Sept 06 Road Trip! LA, SF, Lake Tahoe, LV and Grand Canyon!

[ruprekt]

Hi everyone!
I am new to this forum, me and some friends are from England, we are planning a road trip to the above locations in Sept for two weeks.
I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on whether the above destinations are the best to visit?
Also, we will be hoping to stay in LA and LV for a few days each and also overnight at SF, Lake Tahoe and Grand Canyon, do you think that we could do this in 14 days?

Cheers!

[Quebec Gen]

Hi Ruprekt,

Welcome to the RoadTrip Forum.

I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on whether the above destinations are the best to visit?

Every destination deserves a visit!

Also, we will be hoping to stay in LA and LV for a few days each and also overnight at SF, Lake Tahoe and Grand Canyon, do you think that we could do this in 14 days?

I think it is totally doable in 14 days. Do you plan to stay in hotels/motels? Youth hostels? Campgrounds? In L.A. you can choose between various kinds of funky youth hostels like the Banana Bungalows in Hollywood or unexpensive motels like Claremont Hotel near UCLA. Las Vegas offers incredibly cheap accomodations during the weekdays. The rates tend to go up a lot on weekends. I visited Las Vegas twice and I stayed at Arizona Charlie's, they have clean and pretty rooms for affordable prices. In San Francisco, there are plenty of youth hostels but very few cheap motels. You can try chains like the Motel 6 in Belmont. Finally, Here's a post on GC lodging and another one about routes between SF and GC.

Gen

[ruprekt]

thanks for the quick reply.
I hope you dont mind everyone, but i may have a lot of questions over the next 8 months!

I have been to the USA before a couple of times, but to Florida only and stayed pretty much in the theme parks so this road trip i something we haven't done before.....at least not in the US.

Obviously I watch a lot of TV and the media can blow things out of all proportion and one question I have is about safety in LA, is there any areas which we should stay well clear of?

Would you recommend Lake Tahoe, Carson City or Reno as our stop off between SF and LV?

Thanks for all the help!

[Midwest Michael]

Obviously I watch a lot of TV and the media can blow things out of all proportion and one question I have is about safety in LA, is there any areas which we should stay well clear of?

Certainly in LA, and in any other major city, there are areas that you probably wouldn't want to spend much time in, particularly at night. But your instinct about the media blowing things out of proportion is probably accurate.

I'm not an expert on LA by any means, but I've driven through and around various parts of the city a number of times, and only once, after making a wrong turn, did I stumble into an area that was clearly suffering from some 'economic hardships.' Even there, while I wasn't going out of my way to stop, I didn't feel as though I was in any immient danger.

Generally speaking, using some common sense goes a very long way when it comes to safety in a city.

[RoadDog]

If you're between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, get off the superslab and drive on Rt 66. You'll get a real view of America. Most of the time, it will be on either side of I-40. Check out some of the Route 66 sites on the internet.

I'll be visiting your neck of the woods this summer and taking a cruise around the British Isles and perhaps even a bus tour if things work out.

Keep on Down that Two Lane Highway. -- RoadDog

[Mark Sedenquist]

Most of the time, it will be on either side of I-40.

Just to be clear, there is no section of the road between Las Vegas and Los Angeles that follows I-40. The normal route between LA and Las Vegas is I-15 and Route 66 does wind its way around I-15 between Devore and Barstow. Just about the best site for tracking Route 66 can be viewed here.

Mark

[ruprekt]

Thanks for the info people.
Although we will be going from LA to San Francisco and then from SF to Lake Tahoe. From there we will be making our way through Nevada to Las Vegas.

A trip round Britain should be good! Have you been here before?
Few tips, if you wish to take in some culture and countryside, in England The Yorkshire Dales and The Lake District are your best bet, but Scotland is a lot more dramatic in terms of mountains etc. although avoid the Scottish cuisine(unless you like eating sheeps guts and Fried Mars Bars)!!
London and York is where to visit in terms of history, I prefer York as it's friendlier and cheaper! London is MEGA expensive.

[boyse7en]

We drove this route the other way (LV to SF, then LA and back to LV) in Dec 05, taking a couple of weeks to do so.

Can thoroughly recommend it all, great scenery throughout and met loads of nice people.

Recommendations:
Take Highway 1 from LA to SF. It is slower then the interstates but the scenery is not to be missed. It is one of those things yo should do at least once in a lifetime. We took four days over it, taking in walks in the woods, viewing elephant seals and Hurst Castle along the way (amongst other things)

Tahoe to LV: don't go down through Nevada (apparantly it is pretty boring!)
Take the I-395 down past Bishop, then turn off and go through Death Valley to Pahrump. Again, great scenery and nothing like you will ever see in the UK. It took 2 days to do this bit at a very casual pace with plenty of photo and refreshment stops.

San Francisco: We stopped for 3 days - great place

Las Vegas: Stay 3 or 4 nights midweek if you can. You can get a hotel right on the Strip (we stayed at Ballys) for about $55 per night for a huge room. This was cheaper than some of the motels we stayed in on the rest of our trip(the quality of which varied wildly).

If you need more info, just ask!

Cheers

Colin W (Devon, UK)