10 day holiday in US

[lonelyplanet]

We are currently looking at going to States with teenage children for week to 10 days and wondering if any of the forum readers have any ideas. The kids dont fully understand the vastness of the US and would like to see as much as possible in 2 weeks.

They have an interest in horseriding and would like to see a rodeo. Other items we have thrown on the list are the following
1. Country music/bluegrass festival
2. New York for a few days.
3. Universal Studios
4. Tour around the Amish region in Pennsylvania..
5. Dude ranch


Hoping to get some feedback from experienced travellers to the US and any other suggestions regarding locations, transport, flights , experiences etc


Thanks in advance

 

[Silversurfer]

We are currently looking at going to States with teenage children for week to 10 days and wondering if any of the forum readers have any ideas. The kids dont fully understand the vastness of the US and would like to see as much as possible in 2 weeks.

They have an interest in horseriding and would like to see a rodeo. Other items we have thrown on the list are the following
1. Country music/bluegrass festival
2. New York for a few days.
3. Universal Studios
4. Tour around the Amish region in Pennsylvania..
5. Dude ranch


Hoping to get some feedback from experienced travellers to the US and any other suggestions regarding locations, transport, flights , experiences etc


Thanks in advance

Have you every thought of taking them on a cruise around the US? The advantages of taking a holiday like this is no packing and unpacking of bags. You would have a different port every day with excursions. Food and entertainment on board.

 

[thedaddyman]

Have a major trip booked in the summer and found American Holidays more then helpful for everything. You are not going to do all of this in 10 days to be honest as the travel times are long. What we found with American Holidays is that they were prepared to sit down and walk through options and price accordingly

New York is very expensive.

Country Music Festival Guide

Some of the most noteworthy events to gather for food, tunes and multiday fun take place everywhere – from large cities and expansive landscapes to smaller neighborhoods and towns. Here is a guide to a great lineup of country celebrations.

www.visittheusa.co.uk

 

[lonelyplanet]

Have you every thought of taking them on a cruise around the US? The advantages of taking a holiday like this is no packing and unpacking of bags. You would have a different port every day with excursions. Food and entertainment on board.

Thanks Silversurfer, can look into it but we are more active and like hanging out with people in different places and feel that being herded around is not our thing

 

[Dr Strangelove]

I did two cities on the east coast in ten days with kids of a similar age and even that was too much.

 

[Gordon Gekko]

I think you’re trying to do too much. Either go for longer (i.e. 2.5-3.0 weeks) or do less. Maybe New York and Nashville?

 

[Silversurfer]

Thanks Silversurfer, can look into it but we are more active and like hanging out with people in different places and feel that being herded around is not our thing

Icon of the Seas might be active enough? With 6,500 passengers there is plenty of opportunity to hang out with different people. As the other Posters have said under your own steam 2 locations would be tiring. New Orleans for music. New York is very hot and expensive in the summer. There is a certain degree of herding for most of the famous landmarks though. Amish (old as opposed to reformed) are not only in Pennsylvania. Universal Studios you most certainly will be herded all day. Rodeos in Texas. I second American Holidays for a holiday with teenagers.

 

[phoenix53]

Without meaning to be a killjoy, i think you are overestimating what you can do in a week to 10 days. Universal would take a minimum of two days alone. Waste of time, money and effort to only do universal when there is so much else to see in Florida/California. New York 3 days min. Travel between Florida/California to New York would take another day. That's six days only seeing universal and the main New York sites. Go for longer and be prepared to spend a load of cash. Or go for a shorter, reduce your expectations and still be prepared to spend a load of cash. The states are very dear at the moment. We're just back from a week in boston and it's surrounds and found it more expensive than home.

Assuming money is not an issue, I think you'll find that time will be. Jet lag really is a thing.

 

[DeeKie]

We did two weeks in California. Amazing place and expensive. I recommend picking a couple of things from the list and focusing on those two. You will find other great things to do near those to make it a great trip. We got caught out by the cost.

 

[Gordon Gekko]

The US has gone nuts cost-wise, be warned. As in $35 for two coffees and two croissants, $600 for a nice meal for two, $30 for a side of chips, that kind of thing. It’s eye-watering.

 

[Cervelo]

We are currently looking at going to States with teenage children for week to 10 days and wondering if any of the forum readers have any ideas. The kids dont fully understand the vastness of the US and would like to see as much as possible in 2 weeks.

At this stage we've done four major road trips in America, each trip lasting somewhere between three and four weeks
and have travelled most if not all of the east coast, west coast and northern America from east to west
And I still marvel at how big the place is, how overpopulated and developed some areas are and how others are not
I still remember my first trip which was a Californian road trip of LA, Vegas and San Fran and entering our destination into the sat-nav when leaving LA only for the girl on the sat-nav to inform me an Irish boy who had never really driven outside Ireland to any great extent
"In 249 miles turn right"!!!! and I've had many such instructions since then some even longer, the place is indeed vast

Your wish list is big for ten days, not saying some or all of it can't be done but doubt very much if you were to try to pack it all into 10 days that it would an enjoyable experience, I'd be more of the idea of picking one area of America and seeing what can be done in the area
My first thought was Florida as you mentioned universal studios, I haven't been but did go to Disney and Epcot which was a 10+ hour day
So a couple of theme parks would fill a good three to four days if your looking to find something to do after that you've got Miami, Florida Keys, the Everglades and of course NASA to name a few things. You could do this as a two resort holiday or a fly drive with multiple destinations

Like other people have suggested, contact American Holidays who I've used in the past and found them very good, American Sky are another
Give them your wish list and they'll let you know what can and can't be achieved, they do sell packages but will also tailor build a holiday for you that will tick off many items on you wish list. We've done this a couple of times and found between us booking a trip ourselves and them to be similarly priced but with the added bonus that if something goes wrong on the trip you have a tour operator to fall back on

 

[IrishHusk]

The US has gone nuts cost-wise, be warned. As in $35 for two coffees and two croissants, $600 for a nice meal for two, $30 for a side of chips, that kind of thing. It’s eye-watering.

I would echo this. I was there recently on a work trip in South Bend Indiana and it was staggering how much prices had increased since 2019 when I was last there. The McDonalds was nearly 20$ and that was not in a big city. Subway sandwich is 17-18. I remember the 5$ sub not that many years ago. Chinese takeaway 50$. With near parity on the Euro there is no value for your money in the US at the moment so expect to spend a lot.

 

[Cervelo]

Got to agree with other posters here about cost, at the moment we're considering another road trip probably an extended route 66 type thing and reckon that we're going to have to budget somewhere between €400 to €500 per day when all is said and done and we're not talking luxury here
Compared to the 2018 trip where we were all in at around the €300 mark

Subway sandwich is 17-18. I remember the 5$ sub not that many years ago.

Disappointed to hear this as it's one of our regular ways to have lunch while on the road but we also found that going to a supermarket deli counter was just as cheap if not cheaper, wonder if it's still the same

 

[Steven Barrett]

The US has gone nuts cost-wise, be warned. As in $35 for two coffees and two croissants, $600 for a nice meal for two, $30 for a side of chips, that kind of thing. It’s eye-watering.

I haven't been in a good few years but everyone I know who has been there has said the same, "great trip but very expensive". And always said in a way that it seems to taken some of the enjoyment out of it.

Back to the OP, that's far too much for one 10 day trip. Do 2 days in NYC and then you can go somewhere like Wyoming or Oklahoma where you can go ranching and get the music. It will be slightly cheaper than NYC too.

If you try to pack it all in in one trip, your memories of the trip will be the amount of time you spent in airports and planes and how tiring the whole thing was. Pick one or two things and do them well.

 

[thedaddyman]

We're doing NY and DC this summer in June. We know NY is going to cost a fortune, 4 tickets for a Broadway show will set us back at least $300-$400 but some things are reasonable. We've 4 tickets for a concert in Carnegie hall for $100 for example but it is the trip of a lifetime and food especially will be the big cost. DC should be cheaper as a lot of the museums and sights there are free. It's less then a 3 hr train journey down from NY via Amtrak, probably 90 minutes from Philadelphia which would be the best main base for an Amish tour. All have direct flights from Dublin.

Also we got an Air BnB in DC so we can cater for ourselves, that was reasonable enough cost wise.

 

[fayf]

Going on a 3 week trip to U.S. in September, it is 2 years in planning, and we’ve been saving since then, 2 of us going, we’l have about 12k saved by September, which should cover almost everything for the trip. Almost everything is already pre paid, so its accumalating spending money since last February.

We fly into NYC, and home from Chicago, was quite reasonable €500 inc bags each on Aer Lingus.


Prices are definitely gone through the roof, however, by some careful and flexible planning, and you can make the best of it.
Arriving in NYC for 3 nights then getting a 9 hour train to Pittsburgh, a few days around there including some car hire, flying from there onto Chicago, another car hire, driving into Wisconsin for 2 days, then back to Chicago for 12 nights.

We are staying mainly in Air b and b’s, the 12 night stay in Chicago is reasonable, $100 a night, for a 2 bedroom,has a kitchen with a garden, so we’l be cooking in some nights. but its in the western suburbs, a good bit out, but very close to transport, which is quite cheap, once we get there, thats most of the big travel days finished and a more relaxing time, for the rest of the trip.

There are some nice discounts for longer air b and b stays. We are averaging about €125 per night overall on acomadation, so thats better than i originally thought, and thats because most of the stays, are outside city centres.

We fly back home from Chicago on Aer Lingus, it was originally a 10 day trip, but we wanted to do a good few things, so we gradually expanded it. There is a tricky trade off with doing too much, and the time it takes, spent on excessive travel.
NYC hotel prices are quite high, eventually got an ultra basic hotel for €200’ish per night, in mid town. Location is much more important to us than the hotel standard, and its walking distance to Penn- Moynihan Train Hall station, where we get the train after 3 nights, a very reasonable $50 each, for the 9 hour train trip.

I’d be picking a top 3 things to do, and work around that, do them well, with plenty of time, as has been said and build in some time where you're not doing anything specific, you can “over plan”.

 

[Purple]

I've been to the US maybe 20-25 times for work and holidays.
New York is great but very expensive.
Nashville and the South is "real America". Very culturally different from here and as long as you realise that then it's a great place to visit.
I'd pay good money not to have to visit Florida again. It is by a long way my least favourite place in America.
If you want New York, Amish region and Bluegrass music then spend a few days in New York (at least 3) then drive to Nashville via Pennsylvania. It's around 14-15 hours of driving so easily done over 3 days. That gives you an overnight in Pennsylvania, and a good few other stops. You could even get to Washington for a day. The Smithsonian is well worth a visit. Driving is, by far, the best way to see America (or anywhere really) and it's an easy country to dive in. The kids will remember it far more than a trip to a theme park.

 

[phoenix53]

Another money saving tip can be to buy 2 meals between 4. The amount of food served can be huge and more than enough to go around.

Whilst not frequenters of irish pubs abroad, we found these to be reasonably priced alcohol and food wise in the States.

Breakfast was croissants and a coffee from local supermarkets.

The Citizen M are a great group of hotels across the world. If you are staying with them, they allow you to bring in your own takeaway food and eat in your room or their lounge areas.

Always well located too.

 

[merid]

As others have said be prepared to spend big. Lots of hotels now charge $50 dollars for overnight parking and some even apply the charge if you don't have a car. I found the cost of nearly everything took from my last trip. One day we decided to home cook so went to supermarket and got a piece of bog standard beef roast. It was over almost $100 for 2kg.

 

[jasdpace@gmail.]

Looks like that meat was less than 1.5KG?!