Hi everybody! My name is Ariana and I'm from Rosario, Argentina.
In September (next year) my friend and I have planned to travel to USA for the first time.
Our budget for the whole trip is U$S 5,000 (each one), which doesn't include airfare roundtrip. Which I will pay separately. And I have 21/23 days to do it.
There are the citys we want to go:

1) San Francisco 4 days (3 nights)
Hotels/Accomodations = Union Square/Chinatown
Tourist Sites, just the more importants
Restaurants
Places to go out at night

2) Los Angeles 4 days (3 nights)
Hotels/Accomodations = Hollywood/West Hollywood/Midtown
Tourist Sites, just the more importants
Restaurants
Places to go out at night

(We want to do a one day tour to Las Vegas from Los Angeles)

3) New Orleans 5 days (4 nights)
Hotels/Accomodations = French Quarter
Tourist Sites, just the more importants
Restaurants
Places to go out at night

(We want to do a one day tour to Washington from New York)

4) New York 5 days (4 nights)
Hotels/Accomodations = Midtown/West Side/Chelsea (Manhattan).
Tourist Sites, just the more importants
Restaurants
Places to go out at night

We would use the subways and public buses to move from one place to another in the city.

Thank you so much!
Hugs.
Ariana.-

Ariana, while it may be possible to do a 1-day tour of Las Vegas from Los Angeles (because there's not that much to see in Las Vegas), it would be a waste of time to do a 1-day tour of Washington from New York, because there is so much to see in Washington and you're really only have 1/2 day of sightseeing (you could easily fill a week in Washington). Better to just stay in New York, unless you can add a few days to your trip to do Washington justice.

Las Vegas at night all lit up looks considerably nicer than Las Vegas in the bright light of day.

Unless you are leaving whole days out of your list, you have less time in each city than you think.

1) San Francisco 4 days (3 nights)

2) Los Angeles 4 days (3 nights)

3) New Orleans 5 days (4 nights)

4) New York 5 days (4 nights)

arrive in SF and staying 3 nights, leaving for LA and staying 3 nights -etc.

In SF, 3 nights will give you 1/2 a day or a bit more on arrival, 2 more days and then you leave for LA on the 4th day.

With 3 nights in LA, you'll have 1/2 a day or a bit more and 2 more days - and so on.

3 nights somewhere doesn't equal 4 days there, and 4 nights doesn't equal 5 days.

I've lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since '75, but was raised & lived in the Los Angeles area for 28 years before '75. We've visited New Orleans & NYC several times.

You said that you had 21/23 days - but your allocation of days doesn't add up to 21/23. What is it??

Unless you plan to party, party, party in New Orleans - I think you should reduce the days in NO by 2 and add them to San Francisco and NYC.

LA will involve a lot of driving to do it properly - do you plan to rent a car???. You won't need a car in the other cities - although we had one in NO to visit the plantations along the Mississippi and the Garden District.

Here is something I posted about San Francisco
http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...mendations.cfm

Stu Dudley

1) Does that $5000 per person include airfare between U.S. cities? You said roundtrip airfare was not included but I'm wondering if the airfare to get from city to city is something you've kept separate or part of the $5000?

2) Are you willing/able to rent a car in the U.S.?

3) Are you interested in seeing anything besides cities?

My first thought is that you are spending more time in New Orleans than you should.

Second thought is that it would be great to get you out of the major cities - rent a car and drive from LA to San Francisco, from Las Vegas either take a tour or rent a car and drive yourself to the Grand Canyon.

I think it's great to plan a lot of places to see/things to do - and you can always cut it down during your travels.

If you don't think you will be back for some time - I also think it's fine to plan a few one day trips to see some things - such as Wash, DC - etc, - but I too would advise perhaps cutting out a day or so in New Orleans, and maybe adding it to say Las Vegas, whatever.

New Orleans is a lot more than just partying - 4 days there will be enough to just scratch the surface. I've been there 4 times, several days each trip, and still have not seen everything on my list.

Trip planning is a balancing act, so you will have to look at the things you want to do and see in each city and see whether you want to cut time from one city and spend more time in another.

I too am confused about your plan - how much time you really have in places since the nights don't add up. A few more details would help.

So - november_moon, you would recommend allocating more time in New Orleans than you would in San Francisco or LA??? And equal time in NYC??? What would you do with 5 days in New Orleans???

Stu Dudley

"november_moon, you would recommend allocating more time in New Orleans than you would in San Francisco or LA???"

I am not recommending anything - except that the OP research the different cities and decide based on her interests. I personally enjoy New Orleans more than NYC and would choose more time there if this was my trip. SF has a slight edge over New Orleans.

The OP doesn't have 5 days in New Orleans, she has 4 nights, which generally translates to 3 days plus possibly a few hours on the arrival and/or departure day.

As to your question about what I would do with 5 days in New Orleans, here is a list off the top of my head...

Wander around the FQ and soak up the atmosphere, eat, bike tour with Confederacy of Cruisers, WWII museum, eat, drink, take a couple walking tours (Garden District, Jazz, Le Monde Creole, Cemetery tour, etc), see the Backstreet museum, tour a historic house or two, listen live music all over the place, carriage ride through the FQ, eat and drink (have I mentioned that yet), swamp tour, Mardi Gras world, ride the St Charles streetcar, visit Audubon park...

We were in New Orleans for three and a half days last month. Visited Frenchmen Street for three nights listening to great jazz music, walked back to the hotel via Bourbon St, did a walking tour of the Garden District, went to Preservation Hall, did the paddle steamer ride, rode the St Charles street-car, had beignets at Cafe Du Monde, visited Jackson Square. Didn't have time to do the Swamp Tour or Plantation Tour.

Spent three days in San Francisco but had been there before, when we did the touristy things like Alcatraz, Muir Woods, Presido, Palace of Fine Arts, Golden Gate Bridge etc etc. This time we went to Golden Gate Park, did a tour of the Japanese Tea Garden, rode the Cable-car. All fun things to do.

Also spent time in New York. We did a lot of flying from one side of the country to the other. Also added in Boston but we were here for 4 weeks altogether. If this is likely to be the only time you will see the US then flying to the places you want to see is the only way to go. It does put the cost up though.

I'm afraid you're counting your days and nights all wrong - not allowing for time to get form places to place (the way you have listed it - for many days you will be in two different places and travel between them).

Four full days in one place requires 5 nights - not the other way around. So - you really have 2 days less than you think almost everywhere.

Sorry - and does your budget include flights within the US - or just to and from Argentina?

I didn't even bother counting the days/nights, rather how do you plan to get from the West Coast to the Gulf (New Orleans) and then to NYC? Airfares within the States don't come cheap, unless there is some sort of 'air pass' available for tourists to the US. If so, you have to be careful how you book these.

Otherwise, on further look at what you wish to accomplish... 1/day Wash DC isn't sufficient, by the time you train (3/hrs) and get to wherever you have to leave. Though there is the Mega Bus, which some prefer... or again, a short 1/hr flight and back again.

Also, you have to consider where and if you can drive within the US or if you want to, as between LA and Las Vegas - rather long for 1/day.

And, what about lodging - hotels, B&Bs, other... none of the cities you have selected come cheap for a place to lay your head. Unless looking for hostels.

Believe you have to do more research on where really you 'must' visit as well the budget. $5K might not get you too far.

A DC day trip from NYC really won't work. Buses are slower than train or air (which are similar by the time you get to and fro the airport, wait for check in - etc.) So you are spending 7 to 8 hours in travel to have perhaps 5 hours in DC. And the fares aren't cheap.

I think your budget is doable - but you will definitely need to be very careful - and that's assuming that you buy very low priced airfares in advance (perhaps in Argentina) - or they could eat up most of your budget.

Yes, definitely get your itinerary settled and buy tickets for the domestic flights before leaving Argentina so that you have time to research cheaper flights. It is rare to find good deals at the last minute.

Just for fun, I threw in some random dates for next September to see what airfare would be like and it's not bad.

Los Angeles to San Francisco is about $100 one-way
San Francisco to New Orleans is about $300 one-way OR
San Franscisco to Las Vegas to New Orleans is a total of about $300 ($100 from SF to LV, then $200 from LV to NO) if the OP should want to spend a couple days in LV
New Orleans to NYC is about $150 one-way.

So that comes out to $550 total, without looking for any deals as I'm sure there aren't any right now. That also doesn't factor in luggage fees. Southwest doesn't charge for the first 2 bags but their schedule isn't out for next September yet.

I would guess with some careful planning on shopping for sales, they could get that under $500 including luggage fees. That's not bad.

Yes - but that's looking far in advance. If they wait to buy tickets the less expensive will be sold out and they will end up having to pay much higher fares. Not that they need to buy now - but they should start looking seriously at least 4 or 5 months out.

I agree with nytraveller, we booked about 5 months in advance and the fares were a reasonable price. One was with Delta so had the $ 25.00 bag fee as well.

So, assuming you can afford the airfares and travel, something like this might work:

Fly to San Francisco, stay 4 nights.
Drive/bus to Los Angeles (take the coastal highway), 4 nights.
Drive to Las Vegas, 2 nights.
Fly to New Orleans, 4 nights.
Fly to Washington DC, 2 nights.
Train/bus to New York City, 4 nights.

Total 20 nights. Adjust as necessary.

As for tourist attractions, what do you like? Shopping and strolling? Art/science/history museums? Taking pictures of landmarks? Boat/package tours? Foodie sites? ...