US help.

[boiboi123]

It depends on where in the US you are currently at, but generally, chocolates are a good bet to bring back, and I guess Keychains?

Ah sorry forgot to mention, NYC!

 

[Parmesean]

Ah sorry forgot to mention, NYC!

For New York, you might want to check out the M&M store in Times Square.

 

[boiboi123]

For New York, you might want to check out the M&M store in Times Square.

Ok will do that, thank you!

 

[Shiny Things]

What's good to buy back from US ah? Food? Souvenirs?

When I lived over in Singapore I'd always do a fair bit of clothes-shopping on my trips to the USA, so that's Thing One. Search for some independent local brands (there's plenty over here, and they're usually very well made), find a few pieces that you like, and wear them for years.

Souvenirs are always a good bet, especially if you go somewhere interesting; and don't go for tacky plastic cr@p, go for something more lasting. I've got some sandstone drink coasters from the Painted Desert region in Arizona that are a nice conversation piece, and one of my favorite souvenirs ever is a precision-ground magnifying lens that I bought from the Black Hole in Los Alamos (when it was still around; RIP). It's even better if you can tie the souvenirs to an experience you especially enjoyed.

And this is a little bit lame, but: photographs! Take your camera, take some amazing photos while you're over here, and get them blown up and hung on your wall.

 

[boiboi123]

When I lived over in Singapore I'd always do a fair bit of clothes-shopping on my trips to the USA, so that's Thing One. Search for some independent local brands (there's plenty over here, and they're usually very well made), find a few pieces that you like, and wear them for years.

Souvenirs are always a good bet, especially if you go somewhere interesting; and don't go for tacky plastic cr@p, go for something more lasting. I've got some sandstone drink coasters from the Painted Desert region in Arizona that are a nice conversation piece, and one of my favorite souvenirs ever is a precision-ground magnifying lens that I bought from the Black Hole in Los Alamos (when it was still around; RIP). It's even better if you can tie the souvenirs to an experience you especially enjoyed.

And this is a little bit lame, but: photographs! Take your camera, take some amazing photos while you're over here, and get them blown up and hung on your wall.

Thank you! Yes absolutely agree the best souvenirs are going to be the pictures and memories haha will try to take more! Thanks for sharing about the blackhole too, really cool

 

[joncham72]

hi all, any recommendations for accommodation in LA?

will be there for 4 nights in November

as it is my first time in LA, I plan to go to:

1. Hollywood/Beverly Hills
2. Santa Monica/Venice
3. Outlets (heard Camarillo is the best)
4. Downtown

I am currently thinking of staying at doubletree hilton downtown LA, but would be grateful for your opinions and suggestions.

thanks!

 

[Shiny Things]

hi all, any recommendations for accommodation in LA?

will be there for 4 nights in November

as it is my first time in LA, I plan to go to:

1. Hollywood/Beverly Hills
2. Santa Monica/Venice
3. Outlets (heard Camarillo is the best)
4. Downtown

I am currently thinking of staying at doubletree hilton downtown LA, but would be grateful for your opinions and suggestions.

thanks!

You'll want to pop those on a map and take a look at where they are. The Camarillo Outlets are a solid hour's drive up the 101 from where you'd be staying.

LA is big and sprawling and the public transport sucks, so your best bet is to stay close to where you want to go. For you, that means West Hollywood - it's in the middle of downtown (and frankly downtown LA is not that great, you can probably skip it), Hollywood, and Santa Monica.

 

[joncham72]

You'll want to pop those on a map and take a look at where they are. The Camarillo Outlets are a solid hour's drive up the 101 from where you'd be staying.

LA is big and sprawling and the public transport sucks, so your best bet is to stay close to where you want to go. For you, that means West Hollywood - it's in the middle of downtown (and frankly downtown LA is not that great, you can probably skip it), Hollywood, and Santa Monica.

Thanks! The hotels in West Hollywood are kinda out of budget (at least an additional USD100 per night) might have to look at airbnb then..

We are thinking of either (1) taking Amtrak from union station (if we are staying in downtown LA) to Camarillo station (and a bus to the outlets) or (2) renting a car (which would probably mean an airbnb would be the better option cos of free parking)

 

[fzhfzh]

What I usually do when I go LA is to book a hotel near LAX airport and drive there. You can rent a car. There’s tons of free parking along the road there.

Parking is not that expensive anyways.

 

[ralphlauren]

I am going San Francisco for two weeks in Oct, can you help to validate whether this plan is viable?

Day 1: arrival at San Francisco and rest for the day
Day 2 and 3: Explore Golden Gate Bridge, Golden gate park, fisherman wharf, pier39, alcatraz, tons of museums
Day 4: Car rental to Yosemite. Any attraction along the way?
Day 5: Explore / Hike around Yosemite. One night at Yosemite.
Day 6: Drive along Tioga pass, mammoth lake and Death Valley. One night at Death Valley.
Day 7,8: R& R at Las Vegas
Day 9: Drive to Grand Canyon. One night at Grand Canyon.
Day 10: explore Grand Canyon. Drive towards Los Angeles.
Day 11-14: R&R at Los Angeles

 

[a1v1n_]

I am going San Francisco for two weeks in Oct, can you help to validate whether this plan is viable?

Day 1: arrival at San Francisco and rest for the day
Day 2 and 3: Explore Golden Gate Bridge, Golden gate park, fisherman wharf, pier39, alcatraz, tons of museums
Day 4: Car rental to Yosemite. Any attraction along the way?
Day 5: Explore / Hike around Yosemite. One night at Yosemite.
Day 6: Drive along Tioga pass, mammoth lake and Death Valley. One night at Death Valley.
Day 7,8: R& R at Las Vegas
Day 9: Drive to Grand Canyon. One night at Grand Canyon.
Day 10: explore Grand Canyon. Drive towards Los Angeles.
Day 11-14: R&R at Los Angeles

Lots of driving due to the distance.

No outlet shopping?

Sent from me using GAGT

 

[ralphlauren]

Ah yes need outlets shopping too.

Anyway to cut down driving?

 

[a1v1n_]

Ah yes need outlets shopping too.

Anyway to cut down driving?

Then you need to check which outlets are along the way of your drive. From the looks of your planning, doesn't look like alot of time for outlet shopping.

From experience, outlet shopping takes up more than a few hours.

You can choose to fly between major cities but you may have to give up some of the locations in between.

Sent from me using GAGT

 

[sendtolee]

I am going San Francisco for two weeks in Oct, can you help to validate whether this plan is viable?

Day 1: arrival at San Francisco and rest for the day
Day 2 and 3: Explore Golden Gate Bridge, Golden gate park, fisherman wharf, pier39, alcatraz, tons of museums
Day 4: Car rental to Yosemite. Any attraction along the way?
Day 5: Explore / Hike around Yosemite. One night at Yosemite.
Day 6: Drive along Tioga pass, mammoth lake and Death Valley. One night at Death Valley.
Day 7,8: R& R at Las Vegas
Day 9: Drive to Grand Canyon. One night at Grand Canyon.
Day 10: explore Grand Canyon. Drive towards Los Angeles.
Day 11-14: R&R at Los Angeles

Your schedule seemed more like touch and go at each place.
Have you considered the driving time and rest time?

 

[gumbokins]

hi all, any recommendations for accommodation in LA?

will be there for 4 nights in November

as it is my first time in LA, I plan to go to:

1. Hollywood/Beverly Hills
2. Santa Monica/Venice
3. Outlets (heard Camarillo is the best)
4. Downtown

I am currently thinking of staying at doubletree hilton downtown LA, but would be grateful for your opinions and suggestions.

thanks!

I stayed at Coral Sands motel. it’s near the Griffiths Observatory and can spot the Hollywood sign just a short walk down as well. We actually walked all the way down Hollywood Boulevard to Mann’s Chinese Theatre (eyuew would not recommend).

anyways the motel is basic but clean. $150++ per night. quieter area but got supermarket and starbucks just down the road. We also took their train back from USH, it was a very interesting experience. it looks dodgy but we had a lovely stay, and I had kids with me.

i actually did a fair bit of shopping online and sent packages to the motel ahead of stay! and we used uber to get to most places of interest.

 

[Shiny Things]

I am going San Francisco for two weeks in Oct, can you help to validate whether this plan is viable?

OK, couple of things here:
1) There is, as people have mentioned, a truckload of driving in this itinerary. I'm personally fine with that because I love driving in America, but this may be a bit much for you. If you want to reduce the amount of driving, toss Los Angeles; fly back from Flagstaff (near the Grand Canyon) to SFO or LAX, whichever you're departing from, and use the time you'd otherwise spend in Los Angeles to stretch out the road trip and add another day in San Francisco. Los Angeles sucks, you won't miss anything if you skip it (unless you're really hell-bent on doing Disneyland).
2) Do you have kids?
3) Do you care about shopping?

Day 1: arrival at San Francisco and rest for the day
Day 2 and 3: Explore Golden Gate Bridge, Golden gate park, fisherman wharf, pier39, alcatraz, tons of museums

This is an excellent idea. A few notes:
* Alcatraz is a solid half-day by itself;
* You can rent a bike and cycle to the bridge, then around to the ocean side of Golden Gate Park;
* Carve out some time for the museums. Specifically, check out the De Young and the Legion of Honour (if the exhibits are interesting); don't miss SF MOMA; and check the smaller museums (the Contemporary Jewish Museum, Museum of the African Diaspora), because they're close to SFMOMA and may have stuff you're interested in.

If you ditch LA, you might want to add a third day in San Francisco as well.

Day 4: Car rental to Yosemite. Any attraction along the way?

Not really, no.

Day 5: Explore / Hike around Yosemite. One night at Yosemite.

You'll want to book Yosemite right now; it books out early. If you can't get Yosemite proper, look nearby in Mariposa or Groveland, or even a little further out in Modesto or Manteca.

Day 6: Drive along Tioga pass, mammoth lake and Death Valley. One night at Death Valley.

It's possible, but unlikely, that Tioga Pass is going to be snowed in when you get there. If there is, you're going to have to go the long way around (via Bakersfield) to get to Death Valley.

Day 7,8: R& R at Las Vegas
Day 9: Drive to Grand Canyon. One night at Grand Canyon.
Day 10: explore Grand Canyon.

This bit seems reasonable. The GC's going to be surprisingly cold in October though, so pack warm. Don't miss the Cameron Trading Post at the east entrance to the park, if you want to pick up some souvenirs.

Drive towards Los Angeles.
Day 11-14: R&R at Los Angeles

I'd ditch this bit, if only because Los Angeles is waayyyy overrated. I'd either:
1) Head up to Page, and drop in on Antelope Canyon, then fly back to the west coast from Flagstaff; or,
2) Drive back to Vegas, visit Red Rock Canyon, and fly back to the west coast from there.

 

[Flanky]

guys, need last min spoon feeding coz just book a family trip to NYC.

need to rent car. (7 seater - coz we 5 adults, everyone have luggages)
from Boston to NYC
19 Aug 9am - 22 Aug evening (thus return 23rd?)

i just realized cars rental in NY are damn expensive! (compared to Aus/NZ/ even Europe)

So need help advise:

1) how to get cheap rental car...
I have a Hertz Corp rate. (IBM)
(I was an ex IBMer so I still got a couple of namecards, so I dare to use this rate)
BUT... the corp rate I got, excludes LDW, Personal Liability...

2) Is LDW + PI a must in USA? I will be getting travel insurance.
I think SG travel insurance only covers abt $2k for LDW right?
What about PI? I was reading policy T&Cs, seems like anything in connect to use of motor vehicle is excluded?
Any better travel insurance I should get to cover rental car? (e.g. for my NZ trip, I bought from "covermore" as they cover overseas visitor with $6K car rental coverage)

3) Assuming I forgo hertz IBM rate, what is the best rate/car rental company you guys recommend.
I browsed flyertalk etc until I blur...

4) I'm picking up the car in Boston. Any location that have less surcharges? My hotel for Boston are cancellable... (so also can recommend me a decent hotel too if you have)


anyone can share their past experience?

oh, recommendations for NYC hotel is welcome too

Thanks in advance

 

[Shiny Things]

guys, need last min spoon feeding coz just book a family trip to NYC.

need to rent car. (7 seater - coz we 5 adults, everyone have luggages)

Um. If you're trying to get from Boston to NYC, it might be easier to look at Amtrak. Use Lyft while you're in the cities, then take the train from point A to point B.

oh, recommendations for NYC hotel is welcome too

Thanks in advance

There's over a thousand hotels just in Manhattan, and my favorite might be too expensive, too cheap, or in the wrong location. What sort of things are you visiting; what kind of style do you like; and what's your price range?

 

[cchang]

Request for help in US road Trip

We are planning a family road trip in California next March with 2 Adult & 2 teenage.

3-6 Mar - Exploring SF
6 Mar - Pick up Car - SF Premium Outlet - Gilroy Outlet - Monterey
7 Mar - Monterey (Whale watch in the morning) - Carmel or Big Sur (for night stay)
8 Mar - Monterey/Carmel - Yosemite
9 Mar - Yosemite
10 Mar - Yosemite - Death Valley
11 Mar - Death Valley - LA (As need to be in LV on 15&16 March)
12 Mar - Beverly Hll
13 Mar - LA - GCNP South Rim
14 Mar - GCNP to LV (Return Car)
15-16 Mar - LV
16 Mar - LV - NYC (night flight)
17-21 Mar - NYC (Rest n Relax)

Is the above route plan doable? Do we give a miss to Death Valley if Tioga pass way is not open during March, it will be a long journey.

Which domestic carrier is recommendable and able to book from Singapore?

Any other hotel website beside priceline that we can look into more option, like service apartment etc as generally US hotel is pretty ex.

Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[cchang]

Just need another help, any area to avoid for staying in SF & NY?