# Honeymoon....Help!



## lunatrick (May 6, 2009)

(soon to be) Mrs lunatrick and I are getting married in September...we plan on honeymooning in the states and have come up with the following itinerary......but at the moment we've had a quote from trailfinders for the lot and it's coming at nearly £7k! bearing in mind that doesn't include food and booze,parking and fuel, daytrips, shopping etc etc this seems a lot to me?

so good peeps of urban if I list our route can anybody suggest any ways of doing it cheaper or am I just being tight? it's for a total of 24 nights....

fly to vegas from Gatwick - virgin premium economy (also have choice of great deal on BA business class - 2 for 1, £150 more but adds an extra 6 or 7 hours to journey as not direct - via Dallas but includes new totally flat beds)
3 nights in the venetian (luxury suite)
pick up hire car for 17 days - mid range saloon pontiac g6 or similar
1 night death valley furnace creek ranch resort
3 nights yosemite - Cedar lodge el Portal - luxury suite
3 nights san francisco - Hotel Frank
1 night Monterey - The Beach resort - oceanside room
1 night Santa Barbara - Inn by the Harbour
2 nights LA - Hyatt regency century plaza
3 nights San Diego - Catamaran resort
3 nights Palm Springs - Westin Mission Hills resort
Fly to New York from Palm Springs (economy)
4 nights NY - Royalton
Fly back to Heathrow premium economy...

phew! 

so does that price seem reasonable? all comments on the route welcome also......


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## trashpony (May 6, 2009)

that's a lot of driving


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## lunatrick (May 6, 2009)

yeah we know that - hoping with the few days stops here and there it will break it up a bit though....

Here are the rough distances 

las vegas - death valley - 124 miles - 1 night stop
death valley - yosemite -  300 miles - 3 night stop
yosemite - san francisco - 210 miles - 3 night stop
san francisco - monterey - 86 miles - 1 night stop
monterey - santa barbara - 194 miles -1 night stop
santa barbara - LA - 78 miles - 2 nights stop
LA - San Diego - 116 miles - 3 night stop
San Diego - Palm Springs - 126 miles - 3 nights stop
then NY for 4 days - no more driving yipee!


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## g force (May 6, 2009)

Personally I'd skip Santa Barbara, LA and San Diego and spend more time on the Cali coast @ Monterey (or maybe a 2 nights Napa Valley way) then fly to NYC from San Fran....but that's just me.

SD has some nice bits but it's a fairly average city and LA - hated the place from the moment I arrived to the moment I left.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (May 6, 2009)

Why don't you just book your own accommodation?


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## baldrick (May 6, 2009)

you could book it all yourself for less i expect.  would need a fair amount of work though.  

try moneysaving expert for tips on luxury hotels for cheap


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## Throbbing Angel (May 6, 2009)

premium economy?


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## Minnie_the_Minx (May 6, 2009)

baldrick said:


> you could book it all yourself for less i expect. would need a fair amount of work though.
> 
> try moneysaving expert for tips on luxury hotels for cheap


 

Yeah, but doing the hotels shouldn't take long, and they could always alternate between something 5 star for one part of trip, then downgrading to 3 star for a couple of nights, then upgrading again.

I know it's a honeymoon, but exactly how much time are they going to be spending in these expensive rooms considering how knackered they're going to be?


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## HobgoblinMan (May 6, 2009)

Why not just go to Rhyl instead??


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## lunatrick (May 6, 2009)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> Why don't you just book your own accommodation?



I might try that.....see how it compares...just got a quote from Virgin direct for identical holiday and was nearly a £1000 more expensive!


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## baldrick (May 6, 2009)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> Yeah, but doing the hotels shouldn't take long, and they could always alternate between something 5 star for one part of trip, then downgrading to 3 star for a couple of nights, then upgrading again.
> 
> I know it's a honeymoon, but exactly how much time are they going to be spending in these expensive rooms considering how knackered they're going to be?


i think you've got it spot on tbh.  luxury is always appreciated when it's a rare occasion  not all luxury hotels are all that anyway.


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## trashpony (May 6, 2009)

g force said:


> Personally I'd skip Santa Barbara, LA and San Diego and spend more time on the Cali coast @ Monterey (or maybe a 2 nights Napa Valley way) then fly to NYC from San Fran....but that's just me.
> 
> SD has some nice bits but it's a fairly average city and LA - hated the place from the moment I arrived to the moment I left.



I like LA but I'm not sure I'd go there for my honeymoon. Ditto Palm Springs. Spend more time in the Napa Valley 

Open jaw tickets are expensive tbh - if you want to fly premium economy, then I'd do a round trip to Vegas and go to NYC another time personally


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## Minnie_the_Minx (May 6, 2009)

lunatrick said:


> I might try that.....see how it compares...just got a quote from Virgin direct for identical holiday and was nearly a £1000 more expensive!


 

Try it, try contacting them direct and saying you're on honeymoon and see if they'll give you a discount, but also check all the other discount sites first to see how they compare.

I'm not sure what you've gone for.  Are they all 5* hotels?  Do you really need a 5* hotel every night or would you happily settle with a 3 or 4* hotel if you're barely going to be there?  Obviously, 5* is nice as it's your honeymoon, but do you need it every night?


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## lunatrick (May 6, 2009)

baldrick said:


> i think you've got it spot on tbh.  luxury is always appreciated when it's a rare occasion  not all luxury hotels are all that anyway.




true I've stayed in £2 shacks and top end suites and both can be perfect at different times....I was thinking of nice places for start and finish of holiday and then more ordinary in between..


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## Minnie_the_Minx (May 6, 2009)

baldrick said:


> i think you've got it spot on tbh. luxury is always appreciated when it's a rare occasion  not all luxury hotels are all that anyway.


 

When I go on holiday, I normally get a 4 or 5* hotel at the beginning of the trip and at the end as a reward for a horribly long flight but then often go 3* or under in between, but that's obviously a holiday and somewhere much cheaper than the US.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (May 6, 2009)

lunatrick said:


> true I've stayed in £2 shacks and top end suites and both can be perfect at different times....I was thinking of nice places for start and finish of holiday and then more ordinary in between..


 


Minnie_the_Minx said:


> When I go on holiday, I normally get a 4 or 5* hotel at the beginning of the trip and at the end as a reward for a horribly long flight but then often go 3* or under in between, but that's obviously a holiday and somewhere much cheaper than the US.


 


Great minds


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## lunatrick (May 6, 2009)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> Great minds





yeah I must admit I always thought of the US as pretty cheap (never ben before) but I'm changing my mind now!


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## Minnie_the_Minx (May 6, 2009)

Cedar Lodge doesn't get great reviews on Trip Advisor  

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_...Reviews-Cedar_Lodge-El_Portal_California.html


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## lunatrick (May 6, 2009)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> Cedar Lodge doesn't get great reviews on Trip Advisor
> 
> http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_...Reviews-Cedar_Lodge-El_Portal_California.html



hmm see what you mean.....


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## Minnie_the_Minx (May 6, 2009)

I'm currently looking at the Hyatt Regency

Why do you want to be in that particular part of LA?


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## lunatrick (May 6, 2009)

Minnie_the_Minx said:


> I'm currently looking at the Hyatt Regency
> 
> Why do you want to be in that particular part of LA?




tbh I'm not fussed about LA at all...but the other half wants to go so to be right in the touristy bit makes sense...


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## Minnie_the_Minx (May 6, 2009)

will get back to LA

Meanwhile, found some cheaper ones for San Diego, but don't know if they suit your location etc and you'd have to check the reviews.

I came across Ocean Villa Inn, but it's dog friendly and might not suit

Hotel Occidental - shared bath unfortunately

Dolphin Motel - mixed reviews

Doubletree Hotel San Diego/Del Mar


All the above have lots of good reviews, but it's best to read the bad reviews to see if the complaints are something you could live with.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (May 6, 2009)

lunatrick said:


> (soon to be) Mrs lunatrick and I are getting married in September...we plan on honeymooning in the states and have come up with the following itinerary......but at the moment we've had a quote from trailfinders for the lot and it's coming at nearly £7k! bearing in mind that doesn't include food and booze,parking and fuel, daytrips, shopping etc etc this seems a lot to me?
> 
> so good peeps of urban if I list our route can anybody suggest any ways of doing it cheaper or am I just being tight? it's for a total of 24 nights....
> 
> ...


 


That Royalty in New York looks well expensive


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## Hocus Eye. (May 6, 2009)

A couple I know on an ordinary driving holiday in America spent a few days in Las Vegas and reported how cheap it was.  The hotels there make their money on the gambling, and if you give that a miss the costs are low.

They did it while the £ was strong against the $ though a few years back.


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## Minnie_the_Minx (May 6, 2009)

More hotels in NYC

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotels-g60763-New_York_City_New_York-Hotels.html

and then there's the New York forums on here, so maybe someone will give you some tips


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## christonabike (May 7, 2009)

We flew to Vegas, got married, and drove to SF 

The one thing I will say is one night stops are shit and that's far too much driving for me for it to be fun (even though driving in America is slightly more exciting than domestic driving)

It's hard to relax after a drive: you want to enjoy yourself, out for a meal, have beers, find some nightlife, but you have to drive the next day


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## lunatrick (May 10, 2009)

well in the end flying economy to Vegas and changed the hotel in Palm Springs and saved £1100 

all booked up - can't wait!!

thanks for all your help esp. Minnie the Minx x


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## Minnie_the_Minx (May 10, 2009)

Where are you staying in Palm Springs now?

What made you change your mind?

Did you book new hotel yourselves or use Trailfinders?


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