Ignorant Aussie New To U.S. In Dec - Which NYC / LA zones?

[adamkath]

Greetings from Australia! (G'day)

Thanks for providing this very informative site. I've spent hours reading lots of usefully info, but lack so much general local knowledge that I'm still not sure quite where to start).

Our family (us in our early 40s and two boys aged 12 & 10) has never been to the U.S. before, nor ever heard Price.line or Hot.wire until now.

We are experienced travellers in Australia and to a few other overseas countries, but are sadly fairly ignorant of many things U.S. We hope to rectify that, and would love the advice of anyone willing to help us in that endeavour!

We have just booked the following flights:

30 Nov 2015 (1:55pm) - Arriving in LA (from Australia)
4 Dec 2015 - LA to NYC (arriving 5:05pm)
30 Dec 2015 (11:50pm) - Depart LA for Australia

The major reason of our trip is to visit some close Aussie friends who moved to Sarnia, Canada recently (and because we managed to get some cheap flights for the above specific dates & destinations and these fit in with our work and school schedules etc). Sarnia is very close to the U.S. Border I believe, and not too far from Detroit.

We plan to visit our friends in Sarnia around mid Dec, and maybe also travel with them (2 adults & 3 boys aged about 12, 10 & 6) at least part of the way back from Sarnia/Detroit/Chicago to LA (see below) for our return flight home. But first we'll have the opportunity to explore LA, NYC and perhaps a few other places.

I'm keen to line up some accomodation, and have read much here about how to do this on Price.line etc, but wasn't even sure of the best zones/areas etc to try, due to my lack of local knowledge of the areas there, including their affordability, family friendliness/safety, climate, accessibility to airports/facilities/public transport etc etc. Add to this the complexity of adding zones for extra/free bids etc and potential hidden taxes and resort fees and the like, and PL bed/room restrictions, and I found it all a tad too overwhelming! And that's before I even consider potential car hire or any possible discounts at say Disneyland or any NY passes etc. Hmmm ...

Anyway, the above flights are what we DO know are fixed, and also that we would like to possibly do as much as possible of the following IF we can somehow do so as a family on a tight budget at that time of year:

• While in LA, like to spend 1 full day in Disneyland. Maybe around 1-2 Dec?
• Also like to explore (& stay in) LA & NYC AFFORDABLY while in those cities
• After maybe 2-4 days in NYC (say 4-7 Dec or so), Like to visit Amish country while somehow (hire car? Train? Other?) travelling up to meet our friends who love in Sarnia. We are considering actual meeting them at Niagara Falls and spending the weekend there with them (about 11-13 Dec or so) before we head to their place for a week or so.
• hoping to find as cheap accomodation / travel / theme park etc prices as possible for a family for all of the above, while at the same time trying to remain practical in terms of travelling distances and and of course safety for the kids (although none of us are worried about a little adventure or variety, and we all know how to rough it and enjoy the "basics", just want something fairly hygienic & safe and not so incredibly freezing, noisy or ridiculously cramped that none of us would ever get any sleep etc.
• For some nights it would be nice to have one bedroom for us adults and one for the kids, but that would be considered a luxury, especially in the more expensive areas.
• in order to keep costs down, we would probably want to be able to eat on the cheap too (eg maybe cook a few meals, or at least have our own basic breakfast and make sandwiches etc for lunch and have some kind of simple / cheap family dinner somehow most nights)

Any thoughts about how to best achieve some of the above goals?

Eg Priceline's "name your price" method, or HW, Airbnb, or something else? (I've read on your forum that PL might be a problem in NYC for more than 2 people perhaps)? Also, which zones and star ratings would you suggest for hotels in (or maybe a bit out of) LA and/or NYC? What about for Amish country and maybe another night or two somewhere between there and Niagara Falls? Feel free to specify any considerations of public transport and/or local attractions etc too when suggesting these.

Any passes for transport or Disneyland or something you recommend? What about reasonably priced accomodation that works in well with Disneyland and the airport and LA in general?

I've used Airbnb in Australia before and had it recommended by others for U.S. I was just going to try that, but a friend recommended PL so I checked it out and found some good reviews online, but also some very bad reviews. (Many recommended this site to help avoid the bad experiences, and I can see why)!

Also, any thoughts about car hire or train (or route/things to see/do) from NYC (via Amish country?) to Niagara Falls?

I would also value any thoughts regarding the final part of our trip. We'll probably leave Sarnia WITH our friends (so 4 adults & 5 boys aged 6-12) about 22 Dec and maybe travel to the Grand Canyon together via Chicago. So we'd quite likely all spend Christmas together (expensive?) somewhere along that trip (maybe at the Grand Canyon)? Then our friends would go back to Sarnia and we would continue to LA for our return flight home on 31 Dec.

Our friends own 2 cars including a 7 seater, but I think they are a bit concerned about travelling too much with potenti heavy snow issues etc. Plus we wouldn't all fit together. So we were considering going by train (eg Southwest Chief). Either way, there are travel costs and also various accommodation costs & options to consider.

There may also be Priceline flight options for all or part of the Chicago -> Grand Canyon -> LA leg of our holiday? I haven't even looked to see if we should consider that.

While investigating the various train options o read that the Rocky Mountains between Denver & Salt Lake City are lovely too, and would have also enjoyed the opportunity to see them at some point in our trip. However I don't really see any overly practical or affordable way to fit that in with any of the above, so I've basically written off that idea. However if anybody thinks otherwise, feel free to speak up about that too!

Just wondering if anyone out there would like to suggest what THEY might do in my circumstances around those places at that time of year?

Any specific PL zones or star ratings or likely start/finish bid prices etc would be great as a guide too (or alternatives if PL is not recommended).

Looking forward to hearing from anyone!

Thanks,
Adam The Aussie
:-)

[AaronJB]

Welcome to Betterbidding. :)

Lets use this thread for your NYC stay - please start new threads in the appropriate state forums for additional areas and we will go through the whole trip piece-by-piece in different threads.

 

Are your date/s confirmed as 12/4-7 in NYC? What would be your desired budget per night for this stay? Unfortunately, the last half of November and first half of December is one of the most expensive periods of the year, with the first week of December often being one of the most expensive due to people coming in for holiday shopping. Chicago in December is generally much more reasonable. Having a room with bedroom is going to be extremely expensive in NYC and is not often an option on the discount services in Chicago.

 

HOTWIRE allows users to search for 2 adults and 2 children, which should result in some form of bedding for the entire party. PRICELINE EXPRESS listings also occasionally offer bed choice.

 

If you take Amtrak to Niagara, the scenery from NYC to Albany is gorgeous - the trains go along the Hudson River from NYC to Albany. Upstate NY is quite pretty, as well. 

 

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases... or thru our sister site MAPS and HOTELS.com for your regular rate purchases.