I'm doing up my itinerary and have some questions.
1) From Yosemite to GC South Rim, are there at least two stop over that could be suggested? The distance is too long and it's crazy to drive for 8hrs
Oh yeah, absolutely. In April you'll need to go around the south end of the Sierra Nevada mountains; Google Maps recommends heading south to Bakersfield and then taking Interstate 40 all the way across Arizona, but I think you can do better than that.
Head south to Bakersfield, then curve around and drop in on Death Valley (stay at the Furnace Creek Ranch). It's amazingly beautiful, and how often do you get to hang out below sea level? This is a bit of a schlep - it's seven-and-a-half hours - but it's still better than doing the deathly-boring eleven-and-a-half-hour drive through Bakersfield and the Mojave.
Then, from Furnace Creek, it's only a couple of hours to Vegas, which is a fun (and relatively cheap) place to spend a night.
Then from Vegas, it's only a four-and-a-half-hour drive to Grand Canyon Village.
If you can't afford the extra night, and you don't mind missing Death Valley (you can hit Las Vegas on the way back; see below), break your trip in Laughlin, right at the bottom tip of the pointy bit of Nevada. Accommodation's cheap, because it's all casinos - you can get a nice room at the
Golden Nugget, with a view over the Colorado River, for about a hundred bucks. And pop into Mojave National Preserve on the way, even if you just do the quick side trip to the
cute little railway outpost of Kelso.
As a side note, when you're heading from Grand Canyon Village to Page (Antelope Canyon), make sure you stop over at the
Cameron Trading Post and pick up some souvenirs. I recommend this to literally everyone who asks about that trip, but that's because it's a great little place that wouldn't get any attention otherwise.
2) besides Palm Spring is there an alternative pit stop? There doesn't seem much attraction there. I'm traveling out from Anthelope Canyon to LA.
From Page, you've got two choices for how to get to LA (assuming you don't want to retrace your steps on Interstate 40):
1) Head south to Flagstaff, then go back the way you came on Interstate 40 to Needles, then head south to Palm Springs along the 95 and the 10. This is eight hours' drive time from Page to Palm Springs, which is totally doable in a day.
2) Head northwest toward Kanab. This is an
amazingly good idea, because you can drive back down through Zion National Park, which is an incredible drive; the road goes Kanab-Mt Carmel Junction-Springdale-Hurricane-St George, at which point you're back on Interstate 15 and about three hours from Vegas, which is a good place to stop for the night. From Vegas, it's about a four-and-a-half-hour drive to Los Angeles.
Basically it depends - would you rather see Palm Springs' 50s Hollywood glamour, or would you rather see towering natural beauty in Zion National Park?
The third option, if you're really sick of driving, is to drive to Flagstaff, dump the car there, and fly back to Los Angeles - but where's the fun in that?
3) wondering if anyone has been to Santa Monica? I'm planning to add it in to my plans
Yeah, Santa Monica or West Hollywood is a great place to base yourself in LA. Here's the thing: LA
sucks to get around; you have to drive everywhere; so you want to base yourself close to the things you'll want to see, and nearly all of those things are on the west side of town.
I personally like WeHo (well
obviously *rainbow flag emoji* ), but I've stayed in Santa Monica as well and it's great. My pick for hotels is the Oceana Santa Monica.
4) would there be any data card to recommend for purchase as I'm thinking if it's easy to buy over in U.S. I read our local Sim plan are not worth the money given the limited coverage in U.S.
I've always had good luck with T-Mobile, though their coverage leaves a bit to be desired.
