Advice for my holiday to the USA

[Skullmiester]

Hi all
We are planning a trip to your amazing country for 2025 and I am after any tips or advice.
It will be a 2-3 week holiday and our daughter will be 10 so some time in some theme parks will be a definite.
I definitely want to visit the Kennedy Space Centre, all things Dallas Cowboys and Dealey Plaza.
My wife is massively into country music so experiencing this first hand would be a big thing.
We have relatives who live in Arizona so would be looking to spend time there as well (unless they meet us somewhere).

As a rough plan, without any real planning as yet I thought start at Florida, do some parks, space center then drive to Dallas stopping off at New Orleans (I've never drove in the USA before) then on to Dallas then Arizona by car.

Is this driveable or should we fly?
Any must see places or other suggestions?

Any advice would be welcome.

Thanks

 

[Runwildboys]

Hi all
We are planning a trip to your amazing country for 2025 and I am after any tips or advice.
It will be a 2-3 week holiday and our daughter will be 10 so some time in some theme parks will be a definite.
I definitely want to visit the Kennedy Space Centre, all things Dallas Cowboys and Dealey Plaza.
My wife is massively into country music so experiencing this first hand would be a big thing.
We have relatives who live in Arizona so would be looking to spend time there as well (unless they meet us somewhere).

As a rough plan, without any real planning as yet I thought start at Florida, do some parks, space center then drive to Dallas stopping off at New Orleans (I've never drove in the USA before) then on to Dallas then Arizona by car.

Is this driveable or should we fly?
Any must see places or other suggestions?

Any advice would be welcome.

Thanks

It's drivable, yes, but you'd lose several days by driving, unless your goal is to see the landscape, but I don't know how much there is to see along the routes you'd be taking. Flying would probably be better. Maybe look into taking trains?

Whatever you do, once you get to AZ, there are a lot of places to drive to from there. California has a lot to see, Utah (The Grand Canyon), the Rocky Mountains, Yellowstone Park, etc.

Maybe Google U.S. Sightseeing, or something like that, to determine what you'd be interested in. There's so much to see here, and it's spread out over thousands of miles.

 

[Tabascocat]

Try to squeeze in Nashville for the country music.

 

[Skullmiester]

It's drivable, yes, but you'd lose several days by driving, unless your goal is to see the landscape, but I don't know how much there is to see along the routes you'd be taking. Flying would probably be better. Maybe look into taking trains?

Whatever you do, once you get to AZ, there are a lot of places to drive to from there. California has a lot to see, Utah (The Grand Canyon), the Rocky Mountains, Yellowstone Park, etc.

Maybe Google U.S. Sightseeing, or something like that, to determine what you'd be interested in. There's so much to see here, and it's spread out over thousands of miles.

Cheers, definitely sounds like some internal flights or the train is a good idea. Me and my wife had our honeymoon in Vegas and we took a helicopter trip through the Grand Canyon so a return trip with our daughter would be pretty cool

 

[Skullmiester]

Try to squeeze in Nashville for the country music.

Cheers, I think that would be her highlight.

 

[Runwildboys]

Try to squeeze in Nashville for the country music.

Dollywood would kills two birds with one stone (Theme park/ Country music), assuming it's still there and that it's not a crappy place to go.

 

[Tabascocat]

Dollywood would kills two birds with one stone (Theme park/ Country music), assuming it's still there and that it's not a crappy place to go.

Yes it would, it’s still there.

 

[1942willys]

Bang for your buck is of course driving; but if you want to see a lot of places then fly and rent a car. Depends on what really interests you. Nature or structures.
Nature then you want Yellowstone and Grand Canyon and Carlsbad Caverns and so on
Structures then you are looking at the Cities. Washington DC has all the monuments and the Smithsonian
Dallas of course nuff said

 

[Skullmiester]

Bang for your buck is of course driving; but if you want to see a lot of places then fly and rent a car. Depends on what really interests you. Nature or structures.
Nature then you want Yellowstone and Grand Canyon and Carlsbad Caverns and so on
Structures then you are looking at the Cities. Washington DC has all the monuments and the Smithsonian
Dallas of course nuff said

Cheers.
I think trying to get a taste of everything, definitely some of the scenic side of things probably at the end of the trip.

 

[Skullmiester]

Dollywood would kills two birds with one stone (Theme park/ Country music), assuming it's still there and that it's not a crappy place to go.

Cheers.
I'd never heard of it, just had a Google and looks pretty good!

 

[nightrain]

Hi all
We are planning a trip to your amazing country for 2025 and I am after any tips or advice.
It will be a 2-3 week holiday and our daughter will be 10 so some time in some theme parks will be a definite.
I definitely want to visit the Kennedy Space Centre, all things Dallas Cowboys and Dealey Plaza.
My wife is massively into country music so experiencing this first hand would be a big thing.
We have relatives who live in Arizona so would be looking to spend time there as well (unless they meet us somewhere).

As a rough plan, without any real planning as yet I thought start at Florida, do some parks, space center then drive to Dallas stopping off at New Orleans (I've never drove in the USA before) then on to Dallas then Arizona by car.

Is this driveable or should we fly?
Any must see places or other suggestions?

Any advice would be welcome.

Thanks

Driving here is a lot easier than in U.K. Y'all drive on the wrong side.

Those parks in FL can eat up a lot of your days and they are super expensive, plan accordingly. The Space Center is driving distance from the parks.

You can drive from Kissimmee to N.O is about 9 hours. Same from N.O. to Dallas.

You have to see the Grand Canyon in AZ.

Nevada, Utah and Wyoming all have amazing national treasures in their national parks.

If staying west, CA is a must with too much to list. Pick a region and enjoy.

 

[Tabascocat]

Cheers, definitely sounds like some internal flights or the train is a good idea. Me and my wife had our honeymoon in Vegas and we took a helicopter trip through the Grand Canyon so a return trip with our daughter would be pretty cool

I will say it isn’t like Europe here where you can take trains to pretty much anywhere. In the USA, it is most driving or flying to get around.

 

[Skullmiester]

Driving here is a lot easier than in U.K. Y'all drive on the wrong side.

Those parks in FL can eat up a lot of your days and they are super expensive, plan accordingly. The Space Center is driving distance from the parks.

You can drive from Kissimmee to N.O is about 9 hours. Same from N.O. to Dallas.

You have to see the Grand Canyon in AZ.

Nevada, Utah and Wyoming all have amazing national treasures in their national parks.

If staying west, CA is a must with too much to list. Pick a region and enjoy.

Cheers
Very helpful understanding how long these drives are.

 

[CyberB0b]

Go to Fort Worth if you’ll be in the Dallas area.

 

[Roadtrip635]

Hi all
We are planning a trip to your amazing country for 2025 and I am after any tips or advice.
It will be a 2-3 week holiday and our daughter will be 10 so some time in some theme parks will be a definite.
I definitely want to visit the Kennedy Space Centre, all things Dallas Cowboys and Dealey Plaza.
My wife is massively into country music so experiencing this first hand would be a big thing.
We have relatives who live in Arizona so would be looking to spend time there as well (unless they meet us somewhere).

As a rough plan, without any real planning as yet I thought start at Florida, do some parks, space center then drive to Dallas stopping off at New Orleans (I've never drove in the USA before) then on to Dallas then Arizona by car.

Is this driveable or should we fly?
Any must see places or other suggestions?

Any advice would be welcome.

Thanks

That sounds very ambitious, USA is a lot bigger than people realize and that's a lot of driving in 2-3 weeks, especially without feeling rushed to get it all in. I would suggest narrowing to 2-3 regions, fly to each region and then rent a car to explore each region.

Nashville/Memphis would be a cool area. Nashville with The Grand Old Opry, Country music and Nashville Hot Chicken and Memphis with Beale Street with all the Blues, Soul and R&B music, Graceland (visit Elvis' grave), Memphis BBQ and Four Way Cafe for some legit Soul Food.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

You can use google maps https://www.google.com/maps
You can put in a starting point and a destination point and it will give you instructions of how to get there
and the basic amount of driving time it will take.

Just to give you an idea of driving time between spots.

 

[Sarek]

We in the US drive on the other side of the road and the other side of the car. When I visit the UK I never drive. If you think you can adapt go for it, if not better pick another method.

Our trains are crap compared to UK trains. There might be one or two lines in the US with high speed rail.

Bite the bullet and fly.

Nashville might be better than New Orleans as a country music fan.

Enjoy the trip.

Oh yea we also stop for pedestrians here.

 

[Hardline]

Try to squeeze in Nashville for the country music.

Very little real country music comes out of Nashville now.

 

[Tabascocat]

Very little real country music comes out of Nashville now.

True but it was more for the museums, tourist spots and history of country music.

 

[VaqueroTD]

Hi all
We are planning a trip to your amazing country for 2025 and I am after any tips or advice.
It will be a 2-3 week holiday and our daughter will be 10 so some time in some theme parks will be a definite.
I definitely want to visit the Kennedy Space Centre, all things Dallas Cowboys and Dealey Plaza.
My wife is massively into country music so experiencing this first hand would be a big thing.
We have relatives who live in Arizona so would be looking to spend time there as well (unless they meet us somewhere).

As a rough plan, without any real planning as yet I thought start at Florida, do some parks, space center then drive to Dallas stopping off at New Orleans (I've never drove in the USA before) then on to Dallas then Arizona by car.

Is this driveable or should we fly?
Any must see places or other suggestions?

Any advice would be welcome.

Thanks

Few things:

• If you're looking to drive cross country, IMO, only places worth doing that are mountain range areas. Either Rockies in West which is scenic all over through many states, or Appalachians in East with places like the Blue Ridge Parkway... everything else is boring including that drive from Florida to Dallas which is mostly on I-10. Nothing but swamps, worn down towns, and hurricane damaged forests with maybe the highlight driving by the USS Alabama in Mobile and that's about it.
• I second the people who suggest visiting Nashville to get your Country Music fix. Spend a weekend. Stay near Broadway Street which is famous for its music bars. Visit Country Music Hall of Fame, Johnny Cash Museum, and more... Hardest part here though will be your 10-year-old. She can come with you during day, and Broadway Street is still going on, but if you want to see all the live bands at night and the festivities, definitely not for kids. Treat yourself out to some authentic Southern or Soul Food. Memphis Fried Chicken!
• Theme Parks, you'll need AT LEAST 3 days in Disney, 2 days in Universal to get a somewhat fulfilling experience, and I would recommend 4 for Disney, 3 for Universal if never been before. If going in summer, very hot, add a day or two for recovery. Daughter will probably like Magic Kingdom at Disney the best, and the Harry Potter Worlds at Universal, but tons of stuff to do in both parks. Get your daughter the Disney Princess outfits, and treat her out. She's only a kid once. I would skip the rest of the tourist parks unless your daughter is a lego fanatic, she might enjoy LegoLand. Seaworld only worth it if you go to their specialty parks where you can swim with dolphins and do other cool things that generally would take an ocean/beach trip to experience.
• Space Center. Easy one hour rental car drive from Orlando to the Space Coast. Think it's worth seeing at least once. If you want to experience some cool Beach Life stuff, that is not the place to go. Go down South towards Fort Lauderdale or Miami, but probably only worth it if was only you and the miss.
• New Orleans. Always worth a visit. But again.. not very kid friendly. Things to do in the day, but like Nashville, adults only in evening. Mardi Gras time right now if you're going soon, and always worth attending, but book a hotel NOW. FYI, a lot of crime and drugs in that area. Treat yourself out to a great Cajun Food place. Of all the cities on this list, this one is by far the most unique.
• Dallas.. for sure the Cowboys and JFK experiences are two things worth doing and city is known for. Generic metroplex, but will have everything a large metro should.... good museums, a lot of rodeo and country music stuff since it's down South, good sports teams, big amusement parks, etc... Fort Worth probably has better rodeo, country music tourist stuff if that's what your wife is looking for. The entire DFW metro is huge so make sure you look at attractions in all surrounding cities. You're in Tex-Mex territory so look for some great Mexican Food joints.
• Arizona, now you're starting to get to an area worth driving. You're where the Rockies start to begin. I'd probably fly out to Phoenix or a big city in the state and get a rental and plan it out from there. All types of sites. Grand Canyon is the big one, and that is a large area, so make sure you go the main Southern Station. That's the real Grand Canyon. Monument Valley which extends into Utah, you'll recognize if you saw any old school westerns. The famous Meteor Crater is in Arizona. Hoover Dam in Las Vegas along with Red Rock Canyon and of course.... VEGAS baby! Montezuma Castle, Vermilion Cliffs, etc.... Just search a list, and pick what you want to see and how it will work out logistically with the driving. Sedona is a great looking city both natural and manmade, and cool place to shop. Of all the places on this agenda, this is where you'll get the most impressive photographs.

Long write-up, sorry, but love to travel, and been to all these places more than once. So only way to make it work if you want these places and only have 3 weeks would be...

9 days Orlando, Central Florida.. flying
2 days Nashville.. flying (not on your original list but you specifically want to see country music culture, and no better place)
2 days New Orleans.. flying
2 days Dallas.. flying
6 days Arizona.. driving

I'd probably cut off Nashville, New Orleans or Dallas and spend more time in the 2 of 3 you don't cut. Hope this helps.