Road Tripping in the USA!

Joe T · 28 Feb 2016 at 08:22

Robi said:
Agreed - it's absolutely nothing and I have no issue booking now, but surely flights are only going to drop from this point onwards? Can't hurt to be patient and save a few quid.

Much of it might depend on where the $ rate goes tbh.

Robi · 29 Feb 2016 at 22:01

[TW]Fox;29222485 said:
If it wasn't Thomas Cook I would agree but if they are anything like the other leisure airlines they might not be as dynamic with pricing as the normal airlines.

They have dropped to £450.

Manchester 11:40 - LAX 14:30: 10h 50m direct

LAX 16:30 - Manchester 10:30: 10h direct

Thomas Cook Airlines

Once the other chaps have confirmed holiday leave (which should be next week), I'm booking all of the tickets.

I can't see it dropping any lower than that.

Fox, have you flown with Thomas Cook before?

peter · 1 Mar 2016 at 09:33

Agree with you Fox we did enjoy glacier, the plan is flexible but going down the west coast down to crater lake then lake Tahoe means we would be near the rear of Yosemite ( we only had time to do the valley last time) from there to Yellowstone through glacier to waterton lakes up to Banff back to Vancouver makes 3100 miles in 3 weeks.

Laser402 · 5 Mar 2016 at 15:12

What are peoples opinions on the PCH in 4 Days...

Was initially thinking 2 days in Monterey/Carmel, 1 in Morro Bay/Pismo Beach, 1 closer to LAX (Santa Barbara or even Monica for flight home the next day.

Would driving from Santa Barbara to LAX for an evening flight be wise? Google estimates 2hr drive.

Out of the following where would you divide your 4 days?
Monterey
Carmel
Morro Bay
Pismo Beach
Santa Barbara
Santa Monica

[TW]Fox · 5 Mar 2016 at 17:09

Seems reasonable, we stopped at Monterey, Morro Bay and just after Santa Barbara.

Rich_L · 5 Mar 2016 at 23:48

SB to LAX depends a lot on time of day/commuter traffic, 2hrs no traffic, 5pm on a weekday closer to 4hrs

Joe T · 6 Mar 2016 at 09:56

We stayed Santa Barbara, Carmel and Santa Cruz.

Skalaberg · 7 Mar 2016 at 14:20

Any more useful tips for me!??... Booked the following for next April:

07/04/17 stay 2 nights at the Excalibur Hotel, Las Vegas
09/04/17 stay 1 night at the Best Western Premier Squire Inn, Grand Canyon
10/04/17 stay 1 night at the Excalibur Hotel, Las Vegas
11/04/17 stay 2 nights at the Cedar Lodge Hotel. Yosemite
13/04/17 stay 3 nights at the Whitcomb Hotel, San Francisco
16/04/17 stay 1 night at the Monterey Tides Hotel, Monterey
17/04/17 stay 1 night at Hilton Garden Inn, Pismo Beach
18/04/17 stay 3 nights at the Dunes inn Sunset Hotel, Los Angeles

My wifes 50th next year and she wanted to do something special and this is what she's booked. I have already taken on board the comments about the approach to Yosemite being seasonal (thanks for the warning Fox) so will be checking that carefully. Any thing alse I need to watch out for from other peoples experience here?

tlrBeta · 7 Mar 2016 at 14:41

Why not drive to Death Valley from the Canyon?

Yes it's a fairly long drive, but fairly simple. Either way, you're leaving yourself a big drive from LV to Yosemite (my point of view).

Peerzy · 7 Mar 2016 at 15:03

We day tripped to the GC from Vegas and found that was fine, not sure I'd feel the need to stay there for a night.

Laser402 · 7 Mar 2016 at 15:10

tlrBeta said:
You're leaving yourself a big drive from LV to Yosemite (my point of view).

Agreed, That is a long drive looking at Gmaps!

[TW]Fox · 7 Mar 2016 at 15:11

Peerzy said:
We day tripped to the GC from Vegas and found that was fine, not sure I'd feel the need to stay there for a night.

It's a 10 hour round trip so its hardly an outrageous idea.

Personally its a better use of time on a trip like this to book a tour and fly there from Vegas. You can then use the spare day it release to stay between Vegas and Yosemite to allow death valley to be done properly.

Joe T · 7 Mar 2016 at 15:19

Yep, if you want to do the Canyon in one day then you've really gotta fly. We used http://www.grandcanyontourcompany.com/

a1ex2001 · 7 Mar 2016 at 15:20

[TW]Fox;29255323 said:
It's a 10 hour round trip so its hardly an outrageous idea.

Personally its a better use of time on a trip like this to book a tour and fly there from Vegas. You can then use the spare day it release to stay between Vegas and Yosemite to allow death valley to be done properly.

as a day trip by car it's a very very long day if you want to spend anytime at the Grand Canyon I liked staying overnight as it gave us a chance to see the Canyon at dusk and Dawn when the light is fabulous and the number of people is dramatically reduced. Guess it depends on if you want to hang around or just drive up to the main viewing point and drive back! We also spent a good couple of hours on the way out at the Hoover Damn and popped into Seligman the town that inspired Radiator Springs (Pixar Cars) on the way back.

Peerzy · 7 Mar 2016 at 15:22

[TW]Fox;29255323 said:
It's a 10 hour round trip so its hardly an outrageous idea.

Personally its a better use of time on a trip like this to book a tour and fly there from Vegas. You can then use the spare day it release to stay between Vegas and Yosemite to allow death valley to be done properly.

Oh we drove, but I was suggesting he did a day trip via a flight of some sort.

As you said, it'll give him an extra day to use somewhere else.

leon4112 · 7 Mar 2016 at 19:12

I drove from lax to Vegas last weekend took maybe 4 hours and stayed in Vegas for 4 days before heading to GC for a day then down to Lake Havasu.

We then broke the windscreen in the rental mustang on the way back to LA!!! Stone clipped off a truck on the interstate and got the crack got half way across the windscreen before we got back to the rental store to swop it for a new one.

The weather has been great last week for all that driving I've done 1200 miles so far and I'm staying in thousand oaks as at the moment as the gf wanted to see malibu and i wanted to drive down through the canon to the beach.

Stunning place everyone has been really really nice and friendly Vegas has defiantly been the highlight so far never been anywhere like it it does help that within a hour of being there the gf won 890 dollars with 5 dollars on a monopoly slot machine and i won 300 on another the next 20 mins didn't put it back in either so was a good few days on vegas

Skalaberg · 7 Mar 2016 at 19:39

Laser402 said:
Agreed, That is a long drive looking at Gmaps!

The 9 or so hour drive doesnt particularly bother me but on reflection it might be worth jiggling abit and stopping in death valley to break that journey. Thanks for the input

Skalaberg · 7 Mar 2016 at 19:45

[TW]Fox;29255323 said:
It's a 10 hour round trip so its hardly an outrageous idea.

Personally its a better use of time on a trip like this to book a tour and fly there from Vegas. You can then use the spare day it release to stay between Vegas and Yosemite to allow death valley to be done properly.

This is a very good point.. I'll look into this for sure

ultralaser · 14 Mar 2016 at 21:05

Anyone done a Northern route (say Seattle through Maine)?

[TW]Fox · 14 Mar 2016 at 21:10

ultralaser said:
Anyone done a Northern route (say Seattle through Maine)?

That's quite the Northern route - it's one side to the other, and 70% of it will be spent driving through nothing! Far better to pick a side and focus on it.

I've done both Northern corners - the Pacific Northwest and also New England. Both are a good opportunity to also cover the Canadian portions, too.