Good luck but it looks like mayhem over there at present, sorry no advice. ::))

I have done this but a loong time ago, Dec 2007 to Jan 2008.

I tried to buy tickets in Australia but NBA.com would not let me because I had no US adddress, OK.

When I got there I tried again and it would not let me pay with my Australian Credit Card as it was not to a US address.

I went to the NYC NBA store to buy tickets but again my CC would not work, this CC worked in other places.

The game at MSG was sold out.

There were many tickets available in Washington, I walked past and saw Chris Brown outside the arena, but I didn't want to see Washington.

As a C's fan I wanted to see BOS @ LAL (Staples). I tried several things but could not get tickets. In the end I spoke to the Concierge and he bought the tickets for me using his card and I paid him cash plus big tip.

It was US$250 for one row back from the back wall in the top tier.

Still a memorable night to see KG, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen take on Kobe, Bynum and Derek Fisher.

I would hope that these days they allow foreign credit cards to buy tickets OR there are alternatives like WISE cards.

Cheers for all that. I have a wise card will give that a go. Luckily old man has childhood friend living in NY so maybe if we run into issues he can do something on our behalf. Always hearing stuff about stub hub for ticket reselling over there but yeh makes sense trying to buy it with an Aussie card wouldnt work. I'll keep investigating.

Wow, first time? How exciting!

I used to travel there at least once if not twice a year but less often now. Last trip was July 2024 when Trump nearly got assassinated (LOL Murica).

I've never had a problem with Australian credit cards. I've had more problems win my local US account and card because their banking system sucks.

Use StubHub. My first NBA game was in a Lakers skybox at a reasonable price because of resold tickets. This depends greatly on dates however. What time of year are you planning to travel there?

Are you flying into LA or SF?
LAX is the worst airport but has the most flights.

The obvious teams to watch are:

Lakers
Golden Knights
Yankees
Knicks (for more of that old school NBA feel)

Even if the games suck they know how to entertain you over there, especially the first three franchises listed above.

LA-LV-NY is a good itinerary since you don't want to visit more than three cities in a two week span otherwise it gets too tiring. LA is a shithole though so only use it to transit in-and-out of while catching a game or two.

Vegas is the best.

Also did I mention Las Vegas is the best? ;)

Ask me anything.

Okay, you did state November.

World Series ends on 1 November so that rules out MLB.

For NFL Raiders in Vegas would be something else with their new stadium and unique fanbase.

Later on in November closer to Thanksgiving would be easier for snagging cheaper tickets since people resell them for less when there is a festive season and they are away on holidays. For example I got those Lakers skybox tickets for a steal during the lull between Christmas and New Year.

I don't eat fast food because my body is a temple although admitently In-N-Out Burger is nice and what you want to try (predominantly a west coast chain so hit it up in either California or Vegas). Don't go out of your way for anything else.

Last went to the US pre-COVID, but did many trips and saw many games before then.

We relied on Stubhub throughout - worked really well. We even got some really cheap seats sitting in corners or in the disabled section on deck-chairs.

We had one trip where we saw a large variety in the fan experience - LA (glitz & glamour), SF (more laidback), Miami (Latino and wacko), Boston (Irish and serious), NYC (hyped up but very negative fans).

I agree with PW - avoid LA like the plague.

And In and Out Burger and Shake Shack are worth trying.

For NBA, email the club hosting the game and tell them you're coming from overseas. They usually have a separate login you can use to buy tickets before they go on sale to general public, if they haven't already

Good luck and enjoy the trip

Use stubhub for tickets and if you've posted any JD Vance memes, bring a burner phone.

Thanks all for the ticketing tips. Thankfully neither of us have TDS so we should pass the medical!

Had good experiences with SeatGeek in the past couple of years for $$ value and getting NBA and NFL tickets.
Would also recommend college football over NFL unless you are seeing your favourite team, atmosphere and gameday experience far superior at college level!

StubHub is good and really easy to use. Tickets usually sent to your email straight away.

NBAtickets.com is good. They have a reseller section as well, good tickets at market value are always on sale.

We decided to only use those 2 as they are reputable.

Tickers become quite expensive at the stadium, so pre purchase but you do have an international conversion fee attached to it.

Good luck. Hope you have a blast.

Would also recommend college football over NFL unless you are seeing your favourite team, atmosphere and gameday experience far superior at college level!

More great tips cheers! Long shot we are discussing Wisconsin Badgers game as a possibility just so we can wear red and jump around to house of pain the youtube clips are unreal!

Been to the US many times and for many months, mostly hiking though which it doesn't sound like you have time for. Have driven coast to coast twice in particular if you don't have your roadtrip nailed down? Or are you flying a chain of cities?

LA is decent if you know where to go. And probably depends on your interests. The cities can be grim if you're in the concrete though. Some parts get very second-world and will get worse before they get better.

I've been to all of one NBA game and it was quite possibly one of the worst. Would've seen better basketball watching ABL. Very unlucky.

Not sure what's changed for this year, but last year there was an official app for immigration/customs (MPC or something like that) which was still new and thus barely used. Meant that getting through the lines at SFO was near-instant.

You'll be fine going through with your father, but if you do arrive separately, be aware that lone males likely get extra scrutiny, primarily over concerns about working or overstaying. Friend of mine copped multiple hours of interrogation (including them tell him they believed that I [his boss of sorts] was something he invented - long story). If you have game tickets and a fixed route and exit, they'll view that very favourably. Coming back to AU border control after the US equivalent is chalk and cheese (where we're the cheese).

As Perthworld said, In-N-Out is just about the only fast food to sample (though I personally make use of Taco Bell on occasion); ignore the rest. Mexican and Japanese scenes are good over there. Exchange rate plus tax plus misery of tipping is a rough combo.

Yeh cheers for that I have read they are strict and rightly so I'm crossing the t's and dotting the i's. We are travelling by plane from West to East to watch sports, drink beer, check out the sphere, hit NY comedy festival then onto Dublin to see family so only there for 2 weeks max. Certainly not a sight seeing tour just lads trip kinda thing I promised him before covid.

I will definitely need to go back to see more at some stage if it leaves a good impression. We aim to have have most tickets to everything sorted beforehand and we have a contact or 2 who can help us out thankfully. Old mans schoolmate runs a bar in downtown NY so the froth shall flow!

I was going to offer some advice but realised its likely well out of date. Last time I was in the US was 2019 and it was only Hawaii.

I was lucky enough to go to 20-something nba games in 15 cities between 2009 and 2013 after living in Canada and doing some other trips with friends. Saw some horrible NBA games and some great ones (Brandon Jennings 55 point game as a rookie, a Dirk game winner). Met Brett Brown in a cafe in Orlando as he was about to get on the bus to coach Philly vs the Magic.

If you can get to a NHL game I'd recommend. Even if you're not a fan. Its a completely different experience in venue.

I definitely won't be going back to the US until they sort out their mess (if?).

Good luck.

I went to the US for 3 weeks in November last year with my 15 year old son. We flew in to LA, stayed at Intercontinental downtown, it was great. People say avoid downtown but I didn't mind it, bit of a culture shock but never had any hassles. Walking distance to Staples where we watched a couple of Lakers games and a hockey game. Definitely recommend hockey, wasn't a fan before but loved it. 2 Tickets in the rafters were $110us, I have shit eyesight but it didn't matter still saw the puck easily. Went to 2 lakers games in LA one on the floor about 20 rows back behind the baseline, was about $650 us for 2. Went to a game at intuit, great stadium, don't think there is a bad seat in the house, the screen is amazing. Also went to a Rams game at SoFi, another great new stadium, definitely worth a visit. Those 2 stadiums are a bit out of the way though so it costs a bit to uber or LYFT there and back. No cash or card for Intuit dome, only phone. You need to login to an app and I could only do that once in the US so must be geoblocked. Went to a UCLA game (BBall), that was a cool little stadium, unfortunately I was there for thanksgiving so not many students were there, which meant not much atmosphere. Went to San Antonio for a Lakers v Wemby game and Poenix for Steph v KD, flew to NY for Knicks and Nets games and caught a train to washington for Luka v the Wizards. If you have any questions let me know.

@Cram

I went to a Perth Thunder game here and though I had very little understanding of what was going on loved the pace, the big hits! and the atmosphere despite the small arena. Have heard nothing but good reviews of the NHL from other mates who have been its deffo on the to do list.

@Nutwork

That trip sounds ideal start to finish if I can do half that I'll die happy! For entering the states is there a visa/permit required how did you do it? I see the MPC mentioned above by Isaac I will investigate further. Did you go through travel agent or book it all yourself, flights and accom separate or a package thing?

Where did you get your tickets to the NBA, NHL, NFL games was it stubhub or similar before the trip or you got them when you got to US? Also how did you go transferring ur Aussie funds for use in US, ie the app at Intuit for example were u using Aussie cc, online banks, travelers checks (are these even a thing!?) I will have more questions no doubt cheers.

ESTA is the visa required: https://esta.govswift.com/begin?AUESTA

MPC (Mobile Passport Control) is an app by Customs and Border Protection to make the check-in process, on arrival at your US destination airport, easier:
https://www.cbp.gov/travel/us-citizens/mobile-passport-control

Thank you mate, noted =). I just want all my ducks in a row cos my dad is 70 and online forms/tech/the fine print not his forte. Cheers

I would be booking now if you do intend on November.

My general rule is to book flights and accommodation no more than six months out.

You don't need a travel agent.

Yeh we can do it ourselves I think we have contacts in LA and NY that are fairly solid/long time residents who have helped others on vacation in the US. Fella on my social team has a close family member who has planned several of these trips for ppl I will at least pick his brains but I dont care too much for the hotel facilities and luxury crap tbh. Games, beers, laughs, shenanigans and I'm off!

I have usually found flights via Kayak or Google Flights, and then booked via preferred method (whether direct, another site, etc). I use Booking.com for accommodation. I like Alamo for car rental (though I bought a bus and kept it in the US for the last five years to save spending on car rental each trip). If you're flying between cities and don't need to head out far, you'll avoid hassle skipping car rental and dodging park, etc.

When I go over, I just take my debit card and a backup card. My wife usually withdraws cash and deals with tipping (I can't stand it) and cash purchases like campgrounds; keep a variety of denominations between you. If the AU credit card is ever an issue, it's really only been when pre-paying at the pump for fuel, and then you just go inside to pre-pay and they refund any not used. If it asks for a zipcode, you can sometimes prefix with a 0 to get around the five-digit check. My provider refunds fees for international transactions. If you have 3-4 cards between the two of you, with a bit of bank or type variety, you should be fine.

For phone, if it's a shorter trip, I pay per day for roaming to extend my AU plan abroad. This is usually $5-10/day, so gets expensive on multi-month trips (did that once - oops). Otherwise I use Airalo to get a data-only eSIM and set it up so that the US SIM handles data and the existing AU SIM receives my calls. You can get SIMs that give you a US number as well if you plan to be making a fair number of local calls. You could get one data-only eSIM and the other person just hotspots off it.

In LA: The Getty, The Apple Pan (classic burger joint), Big Dean's in Santa Monica (another burger place) and then walk out on the pier, Griffith Observatory, walk from Santa Monica to Venice Beach, stroll Venice Canals, Baja Cantina in Marina Del Rey for Mexican in the evening. I've always stayed on the western side (Santa Monica, Venice, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood all decent) so not sure about Downtown.

In LV: stay on the Strip and be prepared to do a lot of walking as the casinos are massive. Worth seeing both the themed casinos (Paris, Venetian, Bellagio, etc) and the premium ones (Wynn, Encore). Stayed at Encore years ago, but not sure what that's like these days. Places like Paris and Venetian are so ridiculous they're great, IMO. Some of the questionable attire on the Strip is unique.

In NY: all the spots are pretty obvious here - Central Park, The High Line, other smaller parks, the big galleries (Guggenheim, Met, MoMA, Whitney), Nat History Museum, wander out on the Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn Brewery.

Spose other real hack for the USA is that Qantas points for flights through American are the best bang for buck you will get. Some flights going for $500 USD I have paid <$100 + 8,000 pts.

That trip sounds ideal start to finish if I can do half that I'll die happy! For entering the states is there a visa/permit required how did you do it?

ESTA is all you need, just do it online.

Did you go through travel agent or book it all yourself, flights and accom separate or a package thing?

Got everything myself. Bought tickets early through qantas when on sale, was lucky to get return for my son and myself for just over $2,000 total. NY is crazy expensive, everywhere else was fine for accomodation. I used an app called shopback for my Accomodation. Booked through Booking.com on the shopback app and they credited me about $1,000 back after my trip.

Where did you get your tickets to the NBA, NHL, NFL games was it stubhub or similar before the trip or you got them when you got to US?

Tickets from stubhub, I also downloaded the app from every team I went to and the ticketmaster US app, the tickets can be stored in those apps and used from there. I bought all of my tickets before I went, didn't want to book internal flights and hotel rooms without being sure I had tickets for the event.


Also how did you go transferring ur Aussie funds for use in US, ie the app at Intuit for example were u using Aussie cc, online banks, travelers checks (are these even a thing!?) I will have more questions no doubt cheers.

I bought cash when the exchange rate went up, just from travelex in the city. I got a Qantas card which you could load with different currencies. Loaded it up as the exchange rate was favourable. It worked well and you didn't get foreign bank charges. If you use Aus credit cards they slug you a fee everytime. Most banks offer some sort of travel card.

Before you start buying tickets and booking accomodation overseas make sure you notify your bank. While I was trying to book stuff my bank froze my card several times which is a headache (even though I had warned them).

Shit is expensive over there, tipping is something I had to get use to, they have a button to press when you use your card with an expected tip amount, even at a self service joint at the stadium.

A lot of self service at the stadiums, Intuit you walk in grab your stuff, walk out,they sense what you bought and charge your card. Madison Square Garden, you grab your drink and burger from the warmer, put it on a little pad, it sensed everything and then you wave your card over the eftpos. I got ID'd everytime I bought a beer, I am nearly 50 years old with grey hair. They look at your driver's license and think it's fake.

Good luck with your trip!

Not sure if it's the case in all states, but at least in some, if they card you, they have to see it through. You can’t gesture at your 13yo child or bald head or haggard face because you forgot a passport and have them go "Good point, here’s your beer." And some places will require passport over license for ID.

Hi Drexler, if you are still looking Qantas have a USA sale on at the moment.

Hey cheers Nutwork, had a quick google couldn't find anything specific you got a link by any chance?

A quick web search came up with this:

https://travelweekly.com.au/qantas-launches-usa-and-canada-sale-with-flights-from-949/

Cheers PW, proper lazy by me I found it in the end