Stueyb

Hi peeps,

Just after some advice really, I want to take the girlfriend on the trip of a lifetime across America, but I don't really know where to begin. I have been to the US a few times, including California and Florida. However I was with lady friends from the us every time, ie hooked up with chicks before I went .

So the question is, can anyone give me any advice? The budget for this is about £3500 with a bit extra for spends.

However I *have* to visit NC en route because of business needs (only for 2 days or so)

The time frame is 3 weeks and the actual period of the year is flexable as long as it is after April.

Any ideas ?

Cheers

Stu

JackClark

Do your business then fly to California. 3 weeks isn't long enough if you plan on driving across the middle. Yes, you can make it, but the good bits are around the edge. Just like todays Yorkshire pudding.

CooperS

Mate, the only advice I can offer is from my limited experience in the US from 5 years back.

We stayed in NYC for a few days, then hired a car (haggle on the mileage), drove down to Kill Devil Hills in the Outer Banks in North Carolina (really nice beach resort). Stayed there for a week, then drove to Cherokee Indian Reservation, and then along the Blue Ridge Parkway (400 odd miles along some of the BEST scenery I've ever seen), into Washington DC and then back to NYC for a couple more days.

pics here : http://members.tripod.com/andyturner/log.html

Certainly was the trip of a lifetime for us 4 lads.

Hope this helps a bit

16vmarc

Ive been 4 times,

First time was 1 week in Miami, 1 week in Orlando and Disney land! and 1 week in Pittsburgh.
Second time was Virginia, Washington and New York and Canada for Niagra Falls and Pittsburgh again!
Third time was Virginia, visted James Town and Bush Gardens and Pitsburgh again
Forth time was 1 week in Florida and 1 week in Florida Keys

Theres a lot to see! I may ave some of the order wrong there too and maybe missed some places out!! Dont know if that gives you any ideas!

2000TLondon

Places you should ensure you see are New York, obviously, Niagra Falls, The Grand Canyon, San Francisco, New Orleans (although not yet), the Mississippi. Graceland? Boston is supposed to be good, as is Chicago.

Internal flights are cheap, and they are apparently cheaper if you book them from the UK......

The Gumballers did it in 5 days........

RON

I had 3 1/2 weeks over there earlier this year, flew into Denver, and then drove 3810 in total ending in San Francisco, clearly didn't drive a straight line!

The 4wd we had was a bit dull, but went ok, fuel is cheaper than here, but they think it's expensive, distances are vast, Grand canyon is a must, you just can't grasp the scale of it.... if you're an outside/nature lover, there are national parks everywhere, flights and hotels/motels can mostly be booked online if you plan the route well, cheaper than just turning up aswell..... might be a bit tight on £3500, but do-able..... i'd say drive the whole way, you'll never forget the trip, and you won't be faffin about getting different cars or sitting in airports.... i'd say don't think you can drive more than 450 miles a day, i had never driven on the right before, and i found that i became just more and more tired the longer we were there, every junction i had to really think, only made a couple of **** ups, one on the last day can you believe!!

Organise it well, and it'll be a good trip..

Oh, and breakfasts are huge, Denny's and IHP were the best..... eat loads for Breakfast, and you won't need any lunch!!

Enjoy!

Tim-Grove

Just out of interest I had a nose to see if they had a web site.


MY GOD I now know why Americans are fat heffers

Check these breakfasts out

http://www.dennys.com/en/cms/Breakfast/40.html

stiscooby

Me and the girl friend went over there this Sept. We spent the first week in Florida, then flew over to Las Vegas where we spent 4 nights i think it was???(went to Grand Canyon etc) then from there we flew back over to New York and spent about 3 nights there.

Had a great time, we had been to Florida and NYC before but we wanted to go to Las Vegas so decided to go back to Florida & NYC again as they are both great places with plenty of things to do and see etc.

You could do something similar but if you wanted to hire a car and drive to different places while in a particular area of the states (east coast, west coast etc etc).

For that trip inc all flights and hotels it was just over 1K each so didn't think that was too bad really, plus we had some nice hotels too.

What ever you end up doing you will have a great time anyway, it's hard not too over there!

john_s

iTrader: (1)

It can definitely be done in that

I went coast to coast (NY to LA) with my best mate in 17 days, including full days in some cities. Never really bother to add up what it cost, but I'd guess that it was probaly in the region of £3000-3500. We did about 5,500 miles.

We went mid-september to early october, and the view were great, as all the trees were just starting to turn.

We didn't really have a plan about what we were doing, just made it all up as we went along. It worked out really well... what a fantastic holiday!

If you'd like to know more, just ask away... post, PM, or email.

John.

Stueyb

Thanks for the advice everyone. Ive been looking at some of the suggestions people have put in, but there is so many lol. Who did everyone go with flight wise because there are huge variations in price. I think first thing first is to get the flights booked, so i have definatr days

RON

We went with American Airlines, on their site you can book flights to and from a different place, not a return trip from the same place..... not many you can do that with easily....

www.AA.com

john_s

iTrader: (1)

We flew Virgin Atlantic (Heathrow > JFK and LAX > Heathrow). I'd give them a big

One thing we decided was that we'd not need a car in New York or Washington, so missed out a few days hire while we were in the cities.

Forgot to say above... be prepared for a big one way charge on the car hire... ours was more than the hire itself!

John.

RON

We had our car from Alamo, but booked through holiday autos, there was no one way charge, and we had unlimited mileage aswell...... we even managed to do about 400 miles off road!! well, on raods, but they were dirt roads...
you can't really tell, but this bit was seriously down hill..!!