North America Travel Forum

Is this possible at all? If it is doable, how do we do it? How much would it cost and how long will it take?

You can do this through Greyhound (www.greyhound.com). The Greyhound website offers several possibilities for this 2+ day trip by bus.

The fastest one is:
dep Edmonton 8:00 p.m., arr Vancouver 12:15 p.m. the next day (2.5 hour layover)
dep Vancouver 2:45 p.m. (day 2), arr Seattle 7 p.m. (day 2) (30 minute layover)
dep Seattle 7:30 p.m. (day 2), arr Sacramento 1:40 p.m. (day 3) (35 minute layover)
dep Sacramento 2:15 p.m. (day 3), arr LA 9:30 p.m. (day 3).
The undiscounted fare is listed for next week as $354 plus whatever taxes apply.

You could try to take the bus to Vancouver to catch an Amtrak bus, or to Seattle directly to catch the Amtrak train - from Seattle to LA is 35 hours in the train, so I don't know if it's any faster (the connections don't look good), but it's bound to be more comfortable...see www.amtrak.com

Bill

wow, thanks.

That many miles on a bus will literaly be a pain in the rear. I'd recommend Amtrak if you can.
If you are determined to save every possible dime by riding a bus, check out Megabus ( which has been offering some really low introductory rates recently ) or the Hostel International bus that runs from their Fort Mason hostel in SF to their hostel in Santa Monica ( a suburb of LA ).

You could probably fly for the same price as taking the bus and it would be a lot quicker. The only part of the trip that would be nice scenery would be from Edmonton to Vancouver as you get to travel through the Rockies. The trip from Vancouver down through Seattle to LA is nothing special or particularly memorable. Just lots of time on a big Freeway. You could maybe take a bus to Vancouver then fly to LA.

"...The trip from Vancouver down through Seattle to LA is nothing special or particularly memorable. Just lots of time on a big Freeway...."

It's nothing special IF you stick to I-5. But portions of the Pacific Coast Highway ( such as Big Sur ) are spectacular.

Thank you guys. It's more for the leisure than trying to save actually. I was thinking about something like spending a night each on three stops. Go around a little bit to see the place.

Okay, in that case then stops in any of Kelowna, Vancouver, Seattle and San Francisco would be good ideas in my opinion. Here's why:

Kelowna --> beautiful lakes, wineries and one of the warmer areas with temperatures consistently around 30 Celsius during the summer.

Vancouver --> great nature all around, beautiful city and very easy to get around the main attractions.

Seattle --> much of the same reasons as Vancouver, but different attractions such as Pike Place Market, Space Needle, much more.

San Fran --> lots of different cultures living within the city with a huge Chinatown, a big Italian district, etc. and of course Alcatraz, the piers, the cable cars, Golden Gate Bridge, etc. One of my favourite cities I've visited in North America.

Let us know if you want more information on anything.

Thank you for your help. :)