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Folks, just remember that £6000 is a little under $12,000 USD. If you're talking expenses minus airfare, you will have more than enough. Use airbnb or similar for lodging, eat at local places that have good food for a good price, etc.
I don't fly Business Class on flights shorter than 3/4 hours, so I don't mind flying on Southwest Airlines. I don't think that will be a problem though.
I use Matrix Ita for all my flights and i've got a quote for £150 for 3 internal flights, all in with United!
I'm planning on going to California, next summer for six to eight weeks, traveling from the UK. I plan to have £6-7,000 saved up by then.
At the moment I plan to fly Business Class indirect via ORD from Dublin, which will cost £1100/£1200.
I'm keen to visit most large cities in the area and a few key sites. So San Francisco for a week, Los Angeles for a week, San Diego/Orange County for maybe 4 days, Las Vegas/Grand Canyon for 5 days.
Then I plan on visiting Yellowstone & Redwood National parks. I would then be interested in staying in Santa Barbera/warm area for 2-3 weeks to relax and see some sunshine.
I plan to fly between these destinations so this will set me up about £400 for the whole trip. Car Hire will only be required in Los Angeles and San Diego.
Car hire will actually not be required at all for anything except Redwood (though you can just see Muir Woods from San Francisco.) Overall, I would recommend flying into Fresno and out of Las Vegas. You wont want to take flights from destination to destination. Your route could be bus from Fresno Airport to Yosemite, Amtrak from Yosemite to San Francisco, local transportation to Monterey/Big Sur, Amtrak to Santa Barbara, Amtrak to San Diego, Amtrak to Orange County, Amtrak to Los Angeles, Amtrak to Grand Canyon, bus to Las Vegas, fly home.
I'm planning on going to California, next summer for six to eight weeks, traveling from the UK. I plan to have £6-7,000 saved up by then.
At the moment I plan to fly Business Class indirect via ORD from Dublin, which will cost £1100/£1200.
I'm keen to visit most large cities in the area and a few key sites. So San Francisco for a week, Los Angeles for a week, San Diego/Orange County for maybe 4 days, Las Vegas/Grand Canyon for 5 days.
Then I plan on visiting Yellowstone & Redwood National parks. I would then be interested in staying in Santa Barbera/warm area for 2-3 weeks to relax and see some sunshine.
I plan to fly between these destinations so this will set me up about £400 for the whole trip. Car Hire will only be required in Los Angeles and San Diego.
Would £6,000 after flights be enough for all of this or is that totally ludicrous? What is a realistic budget considering my desire to stay in 4* venues?
That is a shoestring budget for such a trip, unless you're planning to get a tent and camp while eating bologna sandwiches for breakfast, lunch and supper. California is the most expensive state in the country. My advice would be to narrow it down a good bit and definitely plan on renting a car. Other than San Francisco and Las Vegas, you're going to be unhappy without one.
Car hire will actually not be required at all for anything except Redwood (though you can just see Muir Woods from San Francisco.) Overall, I would recommend flying into Fresno and out of Las Vegas. You wont want to take flights from destination to destination. Your route could be bus from Fresno Airport to Yosemite, Amtrak from Yosemite to San Francisco, local transportation to Monterey/Big Sur, Amtrak to Santa Barbara, Amtrak to San Diego, Amtrak to Orange County, Amtrak to Los Angeles, Amtrak to Grand Canyon, bus to Las Vegas, fly home.
Amtrak is horrible, overpriced, frequently delayed and very slow! I would never recommend Amtrak except on very limited routes like the NYC northeast corridor. At least Megabus is very cheap.
If you do not mind driving in the US you can rent a car and have complete flexibility to travel anywhere at anytime. If you rent a car at the airport it will be more expensive than renting one at a non airport location. There are some great deals on monthly auto rental rates. Auto rental rates vary greatly by location.
Car hire will actually not be required at all for anything except Redwood (though you can just see Muir Woods from San Francisco.)
The OP will absolutely need a car if she decides to stick with her plan to visit Yellowstone. There's no way to even get to the park without one, much less tour it, unless a person goes with an organized bus tour (which is both more expensive and an inferior overall experience).
Amtrak is horrible, overpriced, frequently delayed and very slow! I would never recommend Amtrak except on very limited routes like the NYC northeast corridor. At least Megabus is very cheap.
If you do not mind driving in the US you can rent a car and have complete flexibility to travel anywhere at anytime. If you rent a car at the airport it will be more expensive than renting one at a non airport location. There are some great deals on monthly auto rental rates. Auto rental rates vary greatly by location.
I agree, especially as OP is flying first class to get here, I don't think he wants to go on a smelly Am track. Don't get me wrong Amtrak has its place & I did enjoy the short trip we took, but many of the routes are very convoluted, & many of the passengers leave much to be desired. I think OP needs to write down his itinerary & find hotels that will suit him or her & then they can get an idea if they can afford it or not. I still want an answer as to why they want to visit Yellowstone. It is not anywhere near the other destinations. I think sometimes, visitors from overseas, do not grasp the vastness of the USA.
I don't care about flying at all. I fly once a month on short 1-2 hour sectors, I can't imagine any flight in the American Southwest being over 2 hours. It's not that large.
My desire to visit Yellowstone is just out of sheer interest. It's always on Discovery Channel and other such channels, so I thought it would be an interesting place to visit. I can take it out or replace it with the Sequoia National Park if that would be more appropriate?
I was thinking that my budget would probably be restrictive. I will have to look at hotels and see what it comes out at, as suggested by another poster. I've already looked at San Francisco and while expensive, I do believe I could fit it in.. Los Angeles, i'm not sure.. It looks to be around £250+ a night which cuts extensively into my budget if I go there for a week.
I think you're overestimating the cost of hotels, unless you must stay in a quality place. I see lots of small hotels and motels in Santa Monica (desirable part of LA) under $150 and a few under $100. It does take some local knowledge to distinguish between pleasant bargains and real rat traps.
Get a car. Otherwise you won't see much. This the United States.
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