Road Tripping in the USA!

That order doesn't make much sense does it? It's very indirect as far as I know from my limited geographical knowledge.

I was looking at doing it arriving and leaving via LA. Up to SF, across to Yosemite, down to Vegas, back to LA, but that's just a very brief circle with more inbetween.

But I guess with the airports you have chosen there's no real easy route through all the places without going back on yourself at some point?
 
Stop in Santa Barbara, beautiful and relaxed. Death Valley unless you're up for hiking in 40 degree heat then stay one night.

We did LA > SD > LV > GC > LV > DV > SF > SB > LA in three weeks.

Great time :)
 
+1 for Santa Barbara, great place. Also if you want to see some crazy sights, check out Venice Beach.

Thought about the Grand Canyon? There's also Hoover dam which isn't too far. But honestly there is so much to do, don't try do too much. I think that is somewhere I think we could have improved on.
 
garriec said:
That order doesn't make much sense does it? It's very indirect as far as I know from my limited geographical knowledge.

I was looking at doing it arriving and leaving via LA. Up to SF, across to Yosemite, down to Vegas, back to LA, but that's just a very brief circle with more inbetween.

But I guess with the airports you have chosen there's no real easy route through all the places without going back on yourself at some point?
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It's pretty much straight down with a detour to Yosmite all the way to SD. Then it's a trip up and across maybe through Mojave to Vegas? Looking again I think Death Valley would be to far. I'll do the Gran Canyon from Vegas.

Your right there is a double back from SD to Vegas passing near LA. San Diego wasn't originally on the cards so it was a nice U / L shape before she found out there was a Zoo in SD :)

We fly back from Vegas so we can max out our time there... no point driving back to LA.
 
zyfar said:
+1 for Santa Barbara, great place. Also if you want to see some crazy sights, check out Venice Beach.

Thought about the Grand Canyon? There's also Hoover dam which isn't too far. But honestly there is so much to do, don't try do too much. I think that is somewhere I think we could have improved on.
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Thanks I was looking at Santa Barbara looks great it's cheaper than Santa Monica for hotels so looks to be a good place to stop and take a break. Going to take a heli ride out to the Canyon from Vegas (unless money runs out) :)
 
maccapacca said:
Stop in Santa Barbara, beautiful and relaxed. Death Valley unless you're up for hiking in 40 degree heat then stay one night.
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I saw someone jogging whilst it was 45-50C a month ago :/ They also do an ultramarathon from Death Valley to Whitney Portals...!

[TW]Fox;24889976 said:
Picked up a Chevrolet Captiva last night. Do not like.
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Why did you do that?
 
Was just what they gave me for a 24 hour one way rental. It was totally crap. I booked a full size and they 'upgraded' me. It was the only US plated car on so I reckon that's why they palmed it off on me.

Happily though I now have my main rental for the next 17 days - a 2013 Cadillac ATS. First impressions - wow. This is a seriously credible 3 Series rival.
 
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Cheap rates in places like Vegas pulled the average down. On my current trip the average is about 65 or so. I booked most of my current trip in advance but left the last 5 days to chance and to be honest it isn't any cheaper just more flexible. Wi-Fi is everywhere, in the unlikely event of broken Wi-Fi just go to McDonalds or something.
 
I've just had a little play, and pretended I was in the USA now and booking the hotels for the next night. It's significantly cheaper than booking well in advance.

I think the likes of Vegas, LA and possibly San Fransisco are worth booking in advance, but would you say the smaller towns were better off booking the night before?
 
Are your test bookings like for like, ie same time of the week? Prices vary hugely depending on time of year and day of the week so your test is of limited value sadly :(

Random places in the middle of nowhere generally are fine to book whenever.
 
Yep, I looked at the hotels you listed in post #121.

Las Vegas and San Fransisco seem to differ on prices depending on time of the week. So I looked at midweek for Vegas and weekend for San Fransisco. There was no benefit to leaving it last minute to book either of those.

Initially I was trying to get prices for September 2014, which is probably why I struggled to find any decent hotels under £50. Even Modesto and Monteray would not show anything under £100. But I'm now assuming that's because the cheaper hotel chains are not yet listed on comparison sites that far in advance! Looking at the same days of the week in September 2013 throws up a lot more hotels, and some nice ones for <£50 a night.
 
[TW]Fox;24971362 said:
RockLobster said:
Where are you staying in Yellowstone fox?
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Not visiting, everything in the park was sold out for months and cheap motels in nearby towns ran to 200 quid a night.
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If you're looking for somewhere and can't find in park accommodation or don't want to camp I'd recommend finding a place in West Yellowstone (Montana).

I stayed in Condo #114 at the Pine Shadows Motel earlier this year and it was great. Very clean, and well equipped. Only downside was the distance to things in the park but wherever you stay you'll end up doing a lot of driving around Yellowstone.

http://www.pineshadowsmotel.com/accommodations.htm
 
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