Touring holiday to Nevada, California & Arizona

Murphy_The_Cat

blindman wrote: »

Where are you staying in San Diego?

I'll be travelling this time with 3 adults and one child so my usual (cheap:cool: ) priceline deals won't necessarily suit this time.
I'll be checking out Hotwire of course and have another (secret ) solution.

Nowhere flash in SD :beer:. We're staying in an Inn,(website down, so unable to give link) as we can have multiple bedrooms within the 'room'. So when the children do to bed, we can still be active around the 'room'. We found that multiple bedroom rooms in SD to be a touch 'ahem' pricey & we couldn't just get a condo/house that fitted the bill for 4 nights. IIRC, it's $150 per night B&B for the 2 bedroom suite.

malid

blindman wrote: »

Where are you staying in San Diego?

I'll be travelling this time with 3 adults and one child so my usual (cheap:cool: ) priceline deals won't necessarily suit this time.
I'll be checking out Hotwire of course and have another (secret ) solution.

Stayed at Humphreys Half Moon Inn and Suites in San Diego in 2006. Had a great time and would recommend.:cool:

Strapped

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

Thats a thought that I'd never had. I'm looking at the bulk of the booster seat and thinking what a PITA that is going to be to bring back, plus, its seriously going to take up some 'new clothes from holidays' space in the luggage. Buying a booster over here, taking it with us, using it for the holiday and then leaving it could be a winning suggestion. We'll have lots of luggage space going over (thanks AA:beer:), but coming back things will be a lot tighter.

Amazing what you can find in "lost (left) luggage". When we were looking for a lightweight pushchair to take with us on holiday, our neighbour (United hostie) helpfully produced a "left" pushchair. (Not sure why it was left, as a pushchair is additional to the weight limit anyway). Unfortunately no car seats on that occasion though. :-(

Murphy_The_Cat

Strapped wrote: »

(Not sure why it was left, as a pushchair is additional to the weight limit anyway). Unfortunately no car seats on that occasion though. :-(

Fortunately for us, AA will allow us to take a 'stroller' type puchchair with us and it doesn't affect out weight limit - as long as you check it at the gate. I don't know how this works with other airlines.

MOLLYBRUSH

Murphy, am I right in thinking you have experience of Amtrak. Was just looking to book the train from LA to SF but am not clear about the situation regarding the tickets. It only gives me two options - both of which apply to people in the US. If I wanted to ring them, they give a 1-800 number. Can you tell me how I go about ringing them from UK please. Many thanks.

duchy

Molly you can call that number from the UK just put 001 in front of it-it probably won't be free though.

Murphy_The_Cat

MOLLYBRUSH wrote: »

Murphy, am I right in thinking you have experience of Amtrak. Was just looking to book the train from LA to SF but am not clear about the situation regarding the tickets. It only gives me two options - both of which apply to people in the US. If I wanted to ring them, they give a 1-800 number. Can you tell me how I go about ringing them from UK please. Many thanks.

hmm how odd.
In the past when I've bought Amtrak tickets I've bought them online, and collected my tickets at the station (remember to take your passport with you at the time).
T'other thing that I was going to suggest was upgrading to First Class and getting a Ocean Side seat for the trip.

Plus, the train doesn't actually stop in San Francisco, the stop is Emeryville. To get to San Francisco you'd need to get an Amtrak coach to complete your short journey.

Wow, I've just seen how long that trip takes on the train :eek::eek:. 12 hours :eek::eek:.

duchy

Now it's twice as odd

MOLLYBRUSH

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

hmm how odd.
In the past when I've bought Amtrak tickets I've bought them online, and collected my tickets at the station (remember to take your passport with you at the time).
T'other thing that I was going to suggest was upgrading to First Class and getting a Ocean Side seat for the trip.

Plus, the train doesn't actually stop in San Francisco, the stop is Emeryville. To get to San Francisco you'd need to get an Amtrak coach to complete your short journey.

Wow, I've just seen how long that trip takes on the train :eek::eek:. 12 hours :eek::eek:.

I was going to do the 7.45 from LA which gets in at 5.30 SF, so not quite so scary, although will have to make sure MP3s etc are fully charged to keep kids busy. It says there is a kiddie carriage, so if that's the case, then I will be able to sit back and relax and enjoy the view as both mine are very sociable. Couldn't see option of First Class. Are we viewing the same thing?

Murphy_The_Cat

MOLLYBRUSH wrote: »

I was going to do the 7.45 from LA which gets in at 5.30 SF, so not quite so scary, although will have to make sure MP3s etc are fully charged to keep kids busy. It says there is a kiddie carriage, so if that's the case, then I will be able to sit back and relax and enjoy the view as both mine are very sociable. Couldn't see option of First Class. Are we viewing the same thing?

You've got me wondering now !
I went in via the Amtrak portal here, & put in the trip from LAX to EMY for 4 passengers, and got this, which gives the fare options & upgrade options.
Is that what you have been getting ?