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Drive-through liquor stores are pretty common in the US, but I'd advise you to not bother with drinking unless you're crashing with an Alleg-ite or renting a hotel room or something. Just because you're in the backseat and your keys aren't in the ignition doesn't mean you can't be charged with DUI if you've got an open container in your car; IIRC there were a couple of cases like that where the person was ruled to be "in control" of the vehicle even though it wasn't even on. That probably doesn't apply everywhere, but the details of traffic laws vary by state and sometimes even by municipality and who the hell wants to read through that much legalese to figure out where it is and isn't a danger?

just like the bad guys from lethal weapon 2
hes got diplomatic immunity, so hammer you cant sue

The only reason I was detained between the US and Canada was because for some reason the Canadian authorities require an I-20 for whatever reason. Apparently a $#@!ing passport won't do.

If you travel on the Visa Waiver Program, I do believe you'll be fine, as I was travelling between the US and Canada back in 2003/2004. But you should check and find out for sure, being detained for four hours in a room full of smelly illegals and Russian mobsters is not fun.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/without/without_1990.html

Renting a car in certain places is a good idea, because the US does have the world's best road system and a fairly lenient speed limit (generally speaking, you shouldn't get busted below 80 if there are good conditions and the road is clear). Even if you do get a ticket, they won't be able to collect anyway, but if you visit the US again, try not to get pulled over in the same state. As long as you're not black or Hispanic, things should be pretty swell. My dad got pulled over for doing 90 on a a deserted highway in Arizona and got a ticket, but he refused to pay so he's banned from driving there. Not like there's anything to do in AZ anyway, racist scum!

Generally speaking, for the East Coast just train it everywhere. Flights are also decently cheap over here flying with Southwest or Delta, probably even cheaper than a car and it wastes less time too if you want to travel long distances and don't feel like seeing the sights in-between. You can fly between major hubs and branch out from there via car, like Boston (New England area), NYC (Five boroughs, CT, NJ, the rest of the state), DC (Baltimore, Pitt, VA), Chicago (some of the midwest), LA (OC, SD, Santa Barbara, Bay Area), etc.

Vanaka wrote:QUOTE (Vanaka @ Apr 14 2011, 11:13 AM) Recommended visits on the West Cost:

San Francisco
San Diego


Avoid LA at all costs.

Don't avoid LA. LA is a great city, provided you're not driving around during peak hour traffic. The car trip between Orange County and LA is awful too, not as bad as the East Coast but in terms of volume of traffic, it is a nightmare. If you're good at weaving in and out of cars, don't mind doing some illegal things like hopping through solid lines to get into the carpool lane, driving 80+, etc. then it will be fine. They say traffic in other countries is even worse than it is in LA, but that's probably only because everywhere else drives REALLY slowly.

If you're planning on renting a car (which is vital if you're going to California), please take the needs of others into consideration and either stay out of the passing lanes or drive a sensible speed (80+).

Aside from that, the nightlife in LA is pretty decent, especially if you like clubbing. The bar scene in both LA and Orange County isn't bad either, and if you just wanna get drunk, liquor is really, really cheap in the US compared to other countries so you can always grab yourself a $16 bottle of Jack Daniel's and drink yourself silly if that's your thing. Orange County also has some nice beaches and nature related things to do, and there's always Disneyland.

If you enjoy smoking, medicinals are also easy to obtain if you know someone with a card.

I turn 21 on May 6th, so if you're in SoCal on or after that date, we should grab a drink and reminisce about the days where the US was a mere lapdog to the insidious British. If you arrive before then, we can always grab a bowl of authentic pho/tacos/etc.

Vegas is cool, I'll be going there for my 21st so if you're there during that time we can meet up and have some fun. Ridin' solo in Vegas is no fun anyway, but liquor is free there (provided you're gambling and tipping the server) and you can burn as much money as you want. SoCal has gorgeous weather, SD has even better weather and some fun things to do, Bay Area has @#(! weather but a lot of history and good seafood and Santa Barbara and the other cities on the way from LA and SF have fantastic beaches.

I hope you have fun the US, it's a great place if you give it a chance. Hit me up if you need any tips from a foreigner living here or if you want to meet up in Orange County/LA area.

CronoDroid wrote:QUOTE (CronoDroid @ Apr 15 2011, 02:33 AM) Aside from that, the nightlife in LA is pretty decent, especially if you like clubbing. The bar scene in both LA and Orange County isn't bad either, and if you just wanna get drunk, liquor is really, really cheap in the US compared to other countries so you can always grab yourself a $16 bottle of Jack Daniel's and drink yourself silly if that's your thing. Orange County also has some nice beaches and nature related things to do, and there's always Disneyland.

If you enjoy smoking, medicinals are also easy to obtain if you know someone with a card.

I turn 21 on May 6th, so if you're in SoCal on or after that date, we should grab a drink and reminisce about the days where the US was a mere lapdog to the insidious British. If you arrive before then, we can always grab a bowl of authentic pho/tacos/etc.

Vegas is cool, I'll be going there for my 21st so if you're there during that time we can meet up and have some fun. Ridin' solo in Vegas is no fun anyway, but liquor is free there (provided you're gambling and tipping the server) and you can burn as much money as you want. SoCal has gorgeous weather, SD has even better weather and some fun things to do, Bay Area has @#(! weather but a lot of history and good seafood and Santa Barbara and the other cities on the way from LA and SF have fantastic beaches.

I hope you have fun the US, it's a great place if you give it a chance. Hit me up if you need any tips from a foreigner living here or if you want to meet up in Orange County/LA area.

whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa where are you finding $16 Jack Daniels? I'm pretty sure I would have noticed by now if there was any available for less than $25 here!

Lots of good advice so far, not sure what else to add!

As for cali:
LA is a very nice place to visit for sightseeing, although traffic is fairly nightmarish so seeing a lot of different things will be very time consuming. But the city does have pretty much ANYTHING you could want, from beaches (they're fairly dirty/polluted tho..), to outdoorsy parks/mtns, museums, amusement parks, nightlife, theatres, etc. You just wouldn't want to live there and have to deal with it all the time

SF is similar, lots of everything but it has a bit of a different cultural feel to the city. I'm a Socal person myself but I liked visiting SF/Napa Valley a lot. Has okay public trans with the BART (bay area regional transit).

SD: Torrey Pines, possibly the greatest weather location in all of California. San diego's kinda like LA cause we have Sea World, LegoLand, lots of museums, lakes where you can fish/wildlife preserves, nice downtown scene, and of course the gorgeous san diego bays and beaches. Also a fairly world famous zoo and an additional wildlife "safari" park up north a bit.

Added bonus that I live in La Jolla (northern San Diego) in a college district, so we would have no problems putting you up in a spare bed (we have lots of mattresses to spare) for however long you wanted to sight see. Maybe I can practice some of my recipes mwahaha!


I'd say that SD is also probably the cheapest of the 3 major regions, although of course it would depend on what you wanted to do, since LA/SF tend to get fairly pricey (already major touristy cities). However, LA makes a great jumping point for heading out to Vegas. Good luck on your trip and holler if you need a place to stay!

When near the Grand Canyon, you should hit the petrified forest, painted desert and Carlsbad Caverns. Hit the caverns when you can stop an hour or two before nightfall and watch the bats come out (several hundred thousand, seriously impressive). The trip into the caverns is truly awe inspiring as well.

If you head through Colorado, try to hit Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited. Likely only second to the Grand Teton National Park, just a little bit north of Colorado in Wyoming. Oh . .and since you're already in WY, may as well hit the supervolcano, Yellowstone National Park as well for some of the weirdest most interesting natural beauty in the world.

My wife and I did the Denver (Estes Park, CO to be exact)->Yellowstone->Utah (just a stop over)->Las Vegas->Grand Canyon->Mese Verde-> Denver loop back in 2001. Truly one of the best vacations of my entire life, but then I'm a nature nut and prefer raw nature to cities any day of the week.

Oh . .for the Grand Canyon, there are two sides, the Northern Rim and the Southern Rim. If you only want to look at the canyon and not ride down in (depends on your time), the Northern Rim has more beauty, but accommodations aren't on par with those at the Southern Rim (more touristy). In other words, you stay basically on the rim for either side, but on the northern rim it's the national (or state?) park and cheap, but there is no TV or AC. I honestly prefer the Northern Rim. The greenery there in contrast to the starkness of the canyon is just breathtaking.

One final note . . .when you are in the south west going between cities, make sure you fill up with gas when you are close to half tank and see a gas station. Stations can be 200 miles apart (and I'm NOT joking).

HSharp wrote:QUOTE (HSharp @ Apr 14 2011, 06:27 PM) You're more then welcome to come along (or any other non-sociopathic Allegite) might be good to have an interpretor. And will be landing at Boston so I may indeed meet you for a tipple.

I would do it in a heartbeat but there's no way I can take that much time off. Depending on when you arrive and where you are maybe I can do a weekend somewhere though. Definitely hit me up when you're in boston.

HSharp wrote:QUOTE (HSharp @ Apr 14 2011, 06:27 PM) Was thinking about going via Colorado so might just do that but I thought the Rockies go up from Colorado to Canada or is it especially good from the Colorado tropic?

The colorado part is the only part i've been to

Jimen wrote:QUOTE (Jimen @ Apr 15 2011, 12:43 AM) whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa where are you finding $16 Jack Daniels? I'm pretty sure I would have noticed by now if there was any available for less than $25 here!

Well you're in Florida, I guess that's what you get for paying no income tax! You can get Jack from about $16-20 (usually around $18 though) here from any major supermarket (Ralph's, Albertson's, Vons, etc) and it's usually on sale/special if you have a card (which are free). Liquor is hella cheap over here, I was getting Grey Gooses for like $25 on sale, Crown Royal Blacks for $20, Jameson for $18, Sailor Jerry's for $11, etc. And liquor is ALWAYS on sale in Orange County apparently.

And you're paying 200-400 dollars for bottle service in most clubs. That's some serious profit margin on them drinks!

Hey Hsharp - I actually recommend doing a combo of flying/car rentals to avoid dropping too much cash and wasting too much time. Stay away from rail at all cost imo. A one way bus from NYC to Boston could run you 15 bucks, the same train could run you 60 or 80 and take the same amount of time!

Use a low cost air carrier like Southwest or Jet Blue to fly into non hub airports, fly into Burbank instead of LAX etc (you can cross the country by plane for like 115 bucks these days) then rent a car one way and drive it on in. Good way to see a bit of things you normally wouldn't and travel around cheaply and effectively.

Once you get your mumble setup drop me a line and I'm happy to help you plan your travel itinerary and gives you some tips and tricks since I travel a god awful amount (if you rent a car never get the insurance for example as generally your auto policy or credit cards provide coverage. Not sure how it works if you are british but look into it)

HSharp wrote:QUOTE (HSharp @ Apr 14 2011, 05:16 PM) I was thinking of heading to Pittsburgh from Boston so might be going directly through Danbury so I might indeed pop in.

Prolly makes more sense to go from Boston -> NYC -> Pitt imo (what's in pitt??)

Also I find LA to Vegas a very nice drive. About 3 hours and you roll through windmill farms, Death Valley (la is actually build in a desert) and I'm there are some other local routes in parts of the country between two cities people could chime in on (don't drive from Boston to NYC for example as there is nothing to see!)