12 States in 23 days
Replies: 36 - Last Post: Feb 15, 2012 7:12 AM Last Post By: tiltedflipcurves
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12 States in 23 days
Hi, my wife and I are from South Africa (early 30s). We are planning our first trip to the USA in May this year. I will appreciate your comments on the trip, especially the distances we are planning to travel.Fly to New York (sleep 2 nights).
Take a bus to Washington DC (Sleep 1 night)
Rent a car, drive to Raleigh (Sleep 1 night)
Drive to Savannah (Sleep 1 night)
Drive to Orlando (Sleep 2 nights)
Drive to Miami (Sleep 2 nights) Return the rental at Miami
Fly to Dallas, rent a car and drive to Wichita Falls (Sleep 1 night)
Drive to Amarillo (Sleep 1 night)
Drive to Albuquerque (Sleep 1 night)
Drive to Grand Canyon (Sleep 1 night)
Drive to Las Vegas (Sleep 2 nights) Return the rental.
Take a Bus to Los Angeles (Sleep 1 night)
Rent a car and drive to San Luis Obispo (Sleep 1 night)
Drive to San Francisco (Sleep 2 nights). Return the rental
Fly to Yellow stone NP via Salt Lake city (Sleep 1 night)
Drive to Mount Rushmore (Sleep 1 night)
Take bus to Rapid City and fly to New York via Minneapolis (Sleep 1 night)
Thank you.
1
Questions:Did you actually want to see any of these places? You are spending hours and traveling hundreds of miles just to leave the next day.
Why did you choose some of them? Some are worth your time more than others.
What are your interests? This will help us determine which are more worth your time.
Here is a map. I think you need some quality time with it.
Drive to Mount Rushmore (Sleep 1 night)
Take bus to Rapid City
Good luck finding that bus.
Take bus to Rapid City
2
I just checked the first leg of your journey, you want to drive between 365 and 518 km per day, thatis doable, but why do you want to take a bus from NYC to DC? If you drive by car it takes a little
over 4 hours, a bus will take at least 6 hours, you have no time to see anything in DC and there
is a lot to see.
Also what I don't understand that you want to rent a car drive to Las Vegas return it there and take
a bus to LA and rent another car, you know that you pay a lot extra for 1 way rentals?
I think it's too much driving, but I also understand that people want to see it all, I do too ; )).
For distances and driving time use this http://maps.google.com/ you can change it to km.
Edited by: tempelton
4
On the Western Europe branch there is a FAQ/sticky thread on 'trying to fit it all in'http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=2153476
Much of it is true for USA trips as well.
This itinerary is way too much / too fast for me, but hey, if you like this pace, go ahead.
One night in LA and one night in Yellowstone ??
5
Whew! Glad I'm not going on the trip you have planned - I'd meet myself coming and going from al lthose destinations in such a short amount fo time.If you like to move around that much, that is your preference, but I would find it exhausting and not fun. In fact, the distance between many of the destinations ensures that yo will will arrive at one place just in time to sleep and then get up early to leave for the next destination maybe cramming a hamburger down along the way.
Nope, not for me.
6
It's a great itinerary if you enjoy looking at asphalt pavement. If you want to see anything other than endless miles of road, not so much.Cut your destinations in half, and your trip will be much more enjoyable. Why not plan on spending half your time on the East Coast (NYC, Washington DC, Savannah), then catch a flight to Las Vegas or Salt Lake City and spend the remaining time touring the desert, ending your trip in San Francisco? Skip Florida this time around (as it's a long detour to get there), and skip Yellowstone and the Black Hills (as you don't have time to do them justice - Yellowstone is worth a full week on its own, and so are the Black Hills).
7
Fly to Dallas, rent a car and drive to Wichita Falls (Sleep 1 night)Drive to Amarillo (Sleep 1 night)
Drive to Albuquerque (Sleep 1 night)
This makes no sense (unless you have friends in Wichita Falls/Amarillo). Amarillo is a five hour drive from Dallas. Either stop in WF for the night and drive through to Albuquerque the next day, or drive to Amarillo for the night, then on to Alb.
I guess if you intended to sight-see in the Palo Pinto area south of Amarillo, your plans would make more sense, but in that case I would head closer to PP for the first night. We typically do Dallas to Albuquerque in one 10 hour day.
9
I agree with poster #2. Buses in the U.S. are not very pleasant and only very poor people take a long distance bus.You are better off driving from NYC to Washington D.C. or taking the train. Of course, I have no idea why you would go to Washington D.C. for only one night.
Driving to Las Vegas and then dropping off the car and taking the bus to Los Angeles is nonsensical. I have lived in Las Vegas for 15 years and have never heard of anyone taking the bus to Los Angeles. Anyone who owns or has access to a car would drive a car or fly on Southwest or JetBlue for $50 one way. There's no scenery on the route, just fly.
I do see advertisements from time to time for buses from Las Vegas, the ads are exclusively in Spanish, so I suspect the Las Vegas-Los Angeles bus will be the Immigrant Express. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
10
Cut everything between Savannah and Albuquerque and redistribute that time.
Yup.
Your time in New York, Washington DC, and Yellowstone are all almost criminally short.
I'd also agree you should skip the Black Hills (i.e., Mt. Rushmore/Rapid City). Just fly straight from Bozeman or Jackson Hole back east.
Also, if ABQ is just a place to spend the night, then fine--but if you actually want to see New Mexico, it really should be Santa Fe instead. If you're one of these Route 66 people, the stretch in Arizona is better anyway, and you can hit it on your way to the Grand Canyon.
--M.
Edited by: mrpenney
Edited by: mrpenney
12
Welcome to Thorn Tree.Drive to San Francisco (Sleep 2 nights). Return the rental
Fly to Yellow stone NP via Salt Lake city (Sleep 1 night)
Drive to Mount Rushmore (Sleep 1 night)
Fly to Yellow stone NP via Salt Lake city (Sleep 1 night)
Drive to Mount Rushmore (Sleep 1 night)
Flying to Salt Lake City from San Francisco and driving to Yellowstone is an all-day trip.
Driving from Yellowstone to Mt. Rushmore is an all-day trip.
You'll be able to tell your friends that you slept in Yellowstone National Park when you return home.
My usual advice for people who have never been to Yellowstone is plan to spend a week there or don't go. Two weeks is better.
Your trip is way too "busy."
14
Buses in the U.S. are not very pleasant and only very poor people take a long distance bus.
The buses along the Boston-NYC-DC corridor are the major exception to this statement (which generally applies to Greyhound). You will very likely share the bus with yuppies and students while surfing the net on free wifi.
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