Southwest USA & The West Coast (California, Arizona etc) - General Thread

traveller

Hi, brilliant thread! I'm off to vegas next month with my 4 children 20,16,14 and 5 for a fortnight. The trip is to celebrate my 40th.
Within this trip I will be going to LA for 3 nights and the Grand Canyon South Rim staying in a cabin for a night. In all honesty, I much prefer the look of the Valley of fire, but for the sake of my 5 year old who's desperate to go there, we are doing this.

Now, according to Google maps, I will be going straight at two traffic circles there roundabouts. Can anyone tell me, do you give priority to traffic coming from the right like you do here? I've tried so hard to find this answer, but all I keep seeing is give priority to traffic already in the circle. Thanks.

Dirk_Gently_2

traveller wrote: »

Now, according to Google maps, I will be going straight at two traffic circles there roundabouts. Can anyone tell me, do you give priority to traffic coming from the right like you do here? I've tried so hard to find this answer, but all I keep seeing is give priority to traffic already in the circle. Thanks.

The first time I drove in California I came to one of these circles and did exactly that - treated it like a roundabout and gave way. And my passengers, who were native Californians, almost wet themselves laughing!

I should have treated it like a 5-way junction, giving way to anyone stopped before me. I imagine it's all down to the actual markings, because I have since come across some that are actual "roundabouts" - with a raised centre to go round - but there seem to be very few out there.

Which is a very roundabout (geddit?) way of saying "it depends, and you can't really be sure until you get there and see what other people are doing.

jackieblack

While there are certainly fewer roundabouts than we have in the UK, we've driven in 17 states and have encountered roundabouts/traffic circles in almost all of them.

There is usually total roadsign overload as you approach them showing you what you need to do.

And you'll be giving way to traffic from the left (not the right) and going anti-clockwise around them

traveller

Dirk Gently, Jackie Black, Thank you I had images of me going round and round in circles for hours, lol I just hope I'm not 1st at the thing. The closest i've come to this is the 4 way stop in Orlando

Vikki_74

sapphire7 wrote: »

I am visiting the US from Scotland in Sept with my fiance, we are staying 4 nights in San Francisco (24th-28th Sept) and I am keen to know if people think it is best to book the hotel now or is it likely that the prices will drop between now and then? It is looking quite expensive at the moment (compared to what has been paid by relatives recently)! The rest of our trip is not as much of a concern as the prices are as we were expecting.

I appreciate any help and as a 'newbie' will be trying to help others with my own knowledge.

As others have said, if you find something that you're reasonably happy with now in terms of location and price and its a cancellable rate then get it booked ASAP so you at least have somewhere to stay if its a busy/expensive time.

We had good luck with Hotwire in San Francisco; got the Holiday Inn near Fisherman's Wharf for $80-odd plus tax per night with a bit of help from the forums at betterbidding.com. Would have been around the same dates as you're going although going back a few years (2010).

Vikki_74

Wow, I just checked out your dates on a few sites...those are some crazy prices! $200+ for a Travelodge/Super 8, closer to $400-$500 for anywhere nice. San Francisco can, like any city, be on the pricey side for accommodation but it shouldn't be that bad!

It sounds like laughingsheep is right about the conference &/or something else going on as its the first two nights of your stay that are really pushing the price up. Is there any way you can move your dates around elsewhere to be in SF a couple of days later? If not, I would just grab whatever you can afford which isn't a flea bit at those prices and make the best of it!

Dirk_Gently_2

Vikki_74 wrote: »

Wow, I just checked out your dates on a few sites...those are some crazy prices! $200+ for a Travelodge/Super 8, closer to $400-$500 for anywhere nice. San Francisco can, like any city, be on the pricey side for accommodation but it shouldn't be that bad!

It sounds like laughingsheep is right about the conference &/or something else going on as its the first two nights of your stay that are really pushing the price up. Is there any way you can move your dates around elsewhere to be in SF a couple of days later? If not, I would just grab whatever you can afford which isn't a flea bit at those prices and make the best of it!

It's the final races of the Americas Cup then http://www.americascup.com/ and there are a few concerts and other events in town as part of the whole media circus.

woody252506

I would highly recommend the Mayflower hotel.

Its only a few blocks from union square and the owners are lovely people. Its old fashioned but extremely clean. The rooms have a small area for preparing food with a microwave. The rustic lift with an old pull iron gate really made you feel like you were going back to the old days in america

We stayed last year for 4 nights for our honeymoon and it was only around £350. Cheap by SF standards. You get a continental breakfast too with plenty of boiled eggs, toast, muffins, scones, cereals and juices.

http://www.sfmayflowerhotel.com/

We went down to Fishermans wharf a few times, its easy to get to via bus/tram and doesnt take long.

The trams are quite expensive so doing that everyday probably isnt something i would do. There is an electric bus service close to union square, near the bridge taking you down to china town. It was only 2 dollars each one way and you get to see the sights on China town when your on it. Id recommend getting off there and just walking through and taking it in, what a crazy place!!!

Union Square is great for restaurants (Cheesecake Factory and many more) and Lefty O'douls irish pub is great for a night out. There is a piano at the front where people gather round for a sing along and at the back is a tap room full of baseball memorabilia. They even do food in there which is highly recommended.

cottyh24

I second the recommendation for the Mayflower hotel. We stayed there for four nights last September and, although a bit dated, it was spotlessly clean and in a great location for exploring San Francisco. It had character too, something that is often missing in newer, fancier hotels. At $100 a night our 4 nights came to less than 1 night in some of the other hotels I looked at.

vanilla8

I recently stayed at the coventry motor inn for $105 a night.
It was only $10 cab back from fishermans wharf at night and located on Lombard st. Well connected with bus routes too.
Only one block from Chester St which has many quaint restaurants,shops and bars if you want to stay local to the hotel for the evening.