March. America from Almaty. New York-San Francisco-Los Angeles-Las Vegas-Miami Cruise-N
America is a country of queues. There were no queues except for the toilets. Thankfully there are a lot of them. Therefore, tune in to queues, significant expenses, a trip to the 80s and 90s. The country is certainly special and to visit there is the highlight of an independent tourist. We didn’t take a car, we didn’t travel along super-special routes with canyons. Comfortable, solid, not cheap, but without luxury spending.
I planned the entire trip myself. Many said that "mission impossible". They said that it is necessary to choose one coast. But...
I did not want to fly for a long time. But since the road is long, I decided at once to turn around.
1. Tickets: from Almaty via Frankfurt by Lufthansa. Better probably through Amsterdam. The quality of Lufthansa is too exaggerated. It is more logical to take it back from a city other than the flight in, but for our own reasons we took New York.
2. Domestic flights - this took the most time in preparation. Buy early as it will be much cheaper.
Only American flies from Las Vegas to Miami. The planes are normal, the stewardesses are adults, everything is adequate, nothing really terrible, as some people write, is not noticed. So you can safely buy on their sites, pay with a card, I paid with a visa.
3. Airports: when you check in your luggage, scan your ticket at the machines, pay with the same card for each luggage, check it in. Things are very well inspected without you, suitcases are opened if there are more than three liquids, as they explained to us later. In short, do not put anything that may interest them: a children's thermos, a clipper, bottles of shampoo and gel, and the fool knows what else. After the next opening of the suitcases, they put notes on us saying that they were supposed to carry different liquids. We scored...Although they swarm around in "dirty shorts" neatly.
4. I chose different hotels: New York Hilton Garden Inn - upon arrival, the reservation for a hundred dollars a day was more expensive than at the return stop. Why?
The earlier you book, the cheaper. Start making reservations from the first hotels along the route. Take this hotel if the price is low, but it's not worth it. Although the number as written they were given a good, quick check in and out. On the return night they gave a smaller room. in general, as a backup option, keep in mind. Look for a hotel as close to Times Square as possible. There are better ones out there for the price. There were 4 nights, not enough because of the weather, there was snow and one day fell out. You need 5 days or move very actively. It was cold in mid-March, a jacket with a synthetic winterizer with a hood and warm shoes are a must. Right next to the Macy's hotel. Delicious at the Red Lobster restaurant. Food by weight can be taken in grocery stores. He is a city and a city in Africa, you will orient yourself.
5. San Francisco-hotel Argonaut. Yes Yes Yes. You can safely take a number there. On the embankment, next to Big Bus stop. By the way, they took it everywhere and used a two-day ticket as a taxi.
If you have a ticket from another city, they give a discount of five dollars and tickets to Tussauds and so on. The embankment is better than the city. Eat crabs for health! The city is very beautiful, very nice. 4 nights is ok.
6 Los Angeles: The Hollywood Hollywood Hotel Well located and highly recommended. Right next to the avenue of stars and partying. Universal is better two days. One seemed a little too small. 4 nights is ok. The room was huge, like an apartment. If you want a big one take the pool view.
7. Las Vegas - specially took two hotels Venice and Bellagio for two nights. I liked it in Venice, you can take it, but you don’t need a room without a view, the room is large, I liked it very much. Bellagio - room with fountain view. The room is smaller, but I liked the view from the fountain. We took tickets at the Winn Hotel on Ca Riva and Bellagio on O. Be sure to go.
Tickets in hotels are sold at the box office of the theater, they are not cheap, you can choose a seat, tickets are sold quickly, we had to take two to nine and eleven on the same day. I highly recommend going. Since we did not take breakfast when booking, we ate how and where to please. In Bellagio Noodles Restaurant, Buffet Caesar can safely recommend. Bellagio's buffet is not worth it. I liked the Caesar Hotel - you can probably stay there without disappointment.
8. Miami: the Bentley Hotel on Ocean Drive, a huge room cost as much as a simple one and, as the Americans say, we "had" three bedrooms, a kitchen, two balconies, a bunch of dressing rooms, two bathrooms and rested like Lilliputians in the country of Gullivers. In general, this number is for three couples. The hotel is in a panty place, I liked it.
9. Cruise from the Port of Miami. Called the "Bahamas". Yes, Bahamian is not the right word. 4 nights. Bought tickets online for a cruise. com.
At first, the PCR payment did not go through, since the bank does not allow withdrawing more than a certain amount at a time on the card. You need to call the bank and remove the restriction. Then the surcharge passed, but I had to call their operator again and confirm the reservation. Along the way, explaining that Kazakhstan is not like Mongolia. In general, getting tickets for any cruise and duration is not a problem. There are liners with a Disney theme, there are for 3.4, 5.7, 14 days and the routes are different. But with a narrow search for dates, I chose only one, 4 nights, route with Key West and Cozumel. I wanted to see, well, I looked at such a cruise. In short: for the lover and lover of the rich. For the general development float, it is necessary. Detailed reviews are available online. Nuances: I took the upper level, with a balcony, as much as possible a cabin. In fact, the cabin is very small, it's scary to imagine how smaller they have. They write on the site and warn that a boat can hang in front of the balcony, we were lucky the view was open.
Take closer to the nose, but not guaranteed. Shakes strongly at night, there was a heavy downpour and a thunderstorm, around a ton of water and scary. Key West for a few hours stop, troll tour can be taken. It is necessary to return on time to the ship, they told terrible stories about late tourists. We managed to skimp in the sea water, but we must move at the pace of the waltz. Cozumel a few more hours, I do not know how anyone spent time there. But if you dare to go, then immediately catch a taxi for $ 8 to the Barakkud hotel, go to their beach, buy a drink from them and you can swim. The beach is not great, but better than nothing. Then walk from the hotel towards the embankment, and there the square and the shopping street. Beautiful beaches are on the other side and there is no time to go to two places as they explained to us. There will be no Internet and mobile communications on the liner, or rather, the Internet can be bought for mega money, so you will not have a connection.
The Internet catches on Key West Square, for example, in Barakkud, that is, on land, and even then not everywhere. In general, if you want impressions, go for it, but the route seemed to me not very good in terms of landing points. Maybe you can choose better. And so cool.
10. Miami Hotel Trump International, excellent. Beach, pools, level, sea view, only weather in early April with rain. The first hotel in America where slippers were given ...There was also a washing machine. But now you will be surprised, plus also a dryer ...The hotel is very pleasant, no longer Ocean, calmer.
A lot of information, as I believe, which would be useful and which I could write, but ...Time, memory, all sorts of little things. It took me about three weeks to form the tour. I really do not want someone to waste their precious time on what I have already found. If time is short, you can safely take these hotels. None of them disappointed and the most important thing about them is the location, this is the main reason for choosing them.
Just take it in advance, it's much cheaper.
Regarding traveling with children: everything is fine, we were with a child of 5 years old. The toilets are clean, the food is adequate, a lot of Faust food, but the "other" is also there.
Regarding the language: the initial level is necessary, but you can also survive without it. On the liner they said that they were seeing a Kazakh passport for the first time and were surprised at our level of language. On the liner at the "reception" there was a Russian-speaking employee and she explained a lot to us of what is impossible to understand in any language. Therefore, not knowing the language should not be an obstacle for you.
Taxi drivers (the spelling gave out the tankers, funny ... ) came across Russian-speaking. Therefore, carefully express yourself in a taxi. And then we had an awkward joke.
Purchases: some of our stupid ones came out, so I advise you later: figurines of Lady Liberty are small, win-win souvenirs, a gift, if you peel off made in china.
There are all kinds of clothes and different things, you can not take a lot of things if you are sure that you don’t feel sorry for the effort and time to buy regular socks. We had two extremes: my husband took only underpants, "I'll buy everything there" principle did not work. I took the maximum clothes for the child as adequately fit - it wasn’t enough, they bought what they found, what they didn’t - they washed. In general, you won’t guess one fig. Spring, there is spring, plus as you move along the route, the climate changed from cold to warm. By the way, the concentration of "strange" personalities on the streets also changed in direct proportion to the increase in air temperature. Reaching the maximum in Miami. In short, when shopping, look at what you take and, most importantly, why, and in euphoria you can buy something that will have nowhere to wear, except to the country. Although I bought a couple of successful clothes, there were also wastes. I wish you to spend money wisely and successfully!
The flight back via Frankfurt was difficult.
Since the arrival was the same day, we transferred the flight there normally, but the return trip stretched from the 7th to the 10th. In Frankfurt, you can sleep on folding beds at the airport, if you suddenly need it. We were very tired on the way back. If you have the opportunity, it is better to take a stop in the city, at a hotel between two flights, each 8 hours plus connection time. Lufthansa planes are terribly cold, sweatshirts are a must!
I wish you a pleasant journey! Of course, there is a lot of small information, but the main thing is that tickets and hotels are cheaper to take, and the rest will follow! Good luck!
The main thing is bolder, book everything yourself, you can on the booking sites or the sites of the hotels themselves. As tour agencies offer, everything will cost much, much more and the route will of course be completely different. Such a route is even afraid to guess how much it will cost for tour companies. And you yourself will take what you want for a reasonable price!