Tally The Trip

What to do in Los Angeles in 1 day on a budget? This was our conundrum when we had one day on our hands in LA. We arrived late in the evening yesterday and fly out early tomorrow morning. Do we go on a tour bus? Do we head for the city or go see the sights? We had just come from Las Vegas and had had enough of the crowded tourist attractions. We decided that since we still had the rental car for this day until 6pm that we would make the most of it. We chose to go on a drive through Hills and check out Malibu Beach. We travelled in December 2024, so after the first smaller fires but before the large fires. The Commons Shopping Center at Calabasas We were on the hunt for fancy cars and Calabasas did not disappoint! I'm sure the teenagers phone is full of photos but I was driving so missed the cars. We had a good look around the shopping center. Went into Ralphs (a supermarket) and bought some snacks for in the car. They had the most delicious bakery corner in the store, so we came ou...

Great stops between Las Vegas and Los Angeles Buffalo Bill's Casino - Primm, Nevada Buffalo Bill's Casino - Primm, Nevada Our first stop was Buffalo Bill's Casino in Primm, Nevada. Primm is one of those tiny places that just pops a huge casino out of nowhere. You are driving along through nothingness, then boom out of nowhere a huge casino! No town surrounding it, just three (?) massive casino resorts. I looked up the population and it is around the 700 people mark. I guess they all work at one of the casinos or resorts. The carpark was full of these dune buggy style vehicles, music and people hanging out. There was race meet, very awesome for the young petrol head to see.

 Las Vegas Baby! The glitz the glam and the extortionate price tags, I will share it all with you! What a huge contrast after travelling through three national parks in three days . We had a hotel booked but a few days before changed our minds and decided to splurge and have the real Las Vegas experience. We chose the Flamingo, right on the strip, the mafia history and the authentic old school Las Vegas experience.   View of Caesar's Palace from our room at the Flamingo, Las Vegas The arrival was a little complicated as we really didn't know where to park or what to do. I dropped off half the family at the back entrance and drove half a block away to the nearest place I could park and waited for them to check in and give us the instructions. The check in was a kiosk, but they got there in the end! 

To visit three National Parks in Three days is a big task! Longer to explore would've been ideal but given our tight time frame and winter weather conditions, three days is what we had. We planned our route to make the most of our time, so that we were seeing sights while still covering some travel distance.  The first thing you will need to do is buy an America The Beautiful Pass. This link will take you to the page that helps you plan and decide the best pass for you . For three parks in three days the Annual Pass was the best value for us. We are a family of four, Mum, Dad and two teenagers. The fact that they are teenagers means we often have to pay for for adult entries to any attraction as family passes are for younger children. You can buy your annual pass at the entrance to the park. 

 Family Road Trip from Tucson to The Grand Canyon Bass Pro Shops - Phoenix, Arizona After a fairly early start, well as early as we could get two teenagers moving without a death wish! We made our way to Phoenix Arizona. With the most exiting of all stops for our two keen fisherman. What an experience a Bass Pro store is!

Family Road Trip San Diego to Tucson and Tombstone Arizona After spending a busy two days in San Diego it was time to hit the road and head for Tucson Arizona. This is the part of the trip my family was the most excited about. We have a western book reading, cowboy and history fiend among us. So naturally Tombstone, Arizona had made the must visit list. GMC Terrain Rental Car - Kumeyaay Highway  This was going to be our biggest drive day of the entire 14 day road trip, with a drive time of 5 hours and 56 minutes. According to google maps of course. It took us a fair bit longer with stops along the way.

Hidden Costs of a USA Family Road Trip There are so many hidden costs I was not expecting on this road trip. The major one was the rental car but there were many other small ones that added up. So here we go! Rental Cars Our Rental Car - GMC Terrain - Kanab, Utah Hiring a rental car is a big chunk of your budget, right up there with accommodation. But the freedom of having your own car is well worth the cost. Unless you are basing yourself in a large city where public transport is readily available, you will need one in the USA. I did look into trains but there is not much available yet.

 Family two day trip to San Diego - Activities and Costs After recuperating from our long haul flight in Palm Springs  for 2 nights, we headed south to San Diego. Instead of taking the interstate we took the scenic route and drove through the Santa Rosa and Santa Jacinto mountains. We are so glad we did! The views were stunning and the road was nice and quiet. We stopped in a little town called Julian for a drink. The teenagers were introduced to the fountain machine and came out with a huge Coca Cola each for US$1.99. Coronado Bridge from the deck of the USS Midway Museum

 How to save money on a family USA road trip on food The full details, including a map of our trip and a list of more detailed posts can be found on the main post for the road trip section of our trip. We learned a few things on our 2 week road trip, of the western side of the USA. It started with a eye watering supermarket visit in Palm Springs which had us doubting if we could afford the rest of the trip at all! But thankfully we learned a lot along the way. Groceries The first supermarket we visited was Albertson's in Palm Springs. Sadly the exchange rate is not really in New Zealand's favour the bulk of the time. Our New Zealand Dollar was at the time worth about US$0.58. So we were looking at prices and doubling them to estimate how many NZ$ the item cost. We bought a few staples, buns, a rotisserie chicken, bag of salad, a six pack of beer, milk, instant coffee, cereal and a couple of small treats. This came to NZ$140.97 (US$81.76 / €76.12). Now we normally spend around...

Two nights in Palm Springs for a family of four  After our 12 hour flight from Auckland, New Zealand, we landed in Los Angeles (LAX) at 6:00am. Rather than pay for an extra night accommodation to be able to check in to a motel so early, we decided to get the rental car and get on the road. We chose Palm Springs for the warmer weather, even in winter and the short 2 hour drive. This is the first leg of our 14 day - two week USA road trip.   This link will take you to the main post with all the links to the rest of the trip. As I write them! Beautiful blue skies and of course palm trees - Palm Springs December 2024

Welcome to the first leg of our epic 6 week family holiday in the USA and Europe. This is the main page for our... Two Week USA Road Trip for a Family  Landing in Los Angeles after what seemed like an eternity ... 12 hours and 10 minutes. New Zealand sure is far away from everywhere!

Welcome to Tally the Trip! I will be sharing all the details (and COSTS) of our 6 week USA & Europe family holiday. We live in New Zealand, so I have all the costs in NZ$, but I will use an estimated conversion from the time to show both US Dollars and Euros. We travelled from the 1st of December 2024 to the 19th of January 2025. So all costs are from within that time period. Home - Auckland (Air New Zealand de Havilland Q300)