OK, here's your itinerary. Fly into Boston, then:

Boston, 3 days
New York, 4 days
Philadelphia, 3 days
Washington, DC 3 days

Fly Washington to Chicago, then:
Chicago, 3 days

Fly Chicago to Las Vegas, then
Las Vegas, 2 days (not my favorite place, but you sort of have to see it once)

Drive, or take tour, to Grand Canyon south rim. Stay overnight, if not at the GC, then maybe in Flagstaff.

Drive south to Sedona -- stay two days. Then drive to Phoenix. Fly Phoenix to San Francisco.

Stay three days in San Fran, rent a car and take a two two-day trip to wine country.

Go home.

I would do NYC and skip Chicago or vice versa

Don't leave out the south, Charleston is great and beaches are the best...great food, great people... you can catch a flight from there to NYC. Love those southern girls..

Skip Philly, go to Washington.

I'd fly into the South, (New Orleans to Charleston- 4 days), take a train to Washington (2 Days) (from Charleston or New Orleans, its the same line), overnight train to NYC - at least one week (7 days) there (can you imagine going to London for your first time and not spending at least one week?), then I would fly out to San Francisco (3 days- rent a car) and spend time on the east coast, Napa Valley (2 days), Carmel or Monterrey or LA (2 days), Orcas Island Washington (2 Days)

Skip Vegas, nothing special there, your time would be better spent in Los Angeles/San Fran seeing a show, the symphony or a ball game....

Fly back to the east coast and spend your last few days in Maine, Vermont, Cape Cod, or The Outer Banks in North Carolina. Fly back from nearest airport.

I'd say for about $20,000 US (for 2) you would be in great shape.

Love the UK. My wife and son went this past summer for two weeks, I've been twice myself!!

I must admit there are more naysayers about Amtrak (trains) on this forum than proponents. When I am in no particular hurry to get to a town served by Amtrak, I take the train.
I agree that you fly to Las Vegas and rent a car to go see the Grand Canyon and maybe some of the Southern Utah National Parks.
The routes that would work for you are the Coast Starlight anywhere between Seattle and Los Angeles. The City of New Orleans from Chicago to New Orleans with a 24 hour stop in Memphis. The Crescent from New Orleans to Atlanta. (Fly home from Atlanta?)
Sleeping in coach on Amtrak is not as comfortable as sleeping in a hotel, but in the morning you are much closer to your destination.
BTW- cd - Yosemite is 3.5 hours South-East of San Francisco.
Without a rental car, you get to Yosemite by taking a San Joaquin train through the Central Valley to Merced and take the YARTS bus.

Thanks for the Yosemite correction tom.

How about sticking to the east coast? Maine, Vermont, mass, NYC, Washington DC, NC outer banks, Charleston SC. Start south and go north as the month goes on, you can drive the whole time.

Thank you for all your suggestions!!

I think we are happy to take internal flights between cities, is that a better option?

Which company would you use to book flights?

Flying is definitely faster and may be cheaper as well.

Use kayak.com and book the flights yourself. Kayak doesn't check Southwest Airlines so you'd have to check prices on that yourself.

Are you a member of any Frequent Flier program?

No I'm not, but can sign up to one if that's a good idea?

In This moment USA Most best places to visit...

Do sign up for Southwest Airlines FF program. They will e mail you the deals on every Tuesday.

My 2 cents regarding a FF program.

If you sign up for Aegean Air's Miles & Bonus FF program, and book all of your flights on Star Alliance carriers then you can get Star Alliance Gold status in with 20,000 miles. Flying from/to the UK and planning the trips inside the U.S. carefully should put you gold status before you land back in the UK. That gold status is good for 2 years and you get all the Star Alliance gold benefits.

Southwest might have a good FF program but it's of limited value outside the U.S. Plus, you'd have to fly Southwest.



All that being said, I just priced a hypothetical booking based on POlson's itinerary and came up with a total price of a LHR-ORD; ORD-SFO; SEA-LAS; LAS-MSY; MSY-ORD; ORD-LHR ticket for less than $2100 flying United (Star Alliance but only 13k miles). I doubt Southwest could touch that.

Thank you,

Another question - obviously in the big cities you pay a premium to stay centrally. In places like Chicago and New York is it worth paying the premium, or staying on the outskirts and using local public transport to see the sights?

Thanks

Fiona

It really depends. You can sometimes find a great deal on nice accommodations in a central location.

If you can afford it stay in the center. These are large cities and you don;t want to spend 2 hours a day just commuting to where you really want to be.

Would anyone recommend seeing Arizona on route to Las Vegas?

Yes. The Grand Canyon is DEFINITELY worth it. As is the red rocks at Sedona.

I do't get going to both Chicago and NYC. This is not a put down of Chicago, but if you're going to NYC (and you absolutely should), there is no reason to go to another city that is similar.

Boston/NYC/Washington is great because they are different form each other and have history!

FLying from there to West coast - San Fran then perhaps get a car and drive up the coast - beautiful .

If you don't gamble why are you going to Las Vegas? It;s OK for a day or 2, but that's about it.

In NYC - you use public transportation to get around. NYC is a very big city. Stay in Manhattan, or Queens (in the Long Island CIty neighborhood) with 1 subway stop into Manhattan and with better hotel rates, if that concerns you.

New Orleans is a very special place. No other place in U.S. like it. June will be very hot and humid, but if you can take it, then I'd say go. If you want to see the Southern states of the U.S. the same weather will be in June - hot - scorching - and humid. UNLESS, you go to the mountains.

I'd suggest going to Colorado from the Pacific NW - and go to the Rockies. Get some nature. Beautiful.

OR ---- Fly to Jackson Hole and see Yellowstone. Nothing, but nothing like it in Europe.