DIY or travel agent

jackieblack

nimac20 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

What i'm taking from your replies is that it may work but i cant drive on all roads, will be expensive and driving through cities will be a pain.

So i need to work out if all of this is worth the hassle. The alternative is to rent a large car/SUV to fit us and all our stuff and stay in hotels etc... Doesn't sound as much fun though!!

I wasn't going to drive around SF or LA anyway, just use public transport to get to places and go on some tours so not that concerned about not being able to drive here. However i would like to be able to drive the PCH and into yosemite so i guess my next question is would these places be suitable for RV's.

Some of the roads into and in Yosemite will be fine. Others not.
eg Don't even attempt to try and drive into Yosemite on the western part of the 120 (which I believe becomes the Tioga Pass road on the eastern side of Yosemite).

Re the PCH, I saw several RVs on the road but the only person I know who has actually done it (a capable woman who has driven in the USA many times as well as having driven all over Europe) spent pretty much the whole first few days in the back with her hands over her eyes, terrified, and her partner had to do all the driving which they had planned to share.
Eventually they gave up and changed their plans and took the RV inland instead, they went back the following year and drove it in a car and she was absolutely fine.
It's not everyone's cup of tea It's a stunning road to drive down though, the views are breathtaking


We did price up a couple of RV trips over the years, but it always worked out much cheaper for us to rent a car and stay in hotels. I think it's one of those things that sounds great in theory/looks fun in the movies but can be very different in practice. Having said that I'm not a caravanning/camping fan anyway, but each to their own I guess

John259

Public transport in and around the San Francisco area is very good.

The Los Angeles area is vast and best considered as several separate places. Public transport is available in the central city area but it's much more awkward further out in the suburbs/satellite cities. But in the suburbs you can drive and park easily. Places such as Disneyland are geared up for RV parking. Parking an RV at supermarkets and stores such as WalMart's won't be a problem because they have large car parks, but parking at some restaurants might be.

I've seen loads of RV's driving the Pacific Coast Highway, so that's not a problem except perhaps with an exceptionally large vehicle. The road has a lot of bends but no hairpins, no steep gradients and isn't particularly narrow by British standards.

Here's the official National Park Service information about vehicle restrictions in Yosemite:
https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/restrictions.htm
Again, I've seen huge numbers of RV's in Yosemite Valley and on the Tioga Pass. Glacier Point would be a problem though due to the relatively small car park. BTW once parked in Yosemite Valley you can use the free shuttle buses provided by the Park Service to get around that particular area.

For accommodation in the USA, except in big city centres think motels not hotels and you can search for accommodation on Google Maps to get a good idea of what's available.

blindman

mgdavid wrote: »

We RV'ed round Florida for 3 weeks a few years ago;
Haven't been for a while but IIRC really wide roads and fairly flat?

1 - nothing in America is fuel efficient, given the price of gas over there it's still cheap though.

RV FAQ's 10-16 mpg
2 - NOT very slow, they will happily cruise at state speed limits, any faster and you get nicked.

Any gradient and you are crawling..

3 - parking not an issue if you use guile and common sense; even for 4 people the RV does not have to be the size of the Queen Mary! Just get the smallest 4-berth you can find.

If you are not used to driving a small lorry in UK it will not be easy in USA with all your family onboard.

4 - agree, but a circular tour shouldn't be too difficult to plan.

As I said it may work for the OP

nimac20

opposing views re driving the PCH but i guess people are always going to have different experiences of the same thing, thats life i suppose!!

thats given me a few things to think about anyway, not going to be the idyllic driving my RV into the sunset on wide roads i am hoping for!!

question is can i put up with the hassle of driving a larger vehicle, is it worth it. The only sticking point i can see are getting in and around LA/SF but these places are only going to take up a few days of a 2/3 weeks holiday, and the cost but i am going to have to hire an SUV anyway which will need fuel and also stay in hotel etc... which isn't cheap.

Hope i'm not going to regret this!!

Murphy_The_Cat

nimac20 wrote: »

opposing views re driving the PCH but i guess people are always going to have different experiences of the same thing, thats life i suppose!!

thats given me a few things to think about anyway, not going to be the idyllic driving my RV into the sunset on wide roads i am hoping for!!

question is can i put up with the hassle of driving a larger vehicle, is it worth it. The only sticking point i can see are getting in and around LA/SF but these places are only going to take up a few days of a 2/3 weeks holiday, and the cost but i am going to have to hire an SUV anyway which will need fuel and also stay in hotel etc... which isn't cheap.

Hope i'm not going to regret this!!

research, research, research :- think about the 7P's .

Has your orginal budet of £4000 changed, as RV rental, mileage, parking, insurance & 'extras' isn't a cheap exercise.

I know that your post has referred to California, but if you are really keen on RVing, have you considered other parts of the US that would be more RV holiday friendly (maybe keeping you out of the cities as much as possible)
These guys have quite a few suggested itineraries (including some for California), which may be handy. Tab down towards the bottom of the page.
I'm trying really, really hard to not point you in the direction of some of those itineraries, as it wouldn't be fair to point out that some of the others would be absolutely, spectaculously, magnificantly brilliant for a family.

nimac20

ok, maybe reconsidering the RV between LA and SF on the PCH given the above comments.

How about RV from SF to Yosemite to LA then car from LA to SF?

jackieblack

nimac20 wrote: »

ok, maybe reconsidering the RV between LA and SF on the PCH given the above comments.

How about RV from SF to Yosemite to LA then car from LA to SF?

If you're going to drive the PCH, IMO it's MUCH better to do it north to south, ie SF to LA
Reasons being: You'll be on the coast side of the road, your views will not be continually interrupted by oncoming traffic.
Also, Vista Points (places where you can pull in to admire the views) are on the coast side so it's much easier to pull in and out of these without having to wait for a gap and cross oncoming traffic every time.
I can't remember if you said what time of year you are going, but also you will potentially be going from SF (where it can be damp/foggy) towards the warmer/sunnier weather

blindman

nimac20 wrote: »

ok, maybe reconsidering the RV between LA and SF on the PCH given the above comments.

How about RV from SF to Yosemite to LA then car from LA to SF?

How much is the O\W drop off fee for the RV :eek:

You could do SF then hire the RV for Yosemite and around then return to SF

Then drive the PCH to LA\San Diego