Road Tripping in the USA!

[rossk26]

Exactly the route I did in 2010.

I would revise it slightly and go along i40 from Barstow and then via Amboy on Route 66 and up through Mohave Desert National Preserve to Vegas. We did that this year on the way from LA to Vegas and it was worth the detour.

Thanks for that, I'll definitely do that. I've just noticed, does my route take my through death valley? Or do I need to be on the 190?

 

[[TW]Fox]

Your route skirts round it, you need to go through it via Stovepipe wells.

 

[rossk26]

Thought so, I've updated the route now in original post. Couldn't amend it any further as I know it misses some coastal roads off.

As for Yosemite, is this something that can be done in a day from waking up in Mammoth Lakes to driving through, stopping for a walk around, seeing all the scenery then driving to say Modesto? Or would an overnight stay in Yosemite be better to have longer to see all the sights?

Also where is best to stay along the PCH? 3 overnight stops enough?

 

[peter]

We camped in Yosemite for 3 nights last year and it was not enough going back next year.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Thought so, I've updated the route now in original post. Couldn't amend it any further as I know it misses some coastal roads off.

As for Yosemite, is this something that can be done in a day from waking up in Mammoth Lakes to driving through, stopping for a walk around, seeing all the scenery then driving to say Modesto? Or would an overnight stay in Yosemite be better to have longer to see all the sights?

Depends who you speak to. Some will insist unless you move there and spend 5 years of your life in the park you miss out. Others are happy to just call in.

We did exactly as you intend - Mammoth Lakes to Modesto in one day. We felt it was just right for us.

Yosemite is a wonderful place but it's very hyped - there are numerous other parks in the USA that don't get half as many mentions but are arguably even more beautiful and quieter.

I think the main draw of Yosemite is that its so close to the major population areas, thus its more accessible.

Also where is best to stay along the PCH? 3 overnight stops enough?

We stopped three times - once near Monterrey, once the other side of the good big around Big Sur (Morro Bay?) and then again closer to LA.

 

[[TW]Fox]

We camped in Yosemite for 3 nights last year and it was not enough going back next year.

Rather than going back to the same park you've already been to why not spend some time in other parks in the National Park system? Many are even better than Yosemite.

What about Yellowstone? Bryce Canyon? Canyonlands? Rocky Mountain? Glacier?

Tick these off before revisiting old ground...

 

[Peerzy]

Mammoth Lakes is beautiful.

I would stay 1 night in Mammoth Lakes, 1 night in Yosemite (Curry Village) and then your next night would be in San Fran.

We did the PCH over 4 nights and found the following stops ideal in terms of distance and seeing everything;

16/9: Las Vegas
17/9: Mammoth Lakes
18/9: Yosemite
19/9: San Fransisco
20/9: San Fransisco
21/9: San Francisco
22/9: Monterey
23/9: San Luis Obispo
24/9: Santa Barbara
25/9: Santa Barbara
26/9: Flight Home

 

[rossk26]

Excellent, thanks for the advice

 

[RobHu]

We did almost the same route as Peerzy:

Vegas -> Mammoth (leave early though as it's a long drive if you want to stop to see the sights in DV!)
1 night in mammoth - Unfortunately arrived quite late so didn't get to see much.
1 night in yosemite - We stayed in one of those permanent tents, it was ok !

As for the PCH we did:
1 night in Monterey
1 night in Pismo beach
1 night in Santa Barbara

To be honest if I do the trip again I'd like to double the time spent in the PCH towns - They're all great.

 

[Fr0dders]

So we're planning to do our East Coast trip in 2017 (after having lost out in 2015)

Itinerary looks like this

31/07 - Vegas
01/08 - Vegas
02/08 - Vegas
03/08 - Mammoth Lakes
04/08 - Yosemite
05/08 - San Francisco
06/08 - San Francisco
07/08 - San Francisco
08/08 - Monterey
09/08 - San Luis
10/08 - santa Barbara
11/08 - Los Angeles (Hollywood & Santa Monica)
12/08 - Los Angeles (California Disney)
13/08 - Los Angeles (California Disney)
14/08 - Los Angeles (Universal studios)


any suggestions for places to stay in Yosemite and mammoth lakes, also the pacific coast highway destinations like Monterey and San Luis ?

 

[[TW]Fox]

Way too much Los Angeles and with that route there is no point starting and finishing in Vegas, flights are cheaper to Los Angeles. You can get there for as little as £400 each direct - Vegas is usually about £200ish more expensive per person so IMHO if you have a trip where you are going to LA anyway you are mad not to start there.

Also... 2017?! Honestly I'd forget about the whole thing for at least a year! It's ages away!

 

[CraigN]

I would recommend one less day in LA (personally) and one more in Yosemite.

I stayed here:

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_...iniums-Yosemite_National_Park_California.html

very basic but good as a base.

I stayed here in Monterey:

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_...e-Monterey_Monterey_Peninsula_California.html

The owners were awesome let us check in early and were very helpful.

 

[Fr0dders]

we're a family that can spend 14 days in disney world resort florida, so we will easily use up 3 days in LA just doing Disney World California and Universal. I know fox and others won't be interested in the parks, but each to their own and all that, we (and plenty of others) like 'em. That then leaves a day to do the tourist stuff like see the Hollywood sign, find the chinese theater, go on Santa Monica Pier, walk of fame etc..

as for flight prices. I had planned to fly to LAX as you did fox, but Virgin Atlantic want £2800 for the three of us to go to LAX but £2500 to Vegas so it's actually cheaper to Vegas. Plus the vegas flight is from Gatwick which is smaller, and we will have the Virgin V lounge too as we'll be flying with Virgin. BA want £3k for LAX and £2600 to Vegas, so vegas is cheaper again, and Virgin is cheaper than BA.

*edit* checked netflights and the prices are coming out the same. Vegas is cheaper on netflights for both BA and Virgin. Even if i'm flexible on airlines the best I can do flying to LAX is match the Vegas price flying Norwegian Airways. No thanks ! Please feel free to search other websites and prove me wrong, but everything i'm seeing shows Vegas cheaper than LAX for august this year.

I know flights with changes are cheaper, but I'm not interested. Direct only for us, especially with a wife who is afraid of flying. So unless theres a magic website i'm not seeing, Vegas is cheaper than LAX.

 

[[TW]Fox]

You can't possibly know how much the flights are this far out. So much can and will change, its almost 2 years away. Airline pricing is a dark art, the price you see today is not necessarily reflective of what you should be expecting to pay. I can see why you've decided on Vegas - currently for a dummy booking for August 16 it is indeed slightly cheaper to fly to LAS but frankly at a grand each in economy these are nonsense prices, they are just fares the airlines haven't started to yield manage with yet. As you get closer you'll see movement on them. Probably April time will be a more reasonable time to look.

If we pick 4 months time instead of 8 months time for example the cheapest direct flight to LAX is half the cost of the cheapest direct flight to LAS. You need to work out what the right price is and simply wait for it - I paid £470 to LAX last year and this year it's looking even cheaper with the oil prices coming down, Air New Zealand were as low as £399 for dates into 2016 last month. You won't get anything like to Vegas direct.

Trust me, I spend way, way too long monitoring transatlantic flight prices - with so long to plan and wait, you WILL get to LAX cheaper than you will get to Vegas. You can't just do a random spot check and decide from there. LAX is a more competitive market served by more direct flights with more carriers.

Bought smartly LAX is insane value really - it's almost as cheap as flying to the East Coast, last year we did a trip that frankly would have been better starting from Vegas (We did Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona) but still ended up doing LAX instead because it's just so much better value.

Vegas is premium priced because it attracts the stag do crowd, LAX is usually so much cheaper that even if you are only going to Vegas it's usually cheaper to fly to LAX and drive a Mustang across the desert to Vegas

FWIW there is actually nothing wrong with Norwegian, they fly the 787 to LAX which is somewhat better than the 20 year old 747's Virgin fly to Vegas

As you are going in 2017 I honestly wouldn't bother putting any effort into anything except keeping an eye on flight pricing so you get a handle on what the right 'base' price to aim for is. Then this time next year start planning it with a view to booking flights about 3-5 months before you go.

 

[Fr0dders]

I would recommend one less day in LA (personally) and one more in Yosemite.

I stayed here:

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_...iniums-Yosemite_National_Park_California.html

very basic but good as a base.

I stayed here in Monterey:

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_...e-Monterey_Monterey_Peninsula_California.html

The owners were awesome let us check in early and were very helpful.

Not sold on the trip advisor reviews of the Yosemite one ! but the Monterey one sounds great.

 

[Fr0dders]

You can't possibly know how much the flights are this far out. So much can and will change, its almost 2 years away. Airline pricing is a dark art, the price you see today is not necessarily reflective of what you should be expecting to pay.

Trust me, I spend way, way too long monitoring transatlantic flight prices - with so long to plan and wait, you WILL get to LAX cheaper than you will get to Vegas. You can't just do a random spot check and decide from there. LAX is a more competitive market served by more direct flights with more carriers.

It will be cheaper to fly to LAX and it will make literally no difference to your trip - as you are going to LA anyway. Vegas is premium priced because it attracts the stag do crowd, LAX is usually so much cheaper that even if you are only going to Vegas it's usually cheaper to fly to LAX and drive a Mustang across the desert to Vegas

FWIW there is actually nothing wrong with Norwegian, they fly the 787 to LAX which is somewhat better than the 20 year old 747's Virgin fly to Vegas

Thing is even flying Norwegian to LAX its still only the same as Virgin to Vegas. I'm not saving anything. Plus that means we start the holiday on a monday in vegas when the strip is cheap.

Everything is showing August to Vegas cheaper than LAX. Ill keep monitoring the prices and see how things go. There won't be any last minute bookings though, you've seen how early we have to plan and book things in our house

 

[[TW]Fox]

Thing is even flying Norwegian to LAX its still only the same as Virgin to Vegas. I'm not saving anything. Plus that means we start the holiday on a monday in vegas when the strip is cheap.

Everything is showing August to Vegas cheaper than LAX. Ill keep monitoring the prices and see how things go. There won't be any last minute bookings though, you've seen how early we have to plan and book things in our house

Everything is showing if you booked right now for a date a year before you want to go, it would be cheaper. See my edited post - it's really not very indicative of anything at the moment

Air New Zealand typically price lead on the LAX route and currently don't have any offers for those dates. When they do, others tend to match them or get close if you would prefer another carrier (Though IMHO ANZ is the best economy carrier on this route from LHR).

 

[[TW]Fox]

Not sold on the trip advisor reviews of the Yosemite one ! but the Monterey one sounds great.

We just stayed either side of Yosemite rather than in the park itself. Worked out well and was loads cheaper. Mammoth Lakes is possibly a tad far in one day from Vegas unless you don't mind getting there quite late. We went for Bishop.

 

[[TW]Fox]

I might have to ban myself from this thread this year as we are actually staying entirely within Canada for this years trip

 

[Fr0dders]

You can't possibly know how much the flights are this far out. So much can and will change, its almost 2 years away. Airline pricing is a dark art, the price you see today is not necessarily reflective of what you should be expecting to pay. I can see why you've decided on Vegas - currently for a dummy booking for August 16 it is indeed slightly cheaper to fly to LAS but frankly at a grand each in economy these are nonsense prices, they are just fares the airlines haven't started to yield manage with yet. As you get closer you'll see movement on them. Probably April time will be a more reasonable time to look.


...

As you are going in 2017 I honestly wouldn't bother putting any effort into anything except keeping an eye on flight pricing so you get a handle on what the right 'base' price to aim for is. Then this time next year start planning it with a view to booking flights about 3-5 months before you go.

Cheers. will see what the prices look like for August come April / May time. Are we going to get these reductions with BA / Virgin though ?