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Sooooo, I have been waiting for the NFL schedule to come out so i could plan a trip to America this year after a wedding in Vegas in September. The schedule came out last night so i couldn't wait to get planning where i was going to go! Obviously it is going to be very American Football based but do want to do and see other things while i'm in these places.

I booked my flight to Vegas a few months ago arriving on 22nd September and booked a return from New York 15th November. Everything in between was unknown UNTIL NOW!

My current plan of attack is:

Leave Vegas 29th September with 2 of my friends from the wedding. Hire a car and drive to the following places.

Get to LA a day later for the Arizona State @ USC game on Saturday 1st October

Then straight onto San Diego to catch Saints @ San Diego on Sunday 2nd October.

Spend a day or 2 there and make the trip to San Fran by Thursday 6th October to watch Cardinals @ San Fran.

My friends will then leave me to go home to sunny England! :'( Anyways, I will stick around for a few days to watch the Divisional game, Chargers @ Raiders on 9th October.


So now I will be alone and no car as I don't drive so it gets a bit tricky from here..

Going to re-kick things off by flying to New Orleans by week 6 for the Panthers @ Saints game on the 16th October. Should be a great game!

After that i'm planning to use the 'Greyhound' buses or 'megabus' that you can get around America for real cheap. For example can travel from New Orleans to Atlanta for $21.
Will probably make that shorter and stop off in Mobile, Alabama and catch a college game though as the next stop is Atlanta to see Chargers @ Falcons on 23rd October.

From there its Atlanta to Tennessee for $20 and about a 4-5 hour bus journey in time for Thursday Night football Jags @ Titans in Nashville. Stay there a few days and onto Indianapolis for Chiefs @ Colts on Sunday 30th October.

Then its the final leg where I shall probably fly Indy to New York (unless i nit it up and go on the bus but seems too long of a journey for that, around 20 hours) for around 10-14 days at the start of November and go see the following games:

Eagles @ Giants Sunday 6th November
Rams @ Jets Sunday 13th November
Bengals @ Giants Monday 14th November

Then fly home on my original flight November 15th (unless i extend it for another 5-6 days and wait around to see Bears @ Giants 20th November)


So, what i'm really wanting to ask now you get the picture is:

Has anybody been to any of the above places?
Best places to go?
Places to not go?
Things to see?
Places to stay?
Places to NOT stay?
Any good/bad experiences with the buses around America?
Best way of getting tickets for the games?
Any other advice you have?


List of places incase all of the above is all very tl;dr.  ;D

LA
San Diego
San Fran
Oakland
New Orleans
Atlanta
Tennessee
Indianapolis
New York


Any feedback greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Spend the extra, take the trains. The buses are horrendous from what I'm told.

Looks like an incred trip!

I hope you do a Shrewdies on tour 2016 diary.

This!

Hours of fun to be had on the megabus. Specifically 3 hours of fun.

http://metro.co.uk/2016/04/12/man-masturbated-for-three-hours-on-megabus-because-he-thought-female-passenger-liked-it-5812765/

Nice looking trip!

Funnily enough I was waiting for the schedule myself as I am in Texas and driving across to New Orleans around weeks 4 & 5 so was gutted to see the only game that fits into my travels is Titans @ Texans.

Not been to many of the places you list, certainly not enough to give advice.

Good luck on your wedding day by the way - nice to get married out there!

Sounds fantastic!

Haha, shit. I'll have a look into trains. Thanks.

Thanks. May do a bit of an update in here, time permitting  :)

Please do, will be a great read.

ooo nice. I'll be arriving New Orleans just as you are leaving. Gimme a shout if your still around week 6 though bud.

Not my wedding im afraid either..thankfully! Ha

Never think I've travelled that much but been to 5 out of those places and probably enjoyed, NY, Nashville and Atlanta the best.

Atlanta's a good example of where reading a very slight amount before you go is a good idea - places where you gonna get yourself hurt fo' sho' and then large areas that are gentrified, disneyfied.

Big generalisation but loads of the states is like this - Disneyfied or Ghetto. Go Disney imo

Great trip and if I wasn't senile I'd try and dredge up a few recommends.

I have done big chunks of the world by bus, but never the US.  If needs be, it should be OK, but just be a bit wary, and know where you are staying and how to get there at your destination.  I guess the train is bound to be better, but they don't go everywhere.  Southwest airlines are always going to be an option for the long trips.  Guess there is a good chance they are cheaper on the longer trips.

I did a three month road trip with no car around the US West Coast several years ago. Not always easy to be carless but very possible. Best trip I ever did and I'm sure you'll have a great time.

Also lived in Oakland for a couple of years on and off before Black Friday. Very underrated city.

Will write a bunch of stuff when I have more time in the next few days, but one to add to your schedule.

Stanford v Washington State, Sat 8th October. Fits in with your plans in the Bay Area and is easy to get to from SF/Oakland.

No experience on bus travel in the States, but I believe many of the bus stations are in the gansta part of town. For a shrewdie, no problem. Enjoy your trip, sounds great.

In general I found the buses ok. My biggest advice would be to try and arrive in daylight.

Rolling into downtown LA at 1am on the greyhound with no place to stay that night was not one of my favourite experiences!

 

Trip sounds incredible.

Report would be good too. And pictures of your new slim body too please 👍🏼

Stanford a cracking shout. Didnt no it was close to San Fran tbh! Will insert that into the plan i think. Actually closer to San Fran than Levi's Stadium it looks like.

Thanks, thats much appreciated mate.

Just checked actual flights from New Orleans to Atlanta, Atlanta to Tennessee, Tennessee to Indy and Indy to New York and it looks just as much as train so maybe flying for that part of it is the way forward.

I dno about that mate!  :-X Not quite there yet until I can do some gym work after my ankle surgery 7 weeks ago!

Sounds incred.

I have done similar stuff to this in the past but ironically the only thing on sporting place on your list I have done is been to the Chargers stadium, which to be honest by American sporting stadia is well past its sell by date.

You have UCLA in la and Cal in the Bay Area for more college stuff. Though i would go whole hog with the college stuff when you are in the Deep South as they take ridiculous seriously. If you want an alternative area in the us that is sporting mad I would recommend the Pacific north west, a Seahawks game in particular.

You into the other Big 4 us sports as you will catch the playoffs in baseball and the start of the NBA/NHL season which you could tie into the trip. I would recommend highly NHL games even though it is the least popular of the sports I think it is the best one to watch live.

Not sure how much of a sightseer you are but California is amazing especially with the car. Especially the coastal road from la to San Fran is stunning and Yosemite national park is incred as well.

Basically you can't go wrong apart from watch yourself with the buses, they are very ghetto. I personally would stick with hire cars and planes but if you are on a strict budget then fair dos.

If you have any questions feel free to ask, this is a bit of a specialist subject of mine!

Just seen you don't drive, sigh that is a bit of a handicap in the states with the exception of a few big cities.

If your route isn't yet set in stone then I'm also a big fan of Seattle and Portland and they are two of the most easy cities in the US for non car drivers. Three Pac 12 teams quite close together up there and also the Seahawks you could be able to see a bunch of games, plus they might be more fun cities than Indianapolis and Atlanta - though I'm prepared to be proved wrong!

Thanks for that.

Yeah I plan on seeing 1 or 2 baseball games & basketball games. Hadn't thought about NHL tbh, but will consider that now. Just getting the route decided and then will plan other things around the NFL i think is the best bet.
Yep, not driving not ideal at all, but hoping it can be done. At least will be with mates that have car for the LA/SAN DIEGO/San Fran section and from what I've read New Orleans & Tennessee seem ok without a car but I could be wrong. Unsure of Atlanta & Indy yet.

Think I have swayed across from idea of buses for now unless it really needs to be done to get somehwhere!

Yeah, we really did consider going to Seattle over the LA/SD/SF leg straight from Vegas but the scheddy didn't really allow for it with Seahsawks away week 4 and on Bye week 5 I think. Could go there straight from San Fran to get there for week 6 I suppose but kinda have my heart set on that Panthers @ Saints game week 6 now!

Not that fussed about Indianapolis, but it just fell in nicely with going up there a few days after the Thursday Night Football in Tennessee before heading over to NY.

Research is the key, some bus routes would probably be OK, you just need to find out about the area they drop you off in as someone mentioned. It's a long time since I used the buses there, but that was my experience when I used them a few times. The trains aren't always better either, the stations are often in the downtown areas, they can sometimes be pretty ghetto too.

This is the site that I always use for train info to give you a flavour of what's possible.

http://www.seat61.com/UnitedStates.htm#.VxILatR4WrU

Don't know what sorts of places you are planning on staying, but I stayed in a lot of hostels when I backpacked there. That enabled me to meet a lot of people and I managed to get a couple of lifts to places with people who had rented cars and I gave them some petrol money in return.

Cheers, il have a good look at that site.

Thinking about just going by flights now as they seem cheap enough and possibly changing the route from New Orleans onwards

Thinking:
New Orleans (week 6)
Miami (week 7)
Tennessee (week 8 - Thursday)
Chicago (week 8 Sunday)
Then onto New York onwards, starting Eagles @ Giants (week 9)

Over

New Orleans
Atlanta
Tennessee
Indy

Will have a good look online and decide.


Yeah, about where to stay. Have been looking at hostels too. Never done anything like that before, but from what I've heard they're absolutely fine and like you say, good way to meet people etc.
Any bad experiences with them or anything?

Thanks again

Sounds fantastic bud, I've been to a few of those places but a bit stuck for time at the moment. I would deffo echo the idea that seeing a Seahawks game in Seattle would be a great addition (it's incred) and you also have The Sounders soccer games if the timing is right. As a non driver myself the stretch between New York and Washington is really easy to get around by Amtrack and it's quicker and cheaper to get the train between Washington, Balti, Philly and New York ( obviously you aren't going on that trip to save up but as an example the taxi fair from JFK to Time Square is about $70) and you can get the train from Philly to Washington for about $40 if you book in advance. I noticed you didn't have those cities on your schedule but if you are flying back from New York and going to be based there at the end if your trip than games in any of those places will be easy to get to. Think it's just over 4 hours to Washington from New York, about 2 1/2 from Philly, Baltimore less. For sport watching Philliy is perfect as most of the main sporting venues are in the same area so you can minimise travel costs there and the underground station is about a 10 minute walk from the arena area.

If you could find a stretch that goes Washington, Balti, Philly and the New York by train at the end of your stay it will be easy for you to get around without a car. I once flew from NY to Washington. It took 45 mins and 70 bucks  from Time Square to JFK, I got there 90 mins before the flight, it took about 1 hour 20 to fly to Washington and we flew over the Redskins stadium 30 mins before we landed. RR airport is at the opposite side. By the time I've got off the plane, got luggage and got the train to the Redskins side of town it had taken over 6 hours from hotel room to hotel room and you can just get in the Amtrak in New York and get off at the main train station in Washington which is about half a dozen stops from the Redskins area in 4-5 hours instead and it will be much cheaper. Baltimore is the main stop before Washington too so great options by train along that stretch if you can spot games you fancied. I would try to avoid the buses too bud, I've mainly got them too and from Atlantic City from Philly and as its only a short journey you could go there too but you see plenty of 'characters' on some of those bus trips.

Thanks for that Bobby.

I would love to go Seattle and see a game tbf. Just not sure I can make it work properly within this scheddy and timescale etc.

Been looking miss off the second game Week 10 Rams @ Jets after week 9 Eagles @ Giants and head over to Boston to see Seattle @ New England then head straight back to New York for the MNF Bengals @ Giants. Obviously not the same as in Seattle but will be hell of a game!

Anyone know when tickets go on sale? Do you buy them early or go on the nfl fan ticket exchange or stubhub nearer the time?

Since you cant drive I would strongly recommend to travel only to the major cities.  Public transport will be very limited.

Stick with taking flights.

The planned itinerary looks very good indeed.

Hi, have you thought about OSU in Columbus while up in Chicago, (it's err close ish) Buckeyes are the biggest college team in the US (well they were when I saw them a couple of decades ago). Their average attendance is 100k plus!

Thanks, yeah just been looking into this.

Might have a day or 2 I could shoot there between Tennessee & Chicago. There is that and Chiefs @ Indy as to where could go for few days I but think will decide that nearer the time as to whether I want more time in Tennessee or Chicago really.  That Ohio game does sound sick tho so that's probably winning atm!

Thanks, yep current itinerary:

La
San Diego
San Fran/Oakland
New Orleans
Miami
Tennessee
Chicago
New York
Boston
New York

Some random stuff off the top of my head

I really like Oakland and the East Bay in general. Just north of Oakland you have Berkeley. It has a great college town vibe but is also very easy to get to San Francisco. Doesn't seem like the Cal Bears are playing when you might be in the area unfortunately, but it is worth a visit or maybe to even stay there.

San Francisco is a great city. Seems pretty hard not to like it. It is very expensive these days, hence a lot of people live in the East Bay over in Oakland. It is very easy to get over to SF from Oakland on the BART train which runs until about 12:30am. Oakland has a lot going for it, it has a rep for being rough and yes, certain areas are, but I guess that's the same in all US cities. I think the Raiders are a pretty unique team and the fans really go for it. The stadium is old and crumbling and not one of these new arenas.  There's a lot going on in Oakland as many of the Bay Area creative people, musicians etc live over there now as they can't afford SF rents.

I'd also recommend a baseball game in San Francisco. The Giants have the best stadium that I've been to so far in the MLB, just at the harbourside.

I loved the Amtrak train ride from LA up to SF and would recommend it. Parts of the journey go right along the coastline, so take a seat on that side of the train if you can. If you wanted to break the journey up and stay somewhere along the way I would highly recommend San Luis Obispo. It is a smallish town/city with a university there. It is a kind of sleepy/surfer style town and I think a great place to stay a day or two. Santa Barbara would also be another good place to spend a night.

In LA you will find it most tricky without a car. There is public transport but it isn't very integrated and is also sometimes hard to find out the info about it. Also LA is massive so lots of taxis aren't necessarily financially practical. Almost all transport terminates or goes through the centre of downtown, there is a light rail that does through Union Station. Downtown itself isn't great but I guess I might try to stay somewhere near there. For example Little Tokyo (Japantown) is very central, as is what they call the 'Arts District' Your other option would be go for the LA beach experience and pick somewhere near the ocean. Santa Monica or Venice for example. Great places, but limits your possibilities of getting around the city without a car as you are in the edge of the city and it could take your several hours to get across town.

San Diego is a nice town. Daytrip to Tijuana Mexico recommended, just down take many/any valuables! You can take the trolleybus down to the border and then just walk over. It is quick going over to mexico, there may be a queue on the way back but it is much quicker than in a car.

Most/all cities have First Friday each month where all the art galleries open up and everyone drinks loads of booze and goes round the galleries. LA and Oakland ones recomended. Liking art is optional, they are social occasions!

Live poker. You didn't mention this but there are a bunch of places to play live poker in CA, unfortunately most are in ghetto areas. I'd recommend a trip to Commerce just to see the biggest poker room in the US (the world?) - the action is amazing here. Rake is pretty low, but unlike Vegas where they take it out incrementally, in LA they just take it all ($5) on the flop, so this can be a bit annoying and can make $1/$2 more expensive for example. If you have a big MTT cash you will be liable to California state witholding tax which I think is 5%. I'm not sure what the lower limit is. It might be 1k? but it is worth investigating if you play any live mtts as this is hard/impossible to get back.

The Bike is the second LA casino - it has a reasonably cheap hotel over the street.

New Orleans has a casino directly downtown, so this might be one of the easiest places to go and gamble without a car on your trip.


Accomodation
I can't say enough good things about Couchsurfing. You make a profile with info about yourself and you find cool/interesting people and ask to stay on their couch or sometimes a spare room. I met a bunch of interesting people in this US couchsurfing. I ended up going to some places I'd never have gone to (High School Prom, Haunted Mansion, Cupcake baking contest, housesitting rabbits and getting to stay at an apartment for free). I mixed couchsurfing with hostels. There are good hostels and bad hostels and I guess it is also the luck of the draw on who your room mates will be.

Airbnb is another great option. You can often rent people's spare rooms for affordable prices. If you stay somewhere for a week you can sometimes get a 10-20% discount too, so makes the 7th night free.

Wow, thanks for that Berg.

Will defo keep a note of the Oakland/San Fran stuff.

Thankfully for the Vegas to LA and San Diego part I'll be with 2 friends and we'll have a car, so that's all good. Will prolly dump the car off when we get to San Fran as think your good without a car there from what I've heard?

Yeah have considered poker, but depends on £/ time and other things really. Was also thinking New Orleans might be best place for this so I shall see when there!

Not considered couchsurfing tbh, but have been looking into Hostels or Airbnb quite a lot over last few days and will probably use them I think. If anyone has any recommendations for any they have used in any of the places mentioned that would be great, no worries if not tho :)

Hostels look to generally be $25-40 a night whereas Airbnb are more like $50-60 a night. Both of which are fine, but just trying to decide which way I want to go. Could even do both, depending on place and locations of places really.

I would look carefully into whether Miami is going to be practical without a car. I have been a few times and it is a sprawling very car centric city. For example the Dolphins stadium is around 10 miles from downtown Miami and pretty much everyone takes a car to the game in my experience. The area round it has little to do and is well away from the other tourist stuff to do.

Yeah, was worried about this. A few mates who went over in August last year also said the same when they went to see a pre season game. Think they said a cab was $50-60 both ways.
So I had a look during the season to see if there was any transportation to the ground with the possibility of this trip in mind and found this:

http://rallybus.net
http://rallybus.net/sun-life-stadium

Doesn't have the games on there yet but am hoping there will be nearer the time. Think I remember it saying it was $50 total for there and back and gets there a good few hours before the game.
Any experience or heard of this?

Can only reinforce most of the US is designed for car travel but with some research you'll be fine. Certainly avoid the city centre bus stations at night and Uber will be your friend too so get an account set up and ready to go.

Will hopefully be in Florida in Sept/Oct so if you are about then give me a message!

Cheers bud. Will do and will certainly get Uber set up. tyty

Enjoy your trip Chip

Greyhound bus, a dog of a way to travel.

On the plus side New Orleans is a fabulous city, I'd spend a day or two wandering around the downtown area if you're into blues and drinking, then they have those cafes overlooking the delta for coffee and beignets(little doughnuts)in the wee hours.