California Road Trip!

bignred05

Make sure you have plenty of petrol (Gas) in your car every day

we did this trip a number of years ago, did not realise how far you could go without a sight of "Gas" station, we had the red light flashing for some time, thankfully in the nick of time and in the distance was a Gas station

Vikki_74

carey_suz wrote: »

Buy 1 get 1 free for Universal Studios anyone?

If you want to do Universal then depending on what the rest of your plans are whilst in and around LA / San Diego, it might be worth pricing up one of these two offers which give you a 'bundle' of different admissions for a set price:

http://www.citypass.com/southern-california?mv_source=partnerfusion&cmpid=google_La%20city%20pass&mkwid=sG3Cl2r30&pcrid=5835980909&gclid=CNLNpbKanKgCFQEZ4QoddRYTHQ

3 day Disneyland ticket, Universal Studios, Sea World + San Diego Zoo or Wild Animal Park

http://www.smartdestinations.com/los-angeles-attractions-and-tours/_d_Lax-p1.html?pass=Lax_Prod_Go

A whole list of attractions, theme parks etc. We got the 3 day pass for just under $150 (if you want one, wait until they have 10% off on their website, happens fairly frequently) and did Universal, the Warner Bros Studio Tour, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Kodak Theatre Guided Tour, Red Line Hollywood Behind-the-Scenes Tour.

You do have to price them up carefully against what you could buy the various tickets for online and make sure you're not paying for things you don't need, but the Go Card worked out well for us.

Vikki_74

Ooh sorry, just thought of something else...Consider signing up for deals on the Groupon website for LA, San Francisco, San Diego & Las Vegas.

They email out details of offers daily, including restaurants and some 'tourist' things too - we got a sunset boat trip on San Francisco Bay from there and a harbour tour in San Diego, both at least 1/2 off the normal price. You have to buy in advance but most of the 'Groupons' last for at least a few months - they tell you the expiration date as well as any other terms & conditions before you purchase.

carey_suz

WOW thanks everyone you've all been so helpful! I'm going to get busy checking everything out xx

zagfles

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

Take several credit cards with high limits on them and enjoy your honeymoon -- unless you are going to be eating at McDs/Subway all the time, or staying in Motel 8 rooms, America definitely isn't an economy destination.

p.s do a search of this section, there are multiple threads to help you :beer:

We found eating out and hotels/motels generally much cheaper than in the UK. Hotels are nearly always willing to negotiate on price - always ask for a discount and unless they are nearly full you'll almost certainly get one.

zagfles

jackieblack wrote: »

Accomodation in Yosemite is limited and can get fully booked up well in advance.
Depending on how soon you're going you may want to think about booking your Yosemite accomodation sooner rather than later.
Yosemite is spectacular, well worth a few days stay.
We stayed here http://www.yosemite-motels.com/yosemiteviewlodge/ , just a few minutes outside the NP.

Yes, we booked our trip about 5 months in advance, we didn't pre-book any hotels except near Yosemite as we were advised that there's limited accomodation in the park and it is always booked up well in advance. We couldn't get anything inside the park at all, so we stayed just outside at El Portal

zagfles

carey_suz wrote: »

I'm off on honeymoon soon to California. Starting in LA, driving up the coast to San Francisco, then through Napa Valley, Gold Country, Yosemite, Las Vegas, Palm Springs, San Diego and then back to LA.

Has anyone got any money saving tips or general recommendations for motels/hotels, eating out, tourist trips, Las Vegas helicopters etc etc that might help make our honeymoon more enjoyable without overspending?

Thanks so much for any ideas!
Suz

It won't be cheap - but you could consider a flight over the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas. When we did a similar trip we figured it was too far out the way to drive to so we got a flight over the canyon, it lands there and you have a few hours on the rim. Was one of the highlights of our trip.

zagfles

bignred05 wrote: »

Make sure you have plenty of petrol (Gas) in your car every day

we did this trip a number of years ago, did not realise how far you could go without a sight of "Gas" station, we had the red light flashing for some time, thankfully in the nick of time and in the distance was a Gas station

Yes, we did this driving out of Las Vegas towards Death Valley - the next town was only about 40 miles away and we had a quarter tank - but we didn't realise it was uphill all the way, and when we got there the "town" was population 6 no gas station type place. Had to cruise in neutral back down to Las Vegas after being laughed at by half the "town's" population when I asked where the gas station was

Murphy_The_Cat

zagfles wrote: »

We found eating out and hotels/motels generally much cheaper than in the UK. Hotels are nearly always willing to negotiate on price - always ask for a discount and unless they are nearly full you'll almost certainly get one.

But do you aet out three times a day at home ? as for hotels/motels, at one stage I would have agreed with you, but with Travelloge/Premier Inn promotions, i don't think that is the case anymore.
Plus, if you actually want to do things in the US, the costs soon rack up !

zagfles

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

But do you aet out three times a day at home ? as for hotels/motels, at one stage I would have agreed with you, but with Travelloge/Premier Inn promotions, i don't think that is the case anymore.
Plus, if you actually want to do things in the US, the costs soon rack up !

Well it was a few years ago - maybe things have changed. We tended to have a big breakfast and dinner, just a snack for lunch. Breakfast about $10 with tip for 2 of us, dinner maybe $30-40 for 2. We stayed in some very nice hotels for prices well under $100, and motels for under $50. Initial prices were much higher but with a bit of haggling you can get big discounts particularly off-peak in places with competition.

But not as cheap as Florida when we went 15 years ago - stayed in a very nice (but basic) motel for $15 a night