Domestic travel within USA?

Hi there. First post, be gentle :-)

I am from Melbourne, Australia and will be travelling to the USA in
September/October this year with my boyfriend. Just wondering how you
would recommend travelling around domestically? I'm guessing options
are bus, plane and hire car. The kind of areas we want to cover are LA,
San Francisco, Las Vegas, Yosemite National Park, New Orleans, Miami and
NYC. Our timeframe is about a month, so any recommendations would be
appreciated!

Thanks,
Nic


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"Nic" wrote in message
...

Hi there. First post, be gentle :-)

I am from Melbourne, Australia and will be travelling to the USA in
September/October this year with my boyfriend. Just wondering how you
would recommend travelling around domestically? I'm guessing options
are bus, plane and hire car. The kind of areas we want to cover are LA,
San Francisco, Las Vegas, Yosemite National Park, New Orleans, Miami and
NYC. Our timeframe is about a month, so any recommendations would be
appreciated!

Rent a car. Check with Avis or Budget to see what they require for an
international license.
Larry

Thats a lot to pack into a month! For travel between major areas I
would fly as driving would take too much of your time up. Within a
particular region I would rent a car (we call it rent rather than hire).

Buses are ok for short distances of 1 day. I would never ride the bus
for more than a 1 day trip. They are slow especially when there are
stops along the way. Forget about trains. There aren't many in the USA
and they too are rather slow. Light rails and subway trains in major
cities are excellent ways to get around if the stops you wish to see are
along their route. In San Francisco you most likely will not need a
car. BART light rail and Buses are good there. Vegas and NYC you
probably won't need a car unless you venture outside the city area.


Nic wrote:
Hi there. First post, be gentle :-)

I am from Melbourne, Australia and will be travelling to the USA in
September/October this year with my boyfriend. Just wondering how you
would recommend travelling around domestically? I'm guessing options
are bus, plane and hire car. The kind of areas we want to cover are LA,
San Francisco, Las Vegas, Yosemite National Park, New Orleans, Miami and
NYC. Our timeframe is about a month, so any recommendations would be
appreciated!

"Nic" says:
I am from Melbourne, Australia and will be travelling to the USA in
September/October this year with my boyfriend. Just wondering how you
would recommend travelling around domestically? I'm guessing options
are bus, plane and hire car. The kind of areas we want to cover are LA,
San Francisco, Las Vegas, Yosemite National Park, New Orleans, Miami and
NYC. Our timeframe is about a month, so any recommendations would be
appreciated!

"Larry" recommends:
Rent a car.

For the first four destinations, certainly. All of the others involve
much longer distances. In distance terms, if Los Angeles is Perth,
then the next three destinations are points in southwestern Western
Australia like Geraldton and Kalgoorlie; but New Orleans, Miami, and
New York are like Adelaide, Sydney, and Cairns.

Of course it would be possible to drive everywhere if you really wanted,
but if your interest is in seeing the places you mentioned rather than
all the little places in between, then you will need to fly, and even
then you won't have all that much sightseeing time. You might want to
cut out one or two destinations. Personally I'd drop Miami, especially
when you're going to California as well.

Once you get to each city, of course, you can rent another car for
local travel around the city -- if you want. In New York most people
recommend against doing this -- get a hotel in Manhattan and go places
by public transport. In New Orleans you probably do want a car if
you want to see much of the city, and in Miami certainly.

Check with Avis or Budget to see what they require for an
international license.

Visitors from English-speaking countries just need their regular license.
But don't take my word for it.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "Effective immediately, all memos are to be written
| in clear, active-voice English." -- US gov't memo

My text in this article is in the public domain.

Given the timescale and distance I'd use a mixture. Whilst it's not
impossible to get to Yosemite without a car it's not going to be easy. If
you wanted to travel the Pacfific Coast Highway you'd almost certainly have
to hire a car. Los Angeles does have public transport but the city is so
spread out that a car makes life much easier. On the other hand while
you're in New York and San Francisco public transport in the downtown areas
is good, combine that with the sort of parking restrictions you'll find in
many CBDs and a car is not only unnecessary, it can be a liability. Never
been to Miami so I can't comment and 30 years ago New Orleans was somewhere
I got around very well without a car but today, don't know.

Intercity it's about 3 days coast to coast minimum by car, bus or train and
I'd feel like Superman doing it that fast. I'd probably also feel like
death warmed up. You can fly domestically at reasonable prices. Talk to
your travel agent. Ask aout VUSA fares and airpasses. Talk to more than
one travel agency, not all know about these fares. They aren't always the
cheapest but they usually aren't bad value and, importantly, they sometimes
offer some flexibility to change. The US equivalents of Virgin Blue are
Southwest (actually, the original on which all the Virgin Blues of the world
are modelled), Airtran, ATA, Spirit, Frontier, to name a few.


"Nic" wrote in message
...

Hi there. First post, be gentle :-)

I am from Melbourne, Australia and will be travelling to the USA in
September/October this year with my boyfriend. Just wondering how you
would recommend travelling around domestically? I'm guessing options
are bus, plane and hire car. The kind of areas we want to cover are LA,
San Francisco, Las Vegas, Yosemite National Park, New Orleans, Miami and
NYC. Our timeframe is about a month, so any recommendations would be
appreciated!

Thanks,
Nic


--
Nic
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I am from Melbourne, Australia and will be travelling to the USA in
September/October this year with my boyfriend...


I pretty much agree with the other posters -- fly to cover large distances,
then rent a car if needed. Actually in most of those cities you can get around
just fine with public transportation, but if you plan to leave the cities to
visit
nearby areas of interest you may wish to rent one.

A month sounds like a long time, but when you subtract the days that
will be spent mostly just travelling you're left with a very busy schedule.

Personally, I'd drop LA from that list and spend more time in San Francisco
instead. Most folks find S.F. to be a much more interesting city for tourism,
plus there are several good day trips you could make from S.F. such as
Muir Woods (redwood forest) and NAPA Valley (wineries) to the north,
and the beautiful Monterey Pennensula area to the south.

If you're going to Vegas, you might want to consider a side trip to the Grand
Canyon, which is one of the top tourist attractions in the country. It's about
a 5 hour drive from Vegas, so it's best to make it an overnight trip, but if
you're pressed for time it can be done as a day trip (there are one-day tours
from Vegas by bus or small plane, or just rent a car). It'll be one of the
highlights of your trip.

Jim

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Remove "NOSPAM" from my address when sending me e-mail.
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On 01/20/2005 11:27 PM Nic wrote:

Hi there. First post, be gentle :-)

I am from Melbourne, Australia and will be travelling to the USA in
September/October this year with my boyfriend. Just wondering how you
would recommend travelling around domestically? I'm guessing options
are bus, plane and hire car. The kind of areas we want to cover are LA,
San Francisco, Las Vegas, Yosemite National Park, New Orleans, Miami and
NYC. Our timeframe is about a month, so any recommendations would be
appreciated!

Thanks,
Nic




Decide on either West Coast and interior, or East Coast and Southern.
Visit the other on another trip. For example on the East you could fly
into New York City. There is so much to do and see in New York City, a
week or so won't cover it all. You can use public transport in New York.

Then fly down to Washington DC (unless you've already done that.) Stay
4 or more days. From Washington, fly to Fort Lauderdale. It'll be
off-season so getting a really nice hotel room will cost less and more
will be available. Pick-up your rental car at or near the airport. Ft.
Lauderdale is nice, a little more laid back than Miami. But it has
plenty to offer. Split up your time between Ft. Lauderdale, Miami and
Key West. If you will be there the last week in October, that's
Fantasy Fest. It's one week of costumes, body painting and
party-party. It's not as big as Carnival in Rio, but it's a great time.

Drive back up to FLL - Fort Lauderdale, turn in your car. Catch your
plane for N'Orleans. Get another car there.
Hang out in The Big Easy - you'll be already relaxed from Key West's
mellow attitude. You'll fit right into N'Orleans, the city that care
forgot. Depending on cost, visa and other stuff you might plan to fly
home from Big Easy or return to your entry point in NYC and catch the
plane home from there.

Do a the itinerary that others have suggested for the West Coast another
time.

Note about the weather: September - October is the end point of
hurricane season . This could mean nothing or it could mean that
regardless of original itinerary or the one I suggest you might have to
scrub South Florida destinations and/or New Orleans. Sometimes the
weather is excellent during these months and sometimes some of the most
deadly hurricanes make landfall in the months of September, October and
November. Just look at what happened on the West Coast of Florida and
Grand Cayman last season.

So any trip including South Florida, the Florida Panhandle, or New
Orleans will require some flexibility. Book your air for those segments
and hotels 2 or 1 months in advance. You can even cut the time down a
little more for hotels, and you will be ok for everything but Fantasy
Fest. (That requires advance lodging booking).

Look at the weather for this region of the US starting in June. Follow
the trends. If there aren't that many storms spawned in July or August -
September/October could be very sunny marred only by some brief showers.

--
________
To email me, Edit "xt" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

"Nic" wrote in message
...

Hi there. First post, be gentle :-)

I am from Melbourne, Australia and will be travelling to the USA in
September/October this year with my boyfriend. Just wondering how you
would recommend travelling around domestically? I'm guessing options
are bus, plane and hire car. The kind of areas we want to cover are LA,
San Francisco, Las Vegas, Yosemite National Park,

This first group are best covered by hiring a car, none of the
locations are more than day's drive away and with the
exception of San Francisco you'll want a car when you get there.

New Orleans, Miami and
NYC.

These are best reached by flying due to the distances involved.
Think Melbourne to Perth for LA to Miami.

Keith

On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 21:17:31 -0800 "--" wrote:

:"Nic" wrote in message
...

: Hi there. First post, be gentle :-)

: I am from Melbourne, Australia and will be travelling to the USA in
: September/October this year with my boyfriend. Just wondering how you
: would recommend travelling around domestically? I'm guessing options
: are bus, plane and hire car. The kind of areas we want to cover are LA,
: San Francisco, Las Vegas, Yosemite National Park, New Orleans, Miami and
: NYC. Our timeframe is about a month, so any recommendations would be
: appreciated!

:Rent a car. Check with Avis or Budget to see what they require for an
:international license.

Do you even have a clue as to how long the drive would be from the west coast
to New Orleans to Miami to New York?

--
Binyamin Dissen
http://www.dissensoftware.com

Should you use the mailblocks package and expect a response from me,
you should preauthorize the dissensoftware.com domain.

I very rarely bother responding to challenge/response systems,
especially those from irresponsible companies.

I am from Melbourne, Australia and will be travelling to the USA in
September/October this year with my boyfriend. Just wondering how you
would recommend travelling around domestically? I'm guessing options
are bus, plane and hire car. The kind of areas we want to cover are LA,
San Francisco, Las Vegas, Yosemite National Park,

Nic, I know that when we flew from here to the U.S, we bought the ticket
from MEL to San Fran and that allowed us our "one free stopover" in L.A for
a couple of days. Get a car in San Fran and drive to Yosemite (you don't
need an International Licence) I think then I'd look at buying the flight
coupons thru your TA, remember that each flight is a coupon, so if you were
flying say SF to NY thru one of the hubs it would be considered 2 flights.

Debbie (also in Melbourne)