US Holiday

[Roachy]

Hey SSers,

Looking at a trip to the US over Dec 14/Jan 15. Don't know really where to go or what to do. The only things I want to do is eat where Man Vs Food goes, mainly Southern BBQ joints. Noting its a 6 week holiday, does anyone know how much it costs per day for a holiday eg. Hotel, Rental Car, Food etc. I have tried researching but everyone has different opinions; where I know the trusted people of SS will help me in my time of need.

Additionally, does anyone have recommendations of states/places they would go.

Thanks in advance for all your ideas.

Roach approach.

 

[VYBerlinaV8]

We're going at the same time!

Do a carribean cruise in January - cheap, fun and warm!

 

[Peter_Tersteeg]

Vegas baby!

Even if you don't gamble, there's a lot of fun to be had in Sin City.

 

[D.T.]

If you dont really know "where to go or what to do", what was you main motivation for wanting to go?

 

[Rolf Latham]

Southern Florida. Disneyworld. Gator alley. Kennedy space centre etc etc

Ta

Rofl

 

[dex]

Dave, he said he wants to sample Tex-Mex type food.

Roachy, budget $200 a day if you're not drinking much or using call girls. Cheaper if you rent an apartment for a monthly rate but allow an extra $65 a day if you plan to drive around and stay in roadside accom.

 

[datto]

Even cheaper if you sleep in your car - plenty over there do just that.

If I was going, I'd start with Hawaii, then Los Angeles, Vegas, San Diego, Tijuana (Mexico, near border), San Francisco, Washington state (Seattle), Texas, Miami, Washington City, New York and the New England area. I could probally make a dirty movie in each of those places!

 

[willair]

http://hearstcastle.org/
http://www.moana-surfrider.com/
http://www.tacobell.com/
http://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/theme-parks/

The standout is HearstCastle ..

 

[sanj]

Dave, he said he wants to sample Tex-Mex type food.
.

Southern American BBQ is a long way from tex mex. ..

 

[twobobsworth]

Road trip we did:

Land at LAX drive to Carmel CA.
San Francisco
Oakhurst - nothing really here was just close to Yosemite NP.
Las Vegas
Bryce Canyon Utah
Moab Utah
Lake Powell via Monument Valley
Grand Canyon
Pheonix
San Diego
Los Angeles

Would love to go back and do further north around Colorado & Utah along with the eastern side, NY, Washington, Florida.

 

[handyandy]

You do realise that it is freezing cold at that time of the year.

We were in Atlanta, which is located in the north of Georgia, in November and February on different trips and it was freezing cold. We even had to buy eskimo coats as our flimsy Australian cloths weren't good enough.

Even Vegas get cold with snow on the hills around Vegas.

To rent a car for a month is about $1k plus insurance. We have a car hire insurance policy which is supposed to cover you

http://www.questor-insurance.co.uk/vehicle-hire-excess-insurance.aspx

But not really sure as to the validity of the policy and the difficulty of making a claim. Cost is about 149 pounds for a year.

Mid range hotels will cost you about $60-70 per night.

Cheers

 

[cimbom]

New York City is amazing. We were there for 12 nights when we went and didn't even scratch the surface. I'd live there if I could

 

[dex]

Southern American BBQ is a long way from tex mex. ..

Oops yes you're correct. I won't edit it now because you've quoted it but I should have said:

"Dave, he said he wants to sample Southern American BBQ which he mentioned in the original post".

 

[Mamaof3]

We're planning to go in Dec/Jan too!

Our plan is to stop by Florida, hop onto one of the mega cruise liners (Norweigian Getaway) and cruise the carribean for a few days.....cruises embarking from Florida are dirt cheap!!

We can only take 3 weeks off but plan to stick to the warmer areas such as Florida, LA, Las Vegas....avoiding NY based on the snow storm they had around that same time a couple of months ago where it got down to something crazy like -20

This will be my 4th trip, first time with my own little family so we'll be doing the theme parks in Florida and California and will come back at another time to do the other states.

If you have kids, Disneyland and Universal Studios are a must

 

[Ed Barton]

If you have kids, Disneyland and Universal Studios are a must

Break one of their legs and stick em in a wheel chair - I hear you can jump the lines that way.

Or you can just hire a cripple to help you jump the line up.

 

[Roachy]

Thanks all for the suggestions.

Just got some brochures from the travel agent today. I'm thinking of the following:

Fly into LAX, get hire car.
Do the round lap of the major National Parks in the West. Stay in 3/4 star places. 7 nights
Fly to NYC. Spend 7 nights over Christmas doing NY things. Like ice skating and making out. (I saw it in the movies) Eat at Man Vs Food locations.
Drive to Washington DC. Spend 4 nights doing the Mall and Museums.
Drive to Orlando Florida and do the theme park thing. 3 nights.
Drive to Louisiana and eat lots and lots of BBQ. 2 nights.

Don't know what to do with the other 2 weeks I have left, but im sure I have missed heaps. Im already excited.

I'm going to cost this at approx. $15k so far.

 

[Player]

Try and stay in New Orleans more than two nights if you like great food. The cuisine (cajun, creole, etc) is amazing.

Do a swamp tour and also get to some of the plantation homes.

 

[Roachy]

Try and stay in New Orleans more than two nights if you like great food. The cuisine (cajun, creole, etc) is amazing.

Do a swamp tour and also get to some of the plantation homes.

Great call!

Perhaps get some gator!

Good suggestion.

 

[VYBerlinaV8]

Thanks all for the suggestions.

Just got some brochures from the travel agent today. I'm thinking of the following:

Fly into LAX, get hire car.
Do the round lap of the major National Parks in the West. Stay in 3/4 star places. 7 nights
Fly to NYC. Spend 7 nights over Christmas doing NY things. Like ice skating and making out. (I saw it in the movies) Eat at Man Vs Food locations.
Drive to Washington DC. Spend 4 nights doing the Mall and Museums.
Drive to Orlando Florida and do the theme park thing. 3 nights.
Drive to Louisiana and eat lots and lots of BBQ. 2 nights.

Don't know what to do with the other 2 weeks I have left, but im sure I have missed heaps. Im already excited.

I'm going to cost this at approx. $15k so far.

We'll be there at the same time...

 

[geoffw]

Try and stay in New Orleans more than two nights if you like great food. The cuisine (cajun, creole, etc) is amazing.

Do a swamp tour and also get to some of the plantation homes.

I love New Orleans but that was before the cyclone.

If you go there watch at least some episodes of "Treme" which looks at some of the reconstruction as well as some of the amazing music.