NYC to LA via Chicago, Vegas & SF

[Subman]

Hi All, absolutely BRILLIANT advise on the 'cash' question! if you ever decide to start charging for this service, I'll be the first to pay up (please don't though...)

I guess my previous US experience consisted of (perhaps inevitably) New York and Vegas, where all the major expenses were either pre-booked/company-paid, and where the other expense (gambling, restaurants, bars) always seemed to be very cash-orientated.

The reason we exchanged some dollars recently was because (we thought) the rate was so good (£1=$1.6). This way, whatever cash we have we know cost this much. And if the £ collapses against the $, then at least we got some of the money at this preferable rate.

I know for a fact that my cards (debit and credit, both from the same bank) charge for using them abroad - time to start shopping around for something better, as you say. The pre-paid cash card idea seems excellent, must look into it. Some of you said, buy it on arrival, while others said buy before you travel - only confused about that?

And Charlie H, please say thanks to your Belgian friend! Both me and my friend (him constantly for work) have traveled there, and what a beautiful country it is! Last time I went to the US, the immigration stopped (for a 3-hour interrogation!) a colleague of mine because he wasn't carrying enough cash (and this guy is not poor, quite the opposite in fact - just foolishly thought of taking money out the ATMs while over there).

Thanking you guys and awaiting my new 2014 road map to arrive in the post!

Subman

[Lifemagician]

Oh and I've just ordered the Randy McNally 2014 Road Atlas - can't wait to get stuck into it!

Every trip I purchase a Rand McNally. Then, each night I sit down and hilight the roads on which I travelled that day. This then ends up being my souvenir of the trip, and as I leaf through it over the years, along with my photos, it is like living the trip, all over again.

as I've learned US immigration seems to think of you as suspect if you've very little cash on you. But granted I had very little that time they picked me out for the 3rd degree interrogation.

On seven entries into the US, over the last dozen or so years, I have never been asked about money. Food, yes. Money, never! (That might be a difference between the east coast and the west coast.)

Oh a tip: as a European, don't waste time on e.g. supermarkets trying to "sell" you a credit card: they do a credit check and can't complete that as you have no credit history they can consult. "no thanks" is what makes you waste the least time."

But make good use of every free discount card you get offered. It is surprising how often you could end up using them.

Some of you said, buy it on arrival, while others said buy before you travel - only confused about that?

Whenever and wherever you get the best rate. For my trips, I am stocking up as funds and exchange rate are in my favour.

Lifey

[AZBuck]

Oh a tip: as a European, don't waste time on e.g. supermarkets trying to "sell" you a credit card: they do a credit check and can't complete that as you have no credit history they can consult. "no thanks" is what makes you waste the least time."

I'm not at all familiar with grocery store credit cards. To be honest, they're just not in that business. What they will offer is what is called an 'affinity', or 'loyalty', or 'club' card. this is not a credit card and requires no background checks or verifications. You can sign up for and receive one immediately upon entering most chain supermarkets in the US. Just ask for their Customer Service Desk. All you give them is your addresses (postal and email) and a telephone number. In return for basically letting them track your purchases (Who cares?) you get the 'discounted' member price on most items in the store. It costs nothing and saves you money. What's not to like?

AZBuck

[glc]

Supermarket loyalty cards are generally not worth the trouble for a visitor. They do not give you a discount on everything, just certain items marked as "on sale" on the shelf tags. You can't just walk away from the service desk with a card, it's mailed to you. At the POS terminal, you enter your 10 digit US phone number to use it. We have very few true national chains here, the cards are mostly offered and used by regional chains. Not all chains offer them. Here in my city of 50,000 people, we have no stores that use them, although we have 2 national chains (Walmart and Aldi). If you happen to go into a store that uses them, it's worth asking the cashier if they have a "courtesy card" that can be scanned, being that you are a visitor.

[AZBuck]

They do not give you a discount on everything, just certain items marked as "on sale" on the shelf tags. You can't just walk away from the service desk with a card, it's mailed to you.

Sorry, those two statements are simply not true in my experience. EVERY such card I have (and I have four for local chains) I got immediately upon my initial request. In two of the four instances, I got the card even before filling out the information form. And the number of 'specials' or 'sales' continues to increase as a percentage of items on the shelf. I am often astounded when the checkout person announces what I've saved by usung the card, even though I have not shopped on the basis of 'sales'.

Yes, a particular check-out person may do you the 'courtesy' of letting you use a generic card, but I suspect such practices will slowly disappear because they defeat the purpose of the loyalty card program. Again, such cards pay for the short time they take to get in real money saved, and not getting one if it is avaiable for free and can be gotten in less than a few minutes makes absolutely no sense to me.

AZBuck

[Lifemagician]

Every card I have, and I have a bundle of them, I have been given on the spot. If they had to be mailed, I wouldn't bother.

Name and phone number is usually all they need. If you don't have a phone number, They will often put down any old phone #. When asked if I have a card, I get out the bundle, and shuffle through them, asking if any of them are for 'this' store. Often the person on the checkout will say.... "That one's ours." At times when I know I do not have one for the store, I say that I am only passing through, probably not worth the store's trouble to give me one. In such instances often a customer will offer to swipe their card for me (in which case it helps them with their total purchases) or a generic card will be used.

I always look to see if the items I regularly get are on sale. May as well safe a few cents.... but often it is much more.

Lifey

[Subman]

If you use I-70 through Colorado, I'd also suggest that you seriously consider using US-6 over the Continental Divide via Loveland Pass rather than staying on I-70 between Exits 216 and 205 and going under the mountains through Eisenhower Tunnel. Guess which route is more scenic! Having done that, you'll be a bit far south to use I-80 across Nevada, but US-50 is a good alternative. You'd pick it up in western Utah, then in Ely NV you could choose to stay on it (It bills itself as the "Loneliest Road".) or you could switch over to US-6 to head for Tioga Pass (CA-120) and Yosemite. As noted by Dave, you'll need to make sure that Tioga Pass is open before heading that way.

Hi AZBuck,

I was wondering, since we plan to get off I-70 in Utah and drive south to Arizona on US-191, followed by going through the Monument Valley on US-163 (and do the little dirt road drive that I believe is available there?), would you recommend visiting the Grand Canyon after that via Road 64? First of all, is that a nice drive? And secondly, is that part of the Grand Canyon a good place to visit?

I've been to the Canyon (but my friend has not) on one of those helicopter tours out of Vegas, where they take you to the old Indian land (where exactly that was, I don't know) and give you a tepid glass of champagne on arrival... And I hope this is not a sacrilege, but I found that area of the Canyon a little underwhelming. I wonder if it's different on the other side? I also think that by mid-May, it might already be very pretty crowded around there - or is that mainly in the summer months only?

The other option is to skip the Grand Canyon altogether and spend some more time in Flagstaff instead, and drive on parts of the old Route 66. I figured you must know Arizona pretty well, so I'd be very grateful, if you could share your views on this.

Thank you!

Subman

[Midwest Michael]

The part of the Grand Canyon you are talking about is the south rim of Grand Canyon National Park, and it is absolutely worth it!

The Canyon within the National Park is about twice as deep as the "West Rim" on Indian Lands, and standing on the edge really is a different experience than taking a helicopter tour. Your experience is why most regulars on this forum don't recommend taking a helicopter tour from Vegas - or at least not doing one instead of actually driving to the National Park.

It will likely be busy in Mid-May, but not so busy that it is hard to enjoy. The Park is huge, so as you get away from the Village area to the other viewpoint, the crowds will get much smaller, even during peak season. I'd also recommend walking down into the Canyon a little ways, if you are up for it. Even walking down a half mile provides even more perspective on how huge the Canyon is. Also make sure to take advantage of the viewpoints as you drive into the park from the East, as there are lots of places to stop as you are entering the park.

[AZBuck]

It's important to understand the status, and the differences, between those two parks in order to get the most out of them. Monument Valley is a Navajo Tribal Park. It is not maintained to the same standards as US national parks. In particular there are no paved roads through the park. There is a 17 mile scenic drive (graded dirt) through the heart of the park, but it will be slow going, services will be minimal to non-existant, and it is not recommended for low-slung sports cars.

The Grand Canyon is a national park with all the good (well maintained) and bad (large crowds in the summer) that that entails. AZ-64, also known as the East Rim Drive (along the South Rim of the Canyon) between Cameron and Grand Canyon Village offers the best views, following the Canyon's edge for about 20 miles and offering numerous parking and scenic overlook opportunities. Up until about 20 years (give or take) ago it was possible to take flights into the Canyon areas within the national park. But the noise from these flights became a problem and all air traffic today must stay a minimum or 1,500 feet above the rim within the national park boundaries. It is still possible to take scenic flights out of Grand Canyon National Park Airport in Tusayan just south of the park, but these will not fly into the Canyon. Flights from Las Vegas which bill landings in the Grand Canyon fly instead into the 'West Rim' of the Canyon where the land is part of the Hualapai Indian Reservation. As you note, this area of the Canyon is not as spectacular as the national park, and quite a large portion of the flight is spent just getting from Las Vegas to the Canyon. The North Rim of the Canyon, accessible by a single two-lane road from Jacobs Lake AZ will still be closed due to snow in May.

I can't really advise you on how to split up your time between the Canyon, Flagstaff, and old Route 66. It is possible with your time frame to do a bit of justice to all three. If I haven't noted so previously, my favorite sites in and around Flagstaff are the Museum of Northern Arizona, Lowell Observatory, and three national monuments: Wupatki, Sunset Crater, and Walnut Canyon. The longest remaining section of the old US-66 roadbed is between Seligman and Kingman Arizona, through Peach Springs. This is the part of the road and the countryside that provided the visual inspiration for the animated movie "Cars". Since it would cost so little in the way of extra time to take this detour, it is certainly worth consideration. Just make sure that you gas and stock up before leaving Seligman.

AZBuck

[Midwest Michael]

Supermarket loyalty cards are generally not worth the trouble for a visitor. They do not give you a discount on everything, just certain items marked as "on sale" on the shelf tags. You can't just walk away from the service desk with a card, it's mailed to you.

I've got to agree with Buck and Lifey, that the free discount cards are very worth it for all visitors. For stores that have them, you can't get sale prices without it, and that means you could easily pay nearly twice as much for your food!

I can only think of one chain that has ever mailed me a card, and even there I got a paper temporary card. The vast majority just have a big stack of plastic cards that they just activate on the spot. Some stores will do a courtesy swipe if you are just passing through,
but it is hit or miss (the larger the store, the less likely they will do it in my experience) and so I just quickly stop by the service counter and grab one.

It is true most grocery stores in the US are regional chains, but many of them have the same owner. For example, I have a "City Market" card, but that is really just one of Kroger's brands so I can also use it at Krogers, Frys, Ralphs, etc depending upon what part of the country I am in. You can do like lifey and ask if your card works, or a lot of times you can look at the stores generic brands and get an idea if its is the same parent company.

One final thought on why Roadtrippers should look at the Grocery cards is that many of them also can get you discounts on gas. Some grocery stores will have their own gas stations, and the card will save you there. Others will partner with local gas stations, and you can get discounts on gas based on how much you spend, or if you buy some specific items.