hedur, good point - I'll research this possibility closer to the trip. I'd like to visit Observatory, as I heard it is interesting. Thanks for the links, I'm assorting them all up so I have it for future reference.

Thanks for the betterbidding.com link, I'll do some research in there too. And yes, my dates are set, half of the flight tickets are booked, and I'm booking the rest of them in the beginning of next month, together with train/bus tickets, so there won't be any place to move around - it'll all be set. And I'll check out AirBnB too, but it doesn't seem much cheaper now, although I haven't looked into it properly yet. Cheers!

ksandness, aah, alright then. For some reason I thought Disney Hall was on Olvera Street or very close it. Skipping Olvera for sure then! Disney Hall instead of it, hopefully.

emma69, yes, I was planning on going to the bank closer to my trip and asking them multiple questions to prepare for the journey. Insurance was one of them. Is insurance essential to enter the US? I heard in some countries it is if your a tourist. As for tablet, first of all, I'm planning on having a smaller bag and keeping it with me nearly at all times, and second, I'm buying a very cheap one specially for this trip so that I wouldn't cry over it if it actually gets lost/stolen. I've lived in UK for over 2 years, and have NEVER encountered a problem with British Railways, every train is on time, and the most it was late was like 5min a couple of times. You people are scaring me with all this Amtrak thing hah..

fredandgingermad, right, it makes sense then for them to be late.

CDTraveler, that's good, because I'm planning on visiting them both, if I have enough money. One of them is with city pass, the other is $30, but it will also be the last day of the trip, might as well go all out on last couple of days. Thanks for the cheesesteak tip. Unfortunately, as I'm not going to Philly now, any other places you know that are worth paying a visit for a good cheesesteak?

bwiadca, weird, I didn't noticed that. It could be because this direct flight from DCA cost more than from BWI (those are $250 at the moment). Still, I'll check it out, yes, and IAD too.

gfunkdave, I guess you're right, that does make sense. I'll try to put in about $50 for a night and 3* hotel, and if there's anything that comes up, it probably will be better than where I originally wanted to stay in. Yes, I'll try it, thanks for this!

peersteve, cheers - all good points. Well, on Arizona Shuttle, that runs from GC to Flagstaff, it says that they drop you off at Amtrak Train station, so I would assume that's the same place where the train for LA would leave from. If the train is late, the only problem is that I would have to wait longer, but it wouldn't be too much trouble, as if it wouldn't be, I'd be in LA around 8am, so I think I can give it around 6 hours to be late. However, if the train doesn't come or is late for like 27 hours, as CDTraveler mentioned, that would be a massive problem. I wonder what should I do in that case? Get on a bus to LA or something? Because booking a flight would be too late I think.

I would appreciate ANY other tips people can give me on traveling/traveling across US/etc. I mean, I've never been there, and I've learned a whole lot of stuff from this thread already that I didn't have a clue about. I need ANYTHING I can take, from the simplest things as to what are recommendation of clothes and what apps to download on your phone/tablet to great tips of how to get from point A to point B in the city. I appreciate everyone's help very much!

Edit: Oh, and another question that I really wanted to ask - as soon as I pass the security at JFK, where can I go to to get myself a US mobile provider's pay-as-you-go Sim card? Which provider should I use? I doubt that'll be making ANY calls, but I need it just in case + I'll it to use 3G and maybe GPS. I also carry another phone with UK network with me everywhere I go, however I'm not sure how much roaming would cost for US..