That's a tall order. I mean, without more input from you, it would be an impossible task to plan a good trip for you. Do you like the sea and bathing, and if so are sandy white sun bather speckled beaches your thing, or does bold, rocky senery-rich coastline strike your fancy. Are mountains, perhaps, your thing, instead? If mountains, rugged stark and majestic, or once jagged peaks, now gentled by the gnarled hands of age and time. Do you prefer cities, or rural settings? Do you do monuments and museums, or shun those things as stuffy and tiresome choosing nightlife and a party scene. Tell us.
Your planning to concor a great beast of a country -- meant in a good way <grin>. Your dealing with a land area much larger than all of europe and the british isles put together. Complicating matters further -- or making them more interesting depending on your perspective -- is the fact that the states has a more varied topography and climate than does europe. If your trip is a once-in-a-lifetime event therefore, I'd want you to tell us what you would like to do while you plan to be in the states. Also, and if anything more importantly, aproximately how much money are you prepaired to spend on food/lodging/events/transportation. Knowing these variables will help us to give you great suggestions. All that aside, here are some general, off the cuff, suggestions:
Check out our nation's capital on and about July 4th, our independence day. Special events and fireworks are sure to fill the air.
Sanfransisco is one of the greatest citys in the world, check it out! Wonderful food, living history, vibrent as a cathedral bell, and chilly and foggy to boot, even in July, so you'll feel right at home. <grin> (I don't live there, BTW, but I have visited San Fransisco once,; I was hooked.)
You of course, have to see New York City: tour Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, watch a broadway play, visit the empire state building the Bronx Zoo and/or Wall Street, eat a real bagel, tramp china town, or a path in central park durring the day. pee on the sidewalk . Do the New York thing.
Visit eather Yosemite or Yellow Stone. Their awesome.
Las Vegas, Its sin, and glitz, money, glitz, decadence, and money, and glitz, did I say glitz, and aptly enough hot as HE double hockey sticks, too.
The suggestions on the board from the Pacific NW, and the South FL are are wonderful, too. Take them up on their offers of help. If you like the outdoors, and wild things and nature, the pacific North West is the place to be. Hiking, rafting, you name it, if its an outdoor sport you love, you won't be disapointed.
If you visit Miami, go to Key West, too. Key West might be more than a day trip, though. Overnight.
Train and bus travel in the states quite frankly isn't nearly up to European standards. Don't even expect what you are used to. I'm not saying to be scared, I am saying you won't be impressed, in the least.
An organized overland motor coach tour may be an option for you for some of the trip.
If you rent a car, you'll of course have to get used to driving on the opisit side of the road. But, if you're over 25, which I know you are, it may be a good option, and can be cheaper than you might think. Consider rent-a-wreck. While our interstate mass transit systems may not be the world's best, our interstate highway system is quite good and easy to follow.
Don't forget Alaska and Hawaii, but if you plan to visit, don't plan to stay less than a week in eather location. A week is probibly way too minimalist, at that.
Hotels can be cheap and more than adaquit, or cheap and crummy as hell. Expect your own bath/shower, lav, and toilet in each hotel room, fresh soap, and shampoo/conditioner, plus towels and wash cloths changed dayly and linnons, more often these days, dayly upon request only. Most hotels will have cable/satellite television in room with phones which *sometimes have free local area phone calls. You'll usually also get a crappy AM/FM radio with alarm, iron and ironing board, hair dryer, and coffee maker with coffee. take n adapter for any electrical apliances. 120 volt alternating current in the states. Different wall plug than you are used to; you'll need an adapter. If you can arrange transportation, hotels farther out from city centers are always more economical.
I've got tuns more suggestions. Just ask and tell.
And if Cincinnati Ohio and surrounds are interesting to you. Drop us an E-mail, that's my wife Bobsgirl or me, and we'll be of any help we can.
