1

Welcome to the forum.

I would have a week (six nights) maximum in NYC. In terms of night-life etc, I recommend you find a place to stay south of about 20th Street - it is a lot more interesting than Midtown, Central Park, Times Square, etc. Two very good trips you can do (without a car) from NYC are Boston and Washington DC. Go by bus or train, with say three nights in each.

When you get to Las Vegas definitely rent a car, and if you have two weeks + left after your East Coast venture, you can do a very good loop from LV that includes the Grand Canyon NP (South Rim or North Rim), Zion NP, back to Las Vegas, and then across to Lake Tahoe or Yosemite NP (depending on your interests), into San Francisco, and then drive the coast road from there to Los Angeles. All good. But note you are travelling at peak time ... when you work out your itinerary you will need to pre-book lots of places.

We (also Australians) have stayed in many HI Hostels in the US, and while they are generally very good in terms of facilities, they are not crazy party hostels at all. So have a look at Green Tortoise in SF - might suit your party needs more.

We have used carhire3000.com to book a car before we arrived in the US - they were price competitive and good to deal with. There are no rental car drop-off fees between Las Vegas and California, we have found. In terms of your one domestic flight (NYC > Las Vegas) kayak.com is as good as any in finding you the flights for your day.

In terms of greats pubs and clubs, I know very little ... but I am sure there is a comprehensive gig guide in every place you're likely to visit. Similarly, the various sports associations will have good details on sporting events. BTW Monday night in Las Vegas there are really cheesy sportsbook nights in the major casinos (Harrah's etc) - they're quite good fun in an Aussie leagues club dopey kind of way.

2

I use http://www.hostelbookers.com which includes hostel ratings. The USA does not have very many hostels compared with Europe and elsewhere. Motels, such as Motel 6, Quality Inns, La Quinta, etc., cost about the same price as some hostels for a private, double room.

3

Will only speak of SF and LA. In the City by The Bay try to secure a room here: http://www.metrohotelsf.com/accommodations.html
In the City of Angels either of these places meet your criteria: http://www.vibehotel.com/ (try to see the Thai Elvis on Friday nights right next door at The Palms restaurant) or http://thepodshare.com/ right in the heart of Hollywood and a few blocks away from the Vibe.
While in SF you can see a SF Giants game at AT & T Park one of the prettiest ballparks in the states: http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/schedule/index.jsp?c_id=sf#y=2012&m=8&calendar=DEFAULT and yes I'm biased. Been a Giants fan twice as long as you've dwelled on the planet. We are in 1st place at the moment. Might also check to see what sports are being played across the Bay at CAL. Roll on you Bears! Football will not have started yet. As far as where to find a game of pool and a pint here are my recommends. Family Billards in the Laurel Heights neighborhood, http://www.familybilliards-sf.com/ nicer than Route 101 on Van Ness. In LA try my favorite dive bar, Frank and Hank's in Koreatown. Lastly, Southwest Airlines or JetBlue are good options to get you from one city to the next. Book in advance and online for the best deals.http://www.southwest.com/, http://www.jetblue.com/.
Enjoy your visit to the States.

4

FAQ 260 (which I wrote) is a comprehensive guide to U.S. sports (including tips on ticketing). NFL season starts early September, with pre-season games in August. There is no NFL in Los Angeles.

There are, however, two big-time college football teams: UCLA (usually pretty bad, but they play home games in the Rose Bowl, which is a plus); and USC (usually pretty good, though recently they've been on the NCAA shit-list, so they've struggled a bit). As with NFL, by early September there will be college football.

Glancing at the schedule there, I wouldn't look much farther than that Sept. 8 game with UCLA vs. Nebraska at the Rose Bowl, if you can get tickets to that. Should be good.

--M.

5

I guess it depends what you in to.

I’ve lived in the NE USA almost my whole life and in addition to NY I have found Niagara Falls, Philadelphia, the South New Jersey Shore, Boston, Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and Washington DC all to be very much worthwhile.

• If you go to the south NJ shore go of body surfing (ask the locals when the best tides for that are.) They have some great amusement parks and water parks on the boardwalks in Atlantic City and in Wildwood so you can safely skip Six Flags. You’ll need a car to get there 9well I suppose you could slum it and take a bus from Philadelphia), once you get there if you are within a few blocks of the boardwalk they are each walking towns.

• Philadelphia is worth a day or three. Be sure to ask about cheese steaks and scrapple.

• If you watch a couple of films first, the Gettysburg battlefield is well worth the trip. But a car is a necessity to get there from any airport. If you have the money, you can even get a horseback tour of the battlefield. Not too far away is a ski resort that in the summer turns into a zip-line resort. I’ve never been there but I have heard great things.

• Baltimore’s Inner Harbor is great but finding an affordable place to stay is nearly impossible. There’s a lot to see and do there but everything is $10 for this and $15 for that. The seafood is famous as is the Italian food. The place is reportedly a death trap after dark. If you go pubbing, take a cab.

• If you go to DC make sure your hotel is near a metro station. The guided tour of the Capitol is worthwhile. Walking around on your own there is a waste of time. The Air and Space Museum is also a LOT better with a guided tour. There are some decent yuppy pubs in DC’s Georgetown area as well. Georgetown is pretty safe at night but has no metro stop. The Dupont Circle area is where the cool folks hang out and it DOES have a metro stop. It’s still reasonably safe. It’s an artsy area and used to be the gay district.

• The Boston-NYC-Philadelphia-Baltimore-DC train line is the only decent one in America, and each of those cities can be seen without a car. If you want to do just major cities while on the East Coast you could avoid the hassle of a car altogether.

Enjoy your journey.

6

In Dupont Circle, with pool table: http://www.bierbarondc.com/wordpress2/

I haven't been there since a recent change of owners/name, but I understand they acquired the previous outfit's stellar brew collection.

7

I have. It's a lot quieter, with older clientele (at least when I've been).

You may want to pop over the border and visit Continental.

8

[rolls eyes] Australians...

Allowances need to be made ... for many Australians, the United States of America means Frisco, Hollywood, Disneyland, Vegas, Route 66, Bourbon Street, Disney World, Niagara Falls, and Times Square ... that's about it.

9

Thanks for the advice everyone. I have added all the links to my favs, some good things to think about.

Just booked tickets to the UCLA Nebraska game.

10

How much does the train from New York to Philly cost?

And how long does it take?

Also same question for Philly to DC ??

Thanks again!

11

Any search engine will give you that information ... no need to ask here.

12

Amtrak.

13

Re #s 7 and 8 -- new suggestion, went there tonight and was impressed: St. Arnold's Mussel Bar (the new Cleveland Park second venue). Just check that the pool table isn't removed in the remodel scheduled for a few months hence. Great Belgian beers, mussels to match.

14

I'm traveling to Asstralia. Where should I have lunch?