How are travel guidebooks useful in planning a trip?

Advice on planning first trip to America, best way to travel?

• Hi all :-) I'm planning a trip to America with my boyfriend- very excited but feeling overwhelmed by options so hoping you can offer me some advice, tips etc! Here's a brief outline: * Planning to go in February next year for about 3 weeks * Total budget about $5000 each * Coming from Australia * Wanting to see NY * Would like to also visit San Francisco, LA etc but this is on the other side so not sure whether to drive across and stop at places along the way (about how long would it take to drive?) or fly? Or train even? Open to ideas! * Best places to eat? * Weather? * Things to see and do? Yes, we want to do typical touristy things! :-) * Good accommodation approx $100 p/night? I have looked at heaps of travel brochures, websites etc but am now looking for REAL advice and ideas to help turn my ideas into plans!! Thank-you in advance!!

• Answer:

  As a practical matter you'll want to fly between California and New York; it's roughly a 2,900 mile/4,500 kilometer drive from San Francisco to New York City, which should take you roughly 4-5 days. While there are some interesting things to see in the center of the country, by and large you'll spend less and probably enjoy yourself more if you fly. Websites like priceline.com and yahoo travel can be useful in finding cheap fares and hotel rooms in the US. Also checkout Southwest Airlines (southwestairlines.com) which is the major us discount airline; it's fares aren't advertised on other websites. Amtrak.com handles virtually all long distance passenger train service in the US. It's viable for short distance travel, but again I'd recommend flying if you want to go coast to coast. Also if you can you might consider coming in a different part of the year--February is the rainy season in California and pretty cold in New York. If you do come in Feb bring warm clothing. To get a sense of what you might like to do pick up a guidebook (personally I like Lonely planets.) California is actually a really good choice because it has a nice mix of major cities and natural scenery. One suggested itinerary: Fly into LA. Spend a few days exploring the city and San Diego a few hours to the south. Then drive up to San Francisco along the coast, which is quite scenic. Santa Barbara, Hearst Castle (the fabulous estate of the guy Citizen Kane was based on), Big Sur, Monterey (which has one of the world's best aquariums), and Santa Cruz are all well worth some of your time. Spend some time wondering around San Francisco, then drive to Yosemite National Park, which is a must see. From there drive back towards LA. From LA it's also a 4 hour drive to Las Vegas, and an 8 hour drive to the Grand Canyon, which is also a must see. (Note that you can also start this itinerary in San Francisco--I don't think that any other place in the state has flights from Australia.) You'll have no trouble finding hotel rooms for around US $100/night outside of major cities. Major US chains include Motel 6 (generally the cheapest decent lodging you'll find) Super 8 Hotel, Holiday Inns, Best westerns, Comfort Inns, Days Inn, Ramada, and Hampton Inns (which tend to be the nicest and also most expensive chain hotels). In major cities--and especially New York--you'll likely have to pay more than $100 for a decent hotel room, and that's before parking charges if you bring a car. I've found that priceline.com is a very useful resource for hotels. If you want to save some cash and/or meet people and don't mind company hostelworld.com and/or hostelbookers.com are useful resources. Note that the US tends to have fewer hostels than other countries in the developed world. Other stuff to do: Boston and Washington DC are both quite interesting, and a couple of hours by train from New York. (The Smithsonian Museums in DC are fantastic). Chicago is also a great place to visit. Note however that it'll likely be quite cold in all of these places in February. California (at least along the coast) can be rainy, but you'll likely have relatively warmer weather. Lake Tahoe in CA is a popular skiing destination. The Napa Valley is a must for wine affecianados. San Diego is right across the border from Tijuana, though I don't know how safe it is these days. Also a note on driving: Don't try to drive in New York, DC, Chicago or Boston--they have excellent public transport and terrible traffic. LA also has terrible traffic, but you don't have much of a choice but to go by car. A car can be useful in and around San Francisco, but it's possible to get around much of the city via public transit. Another note: starting out your US experience by driving around LA might be unpleasant. You may wish to begin somewhere else. Hope some of that helps.