Planning a trip to the US this year

[Jeff Kelly]

After pondering the idea for quite some time I am finally planning a trip to the US later this year (either July or September).

I have three weeks at my disposal (trip will be most likely 2 172 weeks so that I have some time to recover before going back to work) and I want to visit a few different places during that time so no New York or San Francisco for the whole time either.

I am currently evaluating some kind of itinerary for the trip but can't really decide what to visit.

So I'll start off with a few basic questions.

East cost or west cost? My first idea was to start off on the east cost (New York, Boston for example) and work my way westward during the three weeks) maybe ending up in San Francisco or San Diego at the end. Is this feasible? Should I focus on one part of the States to get the most out of it? Any interesting places to visit apart from the obvious tourist destinations?

I won't have a car because I don't own a driver's licence so are there places I should/need to avoid because lack of personal transportation is an issue?

I not only want to see the sights I want to get feeling for the country (or at least different regions) so any recommendations for that?

I will update the thread when I have a clearer idea of what I want to visit but since then recommendations and hints are always welcome

Thanks in advance

[IainC]

A couple of things about the US. Most of it is on one coast of the other. You can spend your time quite happily on either coast doing whatever it is you want to do but the middle bit? Not so much.

Secondly, without a car you will find your options severely limited outside of major cities unless you are willing to drop a fortune in cab fares.

For the rest of it I'll let the US residents try to sell you their particular corner.

[Nebu]

If you want diversity in the places with a little history thrown in, I'd hit the east coast.  You've got everything from Acadia in Maine to New York City, Phili, Boston, and interesting cities along the coast all the way to Key West. 

For natural beauty, the West coast is tough to beat.  This is especially true if you have some extra time to head inland a bit to the more beautiful parts of the rocky mountains. 

As stated above, I'd avoid the middle bits unless you have friends and/or family to visit.  Also, rent a car.  The freedom is well worth the cost.

[IainC]

Also, rent a car.  The freedom is well worth the cost.

I won't have a car because I don't own a driver's licence

Could be tricky.

[01101010]

If you want to pack in as much face time with a variety of cities in the US, hit up the East Coast. Boston area (along with the Massachusetts Islands), NYC area, Philly area, Ocean City is nice, D.C. area, then possibly Virginia Beach. That's a ton of stuff in a pretty small area.

If you are into nature, then ya, West Coast. I'd suggest the Rockies and Yellowstone, but that is a tad remote if you are looking to minimize travel time to see the most sights. The further west you get from D.C., the more spread out stuff is and the more you will be filling your time in with travel, and most without anything to see but fields and rocks. West Coast is a bit more forgiving in that the drive down Route 1, while LONG, is about the prettiest road I have ever driven in terms of natural sights (from San Fran to LA for me - can't comment on the northern trip). The California stuff is much more spread than the East Coast swing so if you really want to pack as much into your trip, I'd vote East Coast and make the trip from either Boston then south or D.C. and then north.

[kaid]

Without a drivers license you are going to be very very limited on where you can get around pretty much big cities only. East coast is pretty easy to get around via train/cab travel but most of the central part of the country has limited areas of decent public transit.

One thing I always warn people about from overseas is the US is very big especially compared to europe. To compare it to the the UK in the time it would take you to drive from london up to the the northern tip of scottland is about the same time it takes me to visit my mom one state over. This is one main reason not having a car very much limits you as you will pretty much be stuck in downtown metro areas for the most part.

If at all possible go with somebody who does have a drivers license you will see far more interesting things if you can get out and travel around.

If thats not an option I would almost have to recommend sticking to the east coast. NY/NJ/DC what not are all pretty well interconnected with train/light rail access so if you like big cities and monuments you could see a reasonable amount in the time frame you have. West coast is prettier and nicer climate but you would be a bit more limited on how you would get around.

[Cyrrex]

Despite my west coast bias, I'd say that without having a rental car at your disposal that the east coast is probably the better option.  As Nebut mentioned, the best bits out west are really the scenic parts, and you'd need to do some serious driving to get to them.

[Signe]

The East is good for wandering around and using public transportation.  You might have to find a tour or something if you want to visit civil war sites.  I know the Smithsonian offers quite a few packages if that's what you're interested in.


You can get bus tours anywhere and I'm sure you can get them or even shuttles to the Grand Canyon and a lot of the other National Parks and specific places from nearby cities.  A few years ago, a friend's aunt did a bus tour that took her all over the place - Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Bryce, Hoover Dam, etc.  It was something like a week long (maybe more, I don't remember) and cost a fortune but she had a great time.  It sounded exhausting to me, but she's a very energetic lady!  I'm not good at keeping to a tight schedule and stuffing too many sites into short periods of time, though.  The wide open spaces aren't so wide open that a bus won't take you there.  There are also air and river tours all over the place.  I've always wanted to go on one of those riverboat rides but haven't got around to it yet.

[Sky]

A couple of things about the US. Most of it is on one coast of the other. You can spend your time quite happily on either coast doing whatever it is you want to do but the middle bit? Not so much.

Tough to answer this without knowing your preferences. Do you want to see nightlife and museums or do you like nature and folk culture?

Without a driver's license you want to get a rail pass. I've met many travelling foreigners on the train, I used to use it for long distance travel in the band era because I don't like flying. You can't hang out properly on a plane. Travel times on trains isn't bad, you can go from coast to coast in about three days, give or take. The Boston - LA train is a complete riot at certain times.

If you like nature, for your first trip I'd actually agree about the west coast even though I love the east coast. You should do something like a yosemite to monument valley to yellowstone. You could do a circuit using the rail and bus or pick one and rent some camping gear and a guide. I love the Adirondacks, so many great mountains and lakes, but it doesn't have the wow factor of those other three parks.

[Bunk]

You won't be able to do say the Oregan coast without a car, but there are some interesting cities in the west. Vegas and San Fransisco would be the two I enjoyed the most. In the trips I've done to the east, my highlights were DC for the Smithsonian, and New Orleans.  All four cities I didn't have a car - the key being picking a hotel in the right part of the city.

I've not had a chance to visit New York, Bostson, etc, though I'd like to.

Of course if you are planning to end your trip in the West, you could always skip up to Vancouver and see a real city.  

[IainC]

A couple of things about the US. Most of it is on one coast of the other. You can spend your time quite happily on either coast doing whatever it is you want to do but the middle bit? Not so much.

Mid-West, no car. Enjoy your trip...

[Murgos]

Hey, there's always hitch-hiking. 

Without a car and little or no budget I would say stick with the bigger eastern cities.  Boston, Washington DC and NYC all have good subway systems.

Or, you could just go to Miami and spend all your time on South Beach, fishing trips and maybe a few days in the Keys (reachable by rail).

[Signe]

He has no budget?  I don't believe it.  Everyone is rich in Germany!

[Samwise]

As people have said, no car is a challenge if you want to hit up a bunch of different places.  I have very limited experience with the East Coast, but with San Francisco as a base of operations there is a fair amount you can do that doesn't absolutely require a car.  Marin County has a lot of very nice scenery (Muir Woods is the big tourist spot but there's a lot of other natural beauty in the immediate area) and is a relatively quick bus ride away.  Tahoe is about a day away by train if you want to see some of the bigger mountains.  And San Francisco itself has a lot to do and look at and eat, much of it in a small enough area to walk.

[Teleku]

Yeah, the car thing makes it tricky, but he might be able to pull bus tours out west.  It does depend on what his budget is like though.

For west coast, your best bet is pretty much either San Fransisco or Seattle (where, if your bored, you could also take a train ride to visit Seattle Jr. like Bunk mentioned).  Both are neat cities with decent public transit.  Every European friend thats come to visit me in San Fransisco has loved it, and there's lots of cool things to run around and see.  There is also a lot of amazing natural beauty not far off, but with no car thats going to be a problem.  Also, August/September is the best weather season to see San Fransisco (usually).

Most major east coast cities should be fine for you.  If you like historical stuff, Washington DC and Boston are very cool, and have great public transit.  New York is New York, I'm sure you wont want to miss.

But yeah, what exactly are the sorts of things you want to see during this trip?

[01101010]

Or, you could just go to Miami and spend all your time on South Beach, fishing trips and maybe a few days in the Keys (reachable by rail).

 

God I miss living there...

[Jimbo]

What do you want to do or see?  I never have enough time on vacations, we usually head to the beach down in Florida and visit friends along the route.  If you don't have a car, go to Amtrak and figure out where you want to go, I would suggest hitting the bigger cities on a route as they have better public transportation.  I'm a beach bum, so when I get a vacation I usually head down to Florida and stay with friends.  The Keys are great, but still the lack of a car is going to hurt down in Florida.

[Jeff Kelly]

He has no budget?  I don't believe it.  Everyone is rich in Germany!

Budget is not that much of an issue (famous last words ) although the whole trip should not cost more than $3000 (including flight) if possible, depending a bit on dollar/euro exchange rates.

I'm not that much of a nature guy so I'm more inclined to answer nightlife/museums/sights than yosemite/grand canyon etc.) although I'd very much like to get an idea of american life (if there actually is something like that) also. I don't want to be that kind of guy that has pictures of all the sights without actually getting to know the country I visit, if you know what I mean.

So I suppose the east cost would be a good place for me to be. I will most probably be travelling on my own so unfortunately I can't bring anybody with me that could drive a car.

[Johny Cee]

He has no budget?  I don't believe it.  Everyone is rich in Germany!

Budget is not that much of an issue (famous last words ) although the whole trip should not cost more than $3000 (including flight) if possible, depending a bit on dollar/euro exchange rates.

I'm not that much of a nature guy so I'm more inclined to answer nightlife/museums/sights than yosemite/grand canyon etc.) although I'd very much like to get an idea of american life (if there actually is something like that) also. I don't want to be that kind of guy that has pictures of all the sights without actually getting to know the country I visit, if you know what I mean.

So I suppose the east cost would be a good place for me to be. I will most probably be travelling on my own so unfortunately I can't bring anybody with me that could drive a car.

If you're going to visit the East Coast, don't forget that most major Eastern Canadian cities are on/near the border, and are reasonable travel times away from Boston/NYC. 

[Teleku]

Yeah, sticking with east coast is probably best for you then.  Though you can fly round trip from New York to San Francisco for about $310-$350, so it shouldn't strain your budget to bad if you want to come check out the west coast for a bit.  Though again, if you do, stick with something like San Francisco, which has good public transit.  San Diego is nice and all, but very much a car friendly city (though you can take a train straight from downtown to Tijauna  )

[Grimwell]

Based on this:

I not only want to see the sights I want to get feeling for the country (or at least different regions) so any recommendations for that?

I am going to go against the tide here and suggest that you do want to visit the Midwest. If you want to get the feel for the country you can't skip on the Midwest. It may be smaller cities and farms, but it's a very important part of American culture no matter how dull many find it.

Honestly, with a "get the feeling for the country" objective I'd suggest an itinerary like this:

• Fly to and start your vacation in New York. It's an iconic city that I intend to see someday myself.
• Hop a train down to Washington D.C. so you can look at all the historical and government buildings. Also Smithsonian. This is on my 'someday' list as well.
• Train/Plate to Chicago. It's a great city, and a hint of the Midwest even if it is a big city.
• From Chicago, get down to Nashville. It might be commercialized, but the city is fun and covers most of "the South" from a cultural exposure point.
• Next stop, Austin Texas. Great city, and a fun way to discover that Texas != "the South" even if it's southern.
• Grab a short flight to Las Vegas. It's a fun town, and cheap if you get there in the middle of the week. Don't stay long.
• For the West Coast I suggest San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle. Take your pick, or hit as many as you can. These three cities each have their own charm and are worth the stop.

That is an effective "big city tour" of the United States that will expose you to multiple slices of our cultures and give you an idea of how varied the American Experience can be.

If you are brave, replace a big city with some small town that has an airport. In any region that will give you an even more real view of the slice of culture found there. It will also be a bit duller as you won't have as many museums, etc. and will have more vanilla shopping malls and chain restaurants. If you are insane, go to a very small town that has no airport or bus stop, but be prepared to be treated like a freak for being an outsider. :)

Reviewing my list, perhaps I should have thrown in Miami, it's a different world too.

Also, avoid things like Disney unless you want to see how we idealize ourselves in our entertainment.

[Signe]

Mid-West!     Too boring!  If you stay in the east, you'll find yourself at some point in Baltimore.  Inner Harbor is great.  Make sure to stop by the Baltimore Museum of Art as they have an incredibly good collection of American art.  You'll figure a lot out about America through that. 

[Righ]

That is an effective "big city tour" of the United States that will expose you to multiple slices of our cultures

If you have several months, perhaps. Packed into a couple of weeks vacation, this would only serve as an effective taste of American airport culture. Seriously, most rock bands don't put up with this sort of travel nightmare.

[Samwise]

I'd pare that list down a bit, Grim.  I did a whirlwind tour of Europe after college that was somewhat similar (5 cities in under 2 weeks), and while I did get to see a lot of stuff, I did not ever feel like I "knew" any of the places I visited, and the overall experience was pretty stressful.  Doing something like that in the US would be even worse, I'd think, because travel times are longer.  And any day where you have to go through an airport is an entire day shot to hell IMO; I would avoid any itinerary that required me to take a plane while I was already on my "vacation".  (edit: also, what Righ said.)

If you've got 2 1/2 weeks and want to see a few different parts of the country with a focus on the urban areas, I'd do six days in New York, a train ride across the country, and six days in San Francisco.  If you want to see a few more different cities or towns, look at the ones along the train route, which is supposed to be a four day ride if you don't stop anywhere:

[Sky]

That's one of the trains I used to take, but it kept north from Chicago to Boston.

If you want to see american culture, just hit a walmart in pretty much any city 

[Hoax]

I would recommend ending with a week+ in NYC, it takes about 3 days just to learn Manhatten enough to get around it.  

I would recommend starting in DC metro area and then using whatever good train routes are available to visit places like Baltimore and Chicago.  You really will never accomplish your American life goal though without a car.  Driving is part of our way of life and culture, period, outside of the biggest and most progressive of our cities which don't represent the "real america" experience you seem to be romanticizing.

Honestly if the whole, understanding Americans bit isn't just bullshit to you I would put off the trip until you can drive while here.  In which case a plan closer to Grimwell's would give you a real feel for whats going on in this country.  A feel that most Americans can't be bothered to get for the record.

Really though maybe you could try something like this:

Fly into Richmond, VA spend a day or 3 there then train up to DC and spend 2 days seeing some tourist and halls of government stuff in DC, from DC you can go to Baltimore though what you would do there I'm not sure might not be worth stopping in B'more though I would much rather be there than Philly (Philly sucks ass and people who say otherwise are full of shit) one of those two cities would just add diversity to your experience but again, no car makes lots of things tough.  From there next stop would be NYC which honestly you could spend all your remaining time in and still only barely be streetwise in parts of Manhattan.  If you really wanted to push for one more locale you could try going to somewhere random in CT that you can get to easily by train for a day trip then back to NYC.  Don't bother with Boston using this plan because honestly you'll just be "seeing" places without getting anything out of them.

If you look at that plan and it doesn't have enough locations you could lose a lot of time but I'm sure there is a train from Atlanta to Richmond and that would add a very southern very black american city to your list.  I have no idea if you can get anything done in Atlanta without a car and I seriously doubt it but I'm sure it would be overwhelming and interesting to try.

[Salamok]

Of any city in California I'd say San Francisco (especially with no car), I would also recommend Sequoia/Kings Canyon national park over Yosemite but it might be further out of the way.  San Diego is fun and has decent beaches but southern California in general is probably not worth it without access to personal transportation.  If you do end up in northern California you may enjoy a wine country tour.

For the time of year you are talking about Vegas will be miserably hot, if you enjoy gambling or desperately want to see Cirque then it is probably still worth it though.  If you do not enjoy gambling then I wouldn't bother.  If you do go a side trip to the Grand Canyon would be worth it.

Austin is a fun town and if you have someone here to give you the guided tour (and like to drink) it would be a real hoot.  I would recommend a wild Saturday on the lake and maybe a jaunt down to Lockhart for a taste of how the German immigrants pretty much invented central Texas BBQ. 

This is coming from someone who was born and raised in California, lived in Vegas for 6 years and spent the last 10 years in Austin.

Other places of interest:
If you want beaches but aren't headed to Southern California then maybe a day at the beach in Florida with another few days spent on Disney/Epcot. 
I had ton of fun in New Orleans and Baton Rouge and found Louisiana people to be very fun and outgoing, I have not been since Katrina though and from what I hear New Orleans is still hurting.
I've always wanted to visit Savannah and most the people I have talked to who have been enjoyed it.
Seattle can be fun, reminds me of a cold Austin with seafood instead of beef.

I know next to nothing about the North East, except for maybe Wisconsin.  I did have a total blast in Wisconsin but I wouldn't exactly put it on the places to see before you die destination list, I spent a winter in the Dells and from what I could tell the Wisconsin dream is to turn your living room into a bar and open it up to the public.

New York obviously would be a major place of interest and having a car there would probably hinder you more than help you.

[Jeff Kelly]

Thanks for all the suggestions so far ;)

[Teleku]

Samwise, I really don't know if I'd recommend taking Amtrak across the country to anybody coming to visit, unless it was for a very long vacation.  As you said, its 4 days straight stuck in a train.  Sure, you get to see lots of stuff out your window, but its still 4 days of your vacation spent in a box, not doing anything.  For only a little more money, you can just take a plane and be in SF in 4 hours.  With his time constraints, if he wants to come see a bunch of the US, he'd be better off just plane hopping on cheep tickets from city to city.

Taking trains between the major cities on the east coast would definitely be the way to go though.

[LK]

Avoid San Diego, or spend very little time there.

[Teleku]

San Diego is great! 

I just wouldn't recommend it because not having a car would really limit where he could go.

[Selby]

San Diego is great! 

I just wouldn't recommend it because not having a car would really limit where he could go.

This.  If you hang out downtown or the occasional beach city, transportation is fine.  Anything east of downtown (which geographically is like 80% of the county) or beaches and you are SOL without a car.  Not that there is a *ton* to see in East County San Diego if you aren't into deserts or Indian Casinos...

[Yegolev]

That vague line you can draw along the top of North Carolina, Tennessee and Oklahoma?  Stay north of that.

[Fabricated]

If you can't drive, you're basically stuck with the bigger cities in America which have public transportation which is fine really. The midwest isn't as bad as people make it out to be but if you dig fresh seafood and really big-ticket entertainers or events the coasts are pretty much where you have to go outside of Chicago.

I know you said no New York or San Fran but San Fran is ridiculously foot-travel friendly, great food, great culture stuff (it's pretty unique and not terribly representative of the US as a whole though), amazing scenery. It's a mountain made of buildings plopped in a bay. I had a great time there but it's "hella" expensive and you're not getting in or out of the place without paying a bunch of tolls unless you foreigners have invented a teleportation device.

Napa Valley is overrated unless you want to get hammered sampling wine with a bunch of fat tourists. Also the rest of California is an irredeemable shithole with deceptively nice weather and scenery.

Manhattan is overrated as well and you're better off missing if you want to skip it. Don't ever go to Times Square. It sucks and is literally the worst tourist trap in the recorded history of mankind. Seriously, I'm not joking. It's terrible.

Austin I really enjoyed and would recommend seeing but not having a vehicle could be an issue there. Chicago is cool too but avoid the pier, because that's another gigantic shitty tourist trap with nothing of actual interest.

[K9]

North Carolina's pretty nice as far as southern states go, but then I lived there so YMMV.

I'd very much like to get an idea of american life (if there actually is something like that)

Honestly? Wal-Mart and Cracker Barrel. Hit up both of those and you're good as far as the real-US-in-a-nutshell goes. In general terms american life is pretty varied, or so I thought, and isn't something you can really get to experience in a week's vacation, and without a car you're going to be limited in how much of the US you can see. America is a country built around the assumption of autmobiles.

As far as public transport goes I was always impressed by AmTrak, and I could never figure why it got such a bad rap. Greyhound on the other hand gae me one of the most unpleasant experiences of my life as far as travel goes.