Once you decided to travel to the US and saved enough money for this, it’s time to plan this trip of the lifetime thoroughly. Tourists from other continents usually spend at least 2-3 weeks traveling in the US. This country is enormous and offers a lot so no time should be wasted. Here you will find a full itinerary of our trip to the US that took 3 weeks.
First days in the US: NYC
We flew from Amsterdam to NY and decided to dedicate 3 full days to the Big Apple. We picked a strategically perfect place in Manhattan to stay. Unfortunately, due to the time difference and enormous heat, I felt extremely grumpy and tired all the time so memories from NY aren’t the most vivid ones.
While staying in NY we visited most of the top places: the rooftop of the Rockefeller Center (tickets were booked in advance), Wall Street Bull, Times square (I still don’t understand what’s so special about it), the 9/11 memorial, Central Park that smelled like urine. We couldn’t get tickets to the Statue of Liberty so we resolved this problem in a very economic way. We took the free Staten Island Ferry and the boat passed close to the Statue. At least close enough to snap some nice shots.
The biggest fail was our decision to visit The Met Cloisters museum that specializes in European Medieval art and architecture. To begin with, it was in a remote area of Manhattan and it took so long to get there. Secondly, we came from Europe to see some European art in NY, seriously? I was not impressed at all, especially after visiting tens of different Medieval castles and museums in Europe. Don’t get me wrong: this museum is an amazing place for Americans to get to know more about European Medieval times. However, as being from Europe myself I did not see or learn anything new there.
Overall, my thoughts about NY probably seem a bit negative, but there was one thing that I really loved: food. I ate the best salmon bagel there, I ate some mega kosher meat sandwich, NY pizza with enormous quantities of cheese… Yes, food definitely left the best impression.
Next stop: Boston
And then we came to Boston. I had no expectations about this place so maybe this is why I fell in love with it. Everything I knew about Boston is that it hosts top-tier universities and is a relatively old city (by American standards).
We walked a lot in Boston – on our own and with a free walking tour guide. Since it is an old American city it has something similar to a European old town. Especially where the Boston Tea Party took place. Boston also has beautiful parks where you can interact with super brave squirrels. Faneuil Hall Marketplace is a perfect place to get some Boston chowda or any other delicious street food.
The highlight of our time in Boston was a Red Sox baseball game in Fenway Park. Keep in mind that I knew nothing about baseball and I still enjoyed watching it. The feeling of unity of all Red Sox fans, chanting and supporting their team was something to admire even if you’re not a fan of this game.
From Boston to Baltimore: family time
And here came the time to introduce myself to my in-laws. They lived right next to Baltimore, so we took a flight there. Since I don’t think it would be super useful for all of you to read about our family time and what meals we ate, I will suggest to you that from there it was fairly easy to reach Washington D.C., and this is what we did.
After our 3 days of quality time with Tyler’s family, we took a train to Washington D.C. As devoted tourists, we visited the holy trinity of touristy places: Lincoln Memorial, US Capitol, and The White House. We also stopped by the National Archives to see the original Declaration of Independence, as well as the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights. We ended our day trip to Washington D.C. by visiting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Keep in mind that entrances, in most of the museums in Washington D.C. are FREE.
A quick stop in Indianapolis
That was a really quick stop because we didn’t even visit the city itself and went straight to the Indianapolis speedway. It was built in 1909 and it is the largest sports venue in the world. Since I’m quite a motor race enthusiast, definitely more than baseball, I really enjoyed my time there. The only problem was that we did not have good earmuffs for noise isolation. So if you end up going there, make sure you have quality ear protection.
Las Vegas – here we come
To be honest, from here on, started the best part of our trip. I literally loved most of it. We flew to Las Vegas and took an Uber to get to the Belagio hotel. After checking in there we took a walk down the Boulevard. Even if you’re a minimalist like me and against gambling like me, all these lights, kitsch, movement, freedom can’t leave you indifferent. Yes, even I did gamble there a little bit just for sake of a full Las Vegas experience.
The next day we kept exploring Vegas, visiting all kinds of stores and admiring dancing fountains from our hotel window. I really loved Fremont Street at night with all of its lights and a mass of people. Overall Las Vegas left an unforgettable impression, and I would gladly go back there just to have more fun.
From Grand Canyon to Yosemite National Park
The next day we rented a shiny yellow Mustang and set off. We knew that from now on there will be a lot of driving and we left Las Vegas in the early morning. On the way out we took a photo near the welcome sign. Better late than ever.
The Grand Canyon was our main destination on that day. It takes about 4 hours from Las Vegas to get there. We arrived at the South Rim just before noon and I was pleasantly surprised that there were no masses of people. Since we did not take any tour there (you can go to the bottom of the Grand Canyon or take a helicopter ride above it – your choice) it didn’t take much time to admire this nature’s miracle. We took some awesome photographs and headed to our next stop – Sequoia National Park.
It is a 10-hour continuous drive from the Grand Canyon to Sequoia National Park. This segment, of our road trip, was the longest and most challenging. Luckily, we reached our Airbnb exhausted right after midnight. If I would need to do this again, I would definitely divide this long drive into two days.
The next morning we woke up early because there were two things on our list – General Sherman Tree in the Sequoia National Park and Yosemite National Park. For those who do not know what General Sherman Tree is famous for, let me enlighten you. It’s the largest known living single-stem tree by volume on Earth. Here are some numbers. Height above the base is almost 84 meters, maximum diameter at the base is about 11 meters. You can see that it is a really big guy. Overall, I enjoyed the Sequoia National park since I’m a nature lover. It’s a peaceful place suitable for long easy walks.
More than 3 hours away from our last visited place there is Yosemite National Park. It’s an endless wilderness with its giant mountains, cliffs, clear rivers, waterfalls, and meadows. Our plan was a no-plan. We decided just to drive around this park and stop at the places to take pictures or just to sit quietly trying to embrace all the beauty around us. For those who would like to spend more time there: you can take multiple guided tours, go fishing, hiking, biking, and even gold panning. Unfortunately, our schedule was way too tight for all these activities. Oh well, maybe that means we should go back there one day. I wouldn’t mind at all.
San Francisco and Los Angeles
After two days of nature exploring, we finally reached San Francisco. I will remember this place forever because I never thought it might get so cold in the middle of July. Everywhere else, I walked in shorts and a t-shirt. There, in San Fran, I needed to buy a hoodie. No kidding. Apparently, some cold Arctic streams came there and caused an extreme cold and fog.
On our first day, we did not want to think too much and just took a hop-on-hop-off bus tour. We started our tour from Pier 39 and traveled all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge (North Vista Point). Even though there were about 16 stops on our route we did not hop-off to check out all of them. We stopped at Haight Ashbury neighborhood, Alamo Square, Civic Center, Lombard street (the famous crooked street in SF), and Chinatown. In Chinatown, we had an interesting conversation with a gentleman who actually knew where Lithuania is, and he also told me that Genghis Khan’s blood runs throw my veins since I have high cheekbones. I’m still not sure if it was a compliment or not.
The next day was dedicated to Alcatraz and a self-guided tour in an ex-federal prison. We took a ferry operated by Alcatraz Cruises from Pier 33 and in less than 15 minutes we were on the island. We booked our tour in advance, so in no time we received our headphones and an audio guide. Even though our tourist group was numerous, the jail was big enough not to stand shoulder to shoulder with the other visitors. In the evening, we walked more around Chinatown looking for a traditional baked duck.
The next day we drove to the City of Angels, on the way there stopping at Malibu beach. I wanted to immerse my feet in the Pacific ocean for the first time in my life. Not that I was expecting some mindblowing experience but it had more of a symbolic meaning for me. To be completely honest, I’ve seen much more beautiful beaches in Europe.
Los Angeles, the only city in the US, brought me zero emotions. Yes, we did visit Hollywood hills and I saw THAT sign. We walked down the Hollywood Star Alley, I took a picture near the handprints of one of my favorite actors Morgan Freeman. But that’s about it. I don’t understand why (if?) this place is so special. Well, maybe if you’re an actor or producer. There’s not much to see for history and nature lovers like me. I’m glad we spent just one day, and I didn’t see all these homeless shelters right outside LA.
On our last day in California, we decided to make a quick stop at Death Valley on the way back to the airport in Las Vegas. We debated this until the last minute because we were short on time. However, in the end, we decided – let’s go. We entered Death Valley and I was amazed by this endless desert and one of the hottest places on our planet.
We decided to visit Badwater Basin known as the lowest point in North America (86 m below sea level). But before we needed to feed our yellow beast. And there was no gas station in sight. According to Google, there was one gas station about 20 miles away. Tyler reduced AC for fuel-saving and we headed there. After awhile our car got hot as an oven because the outside temperature was about 50 degrees Celsius! Luckily we reached that tiny gas station in the middle of nowhere just to learn that they have a power outage and we need to wait until someone will come to fix it. We were stuck there for at least half an hour. Knowing how much we needed every spare minute even a half an hour was too much to waste. In the end, we got our gas tank filled and headed towards Badwater Basin.
The most stunning thing about this place is that it actually has water. Very salty, undrinkable but still water. And there are even some plants and animals in such a hostile environment. We got out of the car to take some pictures and the temperature was just too high to stay outside for more than 5 minutes. Our planet is a wonderful place.
We had another two-hour journey, in order to reach the airport just on time. We lost that half an hour in the gas station so now we needed to drive a little bit over the speed limit. It was just a straight road in the middle of a desert. What possibly can go wrong? Well, the police officer can stand on the side of the road and stop us for speeding. This is exactly what happened. Fortunately, a police officer was in a good mood and listened to our explanation that we’re late for our flight. We got a 40 dollars fine for an incorrect residency address on the driver’s license instead of 400 dollars for speeding. We considered ourselves extremely lucky at that point. And also we reached the airport just on time.
The USA in 3 weeks in a nutshell
Our trip in the US was approximately 3 weeks long (family time near Baltimore included). My top 3 visited places are Yosemite National Park, Death Valley, and the Grand Canyon. My favorite cities were Boston and San Francisco. The biggest disappointment – Los Angeles. The states we crossed: New York, Maryland, Ohio, Kentucky, California, Nevada, and Arizona.
