Tarik Farooq requires tips regarding USA tour
 

Hi everybody. My name is Tarik Farooq. I am from India. I am planning a tour for 15 days to USA alongwith two family members. I need your help regarding places to visit in 15 days because getting confused. So please suggest me with your precious suggestions.

Thanks.

This is an impossible question. The US has thousands and thousands of places to visit. Do you have any guidebooks? Do you have at least some places on a 'wish list'?

Since you must get a visa you should already know where you are flying into and out of.

New York, Las Vegas, San Diego, Washington DC and Virgin Island.

You are trying to cover a lot of ground - and this comes from one who does like to do as much as possible on the first trip - what I consider more of a survey adventure :)

NYC and Wash DC (figure a 3 hour train ride between the two) -together could easily take a week of sight-seeing - and then - getting to the US Virgin Islands - down in the Caribbean - takes a day - as does the return.

From NYC/DC or even the Virgin Islands - it's a long way to Las Vegas - across the country - (some 2,500 miles from NYC/DC - or roughly 4,000+ Kilometers, and much further from the Virgin Islands).

Once in Vegas - it's a short flight - or a 5 hour drive to San Diego.

So - you pretty much have to decide how much time you want to spend where.

I agree it's too much for just 15 days. You could try something like this:

New York 4 night; then train or fly to Washington DC (4 nights). Then fly (it takes most of a day) to Las Vegas, stay 4 nights, and then to San Diego 3 nights.

Or you could decide to stay in the east: New York 5 nights, Washington D.D 5 nights; fly (most of a day) to Virgin Islands 5 nights.

First of all - when are you coming? Dates will determine weather - and what is realistic and possible.

And it is a huge country - in 15 days you can see a little of a few parts. It would help to know the ages and interests of you and the family members to give more specific advice.

One note: travel in the US is by plane or car. There is decent rail service on the Northeast corridor (DC up to Boston) but other than that trains are not a practical way to get around. (Very few, very slow, often late and often cost more than flying).

If you really want to see it all - here is how I would do it:

3 nights in NYC - and two nights in DC. Fly to the Virgin Isles - for 3 days (a little "mini-vacation" - assuming you get some beach time) - and then fly from there all the way to Vegas (probably though Miami?) - for 3 nights and wind up in San Diego - relaxing a bit perhaps before you head home. :)

You could also just fly from DC to Miami - and spend 3 nights at a beach there - say in beautiful Boca Rotan - an hour or so north - and then fly from Miami to Vegas. http://www.visitflorida.com/Boca_Raton

Stick to either the East Coast or West Coast with just 15 days and for the West Coast you really need to rent a car to see the best sights.

Hmmmm...odd first post....

R5

That's an interesting wish list. Very few people have the Virgin Islands on their mind when they think about visiting the U.S. What prompted you to include that?

I think capxxx has the right idea, split your time between NYC/DC and Las Vegas/San Diego, approximately 4 nights in each location. Take the train between NYC and DC, drive from Las Vegas to San Diego and sightsee along the way. You can drive down the California coast, visit the Grand Canyon and LA as part of that half of your trip.

It's spelled Boca Raton -- in case he wants to look it up and read about it. Personally I couldn't imagine coming all the way from India and visiting Boca Raton -- Miami or even Palm Beach, perhaps, but not Boca Raton.

OMG: Another English teacher? Anyhow - if you just wanted to kick back at a beach - still say Boca Raton is great, and a web page was provided.

Miami is just way too crowded - unless you want to join the Conga lines in South Beach. :)

@Tomsd - Hardly -- if you give advice to someone, spell it correctly or how is s/he supposed to research it? Was just in Miami in Nov and it was not crowded at all. Boca during the season (Nov-March) is just as crowded as Miami with all the snowbirds that live there -- it's retiree central.

So Yest - again, you seem to have missed the part about my putting up a webpage - where all one had to do was click on it, despite the huge mis-spelling of Rotan?

And BTW: If one googles Boca Rotan - it corrects it to Boca Raton. :)

And having been to Boca - disagree with your assessment, plus those Snowbirds don't usually flock to the beach. :)

I'm with R5. Odd first post. Tarik still hasn't checked back at all. Who's playing? (Besides Tomsd with proper nouns of course)

Thanks to all for their responses.

Glad you came back...I stand corrected! Did you decide on an itinerary?

It may be in March.

March is still very early spring in the US and you can get cold weather and even snow in NYC - although a high of about 50 is more likely - but colder at night.

Also, not sure how warm it is in Vegas then or if hotel pools will be open (check before you go).