Touring holiday to Nevada, California & Arizona

funkyfin2000

Well dude, thats cracking so far what info you have given me, i really appreciate it and if anyone else can help on those questions it would be great.......

The luxury car is £60 more than the Dodge charger......so its quite expensive....we shall see, can always look at the cost a bit later....

Shall update if i get more info via roadtripusa.....on ideas etc..

Murphy_The_Cat

funkyfin2000 wrote: »

Well dude, thats cracking so far what info you have given me, i really appreciate it and if anyone else can help on those questions it would be great.......

The luxury car is £60 more than the Dodge charger......so its quite expensive....we shall see, can always look at the cost a bit later....

Shall update if i get more info via roadtripusa.....on ideas etc..

£60 for the holiday, £4 per day, an absolute bargain IMO.
If you get a car with airconditioned seats and all the toys you'll love it !

STSAVER

Finished our tour of Vegas and California yesterday. :-(

Gutted to be sitting back in work already.

Will try to post a more detailed report at some point but just quickly for now.

Vegas - crazy place. Everything good and bad about the USA in one place. Big Shot ride at the Strat is one hell of an experience thats for sure.
Grand Canyon visit via Heli with Maverick was amazing though and one of the best experiences I've ever had.

San Diego - cool "little" city, and like a lot of places, didn't have time to see enough. Gaslamp good for drinks and bit more of a European style nightlife. Bilboa Park lovely and spent hours exploring the zoo believe it or not which I enjoyed. Coronado/Point Loma offer great views of the city.

Buena Park - Knotts Berry Farm. Did this for the wife really as I generally dislike Theme Parks but had a great day and surprised myself with how much I enjoyed the rides.

Ventura/Cambria/Monterey - starting from Buena Park we drove up the coast through the likes of Malibu, Santa Barbara, Hearst Castle, Big Sur etc stopping at these three places. Some lovely towns, but basically we just did not have the time to explore and enjoy them all fully. In Hindsight we would've needed the 4 nights we spent in Vegas to be part of the California time really. Hearst Castle unreal. Big Sur drive - wow!

San Francisco - a very very good cosmopolitan US City to visit. Plenty of pan handlers yes, but you get used to it, and again just soo much to try and see in do inevitably without the time to do it. Ate at Nankings in Chinatown the first night and what an experience that is - great food and hilarious service.

More detail will follow.

funkyfin2000

STSaver, great to hear your back!

Congrats on the wedding, been following your posts with envy and you are in the same position we were last year after our honeymoon!

Basically not enough time to do things, and wanting to go back and do more, 2 years on, next May we are!

Give us more detail, im interested in your hotels and how they were...

how was the palm springs/dessert one you stayed in??

Congrats again

STSAVER

Hotels.

MGM Grand Bungalow Suite - Superb location and room in the MGM. Room situation only a few doors down corridor and we were given a great strip view (see below) since I mentioned Honeymoon when booking. Fridge in room was a lifesaver as meant we kept a lot of water bottles continually filled and cool as it was 120f when we were there.



San Diego Holiday Inn on the Bay - Not the best of looking hotels from the outside, but great location overlooking the bay, rooms in very good condition (and we got a lovely bay view - see below) and staff more than helpful.



Buena Vista Holiday Inn - a basic holiday inn near a theme park basically. Nothing more nothing less. Ideal location for Knotts Berry Farm.

Ventura Harbor Holiday Inn and Suites - superb little suite we got here with good view over the bay. Was tempting to just stay in the room to use the kitchen facilities and eat looking over the harbor. Big bathroom complete with jacuzzi type bath.

Cambria Moonstone Inn - pricey but lovely room with view of the sea. Fireplace in the room a nice feature and good size bathroom but think basically we could've went for a more basic room here given the time we spent in the area.

Monterey InterContinental - what can I say. Used Priority Points for the room, and upgraded myself to Ambassador membership before the trip and so ended up with an upgrade to a suite. Best hotel room I've ever been in. Two bathrooms, bedroom with walk in dresser/clothing area, separate living room and complete with two big flat screen tv's. Greeted with a bottle of red wine, water, fruit and chocolate on the table for us. Brilliant. Shame we only hd the one night there.

San Francisco Intercontinental - not quite the room at Monterey but upgraded to a corner room which meant floor to ceiling windows on two sides overlooking the city (Union Square view). Lovely hotel, just backs onto rougher area but never had a problem as its only a few hundred yards basically to Powell St so ideal location.


Got photos from all hotels but not pulled them all off the Camera yet as took so many during the trip.

STSAVER

funkyfin2000 wrote: »

MTC those hotels look good, will have a look at old town inn and drop them a mail for rates...it looks like most things are about £90-£100 a nite which is pricey for hotels but if thats the budget, then so is it Thanks for the info so far...be nice to see how STsaver got on when he was away in the Holiday Inns.

Holiday Inn on the Bay at San Diego was a great location I thought. Superb views if getting a room overlooking the bay (they do charge extra usually for these rooms but didn't cost me as used Priority Club as booking).

About 10 minutes walk to Gaslamp/Downtown areas. 5 minutes walk to the Embarcadero area, and took about 5 minute to drive to Bilboa Park which was a very easy drive.

Had a few drinks in the Elephant and Castle which is advertised as an English bar but basically its just a "English Theme" bar really.

Pool we looked down on and looked decent but we never used it as were too busy seeing the sights.

Bambywamby

Just a question for those that have been to south west u.s.a, my travel guide says you should take a anti-venom kit incase you are bitten by one of the wild creepy crawlies whilst out there.
Did any of you take a kit? and if so where did you buy it from?
Thanks in advance
Bam x

Murphy_The_Cat

Bambywamby wrote: »

Just a question for those that have been to south west u.s.a, my travel guide says you should take a anti-venom kit incase you are bitten by one of the wild creepy crawlies whilst out there.
Did any of you take a kit? and if so where did you buy it from?
Thanks in advance
Bam x

Hi Bam
I never took a kit (in fact, it never crossed my mind to !). Maybe if I was hiking across the desert areas it would have been a consideration, but other than that, nope

BTW, I'm stating the bleeding obvious, but sunscreen was a LOT cheaper Stateside than over here :beer:

tingtong

Bambywamby wrote: »

Just a question for those that have been to south west u.s.a, my travel guide says you should take a anti-venom kit incase you are bitten by one of the wild creepy crawlies whilst out there.
Did any of you take a kit? and if so where did you buy it from?
Thanks in advance
Bam x

When in USA last year we asked in Walgreens for a snake bite kit (after reading that you should get one) and they looked at me daft, they didn't have anything of the sort.

Also, I have since read (can't quite remember where) that they no longer advise using them, just to get proper medical attention ASAP and keep your heart above the area affected (obviously not possible if it's your head !).

To put your mind at rest, during our last 2 trips we have spent a fair bit of time in desert areas and, much to my dissappointment, didn't see one rattlesnake (or scorpion).

Don't worry !

Bambywamby

Thank you folks that's the anti-venom kit off my huge "to buy" list. x x