Los Angeles, San Diego & Las Vegas Tips...

vivatifosi

Diamond_Olly wrote: »

My niece just came back from a trip round California. Felt unsafe in LA

Felt unsafe too the first time I went to Los Angeles. There was a stake out between the police and a gang under my hotel window, which was thankfully on the 20th floor (woke up in bed to a police loud hailer shouting "Ok, raise your hands in the air and drop the gun... s-l-o-w-l-y"). Quite scary.

I had opted to stay in downtown LA which was not a nice place to stay. When I went back I stayed in Anaheim and Santa Barbara which is about 90 miles away (much nicer, as are Santa Monica and the other places mentioned). Found Hollywood seedier than I expected too. I find with LA you have to pick your area well and see it as a conurbation made up of other cities rather than a cohesive whole like New York, Boston, San Francisco etc.

Agree with Baz, Yosemite is amazing (though I was sad to hear last night that it is also threatened by bush fires). I would definitely go there, and for a lovely little less known place try Mammoth Lake. Beautiful..

DKLS

Baz wrote: »

What a random statement considering there isn't anything about San Diego to hate with a passion.

There is plenty to hate about SD: Now I have a few moments I will respond.

The Weather in June is dire (June Gloom the locals called it)
The Smog
Inaccessability - without a car there is no point. Traffic is as bad as LA.
That vaacuous Valley Mentality that you encounter with the shop assistants
The Zoo that is about 30 years out of date with modern animal husbandry.
Total lack of a decent music/culture scene.
The over dominating military presence

I found a couple of decent restaurants and bars and thats about the only redeeming feature I could find. Much better places to visit in the states.

anglo1967

Please consider distance before you go!!!!... Going to Bishop/yosemite/etc is quite a drive. A nice drive btw, but if you want to get a full day anywhere then you have to consider the distance. Cali isnt like the East Coast & your drive to Fla - the state is bigger than GB (san diego to oregon border will take almost a whole day without stopping, coast to state line is about 6 hours) and even tho the highways are better kept up, the speed limit is still 65MPH.

Approx time limits for 1 way travel:

LA-Vegas- 4.5 hrs
LA-SD 2-2.5 hrs (direct on 5 fwy),
LA-OC 45 mins- 1.5 hrs
LA- Palm Springs- 2 hrs (really fun, lots of antiques, gay men and really tanned, wealthy old people mixing with 18-25 year olds looking for a weekend party place!)
LA-Santa Barbara- 4-5 hours (out of the way but fab)

If you factor in driving to Bishop, Yosemite plus getting a chance to enjoy it, etc, youll have to do careful planning..

BTW - DKLS its "la jolla", not la hoya - yo habla espanol

Murphy, its cool you dont like LA. It is like marmite. Ill leave all the people who hate it to go to visit Florida instead, as Brits seem to think that is the "real" America. Im sorry you didnt feel safe. I never feel safe here... Never been a victim of crime anywhere in LA, even in gang areas, driving late at night by myself - I have been an innocent victim of crime here.. And my hubby is a policeman ...

Bennifred

DKLS wrote: »

There is plenty to hate about SD: Now I have a few moments I will respond.

The Weather in June is dire (June Gloom the locals called it)
The Smog
Inaccessability - without a car there is no point. Traffic is as bad as LA.
That vaacuous Valley Mentality that you encounter with the shop assistants
The Zoo that is about 30 years out of date with modern animal husbandry.
Total lack of a decent music/culture scene.
The over dominating military presence

I found a couple of decent restaurants and bars and thats about the only redeeming feature I could find. Much better places to visit in the states.

Was there anywhere in California that you did like? You've put me right off now, lol!

DKLS

Bennifred wrote: »

Was there anywhere in California that you did like? You've put me right off now, lol!

Its not all bad by any means, I liked San Fran,and loved Northern California, just didnt get on with SD at all.

All depends what you like doing, I enjoy culture, music and the arts, and lots of wining and dining, and my idea of hell is a theme park or dinner with Shamu :eek: but some peeps love that and find a trip to SD very enjoyable

mfhstid

I agree with the suggestion that you ought to cut down the time in LA, and lengthen your stay in San Diego.

For LA, I'd avoid downtown, which feels artificial and is dead at night. Santa Monica is fine.

For San Diego, either the Gaslamp district downtown, or any of the beachside areas (Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach or best of all La Jolla) would be fine. Personally, I'd plump for one of the suburbs in perference to downtown.

The drive across the desert to Las Vegas in August will be arduous, considering the stifling heat. There aren't that many places to stay en route. Palm Springs is entertaining for a day or so, but is a bit out of the way if you're travelling from San Diego to Las Vegas (though you could stop there on the way back to LA).

All three cities, in their own ways, are great tourist destinations.

Baz_2

DKLS wrote: »

Its not all bad by any means, I liked San Fran,and loved Northern California, just didnt get on with SD at all.

All depends what you like doing, I enjoy culture, music and the arts, and lots of wining and dining, and my idea of hell is a theme park or dinner with Shamu :eek: but some peeps love that and find a trip to SD very enjoyable

Did you not bother researching the place before going?

All of those things you mention are not exactly very localised to San Deigo.

- The weather is just as bad in SF in the summer, cold and foggy.
- We found getting from one side of San Deigo to the other very easy, the buses are cheap and you can use the same ticket on the buses or the trolley. It was simplicity in itself to be honest.
- The island there is half a military base, surely you knew about that when you were looking into your stay? The place is steeped in military history for gods sake. :rotfl:
- If you are into animal rights then surely the last place you would want to spend your leisure time at is one of the biggest Zoo's in the world.
- As for traffic being bad as a reason to hate a city :rotfl:

We found everyone we dealt with very pleasant. The only one thing we found were the number of tramps that were a bit weird just wondering the streets.

I think you opinion, whilst being credible, like all reviews, needs to be taken into context with the type of person who writes it.

Murphy_The_Cat

anglo1967 wrote: »

Murphy, its cool you dont like LA. It is like marmite. Ill leave all the people who hate it to go to visit Florida instead, as Brits seem to think that is the "real" America. Im sorry you didnt feel safe. I never feel safe here....

In the last 15 years I have visited 15 different States and I've enjoyed every place/town/city/county/state that I've visited and absolutely loved most of them-- but I really disliked LA.

A lot

malkay

I did this exact trip back in 2006 with a few friends.

We stayed in Orange County for 3 days, went down to SD for only 1 day (which i really regret because we had a great night and it's a really nice area), back up to LA and stayed in Hollywood for 3 days then Vegas for 4 days.

The best site to use is a site called fatwallet.

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/travel-deals

it's a great forum full of hotel deals, travel guides and advice and coupon links (mainly for vegas, but you'll find some LA/SD stuff there). I managed to get a $30 a night deal for the Aladdin (4*).

My top food tip for Vegas is a place called McCormick & Schmick's. you take a right at the Flamingo (if you're walking from the south of the strip), onto Flamingo Rd East, and walk all the way down (takes about 10 mins). It's a seafood reastaurant chain that does a ridiculously good happy hour (3:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. - 11 p.m., Monday through Friday). $1.95 for a hamburger and chips (that's a 1 pound meal)... same price for the likes of calamari and clam strips... all good stuff. Enjoy your trip.

boombap

One thing to bear in mind if you are going to take in Yosemite is the forest fires which are in the area at the moment - it would be a pain to drive all the way out there to find that it had been closed!