Los Angeles Travel Forum

Hi, my partner and self are flying into LAX from Australia (first time, YIPEE!)
We arrive at 7am(tues) on Qantas flight and then fly out at 11.45am to Kentucky with continental airlines. Wondering if anyone can suggest what to do for nearly five hours in between? Obviously we need to pass customs to begin and then make way to other terminal (which one, how far?). Should we just hang out or do you think possible to check in bags with Continental early and go for a walk or even short bus tour? Appreciate any info and cant wait to visit your fabulous country!! xxx

Sorry to tell you but I really don't think you'll have enough time to do much. The area around LAX is NOT a nice neighborhood - airport office buildings one direction and strip malls and girlie bars the other direction. You would need to go quite a ways before you got to anything worth seeing and at that time of day you're going to be facing rush hour traffic.

Check out this link http://www.lawa.org/welcomeLAX.aspx for info about the airport and which terminals you'll be using. Continental uses Terminal 6 and Qantas uses both Terminal 4 and the Tom Bradley Int'l Terminal. Depending on how much luggage you have, it shouldn't be too hard to just walk from one terminal to the next.

I would use the time to look around the airport - maybe pick up some See's Candies, look in the bookstores and get to your next gate.

Is there any chance you have more time between flights on the way back?

The web site for the airport(s) in Los Angeles: (www.lawa.org/welcomelax.aspx). You might wish to take a quick look to familiarize yourself with the layout. It always makes me a bit more comfortable ! There is a link that lists all the shopping, newstands, and restaurants. After that long a flight, I personally would be content to stay at the airport. Gary

When we flew home to Scotland from LAX a year ago we were very surprised to find that there was very very little 'airside' at the airport after passport control, all of the gate areas seem kind of compartmentalized such that they do not have the potential audience for larger retail or restauratn options. Best put in any time at the airport 'land side;.

Thank you SO much!! Cant believe your quick response! Must be very early over there!?! Late enough for a few chardonnays here! (8pm.ish) Without pushing boundries of friendship may i also ask your opinion of what you can suggest re our premade plans? Basically, my partner has an eighteen year old daughter doing school in Bardstown, Kentucky for the past 6 months until the end of this year and he is obviously missing her heaps!. I have booked flights from LAX with one stop in Houston (1hr50min wait) as seemed much cheaper than direct) to Louisville which arrives at 10.10pm, and have booked at holiday inn for hopefully a nice sleep! Then we plan(?!?!) to hire a car(get used to driving on wrong side of road!!),and then pick her up from Bardstown and spend a night with her host family and see the local sights, school etc, (yet to organise accom there!).. After that not much is sorted (well honestly, nothing!) We have ten nights to spend with her and are thinking of driving to Niagra falls, perhaps via Lexington for a night or two (we are avid horseriders) and following the map to the falls, after that daughter needs to be back in Bardstown by 4th july, so we thought maybe do a loop trip through Charlestown, Pittsburgh, Buffalo to the falls then back through Cleveland, Toledo to Chicago for 3 July(?) celebrations, we say goodbye to daughter there and have another 6 days:) Thought we might double dip and have 3rd july in Chicago then go to Las vegas for 4th july! From there really want to see monument valley and if possible ride and camp there a night before return to LA for late night flight home on the ninth. Sorry to put all this to you but bugger, its only three weeks away and last thing i want to do is be stuck with my partner and his 18yo daughter in some town with no idea of which direction to take next! xxx

Though you say you'll have almost five hours, the chances of that time being eaten up quickly, with the time it takes to land, taxi, get off the plane and get through US Customs is pretty sure. I'd suggest that you wouldn't have much more than enough time for a quick breakfast at the airport before it's time to board your next flight.

Your plans of travel from Kentucky, seems to me, a bit ambitious, unless you don't mind spending most of your time in the car. Especially that one day, 3-4 July, drive to Las Vegas. The drive itself is over two thousands miles and normally would take about four days driving between eight and ten hours a day.

Not far from Lexington is Cincinnati, OH, which is a lovely old river town you all might find interesting. There are some good restaurants (the city is known for its chili) and a lot of history. Pittsburgh is another great old river town with a funicular up to a terrific view of the city. Niagara is gorgeous but it is prettier from the Canadian side - not sure how that would work with you visiting from Oz, but it will most likely be okay.
Buffalo isn't that exciting but Cleveland is nice - rock and roll Hall of Fame is fun.
Chicago would be a great place to take in a ball game. Wrigley Field is one of the oldest ballparks in the country and a grand place to experience a baseball game if you never have before. And of course the food in Chicago is awesome.

Now I have to ask, are you flying to Vegas or driving? There's no way you could make it in one day from Chicago and besides, I really don't think the best place to experience the Fourth of July would be Vegas. Have you considered going the other direction and going to Washington, D.C.? Being in KY, you're really not that far. It would make a wonderful drive and there is no better place to be for the Fourth than in D.C.

If you went that direction from KY, after Pittsburgh, you could experience Hershey, PA and Amish country (talk about good food! Wow.) and then beyond that is Philly or Maryland and the bay...just some suggestions.

You could also consider going south out of KY and visting Memphis (again, food! as well as music and history...Tennessee is great) and then maybe onto New Orleans? A totally different kind of American experience - it really all depends on what you would like to see of the country. Going the route you've mentioned - bigger cities, more traffic. Going east - still going to have some traffic, esp. on the weekends but some slightly smaller cities and more countryside. Like the other poster mentioned though - either way you're going to spend a lot of time in the car.

And remember the weather. You will undoubtedly encounter rain, no matter which way you end up going. Be prepared. It rains a lot in the summer.

Email me if you have more questions. I love road trips and have done road trips all over those areas. I could give you some more detailed information.

Also, if you belong to the Australian Auto Club, you should definitely check into whether they have a deal with the American Auto Club (AAA) because you will be needing some maps!

Did you need the LAX link again ? For the touring part of your trip, I would start with a day of rest. You'll have just undertaken a huge time change. In Bardstown they have distillery tours and a small (Civil War era) historic district. There is a small railroad museum, (with short rail tours), in the area. For Lexington, you might wish to do a web search for "Lexington horse farm tours", or "Lexington riding stables". I 've been through the area many times, but never really have stopped. If you would rather do natural sites than cities you could head southwestward and visit the Mammoth Cave National Park, and maybe Nashville, for its music. You could then head eastward towards the Interstate 81/ Blue Ridge Parkway area. You could check to see if the Great Smoky Mountain National Park is of interest. From Lexington, you could also head directly southward down Interstate 75, and end up in roughly the same place. I would then head northward on the Blue Ridge Parway/ Interstate 81 to Charlottesville, Virginia. There are a lot of historic buildings, and several presidential homes in the area. Just to the west of Charlottesville you could travel through the Shenandoah National Park. At the northern end of the park you could head eastward again and visit the Loudon, Virginia area: (www.visitloudon.org), which is located in Virginia's horse and wine country. Washington D.C. is closeby. You could visit the monuments and the museums, (especially the Smithsonian Museums). I'm sure there would be plenty to do there on the 4th. Just head westward, back towards Bardstown from there. You probably won't wish to visit all these places, but it hopefully will give you some ideas. For me, most large cities are somewhat similar world-wide. The difference between countries lies in the areas between them. Gary

You could travel more of an easterly direction from Lexington to the Loudon and Washington D.C. areas first. That would give you more times in those areas. You could then loop back to Bardstown as far south as you wished. Gary

Two quick note on the lodging aspects of your trip. For the national parks, most, if not all, of the in-park lodging will already be reserved. The parks all have web sites so you can check though. Since the late June through July 4th is one of the country's heaviest vacation periods, you will want to have lodging reservations made prior to travelling for all your other stops as well. Gary

I would agree with the advice to head East. There will be traffic, but it is a far more condensed part of the US and would offer more to see with less flat, boring drives. Consider: NYC to Philadelphia is 2 hours and 15 minutes. Then, 1.5 to the Jersey Shore(Atlantic City, Cape May). You can then take the Ferry into Delaware and drive down The Chesapeake into the D.C. area.

Contrast this to say...I dunno...a 10 hour drive to Niagara? At least? With nothing to show for it except...Cleveland, maybe?

Drive through the Southern Appalachians will be gorgeous, as well.