Road Tripping in the USA!

shadow_boxer · 12 Jan 2016 at 10:48

Hi guys just after a little bit of advice. The wife and I have a couple of weeks off at the end of March and have been toying with the idea of a USA road trip. Seems we can can flights from the UK to LA for sub £500 return which seems pretty decent to me. Our main concern is the weather. Now I understand some of the mountainous areas will be closed further North but what is the weather like around LA, San Diego, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon around this time of year. Seem to get bit of conflicting information. Some say it's okay or is it worth putting off until another time in the year. We're not sun worshipers or anything but would like it mild to warm I guess

Just in the very early stages of brainstorming a possible trip but any thoughts most welcomed?

[TW]Fox · 12 Jan 2016 at 12:29

LA etc will always be fine but it's hit or miss out towards Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon - the elevation at Flagstaff is 7000 feet and they do get snow. The Canyon rim is a similar elevation.

Personally I would recommend June or September as a combination of best weather without getting ripped off for flights.

shadow_boxer · 12 Jan 2016 at 12:48

Thanks Fox. Probably as I suspected to be honest. It's a real shame as we rarely got two weeks off together from work but September sounds much better. Back to the drawing board to where we can go in March!

Housey · 13 Jan 2016 at 12:03

I have to head down to New Orleans in early March for a few days and was thinking of tacking on some R&R at the end of business commitments. I don't really know that part of the US well and was thinking about getting a car and going for a drive for a few days, ideally to an end place that has a direct flight back to the UK. Anyone got experience of the area and suggestions for good places to visit by car, obviously with stop offs where needed. I did think about heading into Austin as I have a few friends there but welcome anyone who had any ideas on what a good plan might be.

ADT · 13 Jan 2016 at 12:36

shadow_boxer said:
Hi guys just after a little bit of advice. The wife and I have a couple of weeks off at the end of March and have been toying with the idea of a USA road trip. Seems we can can flights from the UK to LA for sub £500 return which seems pretty decent to me. Our main concern is the weather. Now I understand some of the mountainous areas will be closed further North but what is the weather like around LA, San Diego, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon around this time of year. Seem to get bit of conflicting information. Some say it's okay or is it worth putting off until another time in the year. We're not sun worshipers or anything but would like it mild to warm I guess

Just in the very early stages of brainstorming a possible trip but any thoughts most welcomed?

I went Cali this September that went. I have an uncle that lives in Sacramento so I started from there and drove to San Francisco then to LA then to San Diego. When I was in LA the temperatures reached 41C at one point! I would recommend September as well.

[TW]Fox · 13 Jan 2016 at 12:38

Yes I was there this September too, 45c at one point in Palm Springs!

shadow_boxer · 13 Jan 2016 at 13:11

[TW]Fox;29050821 said:
Yes I was there this September too, 45c at one point in Palm Springs!

Thanks. That's definitely a bit too warm for me!! My wife's cousin lives in Sacramento and will be getting married at end of August so we might try to get the wedding in and a 10 day road tip then if we can get leave from work.

ADT · 13 Jan 2016 at 13:23

shadow_boxer said:
Thanks. That's definitely a bit too warm for me!! My wife's cousin lives in Sacramento and will be getting married at end of August so we might try to get the wedding in and a 10 day road tip then if we can get leave from work.

Escape from Sacramento as soon as you can. Boring is not enough to describe it

[TW]Fox · 13 Jan 2016 at 14:09

ADT said:
Escape from Sacramento as soon as you can. Boring is not enough to describe it

Depends what you are into I guess. Its well worth an afternoon looking round.

ADT · 13 Jan 2016 at 14:16

[TW]Fox;29051388 said:
Depends what you are into I guess. Its well worth an afternoon looking round.

Well compared to LA/SF etc. Old Sacramento was nice but I would say a day or two are enough. I spent 8 days in Sacramento!

thedoc46 · 13 Jan 2016 at 18:01

Housey said:
I have to head down to New Orleans in early March for a few days and was thinking of tacking on some R&R at the end of business commitments. I don't really know that part of the US well and was thinking about getting a car and going for a drive for a few days, ideally to an end place that has a direct flight back to the UK. Anyone got experience of the area and suggestions for good places to visit by car, obviously with stop offs where needed. I did think about heading into Austin as I have a few friends there but welcome anyone who had any ideas on what a good plan might be.

New Orleans is a s.hole. (Was there a few weeks ago) For 90% of it. There are some nice pockets. Most of suburbs were flooded during Hurricane Katrina 10yrs ago, and some places that were 20ft under water, have never been rebuilt. So it's a kinda wasteland with the odd home here and there. The rest of the city is in dire need to repair, as a large percentage of New Orleans was home to blacks living on the poverty line, so as a result, they've not had the money to repair their homes.. So the place looks like its really run down. Roads are a complete nightmare. As in pot holes and some of the asphalt is completely gone in what was the heavily flooded areas.

The expensive areas such as Bourbon St in the French Quarter are still dirty full of beggars and bums. Tho there are some very nice resturants. People call it a party street, but i'd rather spend my time elsewhere.

Nicest places to visit would be Pensacola if you head East. Hattisburg, for some civil war history, if you head north east. Mobile, Biloxi and Gulfport are also worth a look i suppose. I didn't head any further West than New Orleans. But the entire Bayou area is very flat and swampy. So not much in terms of topography.

thedoc46 · 13 Jan 2016 at 18:05

shadow_boxer said:
Hi guys just after a little bit of advice. The wife and I have a couple of weeks off at the end of March and have been toying with the idea of a USA road trip. Seems we can can flights from the UK to LA for sub £500 return which seems pretty decent to me. Our main concern is the weather. Now I understand some of the mountainous areas will be closed further North but what is the weather like around LA, San Diego, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon around this time of year. Seem to get bit of conflicting information. Some say it's okay or is it worth putting off until another time in the year. We're not sun worshipers or anything but would like it mild to warm I guess

Just in the very early stages of brainstorming a possible trip but any thoughts most welcomed?

It'll be cold. with lots of snow. But still nice. I've been there during Winter and loved it.. Mind you, I live in the tropics, so its a nice breath of fresh air, to see something other than warm weather, beaches and sunshine !

Housey · 13 Jan 2016 at 18:28

thedoc46 said:
New Orleans is a s.hole. (Was there a few weeks ago) For 90% of it. There are some nice pockets. Most of suburbs were flooded during Hurricane Katrina 10yrs ago, and some places that were 20ft under water, have never been rebuilt. So it's a kinda wasteland with the odd home here and there. The rest of the city is in dire need to repair, as a large percentage of New Orleans was home to blacks living on the poverty line, so as a result, they've not had the money to repair their homes.. So the place looks like its really run down. Roads are a complete nightmare. As in pot holes and some of the asphalt is completely gone in what was the heavily flooded areas.

The expensive areas such as Bourbon St in the French Quarter are still dirty full of beggars and bums. Tho there are some very nice resturants. People call it a party street, but i'd rather spend my time elsewhere.

Nicest places to visit would be Pensacola if you head East. Hattisburg, for some civil war history, if you head north east. Mobile, Biloxi and Gulfport are also worth a look i suppose. I didn't head any further West than New Orleans. But the entire Bayou area is very flat and swampy. So not much in terms of topography.

Yea I'm aware it's a bit of **** tip so was planning to do what I need to do there and get out. Wife will probably fly over when I've done my work related stuff so in 2 minds if I should just meet her in NY or Boston and use that as a base. Want to stay east coast or middle really.

Robi · 13 Jan 2016 at 22:59

Fox, I'm starting to put together a budget for the trip. Apart from the obvious flights, insurance etc, anything else in particular I should account for? I'm thinking of things like Grand Canyon tour, Mustang hire...

What did you account for in yours?

[TW]Fox · 13 Jan 2016 at 23:15

Things to account for:

a) Flights. No idea about school holidays but outside the school holidays do not pay more than £500 to LAX.
b) Car hire - budget £30 a day for a Luxury Saloon or a Mustang Cab. If it's more than this you've not looked hard enough for a deal.
c) Hotels - your average will be between £50 and £80 a night for the trip depending on your tastes and how close you need to be to city centres. Note average - San Fran for example will be three figures, middle of nowhere Motels will be much less. We now buy almost every hotel through Hotels.com - you get 10% Quidco and you get a credit for every night you stay, which after 10 is good for a 'free' night. They'll start adding up, we are usually redeeming several 'free' nights per trip. Hotels.com is usually as cheap as it gets anyway so the bonus points and cashback really add up.
d) Food - this is entirely personal. We are not that fussed so are happy enough with a $30-40 bill for two at the local Applebees grille...
e) Activities - how long is a piece of string? Our only real activity cost tends to be National Park fees these days. This year we did 9 national parks so bought an America the Beautiful pass for just $80.

We tend to spend much less than you'd expect as the focus on being sufficiently frugal that we enjoy the trip but the trips are still sustainable now they are an annual thing rather than a 'once' type trip where you'd be more tempted to go mad on best hotels ever and gourmet dining..

Also think about how you pay for the trip - I pay for everything on a credit card with some sort of introductory bonus now which usually gets me a couple of free nights at least on the trip. This time we stayed for free using Hilton points from a credit card signup bonus at the Waldorf Astoria Resort in Park City

Few trips before that we had 3 nights in a Sheraton in Vancouver for nothing using Starwood points transferred from an Amex signup bonus...

Peerzy · 14 Jan 2016 at 21:12

We always go in school holidays on our trips. Generally everything averages out at £1000 per person per week (this literally includes everything so food, drink, shopping and spending money).

Our 3 week LA, San Diego, Vegas, San Fran trip cost us about £6k (18 months ago).
Our 4 week Pacific Northwest trip was all budgeted at £8k but we went over as it ended up becoming our honeymoon.

In school holiday we averaged £100 per night for hotels.

thedoc46 · 14 Jan 2016 at 21:51

Housey said:
Yea I'm aware it's a bit of **** tip so was planning to do what I need to do there and get out. Wife will probably fly over when I've done my work related stuff so in 2 minds if I should just meet her in NY or Boston and use that as a base. Want to stay east coast or middle really.

Why don't you do the Blue Ridge Parkway since you're saying middle. Boston or NY can be miserable this time of yr.. Been to Boston this time of yr, and did not enjoy myself at all..... Whereas been there in summer and absolutely loved it !

Joe T · 20 Jan 2016 at 16:56

Just booked flights to Chicago! We were planning to have a cheap(ish) UK-based holiday this year after last year's West Coast trip, and then go to the US again in 2017. However, the draw of a particular music festival has meant we are going again this year... A bit like Fox, this might turn into an annual thing!

For us, the costs are a bit higher than Fox has stated, although mostly just the flights as we fly Premium Economy. Our West Coast trip (2.5 weeks) cost £7k.

Virgin Atlantic flights to Chicago were only slightly cheaper than we paid to San Franciso last year. I looked at the USD rate (now really isnt a good time to be buying anything priced in USD) and the deterioation probably accounts for why they arent significantly cheaper given the shorter distance. I imagine most of the airline's costs are USD denominated.

On top of the music festival, we are looking at going to a NASCAR race, a visit to Detroit, exploring northern Michigan, and possibly a tour of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. However, lots more research to do before I decide. So far only the music festival and the flights have been booked.

I book most things via Expedia for the cashback (12% from quidco - flights 1%) and the itinerary thing they have on the website/app. Car hire I book direct with the agency (again quidco applies). Expedia offer car cheaper rates but less cashback I found. Cashback on car hire can be significant. I used Alamo in the West Coast, but its looking like Hertz may be much cheaper this time. Next decision is 'Luxury' (Buick Lacrosse etc) or 'Standard SUV' (Chevrolet Equinox etc). The SUV is notably cheaper on this occasion.

I wonder what the exchange rate is going to do. Graph here.

[TW]Fox · 20 Jan 2016 at 17:15

The reason why the flights are not much cheaper is nothing really to do with the USD depreciation (It looks bad but its only about 5%) but more the fact the Chicago is not a leisure heavy destination in the same way SFO and to a greater extent LAX are, therefore the willingness to pay is, on average, higher.

This is why LAX, despite being about as far as you can possibly fly, is one of the best value destinations - there is so much capacity and competition.

Hope Chicago is fun for you, I've always wanted to visit but I always struggle to fit it into a trip as it's surrounded by 800 miles of nothingness in most directions which makes it really hard to tag onto a road trip. Perhaps next year we'll do Chicago and over to North Dakota and Wyoming.

Joe T · 20 Jan 2016 at 18:28

You may be right, but currently flights to San Fran (Virgin PE) seem to be £150-£200 higher than we paid last year. Last year I booked on 27 Dec, so it could be Jan price gouging I guess.

Re Chicago, we might not actually visit the city (would be kinda a shame though). Currently we will be flying in, and then driving straight out for an event the next day. Might do a day or two at the end. Still working on this bit!