Travel USA travel tips and tricks

[NitroFan]

What time of year are you going and who with? You probably dont need two days at disneyland.

 

[00Stinger]

I'm up to page 5 of 50 and got some decent tips thus far. This is what I was going to do:

4 days New York (been there before)
Fly to Vegas on the 5th morning
1 night Vegas
Hire a car and leave for San Fran 6th morning
Drive through Yosemite 2 days
2 days is San Fran
Hire another car and drive to LA down coast (Big Sur etc). Think of hiring a convertible Mustang to impress the bishes. Anyone know if this is possible?
2 days LA
2 days Didneylan
1 more day in LA. Maybe drive down to San Diego


Upon reading first 5 pages of thread going to up NY to 6 days, Vegas to 2 (see Grand Canyon, maybe comedy show)

6 days New York
2 days Vegas
2 days driving through Yosemite to San Fran
2 days is San Fran
2 days driving to LA
2 days LA
2 days Didneylan
1 more day in LA. Maybe drive down to San Diego

19 days + 2 or 3 to get there and get back.


I'll have to see Chicago, Niagara Falls, next time.

Yosemite is unreal. I spent 7 weeks across America and thought it was the most amazing place. When are you travelling?

If you travel between Oct-Mar you can't drive through the whole of Yosemite as they close the Toga Pass off. You can still go up there, but to get through there from Vegas to San fran you would have to go via Barstow, Bakersfield. I was up there last December, some of the views with the snow were amazing.

Just make sure you can put chains on a car as it can snow up to July up there and the weather conditions can changwe drastically.
Also if you are going to hire a car (which I assume you are), go through Alamo. I hired a 2012 Ford Mustang Convertable, which I picked up from San Francisco and dropped it off in Las Vegas 3 days later and it only cost me $300 (which included all insurances and GPS hire).

Also if you do the grand canyon spend the extra money and do a helicopter flight. It will cost you about $350 as opposed to about $100. But you can fly to the canyon, drop down the bottom for a feed and be back in Vegas within 4 hours as opposed to 10. Plus the view from the air is alot more spectacular.

 

[d33my]

Great pics!

 

[MrKK]

Re car hire, you want to avoid one-way rentals if at all possible as they can charge a lot for the privelege e.g. $300+ depending on location, which will probably double the cost of your hire.

 

[00Stinger]

The Hulk ride and Harry Potter type of rides are unseen in Aus... so too the Rip Ride Rockit - unreal rides.

The best ride is the Mantra at Seaworld Florida. The indoor Harry Potter ride was awesome as was the Hulk. Although i found the Hulk to be a tamer version than the Superman at Dreamworld. If you want a good rides go to Tampa and go to Busch Gardens, the place was the best of the theme parks I went to and I went to 6-7 of them.

This is the Mantra. You actually sit in it as if you are superman. Face first and the thing dips and weaves, bloody insane. In saying that Seaworld sucked balls, but at least this ride was good

 

[ThePezDispenser]

Yeah went on that too. Both of SeaWorld's rides were great

 

[bunsen burner]

Yosemite is unreal. I spent 7 weeks across America and thought it was the most amazing place. When are you travelling?

If you travel between Oct-Mar you can't drive through the whole of Yosemite as they close the Toga Pass off. You can still go up there, but to get through there from Vegas to San fran you would have to go via Barstow, Bakersfield. I was up there last December, some of the views with the snow were amazing.

Maybe early October.

Are you sure it's closed? These two sites say different:

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tiogaopen.htm
http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/fall.htm

I know it depends on the conditions but the first site shows the close dates each year historically and suggest early October is a good chance for it be open. Second link says:

long the Tioga Road, services are not available after September and overnight parking is not permitted after October 14th.

Any idea wha this means? Gas stations? Cafes? Shops?

Also if you are going to hire a car (which I assume you are), go through Alamo. I hired a 2012 Ford Mustang Convertable, which I picked up from San Francisco and dropped it off in Las Vegas 3 days later and it only cost me $300 (which included all insurances and GPS hire).

What's at Alamo? Any hookers? Thinking of doing some mongering.

Also if you do the grand canyon spend the extra money and do a helicopter flight. It will cost you about $350 as opposed to about $100. But you can fly to the canyon, drop down the bottom for a feed and be back in Vegas within 4 hours as opposed to 10. Plus the view from the air is a lot more spectacular.

Will do that. Was thinking about Zion but will be with kids so don't want to bore the shit out of them.

Thanks for the info. Photos are great.

 

[00Stinger]

Maybe early October.

Are you sure it's closed? These two sites say different:

http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tiogaopen.htm
http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/fall.htm

I know it depends on the conditions but the first site shows the close dates each year historically and suggest early October is a good chance for it be open. Second link says:

long the Tioga Road, services are not available after September and overnight parking is not permitted after October 14th.

Any idea wha this means? Gas stations? Cafes? Shops?

I am just going by what I was told. You might be safe in early October, even if you aren't it's still a truely amazing place even if you can't go right through. I found that once you get up near Yosemite there isn't much, however there was a fair bit of snow when we up in December.

 

[NitroFan]

yeah, mantra rules. i went on it a heap of times when i was there (pretty much stayed on for repeated runs towards the end of the day) and it never got old. going through the first big loop is an awesome feeling. agreed that busch gardnes is the best park (around that area at least). they have the only ride that ill bother to take the extra time to line up for the front row. im sure anyone whos been there wont take many guesses to figure out which it is.

i had a pretty unique experience on the seaworld ride that isnt mantra. we went into the longer tunnel and the weather was alright, but when we came out the other side it was absolutely pelting rain. the rest of the ride you could barely open your eyes and at the end as we were sitting there waiting for the group in front of us to disembark it felt like you were under a high presure shower head. was kind of shitty being saturated but ive always felt it was a pretty cool thing to experience.

 

[alex_is_on_fire]

Excited to hear that the Statue of Liberty will reopen by the 4th of July.

 

[kaiserchief13]

Also if you are going to hire a car (which I assume you are), go through Alamo. I hired a 2012 Ford Mustang Convertable, which I picked up from San Francisco and dropped it off in Las Vegas 3 days later and it only cost me $300 (which included all insurances and GPS hire).

Which website did you book on to get that deal?

 

[00Stinger]

Which website did you book on to get that deal?

I went through the Alamo website from memory

 

[Dee Won]

ok, pretty much finalised all my plans for my upcoming trip, thanks to all that have contributed to this thread and those whom have answered my questions as it has greatly helped me plan my trip.

LA - 3 days (Highlight: Universal Studios)
LV - 4 days (Highlights: Grandy Canyon tour, O Cirque De Soleil)
NY - 9 days (Hightlights: Washington tour, Niagara Falls tour, Book of Mormon, NHL Pegiuns vs Rangers, MLB Sox vs Yankees, NBA Bucks vs Knicks)
SF - 3 days (Highlights: MLB Rockies vs Giants, Yosemite tour, Alcatraz night tour)
ANA - 2 days (we goin to disneyland yall)
LA - 3 days (Highlight NBA Spurs vs Lakers)

Total cost so far for 2 adults approx $14 G's (small costs to come in food and local transport)

 

[ThePezDispenser]

Alamo fan here too.

Be sure to book the cheapest car and then when you rock up they'll do anything they can to get you to upgrade for a much lesser price.

 

[ThePezDispenser]

ok, pretty much finalised all my plans for my upcoming trip, thanks to all that have contributed to this thread and those whom have answered my questions as it has greatly helped me plan my trip.

LA - 3 days (Highlight: Universal Studios)
LV - 4 days (Highlights: Grandy Canyon tour, O Cirque De Soleil)
NY - 9 days (Hightlights: Washington tour, Niagara Falls tour, Book of Mormon, NHL Pegiuns vs Rangers, MLB Sox vs Yankees, NBA Bucks vs Knicks)
SF - 3 days (Highlights: MLB Rockies vs Giants, Yosemite tour, Alcatraz night tour)
ANA - 2 days (we goin to disneyland yall)
LA - 3 days (Highlight NBA Spurs vs Lakers)

Total cost so far for 2 adults approx $14 G's (small costs to come in food and local transport)

Booking the sports games early are pretty obvious, but the ones in bold can book out weeks even months in advance so be sure to book so you're not disappointed.

 

[TheStinger]

Yeah, I second getting in on an Alcatraz tour booking early. Even during the "off-season" (October to February) they still book out every single day. Remember they can only sell as many tickets as there are seats on the ferries for the day. And seats are limited. Still, it is a must see place in my book. I was lucky enough to go on a special tour they only run every second Sunday after the first ferry docks. They take you around to all of the gardens that were started by an inmate and that they have restored to their former glory. Was highly informative and gave us access to some parts of the island that are normally off limits to the general public.

 

[MrKK]

I used vroomvroomvroom.com for car hire on my last trip and again for my upcoming trip and ended up choosing Alamo both times as they were the cheapest.

 

[Dee Won]

Booking the sports games early are pretty obvious, but the ones in bold can book out weeks even months in advance so be sure to book so you're not disappointed.

Book of mormon, I had to book using the "mastercard express or something like that where you can buy seats for Mastercard holders only" as there were no other "good" tix available on days that I wanted to go to, ended up with some expensive seats but I'm going to be around 10 rows from the front in the centre

 

[kaiserchief13]

I am arriving into JFK at 2am. Is it safe for me to take the train to my accomodation?

 

[00Stinger]

I am arriving into JFK at 2am. Is it safe for me to take the train to my accomodation?

Do you have much luggage and where are you going to?

The subway always seems pretty busy and now feel unsafe on the subway. However 2ish would be the latest I ever caught it

 

[TheStinger]

I am arriving into JFK at 2am. Is it safe for me to take the train to my accomodation?

We are taught by the media that the US is a dangerous and lawless place at times and you would have to be mad to wander the streets late at night. In my experience, that is mostly untrue. I say mostly, because San Francisco gave me some hairy moments at times at night, but I digress.

I walked through the middle of Chicago (the Loop for those who have been there) at about 1am, by myself and I had not one problem. I got off at the bus station from Milwaukee and had to get to the red line station about 7 blocks away. No-one said boo to me. I wandered around South Beach in Miami at 2am with some friends and we were not all murdered in a gang attack. In fact a couple of Puerto Ricans and a black guy came with us to a bar to hang out for a while. They were cool as.

Even LA, with its gang culture and everything is safe to walk around at night. Granted I only came through downtown LA two times, both after basketball games at Staples Center and there was a lot of people around, but still I never felt in danger on the subway or anything.

I am not saying that it can not be dangerous, I'm just saying that as long as you don't look like an easy target to someone (walking around not paying attention to your surroundings with $100 bills hanging out your pockets) then they will more than likely leave you alone. Do random attacks happen? Sure they do. But I guess I was lucky that I didn't run into one of those guys.

In conclusion, I believe you would be fine as long as the area that your destination is in is not a known gang hangout in Harlem or something. Going to Brooklyn or Manhattan, you should be fine. But go with your gut instinct I reckon. If you think you will be alright, then you more than likely will be.

 

[kaiserchief13]

Do you have much luggage and where are you going to?

The subway always seems pretty busy and now feel unsafe on the subway. However 2ish would be the latest I ever caught it

Probably 1 large backpack. Travelling into Brooklyn - Williamsburg.

 

[kaiserchief13]

We are taught by the media that the US is a dangerous and lawless place at times and you would have to be mad to wander the streets late at night. In my experience, that is mostly untrue. I say mostly, because San Francisco gave me some hairy moments at times at night, but I digress.

I walked through the middle of Chicago (the Loop for those who have been there) at about 1am, by myself and I had not one problem. I got off at the bus station from Milwaukee and had to get to the red line station about 7 blocks away. No-one said boo to me. I wandered around South Beach in Miami at 2am with some friends and we were not all murdered in a gang attack. In fact a couple of Puerto Ricans and a black guy came with us to a bar to hang out for a while. They were cool as.

Even LA, with its gang culture and everything is safe to walk around at night. Granted I only came through downtown LA two times, both after basketball games at Staples Center and there was a lot of people around, but still I never felt in danger on the subway or anything.

I am not saying that it can not be dangerous, I'm just saying that as long as you don't look like an easy target to someone (walking around not paying attention to your surroundings with $100 bills hanging out your pockets) then they will more than likely leave you alone. Do random attacks happen? Sure they do. But I guess I was lucky that I didn't run into one of those guys.

In conclusion, I believe you would be fine as long as the area that your destination is in is not a known gang hangout in Harlem or something. Going to Brooklyn or Manhattan, you should be fine. But go with your gut instinct I reckon. If you think you will be alright, then you more than likely will be.

So as long as you don't go to gang neighbourhood's you should be 100% fine?

 

[TheStinger]

So as long as you don't go to gang neighbourhood's you should be 100% fine?

I know that this is Chicago and not New York, but a young black guy I met on the L-Train told me that after dark, any train station with a number in it (31st St, 12th Ave, etc), don't get off there. You will be mugged before you hit the street. He wasn't proud of it, he was just telling me what it was like. There are certain areas that are just off limits to outsiders after dark. As long as you know where they are before hand, you should be ok. Everywhere else is a "Normally ok but still be aware of your surroundings" kind of situation.

 

[00Stinger]

Probably 1 large backpack. Travelling into Brooklyn - Williamsburg.

Nah man, you will be fine.

Williamsburg is one stop out of Manhatten. That's where I stayed when I was there, you should be fine. I got the subway back there a couple of times at 1-2am and never felt unsafe.

Nice area, and there are two stations there, one at the end of the Broklyn bridge and one subway station. I caught a train to both of the, late at night and felt fine.