Hi all
Trying to price-up a holiday to America next Sept/Oct that I can try and tempt some of our group with.

Budget holiday staying motels/lodges/pods/etc
Hire car
Taking own bikes I assume
10 days or 2 weeks.

Can’t see flight prices for more than a year ahead, but judging by current prices should be around £700 including bikes.

We tend to eat and drink a fair bit, so that has to be factored in.

What should we budget per person?

Eating and drinking can be as cheap or expensive as you like.

Eating out is generally cheap at the low end (you could get away with $50 per person per day easily) good food from a supermarket is generally expensive (decent bread is $4-5).

Make sure you have *good* insurance and it covers you for mountain biking, and includes helicopter rescue etc. You really don’t want to be paying US medical bills.

Yep – I use Endsleigh Sports ‘Category 1’ which I think is good enough.
it’s showing as £107 though which is double my last holiday!

Don’t leave Moab too quickly.. there’s tons to do 🙂

People must have done similar and costed it – anyone want to share?

We went in October 2-3 years ago, flying into Denver, then hiring an RV an driving to Moab via Fruita. Be careful at the end of October, as we had snow in the Rockies on our way back, and quite a lot of campsites had closed. We went for this bike festival http://moabhodown.com/ which was very cool, and a good way to meet the locals. In Fruita go to Ver the Edge bike shop- great info on trail conditions and guidebooks. We were surprised at the cost of food in supermarkets ($4.50 for a small packet of mushrooms) so we ended up eating out most of the time. Hot Tomato Pizza in Fruita is a must! We flew BA to get the international baggage allowance, Flights were about £600, RV rental about £800 including fuel and winterising.

Did 4 days in moab last year.
Few things with the usd and a few other things fuel isn’t as cheap as the myths, if your doing distance then get economic cars or maybe a van and people carrier.
Uplift is good and easy can be booked in advance for stuff like the whole enchilada.
Even in October I was feeling the heat on slick rock at 9am,there are also a lot better trails out there (though everyone does it at least once just because) there were plenty of motels but check for an early Oct public holiday that filled up town when I was there.
Also keep an eye out mid August for the rampage tickets a days drive but worth it.
Also consider Park city if the lifts are still running, fly to slc, 1hr drive to park and an imba gold rated trail head.

If things go well I might be back out there again next year. Will pop some pics and vids up shortly

Quick extra bit
Think I colliaded with Columbus day last time
http://www.discovermoab.com/calendar.htm
Outerbike looks fun too but will make it busy – but probably good busy.
Also for budgeting make sure you check
http://www.taxrates.com/state-rates/
The more touristy the higher the added taxes can be and will not be quoted on most ads/quotes http://www.taxrates.com/state-rates/utah/cities/moab/
There are also fee’s for entering Slick Rock and places like Arches (well all NP’s)
[video]http://vimeo.com/150755816[/video]
[video]http://vimeo.com/150641227[/video]

[video]http://vimeo.com/150631581[/video]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/A1f5PK]IMG_4656[/url] by Mike Smith, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/A1fFSk]IMG_3631[/url] by Mike Smith, on Flickr

fuel isn’t as cheap as the myths

Fuel in Denver right now is $2.19 a gallon. You can easily eat out and drink out well for $50 a night. Find a hotel with breakfast included which will make a big impact on the amount of money you need a day. Drink at altitude get pissed quicker. Downtown Grand Junction is nice for a night. The Hampton Inn is relatively affordable and you could have a two queen bed room with a sofa bed for around $130 depending on what’s happening in town when you plan to be there.

Cheap hotels / motels YMMV see the bed bug thread. It has snowed already this year in the high country so you may have snow up high during October. You could probably rent a minivan for $70 a day plus taxes and fees. I would think you could fit 3 people, bikes and luggage in one depending on sizes of bikes and general baggage amount. Check the weather if you are driving over to Fruita / Moab from Denver Vail pass will be very interesting in a loaded 2wd minivan. AWD options are available. It’s unlikely they will have snow tires.

I’ve just booked a return flight to the UK for October for $780 from LAX to LHR. If you fly either Icelandic air or United they seem to be the cheapest right now, but they will involve changes. If you want to go direct to Denver then British Airways is more expensive but you won’t have to do immigration in Chicago and get your luggage to a different terminal to get your domestic flight. I would seriously consider paying extra for a direct flight because the monumentally slow immigration procedures mean you may not make a connecting flight unless you have at least 3 hrs between.

Fuel in Denver right now is $2.19 a gallon.

Better than it was, had some higher prices with the extra taxes I think, also those savings get blown if you end up with something that burns at American rates and with some of the distances involved.

I would seriously consider paying extra for a direct flight because the monumentally slow immigration procedures mean you may not make a connecting flight unless you have at least 3 hrs between.

Unfortunately there aren’t any from Manchester, but there is a possibility of a connection outside the US

fuel isn’t as cheap as the myths

Well it is, but when you’ve got an RV that does 4mpg it soon racks up!

the monumentally slow immigration

That’s down to the airport, not the country. We normally fly to Chicago, and it’s generally not that bad – 20-30 mins. A 3 hour stop is ideal imo for most airports – clear immigration (only TO the US – coming home you’d be staying airside and your bags would be checked through, normally), have a bite and a coffee and a relaxed walk to your next plane.

This time though we changed in Toronto with a 2.5 hour layover and for some ungodly reason we had to actually enter Canada only to turn around and come straight back out. The immigration guy asked us how long we were staying in Canada – about 15 minutes. They also had US immigration in Toronto so we had to fit two lots of immigration into that layover. Avoid Toronto.

Oh, and if you go into Moab Cyclery and ask for ride advice, and the girl asks you if you’re an ‘advanced’ rider, she doesn’t mean advanced compared to the general leisure cycling population, she really does mean advanced… 😯

Me and the GF did similar trip last Sept… we flew in/out Denver from Edinburgh (Icelandair)- one short stop at Iceland each way but same airline and they never lost the bikes. We did a 2 week loop of Crested Butte, Moab, Fruita/Grand Junction, Golden. Flights were about the £700 mark.

We hired a Dodge 7 seater (seats pop into floor making a van which worked well for us – took bikes built + bikes boxes + luggage). 3.6l engine gave us 25 mpg.

We stayed in lowish cost hotels (Days Inn, etc) and ate out for less than $50/night. Biking was great every location but we are planning a return trip to include Moab again as it was the highlight (inc the Whole Enchilada) but try Sedona this time.

Just back from another similar ‘loop’ = 2 weeks BC inc Squamish/Whistler/Kamloops/Revelstoke/Rossland with a little helibiking thrown in… there’s a pattern forming each year – new bike or an adventure – so I’m still on a 26er!

That’s down to the airport, not the country

Granted, but I have come in at Denver in both the citizen and non citizen lines and they were generally a lot better than either O’Hare or LAX. Houston IAH isn’t too bad either. I haven’t gone through any east coast airports. The point I was making was plan your trip to allow slightly longer than you think you need to get transferred inside the U.S. particularly now when TSA are short staffed, although they say they’re better now

10 – Member 
If you want to go direct to Denver then British Airways is more expensive but you won’t have to do immigration in Chicago and get your luggage to a different terminal to get your domestic flight. I would seriously consider paying extra for a direct flight because the monumentally slow immigration procedures mean you may not make a connecting flight unless you have at least 3 hrs between.

BA used to be reasonable but last I looked they were insanely expensive to Denver. Twice the price so knocking on a grand for a flight! 😮 . Many years ago used to fly BA direct to Denver for ski trips, and return was around £500, and was worth it. Not now.

Other than that I think it’s via Paris for direct from Europe.

You can go also to Salt Lake City, but again nothing direct. Though puts you up round Park City etc which has a fair load of bike stuff also. Could arrive there, do days there and then drive to Moab. Kind of a plan I’d like to do some day (but no one I know would be tempted to spend the money).

I don’t mind a stop off though. Usually connections have enough time and gives you a chance to stretch the legs. Just don’t sit in the airport bar and forget the time then have to rush to the connecting flight when last call comes 😀