Taylort771

We will fly to Honolulu from Atlanta on May 9 spend the 9-11 sightseeing on that island, then take a Hawaiian islands cruise from HNL.. After the cruise fly to SAN and rent a car driving the pacific coastal highway from San Diego to San Fransisco (is 5 days enough for this to see san diego, La-Hollywood and San Fransisco? Then we would do a road trip home to atlanta.

Is the feasible? We would allow 2 weeks the road trip home (NOT including the 5 days in CA)

joannay

I suggest you choose either the road trip on the California coast OR the road trip home as I don't believe you'll do justice to either in the time you now have allotted. To me a road trip is a more casual thing with time to deviate from the goal of destination. I think if you don't give it's due you might as well fly.

paulhelmick

for myself 5 days would not be nearly enough time.I have no idea what you would be looking foward to on your cross country drive so it is hard to advise.if I would guess that there would be a large fee to rent a car on one coast and drop it on the other. plus gas. if I where planning this trip I would rent a car and drive to S.D.-L.A.-S.F.,possibly yosemite,grand canyon,las vegas and drop it off in the city I rented it in and either fly home or take amtrak.

spirobulldog

You need more than 5 days to do justice to that much of the CA coast. Maybe just do San Fran and then down to Montery/Hearst Castle-then head home. You will want to spend 2(at a bare minimum in San Fran)(2 in SD),(2 in LA),(4 on all the sights in between). Just Monterey, Big Sur, Point Lobos, Hearst Castle, Channel Islands, Santa Barabara is at least 3 days right there.

Now, the cruise. Personally not my cup of tea. I haven't done any in Hawaii, but that sounds even more dreadful. I like to experience the Islands and eat the food there. While food on a ship is good, it just isn't the same. Plus, I like to go a my pace, not someone elses. Now, if you are retired and slower paced then this might appeal to you. You will really only spend a day or two at each island. For instance, I think just one day on Kauai or the Big Island sounds just awful to me.

Your 2 week road trip home sounds ok, depending on what all you want to see and how much time at each place. You could do Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, Sedonna, Carlbad Caverns, Memphis, Nashville and a host of other things.


So, what do I think of your trip? For me it would be fly to Hawaii and do 2 or 3 islands and do them right. Staying at each island 3-5 days. Another option would be Fly to San Fran, do Yosemite, and the coast. Yosemite at the end of May would be awesome(avoid Mem. day weekend though). Then you could either fly home or do your drive home trip. I would skip the cruise altogether.

Samsaf

I would fly into one Hawaiian island, and then instead of doing the cruise, I would fly to another island for five days. In my opinion, one can't really explore any of the Hawaiian islands if there is only a 8- to 10-hour window to explore.

Re the driving back to Atlanta part, I would also add that part on to California, or maybe drive from California to Las Vegas and then Phoenix, seeing some of the parks in the SW, and then flying from there to home. It's a long drive across Texas and the other states to get back home to Atlanta.

spirobulldog

I live in OK. The drive from say the Grand Canyon to Memphis has very little to offer. So that's 2 long days of not much. The highlight for most people would be The Big Texan Steakhouse or the OKC Memorial.

joannay

If you opt for the drive home at that time of year a more northerly route would be better in many ways, from San Francisco through Colorado or Wyoming. Better weather as it's the hot season in the SW, more scenic particularly if you like mountains. But you need the time so if it's a drive by the fastest route across the SW desert in May I'd suggest it's not worth it.

Taylort771

I think we will do the Cruise since we have never been to Hawaii, we will then pick our favorites 2 islands and go back later that year or the next year to explore them. As for driving
I will bump it up to 7 days in CA and then we will go to redwood, sequoia, Yosemite yellow stone and maybe some other places out there

spirobulldog

Yellowstone, Whoa-now that's way the heck out of the way.

joannay

I think that's an excellent idea, with the exception of Yellowstone which is not in CA. But, still with "only" 7 days you'll want to confine yourself to N. CA and not start in San Diego to fit it all in.

spirobulldog

Yosemite takes 2-4 days
Coast between SF and LA takes 3-4 days
Sequoia takes 2 days
Redwoods from SF takes 2-3 days.