Planning a holiday to U.S and need help

lrecks

Hi everyone,
I'm trying to plan a trip to the states for my boyfriends 30th. We have two weeks off work but id like two days to recover when we get home. San Francisco for four night and Las vegas for three was my original plan but i know he would love to see New york. I wonder would you guys recommend two nights in NYC as first stop or is it all too much travelling to enjoy? I also considered flying to san Fran and driving via Yosemite to Vegas. I am on a budget but i wanna give him a great trip and id really appreciate your advice

silja

Road trip from San Fran to Vegas can be fun, I did that once, and stopped at Joshua Tree National Park.

As to doing three cities (NY, SF and Vagas), it is doable, but it depends how much/ what you want to do in each place?

lrecks

silja wrote: »

Road trip from San Fran to Vegas can be fun, I did that once, and stopped at Joshua Tree National Park.

As to doing three cities (NY, SF and Vagas), it is doable, but it depends how much/ what you want to do in each place?

Thanks for your reply. NYC doesnt have big appeal to me but I know he would like to see times square and experience it. How did you find driving from San Fran to Vegas?

Tangey99

From personal experience, setting these agendas for a couple of days here and there sounds great when doing the planning. But when it comes to the holiday, you have to remember you spend significant amounts of time packing, going to the airport getting thru security, then at the other end, picking up your bags, looking for a taxi/shuttle bus, going to your hotel, waiting to check-in at the hotel etc. Do all of that x3, and you are spending a lot of time just in the act of pre/post travel, never mind the actual travelling time.

A couple of days is really short. You might very well find yourself for example landing somewhere @ 5pm, it'll be 7-8pm before you get to a hotel. That's most of that day wasted. You have 1 full day the following day, and if it is an early flight out, you might spend most of that evening preparing for your early flight.

I tend to plan for a minimum of 3 nights stay anywhere that I am flying to (except short haul stuff). That means you are guaranteed one full day that you are not just arrived, nor flying out the next day.

My holiday this november consists of Las Vegas for 5 nights, Los Cabos for 7 nights, and San Fran for 3 nights. Even though the Los Cabos-> San Fran flight is only 3 hrs, I still stuck to my 3 night rule.
Just my 2cents worth.

lrecks

Tangey99 wrote: »

From personal experience, setting these agendas for a couple of days here and there sounds great when doing the planning. But when it comes to the holiday, you have to remember you spend significant amounts of time packing, going to the airport getting thru security, then at the other end, picking up your bags, looking for a taxi/shuttle bus, going to your hotel, waiting to check-in at the hotel etc. Do all of that x3, and you are spending a lot of time just in the act of pre/post travel, never mind the actual travelling time.

A couple of days is really short. You might very well find yourself for example landing somewhere @ 5pm, it'll be 7-8pm before you get to a hotel. That's most of that day wasted. You have 1 full day the following day, and if it is an early flight out, you might spend most of that evening preparing for your early flight.

I tend to plan for a minimum of 3 nights stay anywhere that I am flying to (except short haul stuff). That means you are guaranteed one full day that you are not just arrived, nor flying out the next day.

My holiday this november consists of Las Vegas for 5 nights, Los Cabos for 7 nights, and San Fran for 3 nights. Even though the Los Cabos-> San Fran flight is only 3 hrs, I still stuck to my 3 night rule.
Just my 2cents worth.

Thats good advise and makes sense. Thanks very much. Los cabos sounds very interesting.

Paul_Hacket

I live in New York and have been to Vegas and San Francisco several times, including driving between them. You really can't do both New York and the West Coast in one 12 day trip and begin to do justice to either of them. If you're on a budget you will save yourself a lot by choosing one or the other and focusing on that. What time of year are you going? Weather makes a huge difference in New York and Vegas - December to March are horrible in New York and you will fry in Vegas in July and August.

New York is somewhere you can visit for a shorter length of time in the future, if I was you I'd consider going out west. You could fly to Vegas where car rentals are cheap, then do a loop via Yosemite to SF (do at least 3 nights in SF), down the amazing Pacific Coast Highway via Montarey and Santa Barbara, spend a night in Venice Beach in LA and head back to Vegas for a night before leaving. Most people really only need three nights in Vegas in total, after that it gets kind of tedious unless you have a major interest in gambling.

InTheTrees

United fly through Newark Airport which is right next to Manhattan. If you use an agent (or kayak.com) you can specify a long stopoff time at no extra charge (sometimes cheaper too) and there's plenty of time to take a 20min shuttle ($15 rt to times sq) in to Time Square and have two or tree hours wandering around before you need to head back to the airport for your next flight. I've done it numerous times going between Dublin and Seattle and its really fun.

The only prob is that you need to do it on the INbound flight (to SF), so that you're returning to the airport to board a Domestic US flight and not an international one. Which might make it a slightly adventurous move to pull on your first visit to the states!

Just a though, if you're on a budget though, its like a free afternoon in NY.

InTheTrees

There's still plenty of time for you to do four nights in SF, three in LV and then 2 in New York.

On the way home though, its a good way to finish the trip.