emma69, I'll be upgrading my account before this travel, so I'm definitely going to ask the bank about how is it going to benefit me on my trip to US. As for Amtrak to the Airport, I'm dropping this idea after receiving such opinions on their service - I can't afford to be late. I'll take something local, MARC or how is that called, should be alright. For hiking, I've got half of "proper boots" - Karimorr's, which are also comfortable to just walk around the city for the whole day, but should be good enough for a light high, as they have a good grip on them (haven't tried it though).

I have A LOT of questions on what clothes to take with me, as I'll be changing states quite frequently, so I assume so will the weather. I've never done this kind of traveling, so I need any advice people can give me. I'm thinking karimorr's for hiking, and comfortable trainers for the rest of the trip. Then probably 2 pairs of shorts, 1 pair of jeans should be sufficient. My guess is that it will be hot and hotter anywhere I go in July, so no need for anything warm? Just maybe a light rain-proof jacket, no?

bwiadca, thanks for the link - I'll check it out.

gfunkdave, cheers. I'm pretty sure ANY network will be good enough for me, so I'll take just anything you advise me. I see T-mobile is good, so I'll stick with that then. $20 per-paid should be more than enough as I'm not planning to make any calls, and going to use free GPS on smartphone/tablet (if there's such a thing). Thanks for the offer on the beer man!

peersteve, yes, alright - I'll stick with LAX then. $25 isn't worth that extra hassle I think.

heffa, hmm, okay. For some reason I thought they only send them by post. I think I've read it on the website, where they were mentioning that it takes 15 or something days for the ticket to reach the customer. Whatever... if you are sure I can print off the ticket myself, then there's no problem, I'll book them next month as I'm coming a bit short on money for this month already.

Just booked a flight from LAX to San Francisco International for $100 (18th July, 12pm)! Now the only flight left is Washington DC to Phoenix, I'll do it next month as well.

I've also booked the flight from London to New York to land at 11am NY time. I hope that should give me enough time to get to the MET after all the security, immigration and subways/buses (fingerscrossed).

What should I start booking next? Which is more important - trains, buses, hotels, attractions, city passes, etc?

Anyone know if there might be any problem for someone doing the kind of trip like I do when traveling with a Green Card stamp in my passport? (as in I haven't got the green card itself yet, just a stamp in the passport that I will receive as soon as I pass the US border)

Another question on jet-lag: I've never had a flight this long (10hrs), so I'm not familiar with jeg-lag thing - how bad is it? What is the feeling anyway? I'm not really worried about it at the moment, but I might be underestimating it, as I'm reading people trying to overcome it for 2-3 days. However, my life/job gets pretty crazy, I skip a sleep once or twice a week every week, or just sleep for just a couple of hours and feel great, never have any problem. For example, the day passes, I get back home, spend the night doing something except sleeping/napping, the morning comes and I start my day as if I was sleeping the whole night - go to work, to the gym, going out with friends without being tired. Can this be an advantage to me when trying to fight the jet-lag, or is that a totally different thing?

Can anyone advise a good website where to look for gigs/events going on in July in the given cities? I've googled and checked a couple of them, but didn't find ANYTHING - there's barely anything happening in LA, SF, just some stuff in NYC. Is it just too early to look for gigs, or am I looking in wrong places? (I've checked ticketmaster.com and another one I can't remember now). I'm very eager to get to the game of Oakland Athletics in The Coliseum on 19th of July, as there's nothing happening in AT&T park.

Oh, and also, I would be VERY grateful if people could share any ideas on what's the best stuff to do in Grand Canyon (or any other of the mentioned places for that matter). I'm thinking Sunset Jeep tour, and something else - I'll have half a day first day, full day second day, and half a day third day at GC South Rim, staying in Bright Angel Lodge. How's skywalk? Is their pass worth it (it's quite expensive I think)?

THANK YOU!