking pics though, not sure we are up for a drive and unfortunately limited to two weeks. I think I have set my sights too high, I get loads of leave, the missis doesn't.
With 2 weeks I'd concentrate on doing one area throughly rather than trying to jam too much in. Florida is somewhere I've yet to go and there is surely a wealth of places to go to and see outside of Disney etc.

CA driving hol was the best holiday I've ever had, I just liked the moving on from one place to the next but it's not everyones cup of tea. I can imagine the balance of leave with your other half being a bit of a nightmare, we both work for the same company so not an issue for us, 8 weeks off a year is nice biggrin

Big E 118

2,468 posts

199 months

Tuesday 16th August 2011
quotequote all
I did SFran, Monterey, Yosemite, Death Valley, Grand Canyon, Vegas in 14 days including 2 days in SF/Yosemite/LV.

I pre booked the flights to SF and from LV and first 2 nights hotel in SF then did the rest on the fly once there.

Was amazingly easy to organise, cheap and a fantastic holiday. Do a route planner on google maps to get an idea of trip distances/times and just go.

Your Mrs will love Union Square area of SF, much better shopping than NY and she can also shop until she drops in Vegas while you're partaking in some adult entertainment....