California fly drive advice

Murphy_The_Cat

jaypr wrote: »

You have to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. This is a must, make time to go here. http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/


Not much to do in Pismo Beach itself other than walk along the beach and enjoy the view.

If you stay in San Luis Obizpo

We stayed at the Madonna Inn. Check it out, it’s a freaky hotel. http://www.madonnainn.com/

Not cheap though. Personally I’d stay somewhere house and just have a meal at Gold Rush Steak House in the Madonna Inn, take a look at some of the photos online of it.

Not much to do in San Luis Obizpo either, if you like weird crap visit Bubblegum Alley! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubblegum_Alley


From Solvang to LA you pass through Santa Barbara, which you can take a look at or you can stop off at the outlets at Camarillo http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=20




Personally I wouldn’t stay in LA for more than a couple of days.

Oh and if you haven’t already got one, get a Tomtom with USA maps before you go and spend some time adding the destinations into it before your trip, It’s worth every penny. If you dont, you will get lost and you will argue with your new wife and you don’t want that.

That’s all I can think of for now.

Jason

I'll add my voice to the Monteray Aquarium as well - not cheap, but well worth visiting.
One opf teh things that I like about MSE is the widely varing opinions - I really liked SLO, but you found not much to do. If you do stay in SLO and fancy blowing the budget on a Honeymoon Treat, then Apple Farm is a lovely place.

Santa Barbara is a lovely place to visit to break a long trip.

LA, not my cup of tea.

SatNavs - we'll agree to differ. Previously I've never taken one and I've had absolutely no trouble getting around (I preprint routes before leaving the UK). However this time, I am going to take the Sat Nav route. Sadly, my TomTom will not take USA downloads and a UK TomTom with US mapping can be horrendously expensive. What I intend to do is find a Walmart type place, buy a SatNav there (tehy are disgustingly cheap) and make sure that it will accept UK mapping for when I return home. Well thats the plan today, anyway :beer:

ferf1223

you can get USA maps from Tom Tom's website for about £45-£50...buy the map on SD card and when you're back, sell it on ebay. We also normally print our routes before we go, but having tried it last time with the printed version and the Garmin, the Garmin was a lot better for us...plus it allows you to go a bit off route without worrying you won't be able to find your way back.

Murphy_The_Cat

ferf1223 wrote: »

We also normally print our routes before we go, but having tried it last time with the printed version and the Garmin, the Garmin was a lot better for us...plus it allows you to go a bit off route without worrying you won't be able to find your way back.

I agree with you - the preprinted method is definitely the best value and is a very acceptable method. But for convienience, a SatNav beats it hands down.

cubegame

Satnav all the way. It's really useful for POIs as well (knowing where the nearest Subway is when you fancy a snack!!!).

Google THEPCTAILOR

;-)

jaypr

Re: Sat Navs, here’s my take.

Fist time I went to LA with the wife map reading I could have quite easily killed her. Map reading is not one of her skills, think holding the map upside down and going in the wrong direction.

Also freeways in the US are not like motorways over here so if you make a wrong turn off, you can’t cross over the freeway and head back in the other direction, you’ll be going down a freeway to somewhere else.

A Sat Nav will save you time, money and sanity.

If you currently have a Tomtom which takes a SD card then a 2GB SD card will hold the UK and US maps, which you can switch between. Tomtom currently have the maps of the USA for download on their website for £29.95. Like I said before though you’ll need a 2GB SD card as he USA maps are 821mb in size.

Alternatively, you can get a Manufacturer Refurbished Tomtom GO 910 from total PDA for £99.99, which includes the latest maps of the UK and USA.

http://www.totalpda.co.uk/TomTom/TomTom-GO-910-Refurbished.6626.html

If you have the Sat Nav before you go, you can either add your destinations as favourites or do what I do and create Itineraries using Google Earth, Google Maps and Tyre http://www.janboersma.nl/gett/

With Tyre, you can generate an .itn file, which you can then copy to Tomtom. Looks like this: This is one of mine I used in December called LA to Vegas 2009 FINAL.itn

-11838063|3395201|Dollar LAX|2|
-11860704|3403824|PCH 1 Waypoint|0|
-12065131|3514941|Pismo Lighthouse Suites|2|
-12066394|3527924|Bubblegum Alley|2|
-12008862|3474547|Neverland Ranch|2|
-12014639|3459562|Hadsten House Solvang|2|
-11906035|3421794|Camarillo Outlets|2|
-11789212|3378888|Doubletree Hotel Anaheim|2|
-11835728|3413796|Hilton Universal City|2|
-11834443|3409418|High Voltage Tattoo|2|
-11840595|3406950|Sprinkles Cup Cakes|2|
-11828449|3414706|Los Angeles Zoo|2|
-11835466|3406437|La Brea Tar Pits|2|
-11516957|3612416|The Palazzo Hotel|2|
-11516358|3606086|Dollar Return Las Vegas|2|

It’s essentially a bunch of GPS coordinates. The “2” means it’s a destination, so Tomtom will tell you when you have reached your destination. The “0” means this is a waypoint meaning Tomtom will make sure you drive via the waypoint but will not inform you when you have reached it. Basically Tomtom will always take you the fastest route, which is not always the route you want to take. Using a waypoint forces Tomtom to take you the route you want to.

Once you copy the .itn file onto the Tomtom all you need to do on the Tomtom is the following:

Press itiniery planning

Press load itinery

Press LA to Vegas 2009 FINAL.itn (or whatever you have called it)

That’s it!

At anytime you can mark a destination as “visited” or “to visit” meaning you can skip bits or do things in a different order.

On another note, they are also very handy if you need to find a petrol station or restaurant in the area.

Probably confused you even more now, but for me this means a 100% trouble free drive.

Jason

Murphy_The_Cat

jaypr wrote: »

Re: Sat Navs, here’s my take.

Fist time I went to LA with the wife map reading I could have quite easily killed her. Map reading is not one of her skills, think holding the map upside down and going in the wrong direction.

Also freeways in the US are not like motorways over here so if you make a wrong turn off, you can’t cross over the freeway and head back in the other direction, you’ll be going down a freeway to somewhere else.

In fairness to Mrs Cat, she is an excellant map reader, navigator & driver, which is probably why we've been very happy with maps/print outs and haven't been too interested in the SatNav for our holidays.

But, this year we've gone over to SatNav at work and its obvious that its many advantages outway its occassional disadvantages.

I think that checking out that refurbished TomTom Go 910 will be worth doing :beer:

ferf1223

jaypr wrote: »

Also freeways in the US are not like motorways over here so if you make a wrong turn off, you can’t cross over the freeway and head back in the other direction, you’ll be going down a freeway to somewhere else.

Obviously it depends on where - but normally I find the freeway system in the US to be far less complex than over here and much easier to get back on the righ track if you make a mistake...in many cases you can cross over and head back in the other direction - and the exits can be a lot closer together than in the UK.

But again, depends on where. I grew up in the US, and I find LA to be a bit complicated and stressful at times - but most other places are an absolute breeze compared to driving in the UK which after nearly 10 years here I still find rather terrifying.

I'm the driver, my husband is the navigator - and he's a good navigator...but even so, with a satnav it take the pressure off both of us. I can clearly see what's coming up and how long I have to go on the screen rather than having to continually ask him 'what exit are we looking for again'.

torbrex

I have been touring round America every year for the last 10 years (44 states so far) and I tend just to go with my instincts. I always have my Rand McNally map book and I know roughly where I want to go but part of the adventure is shooting down a side road to see something that was advertised on a billboard or on a leaflet that I have picked up in the motel or restaurant. I never book hotels prefering just to find one at the end of the day so that I am not fixed to a route and can be flexible in my stops, this practice suits me but might not suit families.
I spend most of my working life conforming to fixed routes and using satnav to find places. When I am on holiday, I want a break from that and if I get lost I am not afraid to ask for directions.

ferf1223

I just remembered a handy road trip hint for those not used to US interstates.

In general (at least anywhere I have ever lived or driven) the exit numbers are the same as the closest mile-marker number...as their name implies, there will be a marker for each mile of your journey along a US interstates...there are other markers between these as well, but the mile markers will clearly give the mile number on them.

So if you know you need exit 239...and you've just passed mile marker 200...you have approximately 39 miles to your exit.

They don't number the exits sequentially like they do here.

wdyw

jaypr wrote: »

As mentioned before the Pebble Beach 17 mile drive is rubbish and a waste of time and money, don’t do it!

Not if you are a golf nut! 4 world renowned courses to go with the sea otters/views etc. Can't wait the the annual celeb pro-am event there next month or the US Open in June...

As for the cost, the previous mention of it was way off the mark. Its still less than $10 a car and this fee is taken off any food bills if you eat at any of the Pebble Beach restaurants within the 5 entrance points.

Also, if you really don't want to pay $10 do what is suggested elsewhere and buy a copy of the local paper and show the guy on the gate the real estate page...