New York and West Coast advice please
 

So, this is just a very rough idea for now but considering doing a city break in New York then flying form there onto California area

Would be looking at next August (2020) probably

Lots of early questions

- we live near Manchester - what flights / airlines would we have available to us ? ( would we open up countless more if we included London )

- would it be better to do New York first or last and why ?

- I have never done a multi - location flight set up - what are the best ways ? would it be better doing as 3 flights - eg Manchester to NY, NY to Cali, Cali to Mcr , or as 4 - flying in/out of NY ?

- we would probably have about 15 days in the states , how would you split this up ?

- we have done a trip Vegas, Grand Canyon, Palm Springs , San Diego , LA 5 years ago, so don't need to revisit any of these , but maybe thinking ...

Fly to Vegas, just to drive through Death Valley , via tioga pass, to Yosemite , on to San Fran , then down Pacific coast highway , flying back out of LA ?
How does this sound ?

My key things to do are Yosemite and PCH , so want to spend most time there

What kind of budget overall would we need - 4 people - 2 adults and kids 21 and 17( happy to stop in budget hotels - managed to do my other trip spending just £1000 on hotels in 19 nights but aware hotels now much higher cos of exchange rate, locations being more costly, and just the dollar price of hotels having shot up in last 5 years )

Think that's enough for now - as I said just a vague idea for now - just trying to work out feasibility then get can into detail if it's possible

Thanks for all your help

Hi there - you might get better advice on the west coast forum - personally I wouldn’t nibble into the west coast stay by going to NYC which will burn extra travel time?

Your trip sounds great though.

In general we find hotels a bit more on the west coast than say Orlando, with food prices very slightly higher too. There are lots of ways to save money though!

We normally would price up flights on Expedia using the multi trip option. So, Man to Ny, Ny to Cali etc.
We always tend to book our NY trips through Expedia as you get a good chunk off the hotel price by booking flights and hotel together.
Also something to be aware of is that the US Open tennis at Flushing Meadows in NY starts towards the end of August every year so hotels might be a little more expensive or busier. It’s great if you fancy something different to do though, tickets are not expensive and easily available (unlike Wimbledon!),

Normally I wouldn't suggest trying to do both in such a short space of time, but as you have done some of the West Coast already I can see a way to fit what you want to do in.

Fly into San Francisco, spend 3 nights there, across to Yosemite for 3 nights, over to PCH and Monterrey for 2 nights and 1 night around Pismo area. 2 Nights in Santa Barbara and finally 1 night somewhere like Santa Monica or Burbank depending on flight to New York.

Fly from either LAX or Burbank to New York for 3 nights, and then home.

If you did want longer in Yosemite, you could remove the Santa Barbara stop to give you two nights back.

I would always do West to East as it helps with the time zone adjustment for when you get home.

Thanks for your thoughts so far
I did consider posting on the west coast forum ( and may ask the mods to move it yet ) but my main things I wasn't sure of were the flight options and the order to do things in, so felt it was more general in nature that bit

The reason I'm trying to put NY in is because my Dw and DD want to go but wouldn't be confident enough on their own so me and DS will be chaperones / bag carriers

I guess NY would be quieter and cheaper during the week rather than weekend ?

400 - I had considered that kind of route , but from reading other reports a few years ago, the suggestion was that Death Valley was definitely a 'do' and that the tioga pass was a bit of a 'must' - would appreciate any thoughts on that

Will have a nosy on Expedia to look at what things look like for this year - thanks

You could do it that way, death Valley and Tioga Pass are worth doing.

Vegas 1 night
Death Valley 1 night (or through to Bishop)
Yosemite 3 nights
San Fran 3 nights
Monterrey 2 Nights
Pismo 1 Night
LA 1 night before flight as above depending on which airport
New York 3 nights

That is 15 nights so gives some room to play with as well. I would try to fit in San Francisco if you are in that area as it doesn't appear on your list and is a great city to visit.

You could also do the loop the other way around.

We would do NYC first as we found the 11 hour flight to west coast too much in one go .it wasnt so bad on return as night flight on a Dreamliner so jetlag wasnt too bad

Best advice I can give anyone for new York is to request a Big Apple Greeter