Vancouver Travel Forum

My finace and I are still in the early stages of planning a trip to the USA for January. We had hoped to include Wyoming and other surrounding states but we are not used to driving in snow, etc (Queensland, Australia doesn't give us snow very often at all!!!) we have decided against plan A. So, I was wondering if anyone could suggest any itineraries maybe including Vancouver, Calgary, Western Washington and Western Oregon? They need not be self drive IF there is some sort of bus/train/etc that will allow us to see some of the rural areas/tourist attractions. We ideally would like to fly into Vancouver and out of LAX (I need my Disney fix before returning home.)

Or can anyone suggest any other states that would be more suitable in January. We are keen to stick more to the West side as costs and time adds up once we head east. Are internal flights a cheap option?

Thanks in advance for your ideas.

I hope you find my comments helpful though possibly not exactly what you wanted to know. I too am Australian and have been to America a few times, the first was bout 25 years ago when we took our then young daughters, we had been skiing in NSW a number of times but you can't compare our snow conditions to those in the US, our's is but a patch. We were there in December/Janury and hired a car, the driving is very easy and I would Imagine Canada would have similar conditions, actually I will be in Vancouver, Calgary and Banff in a few weeks.
Anyway we did a lot of driving, 2 days covering a lot of miles, the roads are really well maintained. You get to stop when and where you want and I feel see a lot more. Don't let the thought of driving in snow areas. I hope I have given you food for thought.

Coming in winter is a poor idea-apart from ski hills almost everything will be closed.

If it's Disney you want fly to LAX have a visit then head south into Mexico-a fabulous fascinating place with all sorts of variety, ambrosial food and kind welcoming people.

Unfortunately, January is not a great month to visit the Pacific Northwest, as it will be cold and misty-rainy. The Canadian Rockies and American Cascades will have plenty of snow and skiing, but that is not your interest. I would suggest that you either change your dates to about May/June/July or all of our summer for the NW, or, if you have to go in January, and don't want winter sports and some rain, go somewhere else, such as southern California or Mexico. Hawaii might also be a good option for you. Good luck in your planning!

I did a roadtrip from Sacramento to Seattle and back in January a couple years ago. On the way north we went through the central parts of the states through Bend, Oregon. The roads were quite icy and pretty scary. On the way home we took the coast and it was very windy and rainy. As mentioned before, a lot of the attractions were closed. I know you said you wanted to stay away from the east side, but the weather on the California coast down near Big Sur can be very nice that time of year. From there (or San Francisco), it wouldn't be too long taking the coastal route to Disneyland depending on how much time you have. Alternatively, check out Amtrak for some train routes. Amtrak Cascades goes from Vancouver to Eugene, OR. From there you could take the Coast Starlight down to LA. This will cost you a little over $100, but is usually slower than driving.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Unfortunately it is looking like we might be better to leave that particular trip until we can get over in a sunnier time.

We have had a complete change and we are now thinking about maybe putting some time into Texas! Bit of a change but hopefully might suit us better. I am now looking at options from going between LA and Texas (not sure which are the best areas). I am looking into Amtrak and also flights. May do one way of each.

Thanks again for everyone's time.