Coming to America...

[djproben]

Yeah man I'd say spend all your time in Cali if you can but I'm biased because I live here... In vegas I'd recommend saving some money and staying downtown near Fremont street; you can get into the 4 Queens or Golden Nugget or Gold Spike for well under 100/night and take a cab to the strip when you need it then escape to fremont street and take in more of the local scene. Plenty of amazing places to eat in vegas both on and off the strip. and the places you're going in Cali there are literally thousands of great places to eat. You can find fantastic southern food if that's your thing but if you're traveling the south anyway I'd check out the many other options california has to offer while you're here.

And if you're going through Louisiana definitely spend some time in New Orleans; that is one of the best cities in the world. Be sure to eat at Coop's and Cochon while you're there. And I can give you dozens of recommendations for food in LA and SF and Oakland if you narrow down what you're looking for; for food generally be sure to use yelp.com; people are fanatic about it so you will find reviews on just about everything.

For southern food in Los Angeles check out 504 in Hollywood (NOLA specific), any Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles, MPs in Noho, or Harold and Belle's. Or go to Animal for something more interesting but with all the cholesterol. Or check out some of the amazing ethnic food in LA from Korean BBQ to Thai noodle joints to Japanese izakayas to cajun crawfish and shrimp stands owned by Vietnamese, to Salvadoran, Ecuadoran, Peruvian, Costa Rican and of course Mexican Mexican Mexican. There is so much amazing food in LA I could eat out every day and never get through half of it, and it's such a mix of cultures that you get some great combinations (Korean taco trucks, Vietnamese burritos, etc.) And if you do any partying while you're here, you absolutely MUST have a bacon-wrapped hot dog from a street vendor. I'm a huge fan of sampling the street meat in any city I visit but I have yet to find anything that compares to this work of art. There's a reason it was voted the official hot dog of LA.

[JesC]

...you absolutely MUST have a bacon-wrapped hot dog from a street vendor. I'm a huge fan of sampling the street meat in any city I visit...

street tacos, danger dogs, and a tour of Silverlake (Hipster HQ) is a must! And In & Out

[oliosky]

Pastrami on Rye from Katzs Deli in NYC. I still dream about eating this over a year and a half later. True story.

[josh@firestorm]

Renting cars in USA is cheap. But beware the distances, they look short on map but take time when you are on the road, due to stopping, eating and otherwise maintaining the proper speed on highways. You could easily spend two weeks in California and just see a fraction of the place.

(not trying to be smart here, but..) im from australia mate, i transverse our vast country regularly every year - i know all there is to know about distance driving!

in october/november last year i clocked up over 12,000kms in 4 weekends for the supercross :P

[josh@firestorm]

in & out, roscoe's, and sampling the wares of the street meat vendors are all already high priority when we're in LA

as for staying in vegas, we got great deals on room on the strip at the cosmopolitan.... originally we were going to stay at the mgm grand (had a good deal there too) but we got better rooms & slightly cheaper at the cosmopolitan.

[Tha Gooch]

in & out, roscoe's, and sampling the wares of the street meat vendors are all already high priority when we're in LA
.

I'm not sure if the whole annoying/sometimes delicious food truck trend has spread outside the states but the guy who started it all Roi Choi has a few restaraunts worth checking out.

http://aframela.com/new/
http://eatchego.com/

I haven't been to A-Frame yet but Chego's is good. The social atmosphere is cool and they don't serve alchohol but let you bring in whatever you want from the liquor store next door. Last time I went we shared a bottle of tequilla with strangers and had a great meal while listening to N.W.A. From what I remember, it was memerable.

[ksandvik]

(not trying to be smart here, but..) im from australia mate, i transverse our vast country regularly every year - i know all there is to know about distance driving!

in october/november last year i clocked up over 12,000kms in 4 weekends for the supercross :P

I used to live in Australia so I know of the vast distances on two continents. Europe is puny compared with Australia or USA.

BTW, here's a bike report I wrote today about a trip over the Sierras in case someone gets inspired to look at California outside San Fran/LA: http://www.pashnit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31812

[guiltyblade]

I thought this was gonna be about the movie.....

[JesC]

PBR's at the Cave, hipster mission was complete.

[KS2]

In Vegas there's obviously a ridiculous amount of clubs and restaurants. As for clubs, XS in Encore has been voted one of the top 10 in the world and was the most expensive to kit out so you may as well go while you're there. Get there early and it'll be $30 to get in (standard price for most Vegas clubs), get there late and it might be $100. Try the $10,000 cocktail (with FREE diamond necklace) if you fancy it. One of our favourites was Ghost Bar in the Palms too. It has a balcony dancefloor that is 55 storeys up and looks over towards the strip.

In LA Avalon in Hollywood always has big house names on. I'd check out Griffith Park Observatory too, it's in the hills and has views over all of LA and you can see the Hollywood sign from there. Worth a visit.

I know you didn't really want club recommendations, but that's mainly what you'll do in Vegas I hope and we didn't do much else in LA!

So true. We drove around the US original time planed was 2 months. We ended up staying for 4 months Best holiday I've ever had though

How much did this cost all in all if you don't mind me asking? Wouldn't mind doing something like that! Did you rent an RV or something or rent a car and live in motels?