California fly drive advice

ferf1223

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.

It may not be what you're after - but we used Priceline for LA - we specified Santa Monica - Marina Del Rey and decided that we would be OK with any of the 3* or higher places...got the Courtyard which was really nice and clean and comfortable...right by a Starbucks and a small shopping centre...loads and loads of (free) parking...very easy to get to (at least from LAX) and very easy access out..it's right on PCH/Highway 1. Bonus was they had a little laundry room which was handy. The pool looked nice (we didn't use it) and they had a little shop behind reception with variety of snack sort of things which were overpriced, but handy.

It wasn't the Ritz or close to it - and it could use some updating, but we were very pleased with it - especially as it was a lot cheaper from the place we originally booked directly which while it had a great location, wasn't as nice of a place...we were only there one night though...so we wouldn't have been stuck for ages if it were crap.

Totally agree that you should book direct for Vegas.

premiertravel

I have just done someone a package for vagas and got MGM at such a cheap price and it included all the resort taxes etc I was gobsmacked at the price we got the hotels for and so was the customer.

Miles16v

Monterey looks nice, so I thought we'd spend a few days there, but looking at the weather its not all that warm, and she is going to want warm (hot) and a tan!

I know you lot cant make my mind up, but I'm currently struggling for what to do between leaving San Francisco and arriving in Vegas, in 10 days.

1. Arrive San Francisco arrive 14.30
2. San Fran
3. San Fran - alcatraz trip?
4. San Fran to Monterey (collect car) 126 miles
5. Monterey to Cambria 105 miles
6. Cambria to LA? 260 miles
7. LA?
8. LA?
9. LA? to San Diego 136 miles
10. San Diego - sealife trip?
11. San Diego - mexico trip?
12. San Diego to Vegas 328 miles
13. Vegas - helicopter grand canyon
14. Vegas - flight at 20.40
15. Spare day to use somewhere in above?

So thats the current plan. I'm slightly worried there isn't enough hot weather beach type relaxing for her, that there aren't enough days with nothing to do etc.

Also not sure what to do around LA.

Any thoughts on improving and where to add in the extra day?

This surprise stuff isn't all its cracked up to be! It would have been so much easier to book 2 weeks in Bali.

Murphy_The_Cat

If you can make it to San Luis Obispo (just down from Cambria) on a Thursday night for the Farmers Market, you'll love it. SLO is one of my favourite places in the world, & the Farmers Market is the cherry on top of the icing, on top of the cake. Plus there are some VERY nice places around there.

As for LA ? Its a real Marmite place and I can't stand it.

For San Diego, I really enjoyed going around USS Midway.

BTW, a night time tour of Alcatraz (book in advance) is the Dogs. They seel out quick, so if you fancy it, book it ASAP.

ferf1223

Miles16v wrote: »

Also not sure what to do around LA.

It's obviously down to personal preference - but our favorite thing we did in LA was the Warner Brothers Studio tour.

http://www2.warnerbros.com/vipstudiotour/

It is not a theme park (something that people seem to be disappointed about)...we really enjoyed it - but we also really like movies and a number of American TV shows.

jaypr

Miles16v wrote: »

Monterey looks nice, so I thought we'd spend a few days there, but looking at the weather its not all that warm, and she is going to want warm (hot) and a tan!

I know you lot cant make my mind up, but I'm currently struggling for what to do between leaving San Francisco and arriving in Vegas, in 10 days.

1. Arrive San Francisco arrive 14.30
2. San Fran
3. San Fran - alcatraz trip?
4. San Fran to Monterey (collect car) 126 miles
5. Monterey to Cambria 105 miles
6. Cambria to LA? 260 miles
7. LA?
8. LA?
9. LA? to San Diego 136 miles
10. San Diego - sealife trip?
11. San Diego - mexico trip?
12. San Diego to Vegas 328 miles
13. Vegas - helicopter grand canyon
14. Vegas - flight at 20.40
15. Spare day to use somewhere in above?

So thats the current plan. I'm slightly worried there isn't enough hot weather beach type relaxing for her, that there aren't enough days with nothing to do etc.

Also not sure what to do around LA.

Any thoughts on improving and where to add in the extra day?

This surprise stuff isn't all its cracked up to be! It would have been so much easier to book 2 weeks in Bali.

The problem is as been mentioned before is you are trying to fit too much in and i can assure you the constant driving, packing and unpacking will eventually get to you.

Having done California road trips in 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009 i can say that it's taken 40+ days to see almost everything we wanted too.

If i were you i would consider this;

1. Arrive San Francisco arrive 14.30
2. San Fran
3. San Fran - alcatraz trip?
4. San Fran to Monterey (collect car) 118 miles
5. Monterey to Pismo Beach/Solvang 146 or 200 miles
6. Pismo Beach/Solvang to LA? 174 or 120 miles
8. LA
9. LA to Palm Springs/Indian Wells 134 miles
10. Palm Springs/Indian Wells
11. Palm Springs/Indian Wells
12. Palm Springs/Indian Wells
13. Palm Springs/Indian Wells - Vegas 291 miles
14. Vegas - helicopter grand canyon
15. Vegas - flight at 20.40

If you want a hot sunny break then Palm Springs/Indian Wells is the place to go and as far as San Diego is concernedwe didn't much care for it. Probably because everyone told me i'd love it, i thought it was very meh.

Anyway here's a blog i did for my family for 2007, 2008 and twice in 2009. It's a bit crap and you have to start from the bottom up, but it might help(or not).

2007
http://jayprblog.blogspot.com/
2008
http://sfandla.blogspot.com/
Jan 2009
http://cali2009.blogspot.com/
Dec 2009
http://californiaandvegas09.blogspot.com/

Everyone will have a different opinion and they are entitled to that, but having done this a few times now, i can assure you if you follow the itinerary above, you cant go wrong.

Jason

415SanFran

Is that the Hyatt on Ellis Street? Or anywhere in the 94102 zipcode for that matter

If so all I am going to say is it is $49 a night for a reason!
Don't get me wrong the Hotel is wonderful, but be VERY careful in that area, It is called the Tenderloin District, it where all the drug pusher prostitutes and generally sleazy area of the city. With a VERY high % of tourists getting mugged/robbed/ held up. You will see drug deals on every street corner, that is with the police in full view.

Miles16v

415SanFran wrote: »

Is that the Hyatt on Ellis Street? Or anywhere in the 94102 zipcode for that matter

If so all I am going to say is it is $49 a night for a reason!
Don't get me wrong the Hotel is wonderful, but be VERY careful in that area, It is called the Tenderloin District, it where all the drug pusher prostitutes and generally sleazy area of the city. With a VERY high % of tourists getting mugged/robbed/ held up. You will see drug deals on every street corner, that is with the police in full view.

Thanks for your cheery post, but its the Hyatt in the financial district.

[FONT=geneva,helvetica,sans-serif]Financial District - Embarcadero
5 Embarcadero Center
San Francisco, California 94111 [/FONT]

tingtong

If anyone is still after San Diego accommodation, I've just had a great deal from Expedia on this place:

www.islandpalms.com

Paid £238 for 5 nights (I had a 10% off code), with an extra 7.25% to come back from Quidco. It's on Shelter Island, so a car is probably required, but you get free parking and also free Wi-Fi. Finally, it's fully refundable so I can cancel if required.

Hope this helps !

tingtong

415SanFran wrote: »

Is that the Hyatt on Ellis Street? Or anywhere in the 94102 zipcode for that matter

If so all I am going to say is it is $49 a night for a reason!
Don't get me wrong the Hotel is wonderful, but be VERY careful in that area, It is called the Tenderloin District, it where all the drug pusher prostitutes and generally sleazy area of the city. With a VERY high % of tourists getting mugged/robbed/ held up. You will see drug deals on every street corner, that is with the police in full view.

Must admit, this was the only area in SF where I felt a bit intimidated, not very pleasant.