Birthday Trip to the US

Soldato
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Mate is turning 40 this year the old... One guy has discussed maybe flying to LA, drive and stop up to Vegas, stay there 2/3 nights and then fly to San Francisco for a few days and fly home from there. Not sure what to make of that schedule. What do you guys think of it? Not sure about driving to Vegas or stay a few days in LA?
 
Caporegime
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Just get a direct flight to Vegas IMO if it's for a birthday thing. Do 4 nights there.

The drive from L.A to Vegas is quite far (6 hours) and it's not the most exciting drive...lots of traffic Friday to Sunday.

L.A too sprawling and a lot of it is a dive and San Fran is really expensive.
 
Soldato
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Just to be clear - his plan is to fly for 12 hours to LA, and then drive 6 hours to an equally accessible airport? Sounds like a fantastic idea!

In all seriousness, Vegas is obviously a great holiday for a 40th with a few mates. In comparison San Fransisco is underwhelming for big nights out etc, but could still be a great place to visit with friends. I think Vegas would be best left till last if combining the two cities.

Assuming you’re looking to get away for 7 nights, my recommendation would be to fly direct to San Fransisco and spend 3 nights there, and then fly to Vegas for 4 nights before heading back.

LA is the last place you should look to visit in the vicinity.
 
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TJM

TJM

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You should consider visiting San Diego after Las Vegas (about a five hour drive) for a few chilled out beach days and evenings in quieter bars. I really enjoyed the change in pace from LA, SF, etc., and the scenery.

LA is the last place you should look to visit in the vicinity.
Yup, it's terrible. Fly directly to Las Vegas instead.
 
Soldato
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Thanks for the replies. Much appreciated.

Is LA too spread out you would need plenty of time allocated to get around it? Definitely a car hire job needed? If it’s not worth the hassle, a few days elsewhere would be better spent. Always been told, 2/3 nights in Vegas is more than enough hence why I was looking to spend a few days in other parts.
 
Soldato
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depends what you want and what your tastes are. i'm really into movies so my trip to NYC involved going to about 50 locations from my favourite films. when I was in LA briefly I took a run to Griffiths Park so I could see where the Terminator arrived :D LA obviously has a million more locations and will need another trip some day, but that's just my example. as you say, if you're pressed for time and have other interests, play to them.
 
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I was in San Francisco last year, whilst standing in the Que for tickets to Alcatraz we started talking to another English fella that was there on his own. Turns out he was from a town about 5 minutes from where my wife grew up!

apparently he was there with a few mates doing a mini 'road trip'... Hired an RV in LA and was touring the country. Sounded like they were having an awesome time.

As for San Fran, other than the touristy places there's not much to do. Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Street etc. If you do go to SF, Alcatraz is a must but book early as tickets sell out stupidly fast.
 
Man of Honour
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I'm looking at doing something similar at the moment - flights from LA - Vegas are about £100-130 return so cheaper to fly over (direct flights are silly money for some reason). Have been to san fran loads and its a nice city but not done LA and not convinced I want to by all accounts.
 
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Might not be your thing, but there's numerous parks around Vegas. When i went to states, my purpose of visiting Vegas was to have a quick nosey and rent a car from there. Valley of Fire is just up the road from vegas if you get a car.

As for Vegas, 3 nights would be enough imo, even with mates on ****.

San Diego is a real nice friendly place as mentioned.

If it were me, i'd go NYC for 2 nights and 2 in vegas. With a day to drive to a national park. Can cut costs by staying in hostels, the vegas hostel is a party hostel anyway.

Let us know how you get on.
 
Caporegime
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Is LA too spread out you would need plenty of time allocated to get around it? Definitely a car hire job needed? If it’s not worth the hassle, a few days elsewhere would be better spent. Always been told, 2/3 nights in Vegas is more than enough hence why I was looking to spend a few days in other parts.

Yes, it's ridiculous. You can't get around LA without a car and a lot of your time will be sat in traffic getting from A to B.

There's no one place that everyone goes out or anything like that.

Vegas and San Diego might be your better bet, but that's still a long drive.
 
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If you’ve not driven in the US before, I wouldn’t recommend LA or SF as your first place to do so. Think London at rush hour with worse roads and even more aggressive drivers.

if you’re going to visit LA and want to the Hollywood/Downtown tour, I highly recommend booking one of the guided tours - I’ll try to dig out the website of the one we used if anyone’s interested.

You get driven around in a cool, clean minivan by a guide who knows the place like the back of their hand and because they have special license plates, they get to park right outside the place you want to visit, for example right outside the Chinese Theatre where the Hollywood Walk Of Fame is.

Universal Studios is flat out brilliant. For a once in a lifetime trip, splurge on the VIP tickets. You get valet parking in a very easy to find parking lot (the regular one is the size of Slough), walk straight onto all the rides, get an excellent buffet lunch and a 2 hour back lot tour where you actually get to walk around the sets and visit a prop warehouse. My top tip is for each person to have a small shoulder bag/man purse to put wallet, phone, sunglasses in as you need to remove these for the rides. Our guide was happy to hold these for the party of 12 we were in.

In LV, go to Battlefield Vegas. Want to show the real version of your favourite CoD/MoH/Battlefield guns? No problem, just bring money. If you’re staying on The Strip, they’ll actually come pick up in a real Humvee. Take lots of money as you will want to shoot more than the package you’ve decided on. I paid for the wife and daughters to all shoot a Sig 9mm handgun and I got to put a belt through a Soviet light machine gun. There’s a minigun if you really want to empty your wallet in 5 seconds or less.
 
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Universal Studios is flat out brilliant. For a once in a lifetime trip, splurge on the VIP tickets. You get valet parking in a very easy to find parking lot (the regular one is the size of Slough), walk straight onto all the rides, get an excellent buffet lunch and a 2 hour back lot tour where you actually get to walk around the sets and visit a prop warehouse. My top tip is for each person to have a small shoulder bag/man purse to put wallet, phone, sunglasses in as you need to remove these for the rides. Our guide was happy to hold these for the party of 12 we were in.
We did this. Were with our 2yr old at the time and our guide, who was just for us as a family (5 inc 2yr old) looked after her while we went on the rides. She was fantastic. Was well worth it and the kids still talk about it.

Vegas bender for 3 nights is a good one. Don't sleep, just get on it. Thurs/fri/sat nights you can do some good stuff. I'd plan it around who's on at the time, but really depends on your tastes and what you like to do. You can hit the clubs or have it more calm as the bars and restaurants.
 
Soldato
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I do the drive from La to Vegas every year and can confirm it's quite boring :p Also, I generally stand-up for LA in these threads as it always gets a bashing - but unless you have a real interest in going there, I wouldn't bother. Unless you're interested in hanging out at Venice Beach, going to Universal, seeing Beverley Hills etc..
 
Caporegime
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I do the drive from La to Vegas every year and can confirm it's quite boring :p Also, I generally stand-up for LA in these threads as it always gets a bashing - but unless you have a real interest in going there, I wouldn't bother. Unless you're interested in hanging out at Venice Beach, going to Universal, seeing Beverley Hills etc..

Yeah, it's ok for a few days if you want to do the tourist stuff.

For a birthday - not so much.
 
Soldato
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Just get a direct flight to Vegas IMO if it's for a birthday thing. Do 4 nights there.

The drive from L.A to Vegas is quite far (6 hours) and it's not the most exciting drive...lots of traffic Friday to Sunday.

L.A too sprawling and a lot of it is a dive and San Fran is really expensive.

I would agree with this.

Personally I dont like LA, and the LA to Vegas drive is unbelievably boring and its not an 'experience'.

Four nights in Vegas does seem a little too much IMO, however I would sooner that than a single day in LA.
 
Soldato
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I did 3 days SAN fran, 3 days LA (enough time), 4 days vegas

Sanfran,
day 1 Alkatraz / what ever island (not great but worth a visit as port of the same tour) do what ever island then alkatraz - about 5 or 6 hours
day 2 city tour (full day) about 6 hours (something famous tours)
day 3 probably part day to fill walk / cycle over the bridge / ferry to sausillito - bike back

try clam chouder, dimsum from china town, any fish

LA (would have struggled to fill a 4th and 5th days)
day 1 Universal studios vip tour (full day)
day 2 city tour inc santa monica peir (full day)
day 3 part day Griffith Observatory - do the talk in the video dome thing

Vegas
day 1 fly or drive to grand canyon (full day)
day 2 walk the strip go in all the note worthy casinos (probably full day)
day 3 high roller one evening, shooting (at a range not on the street) - we never did shooting ran out of time (half day)
day 4 visit the old strip eat in Heart attack grill (half day) - Catch a show (was expensive but amazing)

try in and out burger, dennys (cheap), get beers in the shop to keep prices down..

uber everwhere ,
pay with cash as you are leaving restaurants so you don't have to leave such a big tip - harder to do when you pay on card

If you PM me ill send my itinerary
 
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