Hi I'm from Germany and I'll be travelling through the west of North America from the 27th of July until the 18th of August. The destinations are Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, LA, Santa Monica,Yosemite National Park, San Diego,Tijuana, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. If you are from around those places or have visited them: Please tell me if it is worth a visit, other destinations near them which need to be visited, sights in the cities that are a must-see, cheap accomodations, cheap transportation methods or whatever advice, comments or experiences you'd like to share c:

Facts, which might give you an idea of what kind of person I am and what I am interested in:

-under 21 -female -Vancouver and Seattle will be visited alone, the rest is travelled to with one up to 4 friends of mine, all female, under 21 -fit -natur/wildlife lover (daughter of two biologists) -museum lover -foodie -backpacker -student, therefore the lowest of budgets xD -no problems with the English language (studying in English, one of my best friends is British) -extrovert

• Dora, the Explorer is my spirit animal

Thank you in advance <3

The Grand Canyon is absolutely beautiful and I think you'll enjoy the sights there! If you and your companions happen to have time and it's not too far out of the way, I would recommend visiting the Four Corners Monument (it's $3 for admission), which is relatively nearby. It's kind of fun to be able to say, "Wee, I stood in four states all at once!" Also, there's a bunch of Native American artisans that set up shop there, and they make some really lovely things. Even if you have no intention of buying, it's fun to look.

Mostly, I recommend it because as a fellow food-lover, the artisans also had food stands and I remember their Navajo fry bread being to-die-for good.

I wish I had some advice on where to stay, but we had friends there when I visited. Sorry I'm not more help! That being said, that sounds like a really exciting trip and I hope you and your friends have an excellent time traveling!

Thank you for the recommendation! c: 'll pass it on to my friends! And thank you for your kind words, I am already super excited -

No problem!

Oh-- and I lied, I did have one last bit of advice, though! For Las Vegas, if you're looking for places to stay or eat, stay off the main strip. That's where it starts getting really expensive. Circus Circus is one of the cheapest hotels to stay at, and it's even better if you book a room there early. There's a good chance you'll get a good deal and be able to get a discount. It also has plenty of stuff to enjoy that doesn't involve bars or casinos, since y'all are under 21.

The best part is, they have free circus acts to watch; you don't have to make reservations to watch or anything. :)

Circus Circus, noted (; The free circus acts sound awesome, but for accomodation we will probablyy stay in hostels due to budget reasons but if we get a good discount I will definitely look into it, thanks (: This age thing is really strange considering that you are allowed to drink beer, champagne and wine at age 16 in Germany xD I have stopped drinking alcohol over two years ago and in countries like the US I haven't even reached legal drinking age xD

I'm from California so I remember quite a few trips to family trips to Vegas as a kid. There was a point when I was 11-13 that we were going every year during the summer.

My parents mostly stayed at Circus Circus whenever we went on family trips to Vegas as a kid so I'd recommend Circus, Circus as well. The Mirage has a volcano show on the strip( street side) that they show at certain times of the day pretty much every day. Several of the other hotels along the strip have their own attractions as well. Treasure Island used to have a full street-side pirate show but it's since been taken down though, but I remember being entertained by that as a kid. The Venetian is beautiful and it has a food court in its mall so if you're looking for food their food court is worth a shot. It's one of the cheaper options along the strip, but it's true that food on the strip in general is going to be pretty expensive. The Venetian food court is a standard mall food court though.

Some of the hotels are pretty to just look and ogle at. The Venetian is styled to look after major Venetian landmarks and has a mall inside if you want to window shop. I say window shop because the brands inside are mostly expensive European luxury brands and they're not going to be buyable for most people to buy in the first place.

The Bellagio has an aquarium though with the exception of browsing the mall in the Venetian you will have to pay for entry. I haven't personally been in it before so I can't comment on how much it will cost.

Also, I'm not sure it's still up, but when I was a kid one of the places we went outside of the strip had a full buffet for about 10-12$ and I remember it being pretty cheap. I was 13 then, but i remember the hotel being styled after New Orleans and it was at the very end of the strip. The strip has since expanded greatly since then since this was mid-90s, but from the looks of it might have been this hotel Orleans Hotel

Also, if you're willing to go outside of Vegas there's tours to the Hoover Dam. I also remember there being a Wet n'Wild water park in Las Vegas as well.

As for stuff about San Diego. I'm from San Diego so, uh..

The zoo and wild animal safari park are both really cool zoos and worth a visit. Plus, they have pandas. Balboa Park is a large botanical park, garden and it's really pretty there. I'd also recommend going down to Coronado and downtown San Diego and visiting the harbor as well. Most of the major museums that San Diego has are also in Balboa Park, but ones that are worth a visit, the San Diego Museum of Man, San Diego Natural History Museum and the Museum of Modern Art which I'm plugging because I did a summer internship there once years back. XD. There's a bunch of other smaller museums in Balboa park too but I remember liking the Aerospace museum in Balboa Park as a kid.

Also, don't eat at the Gaslamp Quarter. There's some places that are cheap in the Gaslamp, but most of it is catered to tourists so the food will be expensive. Get an In N'Out Burger because dude, it's California and In N'Out is amazing.

LA Disneyland Universal Studios all the general attractions though Disneyland will be expensive. I think admission is around 90-95$ American right now. I'm not sure about how much admission to the other amusement parks like Universal Studios is but they'll probably be cheaper.

There's places in LA in the Asian areas that have pretty cheap Asian food. I'm thinking San Gabriel, K-Town, Azusa, places like that since that's where my parents tend to visit whenever we go to LA to visit my brother since he lives in LA. Both Irvine and San Gabriel have restaurants outside their 99 ranch market grocery store( Asian grocery store chain) and my family, being Asian tends to eat the restaurants there frequently. The 99 ranch market is also just a good place to get general groceries. I'd say other places, but yeah, I only know Asian places. XD

Thank you for the kind advice (: Right! The Hoover Dam! I totally forgot about that O: Judging from your user name I would have expected to get more travel advise on France, so thank you for telling me so much about Vegas ;'D <3

Hey ! I'm from the Chicago in the Midwest in US. I've done quite a bit of roadtripping across the US, so let me know if you have any specific questions.

How are you planning on getting around?

It is difficult/costly for people under 25 years to rent a car in most rental companies in the US. I've actually been planning a trip to Europe in a month and I've been reading up on the train systems there. One thing to note (if you're not already aware) is that the US is huge!! We don't have train/transportation systems like I'm seeing in Europe. If you are traveling across the US, you may find the best way to do so is by driving a car. There are cheap ways to travel within cities, but this is not the case everywhere.

I've visited a few of the National Parks, though I haven't been to all the places you've mentioned yet. Last year, I traveled a good chunk of the Pacific Coast in California (drove LA to San Francisco) and visited Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. If you have any questions on those parts, I can try and answer them.

If you are outdoorsy, I would definitely recommend camping. It is going to be the cheapest way to stay by far. However, it might be difficult in certain parts due to weather. We were in California in August/September and had to nix camping a few nights because there was a major heat wave. I'm talking days of over 100F weather. So be mindful that camping might not always be a choice.

I would advise you to check out the website Roadtrippers! I've used it for planning all my trips in the US. It really helps you see how far each of these places is and if there are any other neat stops to check out along the way.

you’re welcome. Have fun in the states and Happy birthday! ;)

Just a note on public transportation. How good the public transportation is will really depend on where you are. LA has a subway system that runs through parts of LA, and Disneyland can be connected through bus plus train. It is, however much more convenient with car though. I also can’t comment on how much longer that’ll take since I’ve always driven there. If I remember correctly, LA’s subway system ends around Santa Monica area. You can take the train from San Diego to LA and it runs every hour during the weekdays.

San Francisco has a pretty connected public transportation system so you should be fine just using public transit to get around. It’s what I’ve used everytime I’ve been to San Francisco to visit friends. There’s also, of course, ride share services like Uber and lyft too that’ll be cheaper than taxis and those are everywhere.

San Diego has a light rail that runs through its downtown but if you’re going anywhere outside of downtown you’ll probably need a car. The Wild Animal Safari Park is at least a 30 minute drive outside of the downtown so you will need a car to get there.

The San Diego zoo is in downtown San Diego though. There’s a part of Balboa park adjacent to it and the public bus that goes to Balboa Park also stops at the zoo entrance since they’re within walking distance of each other. Also, a given but San Diego is a coastal city so there’s pretty ocean views. There’s a lot of beaches in San Diego so it’s not hard to find one. LA has less beaches since it’s more in-land. But there’s some in LA too.

Sorry for the late reply you two! Life got me busy!

I will fly from the UK to Vancouver, from there I will probably take a bus to Seattle, from Seattle I will fly to San Francisco and from San Francisco I wll take a Grey Hound to LA. From there we will probably take busses as well to Las Vegas, San Diego and the other destinations (: Do you think this will work or are there better options? The thing with camping is that it requires a sleeping bag, a tent, a blow up mattress and so on. This will be very hard to bring into the US and carry around if I need it only for one or two nights, I guess. I will certainly check out Roadtrippers, thank you! c:

Thank you for the kind birthday wishes <3 My sister actually bought me a lonely planet travel guide for the american west - I've heard of Uber, but what exactly is it? Is it carpooling or a private taxi service?

Oh dang, none of us is allowed to rent a car... How is tramping in the US? Is it a big no-go or can a few girls do that?

When it comes to beaches I guess I would want to go there since the weather will also be super hot but are there special ones, maybe less crowded or with a beatiful sunset? (:

Honestly, you will miss a lot by taking buses from city to city. I do not recommend that as a way to get around for your entire trip.

Greyhound buses are a cheaper way to travel from city to city largely because they are nonstop. They have stops along the way, but it is only for passengers to get on/off.

From SFO to LA this means you will be on a bus for 8+ hours and, if you take a look at the route, you will not be by the coast as that is not the fastest way to LA. You will be stuck on the bus for the ride and miss what might be the whole point in going from SFO to LA.

I'm not sure which bus you were looking at for Seattle to SFO, but on Greyhound the trips I found were around 23 hours+

You might be better off flying in to the different cities you want to visit and using public transportation to get around. Really the best way to get around outside of the major cities is to drive, which you've said might not be possible for your group.

Uber/Lyft are a bit of both (taxi/carpool). You can carpool for it to be cheaper, or pay a bit more for a private ride. However, just like any taxi service it can be pretty expensive. I wouldn't recommend it as service outside of major cities as there is no guarantee there will be drivers available in those areas. In the cities, there is plenty of transportation and especially Uber/Lyft. Outside, not so much aside from driving.

If you compare costs between hotels/motels/airbnb/hostels etc to camping, you might find that the cost of camping equipment is cheaper. You can always bring basic equipment and stock up at Walmart on what you need for the rest of your trip, then leave it behind or ship it back home.

Is tramping another way of saying hitchhiking? If so, I've never tried it so can't give advice there. I would definitely not do it unless I were with a group of people. You might find people who have on Reddit. That's a great resource for information on roadtripping, too!

I actually looked up tramping because I’d never heard of the term but I’ve never hitchhiked so I can’t really give advice there either.

As for beaches, the well known ones in LA are, of course,

Malibu where all the rich celebrities live There’s also Manhattan and Santa Monica actually runs along a beach since it’s mostly known for its boardwalk.

San Francisco has a beach as well. As for San Diego that links all of thrm Mission Bay is actually San Diego’s harbor but Sea World overlooks it since every summer they set fireworks at night off the Bay.

La Jolla’s has an undersea cove and you can actually go snorkeling or pay to dive there if you’re into that type of thing. I’ve never actually done it since I’m afraid of swimming in open water but I’ve heard it’s beautiful there though.

The Birch aquarium is in La Jolla as well and I believe it’s accesible by light rail/ bus from old town.

La Jolla Cove

Have you considered training it from San Francisco to LA? I know Amtrack has a line that runs up the CA coast. I get car sickness so 8+ hours of being a passenger is generally a no-go for me. There are trains from San Francisco that run up to LA though it’ll be an 11 hour ride which isn’t that different than if you drove anyway since LA to San Francisco is 8 hours driving.

That said, plane tickets will always be quicker so if that’s an option take that instead.

how many days are you in Vancouver for?

Restaurants located in Geeater Vancouver area

Antons - Burnaby - Hastings and madison avenue - Italian food Sun Sui Wah - Richmond - Chinese food Cosmos - White Rock - Greek food

Museums Museum of Anthropology at UBC

Hikes Grouse Grind -North Vancouver The chief - Squamish

other Seawall Stanley Park - Vancouver Aquarium is also located here.

Public transit if you are travelling a lot during the day buy a daypass at the airport skytrain. Also buy a compass card that you can reload if needed to.

Legal drinking age in Canada is 19

Thank you so much for the input! c: Especially museum and public transportation-wise c: Is there another place where I can buy that day pass? I'll be arriving via Greyhound from Seattle and probably won't get to the airport. I'll be there for 5 days.

yes there is. Many of the skytrain stations have the machines for purchasing them as if you go by bus only its a 1 zone fare everywhere now but if you use the skytrain you need a compass ticket or card. The compass cards never expire so you can reuse them whenever you come back and just fill up the amount you need. Since I know you are here for 5 days I also recommend visiting the conservatory which is a bird sanctuary in Queen Elizabeth park.

Do you know how far I can get with the skytrain? Or which are the furthest destinations it will stop at? And the bird sactuary sounds amazing! - Thank you for the tip!

the skytrain depending on the line as we have 3. Expo line which starts at Waterfront in Vancouver and ends at King George in Surrey, Millenium line which covers Burnaby and New Westminster, and the Canada line which is Vancouver to Richmond. So the skytrains cover quite a bit.

Thank you very much! c:

where is your Greyhound's arrival destination for arrival as I could probably tell you the nearest skytrain station from there.

It is called Pacific Central Station c: