I have recently returned from my holiday across the West coast of USA, covering four states, countless cities, and 3500 miles. I can confidently say that this was a trip of a lifetime for me, the best one I had yet. I have been wanting to do it for ages now, but always had doubts that it would be too complex or too expensive. I have finally convinced myself to just pull the trigger and do it. Let me share this journey with you and I will start by sharing the prep.
I have a list and I am not afraid to use it.
All my trips that last longer than a week begin with a plan. I consider what are my must visit places and go from there. I started the prep about 3 months in advance. I knew that I wanted a car, since visiting several national parks was a must. I also knew that I would be jet lagged after an 11 hour flight, so needed a city that is easy to navigate without a car for a couple of days. This is how I ended up choosing San Francisco as my starter destination.
With that in mind I searched for a round trip ticket (I usually just check skyscanner.net) and found the cheapest one on Virgin Atlantic. Round trip Economy flight was about £730, since they made me pay for the seats and as far as I could tell, you can’t go around that – you have to choose them and pay extra.
Next on my list was a car. Booking.com is my preferred platform for Hotels and Cars, so I did not overcomplicate things and searched for a vehicle there. Again, went with the cheapest option and booked a car for 3 weeks, for £405. I did buy full coverage insurance at first, but then changed it, since I wanted more coverage (that includes SLI, supplemental Liability Insurance) and chose one through carhireexcess.com.
Accommodation
When planning a route, I try to think of big cities that I am planning to visit and try to book accommodation as quickly as possible, as prices tend to go up. On my list I had three cities that were my “must”. First one – San Francisco, which makes sense, it would have been my point of entry and point of exit. So I have searched for something central-ish, with easy access to and from the airport. Next one was Los Angeles, as I had plans to visit my cousins, as well as exploring the famous west coast giant. Last but not least was Las Vegas – I had specific plans for Vegas, as I was planning to spend my 40th birthday there. Anything else – I planned to book on the day, as and when I needed it. With all that in mind – I started planning the route.
The Route
Knowing that I will be flying into San Francisco (stayed in Marines’ Memorial Club & Hotel Union Square) I started thinking on what I want to see and where I want to go. In my mind I wanted to drive around the west coast and make some sort of a circle. So I opened Google maps and started looking at driving times. In my first days I wanted to make sure I don’t drive too long, as I would need some time to adjust, as I normally don’t drive in UK, it is very easy to get to places by using public transportation. Looking at the road north from San Francisco, I knew that driving along the coast is the way, so I decided to go to Monterey on day one of driving. Monterey is also famous for picturesque 17 mile drive:
After Monterey I wanted to continue along the coast via Big Sur, but as it turns out – the road was closed, so you had to go around, instead of going along the coast. Later on this did not stop me, I drove up to where the road is closed, turned around, went around it, and then went to where the road is closed from the other side, turned around again and continued along the coast. Where there is a will, there is a way. And since I was by myself, I did not have to answer to anyone and could do as I please. After Monterey my next destination was Pismo Beach and I ended up staying in Oceano, CA at a Dune Surfer Inn, my first ever motel, just like in the movies. After that stop I headed to Los Angeles, again along the coast. I made sure to stick to driving along the coast and stopped in Santa Barbara for a few hours, then via Malibu I have entered Los Angeles. My hotel was in Westwood, which ended up being quite a nice area. My Tip would be to check booking.com and google comments for the accommodation, as some of the reviews have horror stories of hotel reception being behind a bullet proof glass, etc., so yeah, please do your research.
After Los Angeles I wanted to squeeze in a day in San Diego, as I always wanted to see an aircraft carrier, so I made sure to account for that. Next would be National Park and the plan was to make Joshua Tree national park my first. (It ended up being my second, but more on that in later posts). I also planned to get an annual National Park pass, as it ends up much cheaper if you are planning to visit a few of them in one year (as a reminder I have visited 6 of them in 3 weeks). City that is very close to Joshua tree park was Palm Springs, so I booked an accommodation (The Dunes Hotel (Palm Springs)) there. I actually ended up arriving there too early for check in, so I visited the park first, then came back to the hotel in the evening, which worked out great.
Next I wanted to see route 66 and see what was the fuss about, so the plan was to avoid big highways and try to stick to route 66, by playing around with routes I have decided that my next stop would be Williams, AZ via Lake Havasu City (which has its own London Bridge, which I just had to see) and via Kingman. It was a day with a lot of driving, but by choosing less popular picturesque roads it felt amazing. My route looked something like this:
Now that Route 66 was done I was about to start hitting the grand parks, beginning with Grand Canyon. I was waking up nice and early, so next day I drove to Grand Canyon Village and spent a few hours there, leaving myself plenty of time to get to Page, AZ, as this city has one of the sights that I had on bucket list, specifically Horse Shoe Bend and Antelope Canyon. bear in mind that driving from Grand Canyon to Page, AZ takes about two and a half hours.
Page was my most eastern point on this trip, as I had to go towards Las Vegas and decided to do so via Zion National Park in Utah. I did not have enough time to appreciate Zyon properly, but I had a taste and left wanting more, which is great, as I would love to come back and explore Utah more. So after leaving Zion I went to St George, UT for the night.
Next was Last Vegas, where I had Caesars Palace booked, but since St George is not that far from Las Vegas, I had some time before check in to check out Hoover Dam, which I did and then went on into Las Vegas and settled in for few days.
After Vegas I continued heading West, into the Death Valley. That place felt like a difference planet. Insanely hot weather, barren lands, alien looking vistas – it was great. I highly recommend visiting it, oh and I also recommend you go to visitor centres in the parks and actually speak to Rangers. I have a ton of respect for them, as they have helped me choosing the most beautiful, must see places in their respective parks. they always adjust their recommendation based on your free time, your route, etc. So don’t be shy – speak to them. After Death Valley I planned to go to Bakersfield and spend the night there, before going to my next park – Sequoya National Park.
After waking up nice and early I had plenty of time to explore the park and admire the giant trees. It is unreal how big they are. I loved every moment there.
Next on my list of parks was the crown jewel – Yosemite National Park and choosing an accommodation there can be quite pricy. Looking back I think pre-booking Yosemite accommodation may have been a good idea, as I needed to find a balance between proximity and price. Oh and for Yosemite I had to register on the national parks website to get an entry permission, as due to it’s popularity – they do not allow people in without a reservation, so please make sure you check and book one in advance. Also, I heard that it is always a good idea to there as early as possible, so I was leaving my hotel around 7 am. Oh yeah, I ended up staying in Mariposa, CA, a lovely motel called Mariposa Lodge, with the best receptionist, who was chatty, fun, and generally lovely. I have allowed myself 3 days in Yosemite, which synced up perfectly with entrance reservation, which was valid for three days.
After Yosemite – I would need to go back to San Francisco, so I planned my route along the bay and stayed in Ripon, CA (nothing fancy, just a bed for the night). I had to return the car by 12 PM and according to the map it should have taken me around 2 hours to cover 100 miles. With the amount of car crashes and traffic it ended up being 5 hours, so good thing I left early. After giving back the car I had only one night left in San Francisco, with my flight home being the following day.
Packing and preparing
A few things to be considered before three weeks in the car – roaming vs local Sim Cards, how much stuff to pack, how to navigate.
Please note that National Parks have a lot of places with no internet coverage or 4G/5G connectivity. your phone just reverts to “No Signal”, so it is important to pre-download offline maps in Google Maps or Apple Maps. I predownloaded offline versions of my whole journey in both Google and Apple maps on my iPhone. Funny enough as a long time Google maps user I ended up using Apple Maps as a main app of choice for driving. You could also go old school and print out the maps, but GPS worked great with offline maps in my case. As for roaming – my plan allows me to use my internet abroad for up to 25 GB, which was plenty in this case. However if I did not have this phone plan I would go for an eSim app, like Airalo, or would have bought a local eSim.
As for what to take – most people don’t believe me, but I travel very light. I went with Samsonite Proxis 55 cm Slim and a simple backpack from Amazon that could be placed under a seat in front of me in the plane, as well as could be attached to the luggage. For packing I have simple checking that follow every single time and I just adjust the number items needed based on the trip length (i.e. 7 pairs of socks vs 3). My travel checklist below, but please keep in mind that I would wear some clothes as well, which are not on the list below:
- Passport, Credit Cards, Emergency Cash, Tickets, Insurance
- Phone, iPad, Travel Adaptor, two USB-C cables, one USB-A to USB-C cable, headphones, power bank, Garmin watch charging adapter
- Tooth Brush, Hair brush, Tooth Paste, Deodorant, Floss, First Aid kit, ear plugs, nail scissors, pen, vitamins, spork
- Packable Water-resistant jacket (swap with Winter Packable jacket), hoodie, neck buff, Trucker hat/Baseball hat
- Socks x6, Trunks x6, Shirts/T-shirts x6, Shorts, Swimming Trunks, flip flops, Espadrilles, sunglasses
- Running shorts, running shoes, running t-shirt, sports socks.
All of the above fits easily into my luggage and leaves plenty of room for anything extra you want to take. No need to overpack, as laundromats are a thing and you can always just buy something when abroad. On this trip I bought a new pair of jeans and two caps, yay! Speaking of money, I usually take my Amex Credit card for emergencies, Halifax Clarity for daily Spending, couple of hundred cash for emergencies, and a loaded Revolut card.
So yeah, that was all the prep and the plan. I am excited to go into more details of my trip in the future posts, as I have plenty of photos to show and experiences to share.
