New York to LA in 2 weeks, is this enough time?

[Shmerdle Bop]

Hi all,

Hope you are all well. Me and 2 pals are going to New York in November before flying home to Ireland from LA after the Superbowl in early February. We want to drive from NY to LA and will have 14 days to do do the journey. Couple of questions

1) Is this enough time? We don't want to be rushing all the way.

2) What route to take? At present my head is hurting with all the options! Defo want to see Vegas, Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and Durango also sounds real nice. Any other suggestions?

3) Weather wise, is it silly to do this trip in late January?

4) What sort of budget might you need? We'll be budgeting most of the way but want to still do as much as possible so the occasional splash out is cool.

Any other advice would be most welcome!

Many thanks everyone and if you ever need roadtrip advice for Ireland, drop me a line! We drove nearly the whole way down the country and back in 3 days last weekend and saw loads! Ah the tiny Emerald Isle...

Shmerdle Bop

[wanderlust524]

but, living in NY I can help with some of those questions.

The weather in NY in late January can be treacherous, or mild. It will undoubtably be cold, but the snow is the issue. Snow is common in January. You can drive through snow, but know it may delay your trip. If you aren't comfortable or used to driving in snow, that is another thing to consider.

If you plan to stay in NYC expect to pay a lot. There are a few hostels in NYC but I wouldn't personally recommend them. The upside to NYC is that there are tons of free and cheap things to do.

Here is an article I wrote on a few cheap things to do in NYC...it's geared towards couples, but that doesn't limit the info.

<a href="http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/650173/new_york_city_romance_on_a_budget.html?cat=41">art icle</a>

[PNW Judy]

Welcome to the Roadtrip America forums!

Hi all,

Hope you are all well. Me and 2 pals are going to New York in November before flying home to Ireland from LA after the Superbowl in early February.

Dont' wait too long to get your tickets! In fact, is it even possible? Often tickets to things like this are bought up by season ticket-holders. You will want to research this.

We want to drive from NY to LA and will have 14 days to do do the journey. Couple of questions

1) Is this enough time? We don't want to be rushing all the way.

It takes about 5 days to just drive coast-to-coast. So this will leave you 9 days for exploring. So, yes, you won't be able to linger too long but it won't be a rush.

2) What route to take? At present my head is hurting with all the options! Defo want to see Vegas, Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and Durango also sounds real nice. Any other suggestions?

If these are your main points of interest, this map/route through these areas would let you see everything listed and you will see some tremendous sights in-between as well. Hope this gives you some ideas.

3) Weather wise, is it silly to do this trip in late January?

Silly? No. But it will very likely make the drive take longer as you won't be able to drive as fast. And severe weather might mean you have to wait for a few hours here-and-there for roads to be cleared. It also means that you might not be able to do the route that I gave you the map to. You will want to do a web search for "Colorado DOT" (Dept. of Transportation) in the days leading up to getting to that part of the country to see how those roads are.

4) What sort of budget might you need? We'll be budgeting most of the way but want to still do as much as possible so the occasional splash out is cool.

Budgets are variable depending on travel-style, types of things you want to see and do, etc. This post will give you some tips on how to figure out your budget needs.

Enjoy your trip and let us know if we can help you further!

[Shmerdle Bop]

Thanks so much for your help. This website is really great. Don't worry about Superbowl tickets, we weren't looking to go! (think its in Florida anyway) We just wanted to be in USA for it, just like we want to be there in November for the presidential election. Should be good experiences. thanks again. Can't wait

[PNW Judy]

Both the election and Super Bowl. (Obviously, I'm not a big football fan, LOL)

Anything else we can help you with?

[Shmerdle Bop]

Not at the moment thanks but I'm sure i'll have more queries closer to the time. Roll on November!