Itinerary to America - Guidance Needed

Old Nov 27th, 2015, 10:59 AM
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Itinerary to America - Guidance Needed

Hi ladies and gents,

It's me again. I need help with my itinerary. I am flying to South Africa to New York on 28 June 2016

I arrive in New York on 30 June 2016. This is the plan:

* SA to NY - Spend 10 days in NY.

One day is reserved for Niagara Falls - fly in and out.

* NY To Washington via Amatrak - 9 July 2015 - 3:30 hours
5 days in Washington

* Back to NY via Amatrak.

*From NY fly to LA. 14 July 2015
7 days in LA + 2 days of travel

* LA travel to San Francisco via Greyhound - 21 July
Stay in San Francisco for 7 days includes two days of travel back to LA - 28 July

* Fly out from LA To New York
NY - Home

A one way is more expensive for me so I opted for round trip. I spend the difference on the round trip between NY and LA.

Is this doable?

And also should I book train and flights tickets (NY to LA) now or should I wait? I don't want to regret it. When is the best time to buy them?

I also don't drive so I will be using my feet and a lot of public transport. I plan to buy the multi city pass.
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Old Nov 27th, 2015, 11:06 AM
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LA may be tough without a car. If you don't drive, you might be better off booking a ground-only tour in LA itself.

Perhaps in the age of Uber, getting around the area will not be difficult or vastly expensive but I am not the one to ask.

What do you actually want to see in LA? I have made three carless trips to LA, but I was focused each time on specific areas. If you want to see the Getty, Pasadena, Disneyland, and Santa Monica, for example, it gets harder.

The rest of the trip is fine.
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Old Nov 27th, 2015, 11:10 AM
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Pity you cannot drive as you will miss the extremely scenic and beautiful Highway 1 drive from SF to LA along the coast through Big Sur. Bus and train do not travel this road.
Frankly I would fly one way from LA to SF or vice versa and take Amtrak in return (check their schedule, you will see part of the coast but not the most scenic part). Check and make sure the Amtrak train you take is the one that travels part of the coast (maybe tomfuller knows) and not the one that travels through our Central Valley, unless you are very interested in agriculture.
Greyhound is not a very nice way to travel and does not always have the most desirable clientele plus some of their stations including in LA are not in nice parts of town.
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Old Nov 27th, 2015, 11:12 AM
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Hi Ackislander,

Thank you for responding. Yes I plan to use Uber at some cases. But I am also good with walking. When I was in Paris for 5 days that's all I did and 7 London. Only used the HOHO bus once.

I want to do go Disney. They have a 4 day pass. I also want to see:

Universal Studios
The Grammy Museum
The Walk of Fame
The science center
Museum of natural history
And definitely see Bervely Hills.

I cool with cutting down if I have too many days. I don't want to get bored.
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Old Nov 27th, 2015, 11:15 AM
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Thanks Jamie for the heads up. I will change the plan re Greyhound and flights. I do have a few days so that should work perfectly.
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Old Nov 27th, 2015, 12:09 PM
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Once you are in Washington why go back to New York?
Just fly from Reagan National to LAX.
It is possible to get to Niagara Falls from New York Penn station (NYP). The Amtrak Maple Leaf stops in Niagara Falls NY and Niagara Falls Ontario.
From Los Angeles to San Francisco take the Amtrak Coast Starlight instead of Greyhound.
Look into purchasing a USA Rail Pass (15 or 30 days) to see if it could save you some money. Amtrak.com
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Old Nov 27th, 2015, 12:25 PM
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Thanks Tomfuller. I appreciate your contribution. Really helpful.
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Old Nov 27th, 2015, 12:46 PM
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You can, as someone has said, fly from Washington to Los Angeles.

Be aware that "the problem" with Amtrak routes anywhere BUT in the corridor between New York and Washington is the one of timeliness.

I did the Coast Starlight a few years ago and part of the route is quite scenic. However, the train was almost eleven hours late by the time I reached my destination so if you are going to do the Amtrak sequence give yourself lots of wiggle room.
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Old Nov 27th, 2015, 01:34 PM
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The earlier you buy your Amtrak tickets the better, especially if you want sleepers. Just like planes, the price goes up as seats are sold.

Definitely not Greyhound.

Do you have time to take the train back across the US instead of flying? The California Zephyr from SF to Chicago goes through some very good scenery.
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Old Nov 27th, 2015, 02:12 PM
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Dukey thanks for the tip. I will revise to give myself time.

Thursdaysd thanks for the tip, I will buy the tickets asap. Yes I have time, so I will look into that.
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Old Nov 27th, 2015, 02:40 PM
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Disneyland is not in Los Angeles. So if you are buying a 4-day Disney pass, you want to stay in ANAHEIM near the park, not in L.A. There is no quick n easy transport between Disney and Los Angeles especially on the return portion in the evenings.
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Old Nov 27th, 2015, 02:43 PM
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The best time to book your air tickets for the flights within the U.S. is about 90 days before travel date. Generally 45-60 days will give you the best fares but you are traveling during the peak summer season.
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Old Nov 27th, 2015, 04:07 PM
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You seem to be doing a lot more travel then necessary. Why go form C to NY to head west? Fly directly from DC to LA. Then return from SF to NY. Look at the cost of multi-destination tickets - within the US there is no reason to use RT tickets at all.

Agree it would be much better to drive from LA to SF if at all possible - so you can take the coast road and see the sights. I don;t know the bus route but I doubt it takes the coast highway. If driving is not possible I would consider a brief tour from LA to SF that goes up the coast road and spends at least one night on the way to see some of the sights.

Can't imagine trying to do LA without a car - but if you only want to see one or two things I guess using a cab or uber is OK - but could be very pricey.

And frankly I would not do Disneyland in LA at all - but instead would pop down to Disneyworld in Orlando. the flights are dirt cheap and if you stay on the property there is no reason to have a car. MUCH better than Disneyland - which is nowhere near LA (in terms of traffic time). You could do after DC and before LA (which only needs a couple of days, esp if you don;t have a car).

Caveat: I am not a Disney person and wouldn;t bother to do any of them unless you are traveling with small children. IMHO they are a complete waste of time for adults - as is Las Vegas unless you're a gambler with a big budget.
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Old Nov 27th, 2015, 04:39 PM
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You said the one way was too expensive, so you did RT. Did you look at multi-city or multi-destination instead of one-way or RT?

Your itinerary has a lot of going and returning to the same places, eating up a lot of time and money.
You land in NY,
Go to Niagra and back to NY
Go to DC and back to NY
Go to LA, RT SF - LA, and back to NY.
There has to be a better plan than this!

Even more difficult is timing like Amtrak from DC to NY and flying to LA that same day.
Were you planning to fly on to NY the same day you go from SF back to LA?

On the surface, it seems simple - RTs here and there, but when you consider connections, the fact that you are Catching flights after train or bus trips, etc. it is not straightforward at all

Can you fly from Niagra Falls to Baltimore or Washington DC instead of returning to NYC?
Can you fly from Washington DC or Baltimore to LA or SF? (See which has best/cheapest flights) .
Fly between (LA/SF)
Fly back to NY from LA (or SF)

This could all be reversed also.
NY to California, California to DC, DC to NY.

Look at travelzoo to see some of the best flight offers from city to city in US.

Also, 10 days seems like a lot of time unless you are visiting more than NYC.

You will probably need a night of rest on arrival in NY, but I would put sightseeing in NY at the end.

Just throwing out Ideas to explore
Arrive NYC, rest a night
Amtrak to Washington DC
Fly from DC to San Fran
Drive (or fly) from SF to LA
Fly from LA to NYC
Visit NF from NYC
Fly home

If it is possible to fly from LA to NF, that would be even better.

Sure, you are anxious to buy tickets, but take another day or so to really look at tickets and prices from city to city. You want to feel your itinerary is as good as you can make it, not thrown together. You are still 7 months away from your trip. You have time.
Double check on the multi-city, into NYC, out of LA or SF. Check on multi-city even into NY and out of DC because you could do NY first, then California with DC at the end.

If you have already booked the RT to NY, at least thoroughly consider your routing within the US.
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Old Nov 27th, 2015, 10:25 PM
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Thank you everyone for your contribution. I will revise my itinerary.
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Old Nov 27th, 2015, 10:58 PM
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I enjoyed LA a lot (much to my surprise) and you won't be bored there. But I agree with everyone who says it'll be tough without a car. It's just very car centric. And unlike many other cities I've visited, everything is VERY spread out. If you spend 4 out of 7 days at Disney, I feel like you'd be shortchanging yourself on the rest of LA- I was in LA for 4 days, I had a car, and I still feel like I didn't get to see enough, but it would have taken me a lot longer to get around if I'd relied on my feet, transit, and taxis, which is what I do most places.

I get the sense that Disney is something you're really looking forward to, though- otherwise I'd definitely encourage you to look at another pedestrian friendly city, such as Chicago- which is amazing in completely different ways from, say, Boston. I get the sense this is your first trip to the US although I could be wrong? Because I've been to DC, Chicago, Boston, LA, and SF- and I've got to say that even though I'd return to all five in a heartbeat, Boston Chicago, and SF certainly resonated with me in a way that the other two did not.

I have no idea what your travel budget is, but I'd probably cut a few days off NYC and LA entirely- and add 3 days at one of the Disney parks plus 5 days in a different city. Chicago is cheaper than Boston and has fabulous architecture- But Boston is all around amazing if you like history or museums. I am a Disney person but I think 3 days is both my sweet spot and limit if I'm going solo.

If you do go with your original idea- definitely splurge on location. Stay onsite at Disney and then somewhere very central to where you think you'll spend your time in LA.

And take trains and fly whenever possible- I don't mind bus travel but I have yet to have a non-hellish experience with greyhound.
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Old Nov 28th, 2015, 12:35 AM
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Thank you all. I gather from everyone that as the situation stands (not driving), LA is not going to be possible right now. So I have to re do this again. I am just going to do what I can and I will hopefully come back to LA.

I agree with you marvelousmouse there is more to see than just Disney. So I will have to cut my days there and take the advice of flying in there and staying for a couple of days. 1 or 2 should be fine for Disney and the rest just seeing the city.

So this is my NEW plan:

Amtrak Route: New York - Washington, DC - Cincinnati - Indianapolis - Chicago

- Fly to NY. Rest for the night.
- Amatrak to DC next day.
- Stay 7 days in DC + 2 days of travel = 9
- Go to Cincinnati and Indianapolis for a day - half and half day.
- From Indiniapolis go to Chicago.
- Stay for a 7 days in Chicago + 2 days of travel = 9
- Fly to San Francisco from Chicago - RT
- Stay for 7 days in SF + 2 days of travel = 9 days
- From SF back to Chicago
- Amtrak back to NY
- Stay 5 days in NY
- Do a day trip in and out to Niagara Falls in-between NY.
- Fly back home.

Is this better?
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Old Nov 28th, 2015, 12:55 AM
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I don't think I understand why you want to go from SF to Chicago and then take Amtrak to NYC?? It's at least 20 hours and I'm pretty sure there's no direct route. Plus I'm pretty sure you could get a nonstop plane ticket for the same price! And what's the reason for Cincinnati and Indianapolis? I may have missed something?

If you wanted to do an Amtrak thing I'd probably do Boston- NYC- Philadelphia- DC. Then fly to west coast and do SF and Disneyland or maybe Disneyland and Amtrak to San Diego.

I mostly suggested Chicago because it's a relatively cheap flight from both coasts but it doesn't make sense to double back like that.
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Old Nov 28th, 2015, 12:58 AM
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Maybe you could clarify which flight or flights have already be purchased?
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Old Nov 28th, 2015, 01:37 AM
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I've only bought the flights from SA to NY RT.
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