Brief programme is as below: 1) 2-3 days stay at New York. 2) 6-7 days - East Coast tour package by bus/train/air (touching the cities such as Washington, Philadelphia, Niagra Falls, Boston, etc
2) 6-7 days - East Coast tour package by bus/train/air (touching the cities such as Washington, Philadelphia, Niagra Falls, Boston, etc)
3) 4 days - Orlando & Miami tour package by bus/train/air
4) 7-8 days - West coast tour package by bus/train/air (touching the cities such as Los Angeles, Solvang, Hearst Castle, San Francisco Sightseeing, Yosemite National Park, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon National Park, Hoover Dam, Admission to Universal Studios & Disneyland or California Adventure Park, SeaWorld(San Diego)).
Pax: 2 Adults + 2 Children (8 yrs & 5 years) Total duration : 20 -22 days (FROM MUMBAI).
Start Time : Last week of April '12
Please advise the best possible option or suggest some decent tour operators (as 20-22 days duration is a short one). You may add delete places based on your experience.
I can't recommend tour operators, but I can suggest planning a less ambitious itinerary.
First, the minimum number of days you've allotted to each segment adds up to 19 days. Add in at least a travel day at each end, and you're at 21.
And, with the number of cities and areas you're covering, you will be spending a lot of time on buses (unfortunately, we don't have the sort of passenger rail network that makes so much possible in Europe!) Tour operators use buses almost exclusively.
Some of the distances may be greater than you're thinking. For instance, it's roughly 120 miles from San Diego to Los Angeles, another 200+ to San Francisco, and another 200 on to Yosemite. Those are a bunch of 4-hour bus rides, and you still need time for the attractions, including some that take nearly all-day.
With your timeframe, and as a first trip to the U.S., I think I'd try to limit it to fewer, and potentially more significant places. Some are hard to cut...others are easy (Niagara Falls is impressive, but it's hundreds of miles from anywhere else you plan to be.)
How about thinking of the trip as an East Coast and a West Coast division. East: New York, Philadelphia Washington. That one is doable by rail; you can buy tickets from NY to DC that will let you leave NY early in the day, get off in Philadelphia, and then finish the journey in time for evening in DC.
Next leg: Fly from DC to Las Vegas, enjoy the glitz, and take a bus trip (many operators!) to Hoover Dam (nearby) and the Grand Canyon (a bit further). After a day or two, shift to California. Travel from Las Vegas to Los Angeles is easy, either by air or by frequent and fairly inexpensive buses. Spend your West Coast time on LA, San Francisco (personal preference, more SF than LA) and do a 2-3 day Yosemite tour from San Francisco. Heast Castle is also a suitable day trip.
I think you'll see plenty, and go home with much more of a sense of the U.S. than if you see everything and stop at almost nothing!
Excellent advice from PHeymont. Only addition is the distance from Los Angeles to San Francisco is about 400 miles, possibly best to fly with such a full itinerary. See Las Vegas, Grand Canyon and Los Angeles then fly to San Francisco and include Yosemite.
I'm sure there are coach tours that group locations in that way. Certainly Grand Canyon tours from Las Vegas and Yosemite tours from San Francisco. It might even be wise to think about eliminating Los Angeles and going from Las Vegas to San Francisco to allow more quality time in those 2 areas.
You're asking a lot to see so much of a big country in just 3 weeks. Like trying to see all of India in 3 weeks, not possible in any meaningful way.
Thanks PHeymont and JYphoto for the valuable suggestions. WHat I understand, we should first take up east coast with Orlando package which the kids will enjoy; and visit west coast at a later date when the kids grow up a bit. that way we will have a better feel of USA, even though it will be costlier. Any advice in this reagrd is welcome. Thanks.
Train is not a viable travel option in the US - except for the NE corridor (between DC and Boston). Trains do no reach much of the rest of the country, and in the areas they do reach there is often 1 train a day, usually late, takes forever (driving is much faster) and costs more than flying.
Besides that your plan is a nonsense. First, you simply cannot get to all of those places in the days you have. Second you will spend most of your time in transit (a lot sitting in airports waiting for planes). And while there are bus tours in some places, many of them do not allow children - esp such young children - since they tend not to like spending 10 to 2 hours a day sitting on a bus "seeing" sights out of a window and, understandably, become cranky, and irritate the rest of the passengers.
Suggest you pick 4 or at most 5 places and see a little bit of each of those - rather than waste most of your time and money in transit.
Train is not a viable travel option in the US - except for the NE corridor (between DC and Boston).... Besides that your plan is a nonsense... Posted by ny traveler
NY Traveler, maybe you're working too hard but no need to take it out on the tourists.
Beyond that thought, there are in fact trains up the West Coast from Los Angeles if the OP whittles the itinerary down enough to take advantage of them. Also from Williams to the Grand Canyon, a very nice way to get to the South Rim.
I think the tone of a post is the deciding factor whether it's ignored because of an angry note or dismissive of people's lack of information. It's why they come here, for information, not for abuse. I suggest to B. Sinha to just pay no attention, most American are far more welcoming.
Sorry if I am not smiley, smile, and happy happy enough for you. If someone is about to attempt to fly by jumping off a roof holding a fan for power
- I don;t think it's appropriate to be very sweet and give a few hints. When someone is trying to do something that is clearly not possible I think it is
only kind to tell them the truth in a very straightforward way.
What the OP was suggesting is not even close to realistic - and shows that they had not really done any research in advance.
Obviously I could have given then a list of several different itineraries hat would work - but without more specific information - that would be a wasate of time.
If the OP returns and says they want to concentrate on the east cost or the west o natinoal parks or that they must see 3 specific places - than it's possible
to make recos that are sensible. Other than that - it's a waste of time.
As for trains on the west cost I know thre are a few segments that are realible - but overall there are practically no trains and they don;t cover much of the territory (unlike DC to Boston - where thre is at lest one train an hour and the use of train makes sense.)
NY Traveler...I think you are still missng the point(s).
a) Your "tone of voice" to OP was harsh and unkind. No matter how foolish you thought his post, you had no reason to sound angry or condescending about it...quite the opposite.
b) OP had already, in response to the two previous postings, acknowledged that the original plan was not feasible, and had already begun constructing a new and more feasible plan; all the more, therefore, was your scorn inappropriate and unnecessary.
In short, no matter how much you might disagree with a poster or feel he/she is misguided; no matter how much you feel he or she should have researched more; no matter how old and repeated the question, you should respond with civility or not at all.
And there are civil ways to say, "this is not a good plan, this is not a good question;" there are examples of that all through the boards. Your knowledge is too valuable; please don't turn off those you could share it with.
Unlike many drive by posters this OP actually did try to provide something constructive for us to work with so for that reason I'll throw in some ideas.
The one good idea that the OP has is taking the trip East to West because they gain hours as they cross our time zones during the travel days.
Now on to the itinerary. First off I suggest leaving out Florida. You're alraady planning to visit Southern California which has plenty of theme parks for the children, including the original Disneyland and Universal Studios. And the west coast of India has beaches that are just as good, if not better, than those you'll find in Florida.
I'm also leaving off San Diego in favor of working in enough time to visit Niagara Falls which is one of the scenic wonders of the world.
If you choose to visit Niagara Falls and cross the border into Canada, be sure you check on the Canadian entry requirements (assuming you have Indian passports).
Consider Continental Airlines non-stop flight from Mumbai to Newark. You may find it easier to get the long flight out of the way in one long flight rather than transiting somewhere in route (i.e. Dubai, Frankfurt, London, etc.). Then again you might prefer a break en-route to give the family a break.
You can get by without a car until you reach Southern California. At which point you will be best served by renting a car. Is this something you are willing to do?
In any case, here is my suggested itinerary. It is aggressive but does offer enough time on the ground to see highlights of various cities, tourist attractions and two of our most famous National Parks.
Day 1: Arrive NYC Day 2, 3, 4: Tour NYC. Evening AMTRAK (train) on day 4 to Philadelphia; overnight in Philadelphia Day 5, 6: Tour Philadelphia. Evening AMTRAK on day 6 to Washington DC; overnight in Washington Day 7, 8, 9: Tour Washington. Evening SOUTHWEST AIRLINES on day 9 non-stop flight to Buffalo/Niagara (BUF). Transfer to Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada (or stay on the USA side in Niagara Falls in New York state). Overnight in Niagara Falls. Day 10: Tour Niagara Falls. Evening SOUTHWEST AIRLINES non-stop flight from Buffalo to Las Vegas (LAS). Overnight in Las Vegas. Day 11: Tour Las Vegas including Hoover Dam. Overnight in Las Vegas. Day 12: Bus or airplane tour (all day) to Grand Canyon. Overnight in Las Vegas. Day 13: Morning flight from Las Vegas to San Francisco (SFO). Overnight in San Francisco. Day 14, 15: Tour San Francisco. Day 16: Bus tour to Yosemite National Park OR you can easily do this on your own via AMTRAK or rental car. This will be an all day trip. Return to San Francisco and overnight there. Day 17: Morning Southwest flight from San Francisco to Orange County, California (SNA). Transfer to Disneyland resort area in Anaheim. Buy a "two day park hopper pass" (look it up). Afternoon and evening at California Adventure. Day 18: All day Disneyland. As in get there before it opens and plan on staying until mid-afternoon. Take a short break mid-afternoon at the hotel for the children to rest or play in the swimming pool. Then return to Disneyland for the rest of the afternoon until late evening or even closing time if they have stamina left. Day 19: In the morning move to Santa Monica just west of Los Angeles along the Pacific Ocean. Try to time your trip so your main "driving days" in Los Angeles are on the weekend so traffic won't be as bad. But since you are from Mumbai, and I know what traffic is like there, I'm sure you won't be impressed with what we call traffic! Consider visiting the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History if your children are at all interested in dinosaurs. In the evening visit Hollywood. Day 20: Universal Studios all day. Day 21: Fly home from Los Angeles (LAX). There is an afternoon non-stop to Dubai on Emirates Airlines which has an easy connection on to Mumbai. Or you can return via Continental through Newark then non-stop to Mumbai.
Is such a trip doable in 10 days with sightseeing on most of the days and travel (flight or train) late evenings? Posted by Sajith Kumar
There are late evening trains from Washington DC to New York City and late evening flights between NYC-Buffalo, Buffalo-Chicago, Chicago-Minneapolis and back to Washington DC.
Conceivably you could do such an ambitious itinerary but it would take some very good planning AND the cooperation of the weather so that you don't experience any flight delays which would throw off your entire schedule. I'm also curious about why you want to go to Minneapolis? Nice midwestern city - I happen to enjoy my visits there - but not necessarily a place I'd include on a ten day itinerary originating on the East Coast.
Bib, Maybe just the east would be a better idea, as the whole country is exhausting. NYC, Boston, Philly, DC, by train- fly to Orlando and go to Disney and let the kids have fun. There is also a train to Orlando. Forget Niagara Falls, too far away, and nothing else there to see. I would do 2 weeks minimum, because in Orlando there are a lot fun things for the kids to do like Sea World and Disney, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, all those are a day at least.
There are some very historic sites near Boston if you rented a car and stayed there for 3-4-5 days, like Cape Cod, etc.
Sharon ~
Travel is Fatal to Prejudice, Bigotry and Narrow-mindedness — Mark Twain
