California fly drive advice

old_motters

Miles16v wrote: »

Thanks again for the replies.

I had an email from the car rental company saying my requested car isn't available from the 'downtown' location, and I have to either pick another car, or collect it from the airport, which is annoying.

How long will a trip to the airport take and cost from a city centre hotel?

Most of the downtown is within a few miles of the airport. Check if your hotel has an airport shuttle service, if not, a cab really won't be that expensive. I left my hire car at Hertz overnight after 17 hours travelling and took a cab to collect it the following morning, I don't recall it costing a fortune, maybe 15/20 bucks...

old_motters

ferf1223 wrote: »

one of our favorite meals anywhere, ever was at Croce's in the gaslamp district in San Diego.

http://www.croces.com/croces.shtml

One to try next time I'm there. Also, the Cheese Shop I believe on 5th is worth a look in, as is Manikins. It's a tea/coffee shop like Whitards used to be except they do a brew of the day for a couple of bucks and is usually awesome. Run by two Geordie sisters oddly enough!

Zazie

Zazie wrote: »

Anyone out there got any idea where would be good to stay en route from Cambria (California coast) to Las Vegas via Death Valley?

Any suggestions for this please??

Miles16v

I've booked us into the 4 star Hyatt Regency San Francisco for our first 3 nights, via Priceline, at £58 a night.

Had never used priceline before but a bit of work before hand ruled out anything that might have been questionable.

I'll hang out for a direct vegas deal, but will have a look at LA and San Diego.

Although I think for San Diego it would be good to be a bit out of town, in a med style beach resort? Somewhere very close to a nice beach with a pool? Any reccommendations? I've just remembered to try and put a bit of 'relax' into this trip....

cubegame

An interesting tip for San Diego.

Make sure that if you go out to a bar or after 6pm to a restaurant that you have ID. Regardless of your age they have such an anal policy about the drinking age they insist you have ID.

The OH and I had a booking at a restaurant and we were refused admission without ID even though we are both in our thirties. A friend of ours out there has parents in their 70s and they get ID'd.

old_motters

Miles16v wrote: »

I've booked us into the 4 star Hyatt Regency San Francisco for our first 3 nights, via Priceline, at £58 a night.

Had never used priceline before but a bit of work before hand ruled out anything that might have been questionable.

I'll hang out for a direct vegas deal, but will have a look at LA and San Diego.

Although I think for San Diego it would be good to be a bit out of town, in a med style beach resort? Somewhere very close to a nice beach with a pool? Any reccommendations? I've just remembered to try and put a bit of 'relax' into this trip....

Congrats on the Hyatt. I've used Priceline more than a dozen times and think it's fantastic.

For San Diego, there are some beach style resorts but they generally cost a bomb. They also tend to be clustered around Mission Bay, Coronado Island and Point Loma/Shelter Island. There are some hotels on the beach in La Jolla. If you must do beach, I would stick to Coronado as it's closest to downtown and other attractions. The Loews (sic?) is usually found on hotwire or priceline, I've also seen the Hotel Del Coronado on Hotwire, not that I've ever wanted to spend that much.

My recommendation however, would be to stay downtown/gaslamp. The Omni can usually be got on Priceline for a song, and has a nice outside pool area above ground level.

old_motters

cubegame wrote: »

An interesting tip for San Diego.

Make sure that if you go out to a bar or after 6pm to a restaurant that you have ID. Regardless of your age they have such an anal policy about the drinking age they insist you have ID.

The OH and I had a booking at a restaurant and we were refused admission without ID even though we are both in our thirties. A friend of ours out there has parents in their 70s and they get ID'd.

I can't say that's ever happened to me however, it is a good tip. I believe it's required by law that visitors carry ID with them at all times anyway.

cubegame

old_motters wrote: »

I can't say that's ever happened to me however, it is a good tip. I believe it's required by law that visitors carry ID with them at all times anyway.

To be honest I think it was because there was a ballgame on that evening which makes them less tolerant.

Miles16v

old_motters wrote: »

Congrats on the Hyatt. I've used Priceline more than a dozen times and think it's fantastic.

For San Diego, there are some beach style resorts but they generally cost a bomb. They also tend to be clustered around Mission Bay, Coronado Island and Point Loma/Shelter Island. There are some hotels on the beach in La Jolla. If you must do beach, I would stick to Coronado as it's closest to downtown and other attractions. The Loews (sic?) is usually found on hotwire or priceline, I've also seen the Hotel Del Coronado on Hotwire, not that I've ever wanted to spend that much.

My recommendation however, would be to stay downtown/gaslamp. The Omni can usually be got on Priceline for a song, and has a nice outside pool area above ground level.

Thats great thanks. Are you talking about bidding through priceline? Are there any bad 4 star hotels in the area? So bids in downtown are likely to be the Omni?

I presume the offers get accepted at lower levels the closer you get towards the stay date? It seems that its much cheaper from the .com site in $, but that doesn't seem to be available to us!

richardlionheart

wow

just love California , with ( San francisco , Santa Barbara , with its spectatular views of the pacific and the Ynez Mountains ,rising majestically in the background , also at San diego , spent a great day at the famous DEL MAR "where the surf meets the turf ! " ) i could go on and on !:rolleyes:

anyways we have done a couple of fly drives to California in the past , and what ever you end up
doing , you will have such fond memories as it's a sort of adventure in a way , compared
to a packaged type trip.

what we did last time was ended up doing a 4 night cruise from LA ( san pedro port )
to finish of the holiday and unwind.
http://www.cruise411.com/sc.do?d=10/3/2008&d2=3/31/2010&i=744713&c=1&v=45&IncludeAlumnirates=&IncludeSeniorRates=false&state=&zipcode=&dsc=y
although the itinerary we had was , LA - Catalina island - San Diego - Mexico ( ensenada ) -LA

but what ever you end up doing i am sure you will have a wonderful time :beer:

cheers
Rich