speckles

.. and don't say "in summer"!

I know each state will probably differ (and maybe each district), but roughly what time period do the summer school holidays cover?

I will be in the US from 4 Aug to 30 Aug:

4-10 LA/Anaheim
10-12 Vegas
12-15 Boston
15-20 Washington DC
20-28 NYC
28-30 Waikiki

MikeT

Summer. Really, this is a big country and there's no single answer. The end of the month will see more kids in school, but there are still going to be plenty of kids who won't go back to school until after Labor Day in September.

Expect to see lots of kids in all of those places

dishdelish

The schools in our town are on summer vacation usually from mid June to late August. My neighbor's children returned to school August 23rd this year.

mnss

I don't understand why you would go to waikiki from the east coast after being on west coast which is the closer side to hawaii.

Plus, I would do San Francisco if you've never been there and omit DC since there's not really much to see there except for the white house, the capital building and a couple monuments. DC could be seen in a few hours and is most certainly not worth five whole days of your trip to America.

phidias1

California schools are mostly out June 12th to August 25th. East coast schools seem to be much the same. I'm afraid I have no idea about Hawaii!
I think it is sure to say that your trip conicides with most of the school hols, whether this is good or bad news I do not know!

MikeT

"DC could be seen in a few hours"

ROFLMAO

So sad.

mnss

Well I did not like DC one bit. And IMHO, whatever is worth seeing there can be seen in a few hours. If everyone's favorite color were blue, there would not have been cloths in other colors on the market.

If you must spend a night there, then perhaps have dinner in Georgetown, which quite charming.

trippinkpj

Vegas in the Summer? Put in San Francisco instead.

speckles

Thanks all. As I had thought, it seems the school holidays will be the most, if not the whole, of our time in the US. I would have preferred to travel in September, but the discount fares (we saved AU$700 each) required us to return home by 31 Aug.

MikeT - not sure what "ROFLMAO" means, but I assume you are in disagreement with mnss about DC.

mnss - our international flights are from Sydney to Honolulu. Hence the return to Waikiki at the end as we are doing a round-trip. On the way over we fly immediately on to LA rather than stopping in Hawaii. We had 3 bad reports about SF and my friend isn't interested in it anyway, so we have skipped it. As for DC, my friend is an avid US politics and history fan and it is one of the top 2 places she wants to see along with NYC. I may have done less days or skipped it altogether if not going with this friend, but I think 4.5 days will be fine. I'm interested in history too, but not so worried about past US politics.

speckles

Again, thanks for the input, but there is no need to advise on the actual itinery. We have booked and paid for all our internal flights, so the basic itinery is set. We are now just working on day to day activities. We are two single Aussie females in our early 30s. Neither of us have children.

Way_North

Are you trying to avoid school holidays or you want to travel during school vacations? Many college kids don't go back to school until after Labor Day.

I never failed to have great trips whether kids are in school or not. I found that many homeschoolers travel after or before official school holidays. Or even if there are no school holidays kids take class trips any time of the year. Well, maybe they don't go to Las Vegas on school trips

Is this your final itinerary? You are all over the map. I agree with mnss about going to Honolulu from West Coast. Also it would make more sense if you went Boston, NYC and Washington DC or in reverse.

Too bad you won't be able to see Hawaii.

Way_North

I apologize for giving my comments on your itinerary. You are all over a map but it is your itinerary not mine. I only hope with these many days in NYC you'll go beyond the city. There is much more to NY than NYC.

mnss

<<Also it would make more sense if you went Boston, NYC and Washington DC or in reverse.>>

I agree; flying from Boston to DC then to NYC is like flying from Melbourne to Brisbane, then down to Sydney.

BTW I can think of a good thing to say about DC in the summertime: it will be more green than any other large American city.

speckles

WayNorth, we would prefer to avoid kids/crowds where possible, but doing Disney in August is kind of the ultimate in kids and crowds. I thought summer holidays were in August, I just didn't know when they ended. I was hoping it would be a bit earlier. However, if kids go back to school in late August maybe most Americans will have done their travelling earlier in the summer break.

I don't agree that we are "all over the map". We see two places in the west and 3 in the east, before heading home (back west again) which has to be done via Honolulu. We are flying between all of the cities. The cost to fly from Boston to DC was similar to the cost to fly Boston to NYC, altough a little further in distance. However, we worked out it was cheaper to fly out of NYC back to LA (and onwards to Honolulu). (We're accountants and we crunched the numbers on a few different scenarios). Yes, our itinery is finalised.

We only have the one day in Hawaii, unfortunately. My friend has been before and therefore less keen to retrace her steps. However, it is cheaper and easier for me to return to Hawaii in future from Australia than to get to the US east coast.

iamq

Just curious what the "bad reports" of San Francisco were.

Too bad you're missing it.

Have a great trip.

lcuy

I think you've got a great itinerary, especially since Honolulu will be a nice end to your trip!

I spent a week in DC a few years back...could have spent twice the time. Will congress be in session while you're there? That would be the only thing that I'd worry about.

With the Smithsonian, Supreme court, Library of Congress,Holocaust museum, and tons of historical sights both in DC and in neighboring areas, you may be hot, but you won't be bored.

Many American schools are year round now, so the crush may not be as bad as you think. In addition, I was in DC in May and the school field trip groups were much more annoying to me...Big bus loads of kids with too few chaperones on a tiring schedule pull up and swamp wherever they go....

speckles

Hi iamq. I was interested in going to SF. My friend's parents had been and not thought much of it therefore, that swayed her mind. My mum has been, albeit a long time ago and said there was a lot unsavoury characters in the city. She also had the bad experience of someone trying to get into the hotel room in the middle of the night, which would have swayed her opinion. Another mutual friend who has travelled a lot said it was okay, but nothing great. She said the Americans love SF, but it doesn't compare to Sydney.

In the end, my friend won out and we are not going. We only have 4 weeks and we don't want to do too many short stops (ie 1-2 nights) if we can help it. Also turns out that she and I have quite different ideas on what we'd like to see over there. I would have gone to SF and the GC, but my friend considers it a big dirt hole in the ground - she's more a city goer.

Technically, I have also been to SF. However, it was in 1979 when I was 6. Mostly what I remember is being scared I was going to fall out of the cablecar door.

Maybe oneday I'll get another trip to the US in and can go up the CA coast and maybe also to Texas and Florida where I won't be going this time.

Anonymous

The itinerary looks fine to me. If you're flying to Boston, DC, and NYC, the order doesn't matter much; doing NYC in the middle would save an hour or two of air time, which IMHO is not a major concern.

As has already been said, summer holidays are a thing of the past in many states, including parts of California and Hawaii. Our cousins in Honolulu went to different schools that were on a year-round calendar: The schools were open all year but individual kids attended 9 out of the 12 months. By scheduling kids during every quarter, the city effectively increased their classroom capacity by 33% without building anything.

By late August, many schools (especially in the South) are starting back and as you suspected, many families have completed their holidays. So the later in August you do DC, the fewer vacationers you'll encounter -- and the more likely that the weather will be pleasant, too.

DC will have a minimum of business and politicians in mid-August, probably a good thing in an election year.

5alive

Speckles,
You're right, you could do a West only trip later. The only place I think it will matter much with crowds and kids is Disney.

With Disney, it can help immensely which day of the week you go, and there are several books with strategies of how to minimize your wait times in line. Pick up one of the books and learn about FastPass. If you can afford it, consider staying one night in a Disney Hotel for early morning entry. I'll let you hunt out the details but it will make your time there more pleasant.

Enjoy your trip!

Cali

We have gone to DC many times and we never get tired of seeing everything there. I think you will enjoy your 5 days there - there is plenty to see. Have fun!!