Western USA Road Trip -- from India

Hi Jamie

Me and my husband are planning a road trip of west coast USA in November 2011 for about 12-13 days. We are travelling from India and will be taking the flight to Los Angeles.

We wish to cover, in this order: Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Yosemite National Park, Monterey, Carmel and Santa Barbara. We are also planning to do Oahu (Hawaii) from Los Angeles post our road trip.

Please note we are not planning to do San Francisco as we have limited time and we would prefer Yosemite National Park over SFO. I have attached an itinierary, so you can know where we are thinking about going.

Thanks,

Road Trip Newbies from faraway India

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Welcome Newbies -- --

Many thanks for writing in to Road Trip USA!

I have a couple of thoughts about your trip plans. First -- that sounds like a great trip! Have you been to the USA before?? You are in for some eye-opening experiences.

Thinking practically, I have some suggestions for you. One would be to change the order of your itinerary slightly, so you don't have to "back track" -- if you go directly from San Diego to the Grand Canyon, and then go on to Las Vegas after seeing the Grand Canyon, you will save many hours and many miles of driving. (Unless you intend to fly from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon, which is a possibility...)

Also, from Las Vegas to Yosemite is a long way, especially in November when the mountain roads can be closed by snow. I think it may be better to stop en route, outside Yosemite -- maybe in Fresno California.

(Warning: Fresno and surroundings is not scenic in itself, but it makes a good easy base for a restful overnight before traveling on to super-scenic Yosemite!)

Hope this helps you make a great trip.

Happy Trails,


Jamie Jensen
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Road Trip USA