CorpRobinson Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Me and my partner are looking to go away to America, maybe late this year early next year and was wondering where the best place is to book such a trip and we were looking on going to different places maybe, Chicago, Texas, New Orleans etc somewhere completely different to your average Orlando/Miami/Las Vegas trip  Any ideas are much appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhyswynne Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 For what you're suggesting, I'd suggest buying everything separate. Plan where you want to go first hand (I did last year Chicago > Richmond, VA > Washington DC > New York > Toronto), and then work out the best way to go from each. Â It's FAR cheaper to fly to the hubs (JFK/Chicago O'Haire, Atlanta & Toronto) then booking an internal flight than book separate. Hotels really are the way to go as Hostels are incredibly hit and miss. Getting around I'd recommend bussing it (unless you're driving), or flights if you can afford it. BE CAREFUL WHEN BOOKING GREYHOUND as often they will suggest busses on days surrounding your actual day of departure. Personally I'd try and go with Megabus if you can, clean & with AC & WIFI . Â And enjoy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator Frankie Crisp Posted February 27, 2012 Awards Moderator Share Posted February 27, 2012 Chicago is wonderful and I'd recommend it but if you want to take in a few other places then I'd go north to Wisconsin or over to Toronto. I did that a few years back and it was a cracking holiday. We got the bus from Chicago to Toronto and it was a pleasant drive taking in some nice places en route. Whatever you do, don't go to Detroit. It's a shithole. Â Another one I did a couple of years ago was Portland (Maine), down to Boston, then to Newport, Rhode Island, over to Stamford, Connecticut and on to New York. The Northeast of America is beautiful; all of the places I mentioned (apart from Connecticut) are places I'd go to again and there's also Vermont, northern New York state or New Hampshire. The driving (if that's the option you take) is an absolute doddle, too, as well as taking in some cracking scenery. Â Neil may be a good one for this as I think I remember him saying he's lived in the same places I went to, so may know more about where to go if you fancy staying in the NE of the country. Â If you fancy the West Coast, you won't go far wrong with going to San Francisco and then take in a few days at Yosemite National Park which is breathtaking. Other than that, you could try San Diego for a few days and then go over to Flagstaff in Arizona to take in the Grand Canyon, which you could do via Pheonix. Â Whichever you do, I'd also go with the recommendation of the bus rather than driving for cost purposes, although due to the stop-offs you will add a good few hours to each journey. The train is a bit of fun if you want to give that a go, and you could always get a cabin with an overhead bed. The long drive on the bus is cheap, but after a few hours it's very uncomfortable. Â Have fun, wherever you decide! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorpRobinson Posted February 27, 2012 Author Share Posted February 27, 2012 Thats the kinda plan what we were planning on doing, but i was wondering where would be the best place to book this whole trip from ? Â Cheers for the help so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator Frankie Crisp Posted February 27, 2012 Awards Moderator Share Posted February 27, 2012 Sorry, completely forgot that bit! Â I've always booked my flights and accommodation separately. The Flight Centre have always priced matched/beaten any quotes I've had elsewhere. Just give them a call with other prices you may get from other dealers and they'll be pretty helpful. BA are usually the best flights if you want to go direct, but they can be a little more expensive. You'll often get a cheaper deal if you transfer via Europe. I've gone with KLM via Amsterdam a few times and via Paris with Air France. Both are a good standard of flight. You'll probably get the cheapest rate with American Airlines but I would give them a wide berth if I were you. It's like battery hens on a bus and they're a nightmare in terms of service. Â In terms of digs, I usually get a few prices from Hotels.com, CheapHotels.com and Expedia and then give them a call to see if they can knock the prices down or if you find a hotel you like, give them a call directly as they'll sometimes give you a better rate if you don't book through an agent. Always have a shop around when you look for digs and then Google the hotel name to see if any other agents can give you the same deal or better. Â If you decide on where you're going, I'll let you know of any decent places to stay or ones to avoid if it's somewhere I've been before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorpRobinson Posted February 27, 2012 Author Share Posted February 27, 2012 Alright Frankie, call me a idiot please if u think this is mad, but i was thinking maybe booking a 3 week trip out there return flights from Chicago, but going on a bus trip to a couple of other states, do u think this is viable and then just booking a hotel when we get there / motel ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator Frankie Crisp Posted February 27, 2012 Awards Moderator Share Posted February 27, 2012 Seems feasible, although I'd book the hotels over here before you go. We shifted our plans when we did a road trip and in some places it was a nightmare trying to get a hotel at short notice without paying a fortune. That said, we were in quite remote locations but I'm sure if you're going to larger cities then you may be able to get somewhere decent at short notice. It's a toss up between wanting guaranteed room so sticking to a rigid plan, or just playing it by ear and not having the definite certainty of a room. Another way of saving money would be to do the bus trips overnight as you save on a hotel for the night but it does mean you'll have a kip in a seat rather than bed (and could also miss some of the scenery on the way if it's dark). Â If you're defo going to Chicago, I can't recommend Hotel 71 enough. It's ideally located on the Chicago River, so you're within walking distance of pretty much everything the city has to offer. If you can swing it, I'd go for a river facing room as the view is stunning. We went late on in the year and due to the climate, the hotel wasn't full so they upgraded us for free and that was on top of already paying a low price. If you're going around the same time as you've suggested, you could get a bargain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Monkee Posted February 27, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted February 27, 2012 Alright Frankie, call me a idiot please if u think this is mad, but i was thinking maybe booking a 3 week trip out there return flights from Chicago, but going on a bus trip to a couple of other states, do u think this is viable and then just booking a hotel when we get there / motel ? Â If you call the hotel a couple of days before arriving you can usually get it cheaper than just turning up. That's what I did. Might not be cheaper than if you book a month or two in advance but still cheaper than on the day. Â If you're going to Florida then I can't recomment THIS place enough. It was self-catering with a full kitchen and slept up to 6 people. In October 2010 it cost Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorpRobinson Posted February 27, 2012 Author Share Posted February 27, 2012 Well we are gonna try if possible, book 3 week return flight from chicago, book the first hotel then travel via bus to the next state then go from there i think, im a total novice really but its gonna be a experience i wanna take really Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators PowerButchi Posted February 27, 2012 Moderators Share Posted February 27, 2012 Me and my brother have always fancied doing the cliched summers drive around America on one of those famous routes, how easy would that be to do? How long would we ideally need, and is it easy enough to find cheap grotty motels on the way? Anyone done that kind of thing before? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Monkee Posted February 27, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted February 27, 2012 Me and my brother have always fancied doing the cliched summers drive around America on one of those famous routes, how easy would that be to do? How long would we ideally need, and is it easy enough to find cheap grotty motels on the way? Anyone done that kind of thing before? Â I went from San Francisco to New York by Greyhound bus. The only thing that was definitely booked before we arrived was the hotel in SF because we landed quite late at night. We usually found that as long as we called a couple of days before arriving then we had a place to stay. We did have to change routes a couple of times because we couldn't find any vacancies at hotels (such as Cleveland, we wanted to go to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame but every hotel nearby was fully booked). There are plenty of Best Westerns or Days Inns around that you can stay in upon arrival. Just make sure you know the distance between each place so you don't arrive too late at night with nowhere to stay. Â That trip was 3 months long, the longest we stayed anywhere was a week and that was SF because we couldn't get tickets for Alcatraz until then as it was fully booked. We went to... (if I can remember!): Â San Francisco, LA, Vegas, San Diego, Flagstaff, Albequerque, Oklahoma City, Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, New Orleans, Memphis, St Louis, Chicago, Cinncinnatti, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Boston and New York. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator Frankie Crisp Posted February 27, 2012 Awards Moderator Share Posted February 27, 2012 Me and my brother have always fancied doing the cliched summers drive around America on one of those famous routes, how easy would that be to do? How long would we ideally need, and is it easy enough to find cheap grotty motels on the way? Anyone done that kind of thing before? It's a piece of piss, Butch. The one I mentioned above in my first reply around the North East of the US was a doddle. The roads are easy to navigate, getting digs is no problem if you know how long you want to stop off and if you don't mind doing hostels, you can save a few quid. We didn't find hiring a car that expensive, but there were 5 of us (6 at one point) so we were able to split the costs of the car and fuel. Might be a different story when you split it two ways. Â We went for 11 days to coincide with my mate's bird doing a few gigs over there but I'd have liked longer in each place. I think the longest we stayed in one place was 3 days and had it not have been for the gig timetable we probably would have gone to less places but for longer. Â On the flip side, I also did 3 months over there and got around on the Greyhound and went to about a dozen places so was able to stay in the one place for a week or so if I wanted, or just move on if I wasn't keen on places. If that's the way you want to handle it, hostels are the best way to sort your digs out as you can book for cheap at short notice whereas hotels are a bit trickier. Â If you did something like New York to Chicago, stopping at a few places on the way, you'd probably need about 5 weeks but again that all depends on how many places you want to go to and for how long. Â Honestly, just do it. The 3 month trip was the best thing I ever did for a number of reasons. Apart from financially. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Monkee Posted February 27, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted February 27, 2012 Honestly, just do it. The 3 month trip was the best thing I ever did for a number of reasons. Apart from financially. Â I agree on both counts! Wish I could do the same all over again but there are still so many places I'd like to see as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Stephanie Posted February 27, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted February 27, 2012 When I fly home I usually fly out of Toronto Pearson Airport. For some reason the flights are the cheapest. I mean, I'm only an hour and a half away from that airport even though we live in the US. Going through immigration twice gets a bit annoying but it's worth the savings. I can see Canada from my window! Â Â There are a ton of places I want to go to in the US. Myrtle Beach, NC being one of them. Anyone been? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Rob Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Chicago is fantastic, you can't go wrong with it. If you were on a bit of a tight budget, Hostelling International tends to be very reliable, and the ones in Chicago and New York City are particularly good. You can get really cheap internal flights, I did New York to Chicago and Chicago to Atlanta last year for Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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