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Road-trippin' - Across the USA


kyteler

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Yeah I've been to the States a couple times and have been blown away by the friendliness, even in Noo York where they're s'posed to be assholes.

Going again next yr but sadly taking wife/kids so will be severely hamstrung regards looking at cars/bikes/strippers/sports/cool stuff. Will be tourist spec Disney trip.

Don't know why I'm bothering really... :)

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Was planning on flying in and out of LA and just checking the area out, without spending half my time driving. Looks like there is a shitload to do in LA, but thought a couple of days in Vegas could be worth the drive? Not into gambling, but just to see it IRL. Bonus points for a Rogan show, UFC (obviously long shot given limited timeframe) and some chews. The rest I haven't even looked at yet. Will book flights and worry about the rest later. Canyon would be sweet to check out too. I'm just going to need to be creative with places I visit as to not have it cost a bomb. Can't afford to do all of the touristy stuff, but I imagine much like here you can see all the stuff for less if you avoid the most popular spots. I'm all ears for advice in that regard, ok to clog up this thread or make new one? Looking at late July, couple of weeks will be my limit due to $$$ and time off work for both of us.

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Vegas is cool. Check out regular Vegas and Old Vegas. Throw some coins in the slots just to say you have. Sit back enjoy the free booze while you gamble.  Desert around everywhere.  It's cool man. No doubt.

We went to horseshoe bend instead of the primary canyon point. Less people about. Canyon is a big old ditch.  Hoover dam.  Also badass.

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Will copy pasta this to print out later. Less people is better @ Canyon, will check where Hoover is. Might need a bit more time out Vegas way given all the shit to see nearby. Comedy store is penciled in, hear about it a bit on the podcasts.

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Oh man FUCK southern cross NEVER AGAIN!

they didn't talk to the hopsital, took 2 weeks to approve a surgery I needed. (specialist said he could do it the day after consultation) and after all of that they send the debt collector my details..

 

Ness used westpac travel insurance and they ended up paying for ME to stay in a apartment over there so I highly recommend westpac

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Sweet thanks for the info. Good to know about Southern Cross too!!! Might hit up Westpac for a price then and see how it fairs. AA cheaper because member? US is unsurprisingly spendy for insurance from the brief look I did. 

Booked tickets tonight, so that is one thing sorted. Then I found out about the VISA waiver thing, so starting stressing, as it would make sense to do that first... Then I had to find out if I NEEDED 6 months on my passport which is what it implied, i'm about a week short typically. Found a list of countries that don't need it, phew. Filled in the forms and had it approved shortly after. Should have done a bit more homework lul.

Anyway thanks for the heads up, will get insurance sorted, then worry about the rest way down the track.

 

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If you're not anti-credit cards, some of the more expensive ones give travel insurance. E.g. Westpac Black Mastercard gives 120 days travel insurance and the annual fee is $350 or something so probably cheaper than getting insurance. You just have to use it to pay for the plane ticket. There are cheaper ones - maybe $75-100 that give ~60-90 days of insurance too.

Edit: https://www.westpac.co.nz/credit-cards/compare/?product1=airpoints-world-mastercard&product2=airpoints-platinum-mastercard $145 for 35 days/$390 for 120 days

https://www.kiwibank.co.nz/personal-banking/credit-cards/airpoints-credit-cards/platinum-mastercard/ $150 for 40 days etc

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Yeah that's a good point. I'm probably just a bit paranoid with American travel and wanted to be 10000% sure I have a good policy. I did briefly consider putting it on a card to do that (not mine), but didn't really have time to do my homework before the prices for my flights expired. Can put also use car rental / accommodation to trigger the policy which is good. Not a bad travel hack right there though, didn't think about upgrading CC to get those benefits myself, doh.

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I have 1cover insurance at the moment, they seem pretty good and answer questions pretty quick. I have a claim with them at the moment and doesnt seem to be too hard

 

Don't forget to go to a gun shop too in vegas, we saw people walking out with machine guns for rent. Free, but amazing

 

Also, if you can find one, try to check out an old car wrecker, we saw a couple in the desert's, so much sweet old stuff to look at, and more or less free

 

And if you are going to drive, try not to spend all the time on the interstate, if you have time, try drive on some more local roads, lower speed limit so you go slower, but gives you an opportunity to see way better stuff/'real america'

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In clarification Ness insurance was on her westpac credit card. We chucked some flights and accommodation in to qualify. The only reason I was not covered was we had one day different in our itinerary. 

X2 on avoiding the interstate tbh. There is so much random cool stuff to be seen by not going on them

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My favourite bit of our trip was the drive from Vegas, through Death Valley, up the eastern side of the seirra-nevada mountains, stayed the night in Bishop, then through into Yosemite, 2 days in there then onwards to San Fran.

Also did Pacific Coast Hiway from San Fran to L.A., first bit was sweet, Santa Cruz is a awesome spot and all the agriculture around that part was cool to see. The actual coast bit was fairly underwhelming. I guess because we have such awesome coastline in NZ

 

/probably already said this, cbf going back and checking

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