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

vanilla8

ILOVEHOLIDAYS wrote: »

hi been reading this forum for months and managed to convince my OH to book the road trip and we go in 5 weeks....I know its not a year long planned trip but we are staying for 17 nights for a taster and hopefully return and stay longer in places we find to love....a couple of questions id like to ask if someone can help.

After Death Valley we are gonna stay in Bishop overnight then head to Yosemite. Do you head over highway 120 or 108. it looks like H120 is where the park entrance is but im not too sure.

We are doing the loop from LA-GC-LV-DV-YNP-SF-LA. It mentions tolls how do they work over there? from reading I think the tolls are the national parks which you buy the pass for but my OH is not convinced. Also can you explain how the golden gate toll works aswell?

I know when we go to Orlando you can buy a toll tag which we paid upfront for and we could use the toll roads as much as we wanted.

I have my itinerary I can post if anybody wants to nosy over it and give me some tips.

thanks :beer:

Who is your hire car with? We hired with Hertz and had the plate pass thing and enroute back into San Fran we drove over the Bay Bridge, just been stung for £30 for the tolls on my credit card! Would have been better to pay via cash - but i think the golden gate bridge is cashless - perhaps someone else could confirm this?

Entrance to Yosemite from Bishop is via the Tioga Pass Road which is next to Lee Vining. The toll for this road is covered by the entrance fee to the park.
If you are doing the 17 mile drive on the way from San Fran to LA this is a separate fee not covered by National Parks pass.
No other tolls down highway 1 unless you enter any National Parks.

September is a great time of year to go -we first went in September 2007 - excellent weather -although the Yosemite Falls will be dry it is still an amazing place.

northwest1965

ILOVEHOLIDAYS wrote: »

After Death Valley we are gonna stay in Bishop overnight then head to Yosemite. Do you head over highway 120 or 108. it looks like H120 is where the park entrance is but im not too sure.
We are doing the loop from LA-GC-LV-DV-YNP-SF-LA. It mentions tolls how do they work over there? from reading I think the tolls are the national parks which you buy the pass for but my OH is not convinced. Also can you explain how the golden gate toll works aswell?
I have my itinerary I can post if anybody wants to nosy over it and give me some tips.

thanks :beer:

Hi, yes, post the itinerary please:)

Can I ask, why have you chosen Bishop after DV? We stayed at Mammoth Lakes and then used the Tioga Road. (CA120)

I cant remember tolls!!:o you do have to pay to enter the National Parks.

Are you sure you want to be driving in SF, or are you just driving over the bridge when you arrive?

blindman

ILOVEHOLIDAYS wrote: »

After Death Valley we are gonna stay in Bishop overnight then head to Yosemite. Do you head over highway 120 or 108. it looks like H120 is where the park entrance is but im not too sure.

There are 3 entrances into YP. Tioga pass is the most scenic (and crowded at times..)

We are doing the loop from LA-GC-LV-DV-YNP-SF-LA. It mentions tolls how do they work over there? from reading I think the tolls are the national parks which you buy the pass for but my OH is not convinced. Also can you explain how the golden gate toll works aswell?

Tolls for the Golden Gate Bridge are collected only in one direction – when you are travelling south towards the city of San Francisco.

I have my itinerary I can post if anybody wants to nosy over it and give me some tips.
thanks :beer:

Itin
IS there scope for an "Open Jaw" flight? Fly into LAX then depart from SFO (or vice versa) Unless Highway 1 (Big Sur) is a must then fly into SFO and out of LAS.
Did similar last trip. LAX-LAS-Canyon lands-YP-SFO (17 days)

Don't forget to get the America the Beautiful pass (either from Ebay :cool:) or buy it in US then sell it on Ebay when you return

travellerboy

blindman wrote: »

Don't forget to get the America the Beautiful pass (either from Ebay :cool:) or buy it in US then sell it on Ebay when you return

Never that many for sale on the UK site, I always try ebay.de the Germany site where there are usually many for sale at better prices.

Murphy_The_Cat

Crispy_Ambulance wrote: »

30 mins? Wow! I'm still getting over about waiting 2 hours at Orlando last year!

I'm a bit confused about Star Alliance - I had a look on the website but remain a bit confused. Do you need to book through them or is the linking up just something that airlines automatically do? I'm happy to go via Europe - whichever is the best value and most convenient option for us.

I have had a look at some connecting flights - they don't seem to have very long between connections on some of them - if you've booked the whole journey as one ticket, do they sort you out if there's a delay with the first leg and you miss the second one?

hello Crispy

The massive advantage of booking with an airline tat is a member of a group, is that if say your United flight was cancelled, you could easily and seamlessly be transferred to another members plane (e.g Lufthansa) where you would be rerouted and taken to your destination -- its something that I hadn't really seen the importance of before until this year, when my flight got cancelled.
The major groups are Star Alliance, Oneworld, Skyteam.
For this specific reason, I'd book via these groups rather than a charter airline or an unaffilated airline every time (not sure of the status on VirginAtlantic - they don't seem to be a part of a group, but I may be mistaken).

ILOVEHOLIDAYS

vanilla8 wrote: »

Who is your hire car with? We hired with Hertz and had the plate pass thing and enroute back into San Fran we drove over the Bay Bridge, just been stung for £30 for the tolls on my credit card! Would have been better to pay via cash - but i think the golden gate bridge is cashless - perhaps someone else could confirm this?

Entrance to Yosemite from Bishop is via the Tioga Pass Road which is next to Lee Vining. The toll for this road is covered by the entrance fee to the park.
If you are doing the 17 mile drive on the way from San Fran to LA this is a separate fee not covered by National Parks pass.
No other tolls down highway 1 unless you enter any National Parks.

September is a great time of year to go -we first went in September 2007 - excellent weather -although the Yosemite Falls will be dry it is still an amazing place.

we have booked with Alamo picking up and dropping off at LAX. Think we will just pay cash then. thanks

ILOVEHOLIDAYS

northwest1965 wrote: »

Hi, yes, post the itinerary please:)

Can I ask, why have you chosen Bishop after DV? We stayed at Mammoth Lakes and then used the Tioga Road. (CA120)

I cant remember tolls!!:o you do have to pay to enter the National Parks.

Are you sure you want to be driving in SF, or are you just driving over the bridge when you arrive?

had to start a new thread as unsure how to add it without doing that but heres the link

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/62757131#Comment_62757131

the reason I have chosen bishop instead of ML is because its one of the longer days driving which im guessing will be more scenic but none of the accomodation is booked just the flights and car so its flexible. we are just driving to SF and parking the car at the hotel and use the public transport.

Does the park pass not cover the park entrance fees or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

blindman

vanilla8 wrote: »

and had the plate pass thing and enroute back into San Fran we drove over the Bay Bridge, just been stung for £30 for the tolls on my credit card! Would have been better to pay via cash - but i think the golden gate bridge is cashless - perhaps someone else could confirm this?

Golden Gate Toll is $6 cash

Paid it last year:cool: when went into Sausalito and to a couple of look out points

ILOVEHOLIDAYS

blindman wrote: »

Golden Gate Toll is $6 cash

Paid it last year:cool: when went into Sausalito and to a couple of look out points

All I can say is WOW!!! so excited

maybe for another thread but can I ask what make and model your camera is we are just looking to buy the canon eos 60d. but your pictures are fantastic

vanilla8

ILOVEHOLIDAYS wrote: »

Does the park pass not cover the park entrance fees or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

Yes Pass covers all National Parks entrance fees - the only one we couldn't use if for was 17 mile drive. We could use it in all the parks down highway 1 too.