California Family Roadtrip

uncovered

Hello all, been reading this forum for months now for ideas and I thought it was now time to ask some of you for your opinions.

I have booked up my flights for next year with BA and will be flying into San Francisco on Monday May 16th and out of San Francisco on Thursday June 2nd.

Plenty of time to now think about our itinery, although got this years Portugal holiday to get out of the way first!

Our party includes Mammy, Daddy and my two lads who will be 11 and 7 when we go.

So here is my current plan:

Mon: San Fran (Raddison Fishermans Wharf) how much are taxi from airport to the wharf roughly?
Tue: SF (boat trip etc)
Wed: SF (Alcatraz)
Thu: Pick up hire car (should I arrange a pick up at Union Square or get a taxi to the airport depot? and then off to Yosemite (curry village)
Fri: Yosemite
Sat: Death Valley or somewhere in between yosemite and vegas (to break the journey up)
Sun: Vegas
Mon: Vegas (helicopter up and down the strip (I have been with the OH to Vegas before so think one day is enough for us and the kids, just to say they have been there and they will like the hotels, venetian, NYNY etc)
Tues: Grand Canyon via Hoover Dam: I fancy staying at the Maswik Lodge.
Wed: Gran Canyon
Thurs: heading to Los Angeles, again long journey so am wanted to stay over somewhere half way but have yet found anywhere kind of interesting.
Fri: Los Angeles
Sat: Los Angeles (bus tour of the stars, hollywood etc)
Sun: Universal Studios (we were going to do disney but I think the lads will prefer Universal as it looks more exciting for them and ofcourse it is cheaper!)
Mon:-Thurs Nothing really planned, maybe could extend our stay by a day or two at some previous stops but would possibly like a couple of days chilling at the end of the holiday near a beach.

We fly at 5pm on the Thursday and I wouldn't mind staying at a hotel near the airport on the wednesday night.

During the holiday we wouldn't mind a couple of rest days, just chilling around a pool or something, but it may be worth keeping those chill out days to the end as there appears to be some nice beaches between LA and SF which we could hit at the end of the holiday as we try to recouperate.

Any advise, tips etc would be appreciated. The car journeys at the most I would like to be 4 or 5 hours.

I am not loaded either, so am wondering how expensive it is to eat out etc. I was hoping around $100 a day for food. Hotel wise, top limit $180 a night, with stays at Circus Circus or the likes in Vegas bringing the average nightly rate down.

cheers


scott

isplumm

uncovered wrote: »

Hello all, been reading this forum for months now for ideas and I thought it was now time to ask some of you for your opinions.

I have booked up my flights for next year with BA and will be flying into San Francisco on Monday May 16th and out of San Francisco on Thursday June 2nd.

Plenty of time to now think about our itinery, although got this years Portugal holiday to get out of the way first!

Our party includes Mammy, Daddy and my two lads who will be 11 and 7 when we go.

So here is my current plan:

Mon: San Fran (Raddison Fishermans Wharf) how much are taxi from airport to the wharf roughly?
Tue: SF (boat trip etc)
Wed: SF (Alcatraz)
Thu: Pick up hire car (should I arrange a pick up at Union Square or get a taxi to the airport depot? and then off to Yosemite (curry village)
Fri: Yosemite
Sat: Death Valley or somewhere in between yosemite and vegas (to break the journey up)
Sun: Vegas
Mon: Vegas (helicopter up and down the strip (I have been with the OH to Vegas before so think one day is enough for us and the kids, just to say they have been there and they will like the hotels, venetian, NYNY etc)
Tues: Grand Canyon via Hoover Dam: I fancy staying at the Maswik Lodge.
Wed: Gran Canyon
Thurs: heading to Los Angeles, again long journey so am wanted to stay over somewhere half way but have yet found anywhere kind of interesting.
Fri: Los Angeles
Sat: Los Angeles (bus tour of the stars, hollywood etc)
Sun: Universal Studios (we were going to do disney but I think the lads will prefer Universal as it looks more exciting for them and ofcourse it is cheaper!)
Mon:-Thurs Nothing really planned, maybe could extend our stay by a day or two at some previous stops but would possibly like a couple of days chilling at the end of the holiday near a beach.

We fly at 5pm on the Thursday and I wouldn't mind staying at a hotel near the airport on the wednesday night.

During the holiday we wouldn't mind a couple of rest days, just chilling around a pool or something, but it may be worth keeping those chill out days to the end as there appears to be some nice beaches between LA and SF which we could hit at the end of the holiday as we try to recouperate.

Any advise, tips etc would be appreciated. The car journeys at the most I would like to be 4 or 5 hours.

I am not loaded either, so am wondering how expensive it is to eat out etc. I was hoping around $100 a day for food. Hotel wise, top limit $180 a night, with stays at Circus Circus or the likes in Vegas bringing the average nightly rate down.

cheers


scott

Hi,

Have you booked the flights - because you would be far better flying into SF & out of LA - same price - save lots of driving back to SF - car hire will be the same / as most car hire companies don't charge extra for one way drop off charge in California!!

Mark

Mrs_Moore_To_Be

Hi, you could join this thread?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2544289

cubegame

Heading to San Diego before LA would be a good idea. The Zoo is the best in the world and there's also Seaworld and it's probably the best place to catch a baseball game.

northwest1965

uncovered - I havent been yet but was going to ask why you are flying in and out the same airport?

I'm glad you mentioned about picking up the car after you have done SFO. Just wondered everyone elses opinion, is that OK or do you need the car?

Another thing I've noticed looking in the Virgin brochure, some hotels charge for parking, have you included an amount for this?

isplumm

northwest1965 wrote: »

uncovered - I havent been yet but was going to ask why you are flying in and out the same airport?

I'm glad you mentioned about picking up the car after you have done SFO. Just wondered everyone elses opinion, is that OK or do you need the car?

Another thing I've noticed looking in the Virgin brochure, some hotels charge for parking, have you included an amount for this?

Hi,

When we did this back in 2000, we flew into LA, didn't have a car for the first days, then picked it up from downtown day before leaving for LV.

Kept it for SF - but shouldn't have done - costs about $15 a day to park!! Never really used it.

Mark

northwest1965

Not wanting to hijack your thread uncovered (you were talking about costs:D) just out of interest, what were hotels charging to park?

cubegame

Unless you really in downtown areas you'll probably find free on-street parking near most hotels.

Starrystarrynight

Our hotel in Anaheim charged $5 a day for parking, but the hotel we're using there this year doesn't make a charge.

uncovered

i was going to fly into san francisco and fly out of LA. I had that plan for a while, but I really fancied driving along the Pacific Coast Highway back to San Fran, given that we have three days at the end of the holiday I may stop off at a few different places, but haven't looked into this alot yet so any ideas of places between la and san fran with a nice beach then that would be appreciated. I also had the thought of a one way drop off fee, I know not many charge but didn't fancy the thought.

If we flew back out of LA then I just had a feeling that I would be hovering around the LA area for 5 or 6 days and to be honest from what I have read it is not really a nice place and sounds far too busy for my liking. So just want two days there, one to see the sights and the next to visit a theme park.

San Francisco is the place we really want to visit and again, reading plenty of reviews, it appears car parking charges are very high in that area. The hotel we fancy staying in charges $40 a day! You don't seem to need a car in San Fran anyway so decided to start the hire period on the fourth day, so we will wake up, have breakfast and then head to whichever depot to pick it up and we are off, no parking fees, less rental charge and all that.

7891368

cubegame wrote: »

Heading to San Diego before LA would be a good idea. The Zoo is the best in the world and there's also Seaworld

We went to San Diego Zoo (albeit 2006) and all we saw were a lot of animal behinds, thoroughly disappointing!

But Seaworld was amazing! It's cheaper to buy tickets online in advance or consider a multi pass, if there's other things you fancy!