Travel ideas for America?

Crezzlin

Crezzlin

Crezzlin

Associate
Joined
20 Jun 2009
Posts
1,107
Location
UK
Going to America for 6 weeks with the girlfriend, looks like we will fly to NY first but would like to travel a Little to some other city's, prob San Francisco and Las vegas.. What's the best way to travel and places to see,, I'm open to anything as we don't have a clue lol

Are idea was to fly to Ny for 5 days then fly to San Fran and hire a car to visit Vegas :s
 
I met up with a Canadian while travelling in Hong Kong who said while travelling in the US, Chicago was his favourite place, even above New York. Try and include that in your plans I'd say.
 
HankScorpio said:
I met up with a Canadian while travelling in Hong Kong who said while travelling in the US, Chicago was his favourite place, even above New York. Try and include that in your plans I'd say.
Click to expand...

Certainly.

If it's your first visit you'll want to hit up the usual places, NYC etc.

But Chicago, San Fran and Seattle are much nicer than NYC or LA for example.

OP, your plan sounds pretty solid. Have a search here on OcUK for American road trip stuff. Lots of people have hired a car and done stuff over on the west coast between LA>SF>LV.

You've got six weeks so I think you have plenty of time to do NYC, that "west coast stuff" and if you can afford it maybe stretch a little further.

Flying is certainly the fastest way to get around. Cars are good but America is huge. There are good cheap coach services on the east coast but they're not the fastest or most comfy travel option. Again, trains are few and far between don't give you many options. Fly/drive is a solid combo.

2 questions:

- Whats your budget?

- What do you really want to see? Pull out a map or something and try and work it out.
 
I grew up in western USA... and when I go back for a holiday I spend very little time in cities. We have lots of people and cities here. We don't have the huge open spaces that are Western USA. When you get out into the west and stop in a little town for lunch and the locals are friendly and will visit with you. Stop into a bar early evening and ask about the history of the area. That will almost always get things going. Often people will tell you what to see and sometimes load you up in the 4 wheel drive pickup with gun in back window and take you out to see the wildlife. And don't even think about "Deliverance" :)
 
I'm planing to do New Mexico and Texas at some point next year. I would love to go down to the deep south, eat buckets of BBQ, soak up the sun, watch some sports. Go slow and meet the locals for a few weeks.
 
Rural America can take a couple of week for us to just slow down to their pace.

I was talking to a guy last summer who regularly finds cheap airfare into USA and then delivers a car from there to opposite coast. Has a week or two to make the drive and is given money for fuel. Can't deviate too far from main route but he drives all secondary roads.. no freeway. Says he is often invited home after a night in the bar with locals. He has a great time getting to know the people, history and culture.

I would like to do something similar in Australia.
 
Last edited:
I'm going to the states for 30 days in September.

New York -> Philly -> Washington -> Nashville -> Myrtle Beach -> Dallas -> Austin

New York to Philly, Philly to Washington and Dallas to Austin are coach trips. All other travel is flights on Delta multi-city. Five flights totalled £906, including hotels, about £2300 per person (two people sharing). We did look at renting a car and driving the I95 (east coast highway from Boston to Miami) but it worked out to be about £2000 due to one-way penalties and umpty-dozen surchages for this and that (mainly age related of course).

I decided not to include the west coast in my trip. It's practically another country so I'd rather schedule another big trip in the next ten years to see it properly, rather than rushing it.

In terms of places to see, what are you going to the States for? Cuisine? Sport? City shopping? Landscape/scenery? It's so diverse and huge there's not really one place to see it all at once, unlike England where you could stay in London and then pootle off to the South Downs for some scenery and outdoors stuff within an hours drive!
 
Hire a winnebango, buy a gun, drive the interstate across the US parking up in the desert along the way to shoot stuff :D I was told not to do the obvious route 66 but to go from Philidaelphia to Ohio then follow interstate 80 to Chicago. Then I40 to Denver, cross the Rockies to Nevada and into Vegas.

You could take a more southern route too like the I10 or 20 visiting the bible belt, Texas, New Mexico, Grand Canyon. This route is supposed to be stunning but depending on the time of year the temperatures could be quite uncomfortable.
 
If you have 6 weeks just get a car. Where you go depends on what you like, for me the Scenery is the greatest draw, and the West is probably the best place for that. California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming take your pick really all have amazing scenery with amazing drives. Coast, Desert, Mountains, Forests, Lakes, Volcanoes and Cities.
 
If you really want to go out of your way and want unspoiled scenery head up into Montana, Glacier National Park is beautiful.
 
I'd also suggest the national parks and the motor home idea is a good one too. Our friends did 2 weeks driving a motor home around the west coast and loved it, we did the same route 3 months earlier by car and hotel.

While the more comfortable option, you've then got strict times to get somewhere to book in etc. I think if we went back, a motor home would be our next choice. :)
 
Glacier National Park is beautiful but has only one road so unless you are a serious hiker you see very little of the park. That said it is still breathtaking.

Something else to keep in mind is differences in elevation. Altitude sickness can be a real problem. Elevation can change over 6000 feet in a few hours of driving. San Francisco is 0', Donner Pass is 7056', Lake Tahoe is 6225'. Denver is 5280', Mount Evans is 14265'.. and you can drive from Denver to end of road at 14000' in a couple of hours.

If you get to say Denver at 5280' in a couple days from sea level give yourself a couple of days to adjust before heading into the high mountains. You can drive over the passes to towns at say 7000', but don't be surprised if your forehead feels tight, you feel tired and you get a headache, or feel nauseous. Symptoms are Fatigue, Headache, Dizziness, Insomnia, Shortness of breath during exertion (I must have it then), Nausea, Decreased appetite, Swelling of extremities, Social withdrawal

Altitude sickness generally develops at elevations higher than 8,000 feet (about 2,400 meters) above sea level and when the rate of ascent exceeds 1,000 feet (300 meters) per day.
Click to expand...
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/mountain_sickness/article_em.htm

Very common problem in the mountains. 25% of Colorado ski area vacationers deal with it.
It's not a problem as long as you are aware and know what to do if symptoms persist.
 
AHarvey said:
I'd also suggest the national parks and the motor home idea is a good one too. Our friends did 2 weeks driving a motor home around the west coast and loved it, we did the same route 3 months earlier by car and hotel.

While the more comfortable option, you've then got strict times to get somewhere to book in etc. I think if we went back, a motor home would be our next choice. :)
Click to expand...
Motor home or just a camper van. A place to sleep, fix a cuppa and bap is all the need.. and gives you almost complete freedom of movement. Most Walmart parking lots are open to overnight stays for enclosed camping. If you are out in the country you can pull off the road almost anywhere.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom