r/USTravel

I'm a US citizen and in an LDR with my gf who is british. She is currently a uni student on Easter break so she came to visit and meet me for the first time on an ESTA for a week at the beginning of April (apr 8-14), flying in to NYC at JFK, and had no issues. She flew back to the UK on Tuesday (Apr 14) but she also had a trip planned with a friend of hers to Portland in the same week so she flew out from the UK again just yesterday (Apr 17). I asked her to message me when she landed at the airport and she did so.

I've been getting extremely anxious as she may likely have been detained by CBP. Her flight arrived around 430 pm PDT and ever since I received her message from her landing safely she has not updated me since then on whether she has cleared customs or not or gotten to her Airbnb with her friend. Her phone location turned off at around 530 pm PDT and remained off, with the last update showing her at the portland airport departure terminal. I've been up all night waiting for a call back, and her phone recently sent out a quick location update at 130am PDT, still at the portland airport terminal. When I send her messages through iMessage they stay undelivered, meaning it's likely her phone is off or in a place without signal, but the last message I sent to her did get delivered at 130 when her last location ping updated for a moment.

I am afraid she is likely being held for an extended period of time for secondary questioning by CBP. Is there any way for me to check on her or get any information about this? I don't live anywhere near Portland as I live on the east coast so there's no way for me to check on her directly.

UPDATE: just checked her ESTA status this morning and it changed from approved to travel not authorized. I don't know what to do anymore

So, me and my husband are planning a 2 week trip to the US, flying in and out of San Francisco and we will have a car for the whole trip. Ideally, I want a mix of cities, scenic drives, and 1 week based in LA (not rushed). We came up with this plan and wanted some actual experienced people to maybe give their advice. So here's the plan:

Days 1–3: San Francisco

• Day 1: Arrival, Embarcadero, Ferry Building, easy dinner
• Day 2: Golden Gate Bridge, Palace of Fine Arts, Presidio, Marina
• Day 3: Alcatraz (morning), Mission District, Dolores Park, Twin Peaks sunset

Day 4: Drive SF → Monterey / Carmel

• Stops: Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz, 17-Mile Drive
• Overnight in Carmel or Monterey

Day 5: Big Sur → Santa Barbara

• Bixby Bridge, scenic Big Sur stops
• Overnight in Santa Barbara

Days 6–12: Los Angeles (7 nights, likely West Hollywood base)

Day 13: LA → Palm Springs / Joshua Tree

• Drive to Palm Springs (~2h), optional Joshua Tree sunset
• Overnight in Palm Springs

Day 14: Drive back via Yosemite → San Francisco

• Very early start
• Quick Yosemite Valley stops
• Continue to SF for departure

Main questions:

• Is Day 14 (Palm Springs → Yosemite → SF) too unrealistic?
• Would you break that into 2 days? If yes, where’s the best stop?
• Any must-stop places along the coast I’m missing?
• Is 7 nights in LA too much / too little?
• Any areas you’d change for staying in LA?
• Any place I'm missing on the way?
• Generally, any improvement to this plan would be welcome.

Open to all suggestions — especially from people who’ve done a similar loop 🙌

What is an adequate amount of time to change flights when traveling with teens & parents from a midwestern US city to Costa Rica? We are concerned about not making our connection and not being able to get to Costa Rica in one day.

American Airlines has a 65 minute layover in Charlotte and has no more flights that day. Delta had a 74 minute layover, but has a second flight an hour later. Has anyone had experience with changing planes recently in Charlotte and Atlanta?