Travel Advice / Ideas *USA*

Nitefly

Nitefly

Nitefly

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Joined
24 Sep 2005
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Hi all,

I know I created a similar thread not too many moons ago, but I have dramatically changed my plans and I am now looking for advice regarding travel to the USA (west and east coast).

The general idea is that I will fly out to California first and explore that state, taking a dip into Nevada for Vegas, before flying back towards the East and exploring the cities there. I'm speccing this trip to take 6-8 weeks, depending on how much there is to do (I'm there for a good time, not a long time!). I will hopefully have some company for at least some of both legs and I look forward into getting into some textbook herp derp mischief by myself (I am very good at this).

West Coast things on my list:
San Francisco
Santa Barbara
Los Angeles
Yosemite
San Diego
Vegas
Grand Canyon
ridiculous American theme park (Magic Mountain?)

East Coast:
New york
Phillidelphia
Boston, maybe?
Washington DC
Possibly a trip to Niagra falls.

Any ideas or thoughts are appreciated! In particular, I'd like to know how easy it is to backpack around California by oneself (and the east coast as well, to some extent). I'm planning to hire a car whilst my friend is with me, but I don't really fancy driving about by myself, that's no fun!

Many thanks :)
 
Nitefly said:
East Coast:
New york
Phillidelphia
Boston, maybe?
Washington DC
Possibly a trip to Niagra falls.
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You should definitely go to Boston - it has good history and friendly bars.

Philly is a day-trip at best; even a few hours would do it. I'd recommend stopping there to see the Liberty Bell, etc, and then quickly leaving. The urban core is run-down and miserable.

You should also consider going a bit further south. Charlottesville and Chapel Hill are both very nice; you get a small town feel without any of the horrible xenophobia that you might find elsewhere.
 
I can't imaginge backpacking will be much fun. Everything, and I do mean everything is designed to be got to be automotive transport. I'm sure the public tansport is fine but I don't know anything about their rail network and the Greyhound buses aren't really my cup of tea.

Unless you're in very built up and centralised cities (SF, NY) getting around could be a pain. Unless you're happy getting taxis everywhere I'd find out about buses/trams in the cities you want to visit. Routes, costs, timetables etc.

America isn't really a country that lends itself to the 'backpacking' mentality. If you really wanted to have some fun and experience then I'd ditch the flying and incorporate traveling across the country into your trip, I'm sure it would be possible in that timeframe.
 
The US isn't really somewhere you backpack around - indeed many guides specifically caution against it. If backpacking is your thing you'll have a far better time going somewhere that backpacking is popular.

Australia is a far better place to backpack than the US and is far more set up for it - you'll meet loads of other backpackers, there are billions of backpackers hostels, etc etc. Whilst the US does have hostels it's not quite the same. No matter where you want to visit in Aus, there will be a backpacker way of getting there. By contrast in the US, if you dont have a car half the places you'll want to go and pretty much inaccessible. Public transport outside of major cities is ****tastic.

If you want to see America, rent a car. If you want to backpack, go to Australia, New Zealand etc.
 
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TJM said:
Philly is a day-trip at best; even a few hours would do it. I'd recommend stopping there to see the Liberty Bell, etc, and then quickly leaving. The urban core is run-down and miserable.

.
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Philly is great, spent 4 days there and prob going back again next year, the city centre is not where you want to be, the historic district is the nice part, enjoyed it far more than New York
 
bsoltan said:
I can't imaginge backpacking will be much fun. Everything, and I do mean everything is designed to be got to be automotive transport. I'm sure the public tansport is fine but I don't know anything about their rail network and the Greyhound buses aren't really my cup of tea.

Unless you're in very built up and centralised cities (SF, NY) getting around could be a pain. Unless you're happy getting taxis everywhere I'd find out about buses/trams in the cities you want to visit. Routes, costs, timetables etc.

America isn't really a country that lends itself to the 'backpacking' mentality. If you really wanted to have some fun and experience then I'd ditch the flying and incorporate traveling across the country into your trip, I'm sure it would be possible in that timeframe.
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[TW]Fox;21617368 said:
The US isn't really somewhere you backpack around - indeed many guides specifically caution against it. If backpacking is your thing you'll have a far better time going somewhere that backpacking is popular.

Australia is a far better place to backpack than the US and is far more set up for it - you'll meet loads of other backpackers, there are billions of backpackers hostels, etc etc. Whilst the US does have hostels it's not quite the same. No matter where you want to visit in Aus, there will be a backpacker way of getting there. By contrast in the US, if you dont have a car half the places you'll want to go and pretty much inaccessible. Public transport outside of major cities is ****tastic.

If you want to see America, rent a car. If you want to backpack, go to Australia, New Zealand etc.
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This is one of my concerns, I appreciate that getting around could be a pain. I'm not so much against the idea of hiring a car and driving around, but by myself... that just sounds a bit rubbish! Sadly I don't have an unlimited number (read - none) of friends that can get that sort of time off.

For some reason, Australia doesn't totally appeal to me and I'd like to keep to the states if I can because there is, genuinely, a huge number of things I'd like to see and experience. One alternative I have is to potentially join a STA tour and rock around on one of those, which might not be a bad idea....?

More thoughts and opinions are most welcome guys, I really appreciate all of your comments thus far, they are being digested :)
 
Some of the things you've got on your list to do I'm sure you could do without hiring a car - certainly when you're in San Francisco you don't need a car as the public transport there is reasonable, apparently for the States it's pretty good and that should tell you something about the standard of the rest of it. The Grand Canyon and possibly Yosemite might be possible on a tour of some description but personally I suspect I'd not be keen on having to fit to a pre-arranged schedule all the time.

I've not travelled around the States too much myself but the general impression I have is that it's not set up for people backpacking much, indeed as a pedestrian you're something of an oddity. I'm sure it's not impossible but going by car is likely to be the best way for the majority of it - like I say in some of the bigger places with reasonable transport links you can do without the car but for lots of the distance in-between there's not a lot of other options.

//edit for whatever it is worth I hired a car to go from just outside San Francisco to Malibu and then back via Highway 1 to Santa Cruz inside a couple of days - I enjoyed it, the scenery from Highway 1 was often stunning and the weather was great (I picked a convertible for that reason albeit I didn't choose a Mustang) but I think it would have been more enjoyable to share it with someone else. P.S. many of the roads in California are poor - in fact if you don't come back with a new-found appreciation for the general quality of Britain's roads I'd be surprised.
 
Nitefly said:
This is one of my concerns, I appreciate that getting around could be a pain. I'm not so much against the idea of hiring a car and driving around, but by myself... that just sounds a bit rubbish! Sadly I don't have an unlimited number (read - none) of friends that can get that sort of time off.
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The thing is, how else will you get around? Unlike Aus the Greyhound buses are not full of English backpacking tourists, they are full of the very few people in America who cannot afford a car. So if you dont hire a car because you dont want to drive by yourself all you'll end up doing is sitting on a bus by yourself or sitting on a plane by yourself or whatever.

For some reason, Australia doesn't totally appeal to me and I'd like to keep to the states if I can because there is, genuinely, a huge number of things I'd like to see and experience. One alternative I have is to potentially join a STA tour and rock around on one of those, which might not be a bad idea....?
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This is probably your best solution - an organised tour. Thats the best way to make sure you'll be with likeminded people. It very much goes against my travel philosophey as I like to organise everything myself but with your requirements and circumstances it might be your best bet.

More thoughts and opinions are most welcome guys, I really appreciate all of your comments thus far, they are being digested :)
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California is stunning, by the way. Probably one of my most favourite places in the world. Though cruising down Highway 1 in a Ford Mustang kinda beats sitting on the bus.. cars ARE America. It's a huge part of the culture and the history of the country.
 
I have to disagree Fox, the massive expanse of US between the two coasts but California there are tons of backpackers doing the West Coast and every place you'd want to go has a hostel of some description, plus there are decentish public transport options for just about any route you want to go and as you know the East Coast train services are pretty good too.



i.e. you can easily do San Francisco to San Diego on the Surfliner train which stops at just about everywhere you'd want to go, you'd miss out on driving the 1 but you could do a one-way car rental from say SLO to SF if you wanted to do that.
 
Rich_L said:
I have to disagree Fox, the massive expanse of US between the two coasts but California there are tons of backpackers doing the West Coast and every place you'd want to go has a hostel of some description, plus there are decentish public transport options for just about any route you want to go and as you know the East Coast train services are pretty good too.
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Sure, if he was just doing the coast but he seems to want to cover rather more than that :)

Every little hamlet on the East Coast of Australia had a backpackers hostel and you couldnt drive up the Bruce Highway for more than 10 minutes without another backpacker bus going past. I couldnt say the same about the US. I stayed in loads of hostels in Australia but kinda gave up looking when I did California and just went with hotels.
 
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Don't quite understand why you'd go to the west coast and not start at Seattle then head south to San Fran. There's plenty in between especially with Astoria (where Goonies was shot) and Timberline Lodge on top of Mount Hood.
 
Definitely do Boston - it's one of my favorite cities. Actually, the whole New England area is fantastic.....although it doesn't tick many of the "must see" boxes I guess.

I wouldn't go out of your way to see Niagara Falls. The falls are very cool.....for a few mins....then it's time to move on :) Also, to get there from the east coast you'll have to go through some not-so-pleasant areas of up-state NY. Albany, Buffalo, etc..... yuk. If you went from Boston you could at least go through some of New England before you hit the nasty stuff, but even then, not worth the hassle in my opinion. I only went because I was going to Toronto and it was on the way - would have been hugely disappointed if I had made a special trip.
 
Rich_L said:
I have to disagree Fox, the massive expanse of US between the two coasts but California there are tons of backpackers doing the West Coast and every place you'd want to go has a hostel of some description, plus there are decentish public transport options for just about any route you want to go and as you know the East Coast train services are pretty good too.



i.e. you can easily do San Francisco to San Diego on the Surfliner train which stops at just about everywhere you'd want to go, you'd miss out on driving the 1 but you could do a one-way car rental from say SLO to SF if you wanted to do that.
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This sounds like a potentially very good idea :)

I'm currently planning to go from San Francisco to Vegas via Yosemite with a friend (hire car) for ~10 days, then go back round and do the coast line myself to complete the loop back in to SF. Does this sound a reasonable idea?

Have you done this Surfliner train yourself?

Again, thanks to all for your comments :)
 
That sounds like a great idea and 10 days is a good amount of time for it.

Not done the Surfliner but I did do the Silver Meteor on the East Coast from Washington DC to Jacksonville Florida.
 
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