I am arranging a month long honeymoon in september in the U.S.I have been briefly to California,Aspen and New York on rugby tours in the past but this will be my wife's first trip.She likes to sit in the sun so i thought about a week in Florida,a few days in New York and the rest travelling via amtrack or car rental.We have about £6000 to spend-is that about $8000 dollars?We thought of travelling for a few days on the train,stopping in a city or driving on to a destination.Sorry to be so long but this is the start of the planning stage,and anything goes.Thank you,Wil.

You may be in luck. In the fall, car rental companies try to get as many autos as possible into Florida, so they waive the (otherwise large) drop off fees when you rent a car in the North and drop off in Florida. You could start your holiday in Florida (pretty cheap, I might add -- this is a low point in Florida tourism), take a train or plane up to New York City, spend a few day there, rent a car, then drive it down the east coast back to Florida.

Absolutely do NOT rent a car while visiting New York City -- it is not only completely unneccessary but a complete nuisance. There is no place in NYC you can get to, in a car, that you can't get to faster, cheaper, and with less hassle in mass transit.

I would definitely include Charleston SC as a romantic coastal destination. There's plenty of beautiful beaches in North Carolina as well. In early September it is beautiful in Maine but not warm enough for swimming. The craggy coastline is very beautiful and quite different from the wide expanses of beach further south. I think staying in B&Bs and small inns would give you some good local advice of places to see.

I should have mentioned that we would eventually like to finish the vacation on the west coast somewhere/anywhere!
Wil

Hi Wil. I am not a beach person, so I cannot help you there much. (Too many skin cancers dating from severe sunburns on the Florida beaches as a young man. They do take their toll.)
But I can tell you this: the sun at the more southern latitudes is more harsh than anything you ever found in the UK.

As for American trains, you may be astonished, and disappointed.
Amtrak works fine between DC, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston.
Relative to the size of this country, there is not much passenger train service left.

Outside of the eastern seaboard, I would consider a car. Or fly. Consult Expedia at Microsoft for some airfare samples. New York to Miami is competitive.

Wil the amtrack network is too slow and unreliable-avoid.

Wil: I would recommend 2 weeks on the east coast and 2 weeks on the west coast.

Florida is nice for sitting in the sun, but the California coast is GLORIOUSLY beautiful and I would highly recommend it, and September is really the perfect time of year to do this trip. If you do decide to go to Florida first and then New York, consider at the end of your first two weeks flying from New York to either San Francisco, LA, or San Diego and driving Hwy. 1 either up or down the coast. Two weeks is really the perfect amount of time. Make sure you stay at least one night in Big Sur. There are a couple of very luxurious places to stay there that would be perfect for honeymooning, and it is so beautiful! My boyfriend and I drove it last July and had an incredible time. We were in LA for several days, then drove north and spent one night in Cambria, one night in Big Sur, and one night on the Monterrey peninsula in Pacific Grove, before heading inland and spending a few days in the Gold Country (we had both been to San Francisco before). We only wished that we had had more than 10 days for our trip, because there was so much to see and do. I posted a trip report when we returned with lots of suggestions for sights, restaurants, and accommodations -- you can bring it up by doing a search on this forum using the words "California coast" and restricting the search to the state of California -- it is entitled "Trip report -- Just back from California coast."

I hope you have a great honeymoon.

Hi, Wil,
If you are sun/heat worshipers, then starting in the northeast, heading to Florida, then traveling cross country to California will fill your needs amply. For us, it would probably be too hot, especially in the south, but you may disagree.

I truly advocate you drive across the country. Several car hire firms (National being the leading example) don’t charge drop off fees on one-ways if you book ahead, and the flexibility of having a car rather than relying on Amtrak goes without saying. I’d also point out that the car alternative is probably much cheaper than two sets of train or plane tickets. The real benefit though, especially for first time visitors, is the sense of the size of the country and the incredible variety of landscapes and regional cultures which is gained by a transcontinental drive.

If you’re dying for a train trip, then Amtrak from NYC south is a good choice, since a car in NYC is unnecessary. I’d recommend stopping in Charleston and getting the car there, so that you can visit Charleston, Savannah and the northern parts of Florida before heading south or west.

You can drive across the country comfortably in a week or 10 days, seeing such sights as the southwest red rock country or the Grand Canyon before ending up on another beach in California. (Our choice would be more northerly, ending in San Francisco, but you can get plenty of advice on this forum on how to handle the California part of the trip.) September is a good travel month almost anywhere you go, but it can still be scorchingly hot in the south and southwest, even LA which often has its hottest weather in late September/early October. The car’s air conditioning will be an asset in the south and in the likes of Texas or Arizona.

This might lead you to shortening your stays in some of the places you’d otherwise stay longer, but I think it’s worth it. Happy planning and congratulations.

I know Europeans like to romanticize about driving across the USA, but I really recommend that if you are going to try to do both coasts in one trip, you should fly from one to the other. Driving would take at least three days, and that would be driving at least 12 hours per day nonstop.

Southwest Airlines (www.iflyswa.com) is by far the least expesnive and safest airline in the sky. Check their website for the cities they serve and the times of their flights.

Oh- and just a brief suggestion: you might enjoy visiting Texas while you are here! San Antonio is served by Southwest Airlines, and it is a very wonderful and romantic city that is very popular with Texans for honeymoons. Stay at the St. Anthony Hotel downtown and spend some time on the Riverwalk! Even if you just spend a day here. I promise it won't be wasted!

Here is what I suggest:

New York - 3 days
Amtrak to Washington, spend day visiting monuments, Air & Space
Rent Car and take I66 to I81 to I40 spending time in the following cities:
Nashville 1 day
Memphis .5 day
Albuquerque .5 day
Flagstaff (Grand Canyon & Sedona day trips) 2/3 days
Las Vegas (from Flagstaff pick-up 93 at Kingman) 2 days
from Las Vegas take I15 to LA.
This should leave 1.5 to 2 weeks for Southern Cal.
You might also consider a side trip to San Francisco

But Herb, you forget how LONG that drive from Memphis to Albuquerque IS!! You'll probably be doing well do make it to Oklahoma City from memphis in a day, and another day from there to Albuquerque. This is a tedious drive, I'm afraid.

Christie,

You are correct, it is a long boring drive from Memphis to Albuquerque. But in spite of that I feel this is a good itinerary for sampling the U.S. and developing an understanding of the vastness of this country. Truthfully, I've never driven cross-country that at least part of it wasn't boring.

However, you certainly make a valid point.

I wonder if any of the airlines offer coupons for US travel for foreign nationals? There are lots of inexpensive airfares out there, especially in Sept when US kids are back in school. But here is a mixed bag with multiple transportation options. I would recommend starting in NYC - 3 days. Super city. You may or may not want to train down to DC -- that is a well-serviced route and you can go city center to city center. Washington has a lot to offer, but you'll want to decide how much time you want to spend here. Depends on your interests. You could then drive down Rt 95 to Florida -- I would definately stop to visit Charleston, SC or Savannah (my personal preference is Charleston) for a day and a night before moving on to Florida. Maybe one night in St. Augustine, then head way down to Miami Beach -- stay in South Beach and have a fantastic time. Three-four days it's your call. Of course you could go all the way down to the Keys, but you'll have to come back to Miami or maybe Tampa/Sarasota to get a flight out of Florida. Assuming you can get cheap airfares, I would then want to fly to New Orleans for 2 nights, then blast off for California. There are tons of suggestions for California on this forum, and I love so much about that state -- from Beverly Hills (to be honest, the beaches around LA aren't the primary draw) to the rugged coast drive along Rt. 1. San Francisco is just an exquisite city, and north of there...the redwoods, wine country. These suggestions give you lots of "sun" places, romantic places, and just plain fun certified USA places.

Wil, I would love to see you be able to include San Antonio and Santa Fe in your trip. Do investigate Southwest airlines--they go pretty much across the country in short flights and you could probably get off and on in cities of interest, ending up in California where there are many flights. They do fly now out of Long Island (Islip), New York, BWI in Baltimore/D.C. and are based in Texas so will get you to San Antonio and Albequerque (from here you go to Santa Fe), then on to Phoenix and California. Lots of sun in the southwest and you must be aware that September is the beginning of hurricane season in Florida so, you might want to rethink Florida. I agree with others that I wouldn't want to drive the whole country--I've done it several times and there are inevitably days of flat, boring drives. I would only do it to get a car across for a specific reason, ie, a relocation. I think your 6000 GBP might be more than $8000, check a convertor, but it should be doable. BTW, a young couple from Sydney stayed in SF with us a few months ago. They took a "Travel America Tour" from L.A. to N.Y. which took them from L.A. to Las Vegas, New Orleans, San Antonio, Washington, to N.Y. They are still students and you might not like that for a honeymoon, but perhaps you could copy an itinerary. They took exactly 30 days between university and medical school and had a wonderful time. Good luck and congratulations.

My earlier post was lost! You may be able to design a trip by flying between major cities and booking a car for shorter trips around those areas. I have used open jaw flights around the US (e.g start in NY, fly to Miami, drive to Orlando, fly to San Antonio, etc.) with good luck. The trick is often to stay with the same carrier and fly at times that tickets are less costly (certain days of the week). If you look at a travel website (like flifo.com) that lets you book a multiple stop trip you can search for various dates and cities to get a relativly cheap ticket.

I hate spending a lot of time in the car - so touring the country that way sounds unappealing. All the cities people have suggested are great. I will add New Orleans to the list of possible stops along the way. (And to put the drive into perspective, New Orleans to San Antonio is about an 8-9 hour drive, not including stops).

I know that there are bargain coupons and special "packages" of plane tickets available for Europeans in the US. I suggest you mainly fly from point to point. I love train travel in Europe, but it is truly sad in the US. The only car rental I would do is to drive between LA and SanFrancisco. I think a trip up the coast by car should be a must-do with a stop in Carmel, Cambria, or right in Big Sur. I am not really a big fan of New Orleans, but all my foreign visitors find it one of the most exciting destinations in the US. There truly is nothing like it in Europe. How about flying to California first, flying to Florida with a stop in New Orleans (2 or 3 nights), then end for a fun 3 or 4 nights in New York. And you could take the train to Boston for a couple of days from there.

Thank you to all replies.What is wrong with amtrack?Ihave read postings and articles about wonderful train journeys in the U.S.Ihad a romantic idea of rolling in luxury along the u.s rail system into the sunset-seems i was wrong!Wil

Hi again, Wil,
It seems like it's rather fashionable to criticise Amtrak (no "c"), but the perspective I'd give it (as an occasional user of European train services for comparison) is that it CAN be wonderful and romantic and all that, but it can also be quite the opposite, and there's often no warning when Mr. Hydetrak takes over from Dr. Jekyllrail.
First, the distances are vast, and simple fatigue can become a real issue. NY to LA is four days or so and in our experience the romance goes out of it on about day 3 without a bath. Second, except on the east coast corridor and a few other routes, Amtrak is not electrified, and the tracks haven't been upgraded for European speed norms. So it's relatively slow diesel service, and to compound it sometimes the Amtrak trains are sided for freight trains, so schedules start getting missed. And, although this can be worked around, the price per passenger mile can be very high, often higher than air, always higher than car.
Worst of all, the service reductions made in the past few years means the trains simply don't go where they used to. The route system is much reduced, with several of the famous trains discontinued, though some are still alive after protests. This is probably nothing strange to a Briton.
All that said, you're right, it can be a lot of fun. I remember riding the Super Chief (now the Western Chief - blah) in midwinter from Chicago to LA - starched linens on the table and in the bed, rose vase, frozen Dodge City, Kansas sliding by, then red rocks and finally pulling into summery LA. Very memorable.
If you're a train fancier, don't give up on Amtrak, just know what you're getting into.

NYC is great and so if Florida (South Beach and the deco hotels are fun - stay at the Hotel Astor, cheaper than the Delano and better location).

Wouldn't recommend Amtrak as not very nice and lots of delays (exception is the Metroliner between NYC and Washington DC).

If you can, fly west to California - hit LA for a few days and drive up highway one to San Francisco (wine country is very romantic).

Out of the way, but favorite spot in the southwest is Santa Fe New Mexico (romantic and unbelievable art and southwestern cooking).

Please, don't think of the US as a group of cities to visit! I think the best of what this country has to offer is our national parks. You have wonderful cities in Europe, but nothing like Grand Canyon, Rocky Mtn Park, Bryce, or Yosemite. How about flying from the East Coast to Phoenix, Denver, or Las Vegas, then renting a car for a loop of a few parks? The desert scenery is fantastic, and the crowds thin out after September 1, so you can probably get hotel rooms in or near the parks.