Holiday in the US.
 

Hi!

I live in Hungary and I'm planning visiting the US for fist time this summer.

I would like to go to New York for 6 days, see everything there is :P, go to a Broadway show and visit Washington too.

After that I'd go to Orlando for another six days, visit a few Parks (DisneyWorld, Universal...) and I would like to go to the Kennedy Space Center.

Then I'd travel to San Francisco next, where I would like to spend 3 or 4 days, visit the Alcatraz and the Winchester House.

Last destination would be Los Angeles for 4-5 days and here I'd like to visit Disneyland too.

I ask people who know these places: are my plans doable? Or is it too much for three weeks?
Also, I need to find really cheap hotels, but also safe ones, for I'll be traveling alone. :(
(And I'm a 27-year-old female)

If someone has suggestions for programs or hotels or anything, I'd be very grateful! :)

It seems like a lot. Keep in mind that Orlando is a little over 1000 miles from New York, and San Francisco and LA are 3000ish from both of them and about 500 miles from each other, which means you have to fly between cities, or spend days traveling overland, which isn't necessarily cheaper and is a whole lot less convenient. I would plan either east or west coast, and not try to do both in one trip.

A good east coast itinerary that could be done overland is to fly into New York (which is expensive to stay in-you might find that a hostel is your best bet), spend several days there, take Amtrak to Philadelphia and/or Washington D.C. with a couple of days each (and they are both well worth a visit-but if you skip one it should probably be Philly). Then take another train to Orlando (and there are a number of Southern cities worth a visit that are served by the train-such as Richmond, Charleston, and Savannah-you could break for a couple of days in one of them). You might be better off renting a car to tour Orlando and the parks there (and you could drive the East Coast if you wished-although it's not an interesting drive and drop-off fees are steep), but it can be done by public transport if you stay on International Drive or Hotel Plaza Boulevard.

An overland West Coast that I've never done, but have researched, would be to fly into Las Vegas, spend a few days there (you can get luxury hotels quite cheaply sometimes), take a tour of the Grand Canyon, then take a bus to LA, spend a few days there (also a good place to rent a car-and this is obviously a driveable itinerary as well)-take the Coast Starlight to San Francisco, spend several days there (and maybe take a Napa tour, if that's your kind of thing), and fly out from there.

Only time for a very quick comment right now:

"<i>Also, I need to find really cheap hotels,</i>"

What is your actual budget?

Yes, you need to be specific about the amount you have to spend per night. Three weeks may seem like alot - but with your plan you will spend at least 5 solid days just in transit - flying from oneplace to another. Also - it is practically impossible to see LA withtou renting a car - they don't do public transit.

On another note - the parks in Orlando are VERY expensive - and although you can get budget motels in the vicinity - you then either need to rent a car - or find some sort of local transit (not easy from some palces). Hotels at the parks have free transit within them - but are generally not cheap.

And frankly I wouldn;t do FL in the summer - it is VERY hot and humid - nothing like the summers you are used to.

Good advice from nytraveler. For cheap solo lodging, try Hostel International. http://www.hihostels.com/
They seem to have higher quality hostels than the others.
If you don't want to fly to San Francisco, you can take an Amtrak train from Washington to Chicago and another to the San Francisco area.
Good luck on your trip and stay safe.

> visit ... the Winchester House.

A minor point, but in over fifty years of travel I can say with certainty that the Winchester Mystery House ranks up there as one of the most UN-necessary places to visit. It's not BAD, mind you, it's just not worth the admission price. In fairness to the actual tours, the guides make clear that the story about Mrs Winchester building the house in order to prevent hauntings is completely false (she never did explain why she did so), and the number of construction mysteries is pretty small. It's just a big house with a couple of sloppy work efforts, that's all. There's 100 places in the Bay Area I'd recommend for a visit over this place.

Not only that, it's in San Jose, which is 50 miles south of San Francisco. It would take a whole day by public transportation to visit the Winchester Mystery House.

Yeah - I agree about the Winchester Mystery House.

FWIW, I'd lop off a day or two from Orlando and add it to the San Francisco area.

Otherwise, until we know how you're getting from one place to the next, and what you consider inexpensive, we're a little bit limited re: what to say.

Thank you all for responding! :)

I'm flying to all cities, and all the hotels are supposed to have transports from the airport.
I won't be able to rent a car, because I don't want to drive in a foreign country... :(
But I heard that the hotels (at least the one I picked out) offer free shuttles to the parks in Orlando, so there it won't be a problem.
In NY there's the metro (how much do the tickets cost? Can I buy a ticket that's valid for 6 days?) But I don't know about San Francisco and Los Angeles.
To Washington and to the Winshester House I would like to go with a tour.
"There's 100 places in the Bay Area I'd recommend for a visit over this place." - what are those? I'm still planning, so if a find anything better, I can change my plans. :)
My budget... Hm... well, it would be good if the hotels (hostels) were under 100 dollars/night... But I don't know if it's possible, especially since I heard that the prices advertised on the websites don't contain the tax. :s
Thanks for the link about the hostels too!

I'm not sure why you would want to visit Walt Disney World in Orlando and Disneyland in California on the same trip, since they're basically the same. The difference is that in Florida there is Epcot Center associated with, but completely separate from WDW (separate admission), and in California, the associated (but, again, separate admission) park is California Adventure. Don't waste your money going to both Disney parks - do it one place or the other.

Depends on how much of a Disney fan you are. Plenty of people think it's worthwhile to visit them both, but Disneyland Park in California, and Magic Kingdom are substantially the same. Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Disney Hollywood Studios are only in Florida, and California Adventure is only in California. It might be a lot of Disney for one trip, although I would certainly not go so far as to call it a waste of money.

>>"There's 100 places in the Bay Area I'd recommend for a visit over this place." - what are those? I'm still planning, so if a find anything better<<

Here are my ideas (note - the Winchester house is missing - for a reason)

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...mendations.cfm

Stu Dudley

> "There's 100 places in the Bay Area I'd recommend for a visit
> over this place." -
> what are those?

For all of the following, the ratio of worthiness, over cost and effort to visit, exceeds that of the Winchester Mystery House. It's not that every place is BETTER than the WMH (although most are), it's that the enjoyment of each exceeds the admission price and trouble needed to get to them. That's not the case for the WMH.

1) Chinatown
2) View of Golden Gate Bridge
3) Ghiradelli Square
4) Riding a cable car
5) Lombard Street
6) Watch the boats at Fisherman's Wharf
7) Bay Area boat tour
8) Coit Tower, Telegraph Hill
9) Fort Point
10) SF Zoo
11) California Academy of Science
12) Palace of the Fine Arts
13) Mission Dolores
14) Walking down Market Street
15) Nob Hill homes
16) Golden Gate Park
17) Exploratorium
18) Walking around Sausolito
19) Giants baseball game
20) Oakland A's baseball game
21) Pier 39
22) Cliff House at sunset
23) Fort Point
24) Palace of the Legion of Honor
25) Muir Woods
26) Ocean Beach
27) Point Bonita Lighthouse
28) MH de Young Museum
29) Nike Missile Sight
30) Ferry Building Market
31) View from Twin Peaks
32) "Painted Ladies" homes
33) Fort Mason
34) Angel Island
35) Botanical Garden
36) Stinson Beach
37) Land's End
38) Maritime Museum
39) NASA Ames Exploration Center
40) Natural Bridges Beach
41) Mission Santa Cruz
42) Wells Fargo Museum
43) Santa Cruz Boardwalk
44) Stanford University
45) Intel Museum
46) Paramount's Great America Amusement Park
47) University of California, Berkeley
48) Lawrence Hall of Science
49) Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley
50) San Jose Rose Garden
51) Lake Merritt Park, Oakland
52) Point Reyes National Seashore
53) Union Square
54) City Hall
55) Cartoon Art Museum
56) US Mint Museum
57) Grace Cathedral, Nob Hill
58) Presidio Park
59) Eating a loaf of fresh sourdough bread
60) Movie at Castro Theater
61) Japan Center
62) Oakland Museum of California
63) Pacific Film Archive
64) Jack London Square
65) John Muir National Historic Site
66) Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge
67) Wildcat Canyon Regional Park
68) Redwood Regional Park
69) Mount Tamalpais
70) Six Flags Discovery Kingdom
71) Museum of Modern Art
72) California Historical Society
73) Fairmont Hotel
74) Vedanta Temple
75) Embarcadero Center
76) Museum of Craft & Folk Art
77) Ano Nueva State Preserve
78) Paramount Theater, Oakland
79) Preservation Park, Oakland
80) Charles Schultz Museum
81) Robert Louis Stevenson Museum

And twenty other places in the wine country -- since I'm not a wine expert, I can't give any specific recommendations, but I'd rather drive up to Napa Valley than down to San Jose.

I would like to visit the two Disney Parks because I have been to Disneyland Paris three times, and I like it a lot. I'm curious about the other Parks...
That list looks very good! A lot of things are on my list too, but there are also places I never considered, and look very promising!
I would like to see Stanford for example. I think it's in Palo Alto, isn't it? I don't know how I could get there without a car but I will consider it!
Thank you all. :)

Stanford is easy to get to without a car. Take Cal-Train ( the commuter rail) from its San Francisco station at 4th and Townsend, to the Palo Alto Station. The station is on University Avenue near El Camino Real. When you cross El Camino, it turns into Palm Drive, which is the main road into campus. Distances on foot are far (the campus is huge), but there is a free bus system called "the Marguerite".

$100 a night is an extremely low budget for major cities - even if you bid Priceline. You are liable to be either in suburbs - with transit a problem or in very unpleasant places.

As for airport shuttles - in the cities yuo are talking about this is not common. Usually only hotels AT the airport - not downtown - will hae airport shuttles - so you need to add the cost of geting from airports to downtown. (In NYC airporthotels are 45 minutes to an hur from downtown -- and getting there will not be inexpensive. If you are willing to look at a B&B with shard bath you might find something near $100 but I wouldn;t count on it.)

Los Angeles and that entire area has extremely limited public tranist (few buses that take forever to get anywhere and don't go many places). Yuo can get shuttles to some major places - but they will be much more expensive than public transit. DisneyLand is in Anaheim - nowhere near other things. You can look at budget motels i nthe immediate area and walk to the park but again, I don;t think $100 will do it.

I suggest you start building a trip based a realistic budget and then decide how much time you can spend here - and which places you can include (have you alredy costed out the air fares involved?)

"I won't be able to rent a car, because I don't want to drive in a foreign country".

You may be restricting yourself unnecessarily. If the reason is driving on an unaccustomed side of the road, we drive on the right hand side here, as you do in Hungary. (I believe).

I hesitate to offer my suggestions since I suspect my tastes are quite different from someone who has been to Disney Paris 3 times and still wants to come to the US and see it twice more! I live in So. California. But, here goes:

1) While it is not as hard as you imagine to drive in a foreign country, this can be difficult without a navigator to help and of all the places you mention, LA is the only one where you would need a car as things are very spread out. Other than Disneyland, you give no clue as to what in LA you would want to see. So, my strong suggestion is that you skip LA entirely or take my suggestion # 6 below. I grew up with Disneyland in So. Cal. and still do love the place but must admit it is in a very ugly location in Anaheim. Orlando is a more attractive environment with better alternatives.

2) In Orlando, buy a pass that will get you in to Epcot Center and the Magic Kingdom, so that once you realize the Magic Kingdom is exactly like what you have already seen, you can instead spend a day at Epcot which is fabulous and unique.

3) Since you are budget sensitive, consider a shorter stay in Orlando as you'll get bored of theme parks and go broke after about 3 days.

4) After visiting New York, definitely train to Washington DC for a few days. Then fly to Orlando after that.

5) Fly to San Francisco and visit the top 6 or so places on PaulRabe's list above, plus Alcatraz and/or Sausalito. Don't forget to have clam chowder with your sour dough bread! Yes, skip the Winchester Mystery House.

6) You could fly home from San Francisco or book a guided bus tour that takes you from SF down the California Coast (Highway 1) through Monterrey, Carmel, Big Sur (stop to visit Hearst's Castle) and ends in LA. You could then take a one-day guided bus tour of LA and fly home from LA.

I hope this is helpful information for you and that on your trip you encounter only friendly Americans!

Going back to your fundamental question about too much in so little time, I think it is or at least I might change a few things. I go to LA a few times a year and from a tourist's perspective ( especially one without a car) there are way more interesting places to go and much easier to get around in. I cannot imagine finding that much to do there and public transportation is a foreign concept. I think you'll be disappointed in disneyland after going to disneyworld, too. I would skip LA and use the time elsewhere.

Although it sounds like you love theme parks and they certainly are a part of the US, to spend much of your time in theme parks deprives you of some of the unique and wonderful places to go in this country. The beautiful thing about the states is it's diversity and regionalism. I would opt for New Orleans, Santa Fe, or maybe Charleston South Carolina. 6 days in Orlando not my preference but if that's what you want ok.

My point here is to rethink LA and substitute with more interesting and tourist without car friendly places.

>>>I won't be able to rent a car, because I don't want to drive in a foreign country<<<

My wife & I spend 2 months every year vacationing in Europe. By far, our worst driving experience was in Budapest - trying to get into town so we could return the car. We did U-turns on the freeway, went the wrong way on one-way roads (minor roads), and took left turns when no left turns were allowed. If you can drive in Budapest, you can drive in the US.

We are from San Francisco.

Stu Dudley

$100 a night is a hostel budget in New York, probably slightly low but not impossible for DC, generous for Orlando, doable for LA/Anaheim (I've just done a lot of research, and have been pleasantly surprised with some of the prices I've found), and probably again a hostel budget for San Francisco.

If you do go to Stanford (I recommend it as I've worked there for over 30 years!) be sure and take one of the tours given by a student guide. Also take some time to visit the Cantor Center art museum...lovely. Also go up Hoover tower and see the views. From the university you can also go over to Palo alto via the Marguerite bus and walk around University Avenue. Nice restaurants and shops.

Skip Winchester Mystery House-too far and not worth it!

Thank you all - again. :)

Yes, we drive on the right-hand side of the road. :P And I can understand perfectly that your worst driving experience is Budapest!! I don't like it either, so that's pretty much the reason I haven't driven a car for about 8-9 years now. :$
(But I hope that you also have some good memories about Budapest? :))

Yes, I would like to go to Stanford, if you all say it's doable. :) I went to Uni in Budapest of course (and a very old and 'famous' - in Hungarian standards - one at that), but I am very curious what Stanford is like. I expect it to be enormous and beautiful. :)

I see that everyone agrees on Winchester House too, so I might just take your advice, and visit someplace else instead. :) (for example Stanford.) " Also take some time to visit the Cantor Center art museum..." - I will! :)

"have you alredy costed out the air fares involved?" - yes, I have, it's been a while though, so I hope the prices haven't changed very much since then. (It was two month ago, I think.)

"Don't forget to have clam chowder with your sour dough bread!" - I have no idea what these are, but I'm gonna try them! :)

"I hope this is helpful information for you and that on your trip you encounter only friendly Americans!" - definitely helpful, thank you very much! :) And I hope too that I encounter friendly Americans! But if they're anything like you all than I think I'm safe! ;)

"$100 a night is a hostel budget in New York," - yes, it's literally impossible, I can see it now. :(

And I think I might reconsider driving... :)

"$100 a night is a hostel budget in New York," - yes, it's literally impossible, I can see it now. --> I mean, it seems impossible...

>>But I hope that you also have some good memories about Budapest?<<<

Fantastic city!!! We loved every minute of our 5 nights there. We'll be back - for sure.

Stu Dudley

Oh, I'm happy to hear (read :P) that!! :)

Manuela, if you are interested in visiting a university in the SF area, also consider riding BART (metro) to Berkeley to see the University of California. An easier trip than Stanford, IMO.

If someone were going to go to Europe for a 3 weeks whether they should go to Russia for 6 days, Irealand for 6 days and shoot over to Spain for a weekend then to Italy, what would you say?

Pick either the East or the West and enjoy your 3 weeks. Plan to return. The West Coast deserves 3 weeks.

There's certainly enough in the East the can keep you busy for 3 weeks.

I disagree with all those who say la is impossible with out a car.la is vast indeed, so you require some time and patience.but you can get to pretty much every touristy spot by public transport.
For a three week budget trip, you might want to consider taking the Amtrak rail pass.
having gone all the way to la, do consider Vegas and the grand canyon.
If you have been to Disney parks already, 6 days in Orlando could be an overkill , time which could be spent visiting other places. You could split your iternary into a week and a half in the east coast and the rest in west coast.

Thank you all for the help! :)
I have my plane and hotel reservations, and I'm planning the programms and prices now.
I take all your advices in cosideration of course. :)

Oh yes, you can get a hotel rom in NYC for $100 a night in summer, I've done it. Check out the JANE hotel (shared bath twin room). Depending on the dates, also check the Cosmopolitan hotel in Tribeca (clean and nice and next to #1 subway stop; I got $97 rate last August and again in Sept. there) and watch the Hotel Edison for specials (sign up to get alerted on their website, I have gotten emails about $89 rates in summer there), and check out the newly remodeled Milford Plaza also (they had $95 rates on a double for month of Feb., they told me might be doing specials over the summer also.)

Has anyone addressed getting to D.C. from NYC and staying in D.C. for $100 a night? You'll want to use Bolt bus or Megabus or our favorite, DC2NY bus, for that route and best cost.

Need ideas for hotel room in D.C. at your price range?

Yes, of course, I would like to get as many ideas and advices as possible. :)

Oh... I have another question.
There's something I didn't think about before. :s

I just read that the time I'll be in Orlando is the worst time, because of the hurricane season. :s

What are the chances that I won't be able to do anything else than sit in the hotel room because of the rain?
Do I have to count with missing my flight to San Francisco because of the weather?

I have plans for all days I will be spending there, I would be really sad if I had to miss anything. :(
And I'm not even trying to explain what it would do to my plans if I couldn't travel on schedule to SF... :s

There is a HI Hostel in Washington DC that will cost you much less than $100/night. http://www.hihostels.com/
If you did not want to fly from Washington to Orlando, you could take an overnight train (Amtrak.com) from WAS to ORL.
You will know several days in advance if there is a hurricane coming. Fly out to the West Coast before the weather shuts down the Orlando airport if a hurricane is coming.

The only problem is that I have my plane tickets reserved... I cannot travel to the U.S. without it, as I have to show all the tickets when I enter the country. :s Regulations for Hungarians... :( (And the same goes for hotel reservations...)

I'm not really afraid of hurricanes (I mean, the chances of a hurricane coming exactly at that time are pretty low... Of course not non-existent, I know.), but of thunderstorms that take a whole day or so... :s
Is it very common?

The HI Hostels look good! :)

Hurricane's are a problem in Florida in the summer, for sure. They go from August until October and even November. Thunderstorm's in Florida in the afternoon are a fact of life. I would not say "they last all day" however the chance is very good that in 6 days you are there you will have a thunderstorm. Just do what everyone else does, buy a rain poncho or go sit someplace and have a drink until the storm passes.It is very hot and humid in Florida in summer. And just to be clear, you could have a hurricane in the summer anywhere along the east coast. I would not worry, I am sure for your vacation you will be ok. Happy travels.