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The Route

USA Map

Due to a number of reasons we only spent 15 days in the USA. As this wasn't alot of time, and the United States is a huge country, we decided to concentrate on a smallish area and take a bit of a whizz-bang tour.

We bought a very reasonably priced 'Far West' Rail pass to get around, which covered the area we wanted and more. The extensive Amtrak rail network is fast, comfortable and efficient.

Our itinerary may seem as though we rushed around (which is true) and as though we didn't see much (which is false). This part of our trip had always been intended as a 'reconnaissance trip'. The plan was to have a quick glimpse at as much as we could (within reason) with the intention to return later to look more thoroughly at the places we liked.

We also made heavy use of the sleeper trains. This gave us more time to see places during our working hours, and travel the long stretches while sleeping - perfect!

The itinerary was as follows:
From... To... Date
LONDON (UK) Los Angeles (1) 1/11/01
Los Angeles (1) Grand Canyon (3) [via Williams (2)] 3/11/01 (night journey)
Grand Canyon (3) Las Vegas (6) [via Williams (4) & Needles (5)] 5/11/01 (night journey)
Las Vegas (6) Bakersfield (8) [via Needles (7)] 7/11/01 (night journey)
Bakersfield (8) San Francisco (9) 8/11/01 (night journey)
San Francisco (9) San Jose (10) 11/11/01 (night journey)
San Jose (10) Santa Barbara (11) 12/11/01 (night journey)
Santa Barbara (11) Los Angeles (12) 14/11/01 (night journey)
Los Angeles (12) AUCKLAND (NEW ZEALAND) 15/11/01



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