American Virgin - Advice Please.

tightbarsteward

Going to a friends wedding near San Diego in September & could do with some advice. Never been out of Europe before.

Looking at flights now for Sept cheapest i can see is around £440 each return. Is this good? Is it best booking in advance to get the best deal?

Also need to hire a car for a week. Anyone any recommendations?

Cheers in advance.

Nordictat2

Have you tried https://www.travelsupermarket.com or airline-network.co.uk you can search for both flights and car hire there.

We are going to the US in May and using https://www.carhire3000.com for our car hire

Stephann

Also flyzoom (www.flyzoom.com) now fly direct from Gatwick to San Diego. They're usually fairly cheap, but have a reputation for delays - some lengthy!

Amys

Virgin *usually* have a sale that includes september prices around March time, but just because it has happened in the past does not mean it will hppen again.

monkeyspanner

Public transport in the San Diego area is good with a mixture of rail and bus. Here is a link to the site http://www.sdmts.com/ If you are staying in the central part of San Diego and don't want to have a look at the surrounding outlying areas I would not bother with a car as parking can be difficult and expensive. If you are staying outside of the central part of town in an area like Hotel circle you can drive into the mission area park up and the take public transport into the central part. Driving in the USA is comparatively easy compared to Europe or the UK. Driving the highways around LA can be a bit daunting but mainly because of the number of lanes and because it is unfamiliar. San Diego is a lot quieter and we found driving even in the centre of the city relatively easy. You can get good driving directions free from www.yahoo.com maps section.

It is the longest flight time on the west coast and not the most popular route so flights can be expensive. Depending on how long you have it may be cheaper to fly into Los Angeles and drive down the coast to San Diego which can be done in a very long day or you can take a more leisurely 2-3 day trip. Lots to see on the way down I can recommend Monterey and Carmel. I don't think there are any direct non-stop flights to San Diego from the UK but no doubt someone will correct me if I am wrong. Last time we went we went into LA and came back San Diego-NewYork-London with a stopover in New York. You do have to clear immigration and customs at your first landing point within USA so you need to bear this in mind if you have a connecting flight to catch.

UK citizens with a full Uk machine readable passport enter the USA on the visa waiver program. This means filling out a form on the plane and is reasonably strightforward. There has been some talk of tightening the conditions on this system and insisting on information being provided prior to travel, the US embassy website is the best place for more info. Visa waiver is not available for anyone with a criminal record and a visa application prior to travel would have to be completed. Don't take too much notice of the horror sorries about US immigration it does take a long time but generally we have found the staff courteous if a bit humourless. They do take a fingerprint at immigration.

You also fill out a customs form one per family. Don't try to take fruit past customs into California, they are extra vigilant as one of their major industries is fruit farming and this has in the past suffered from imported fruit insect pests.

A good flight comparison site is www.airline-network.co.uk you can then shop around and two more good sites are www.expedia.co.uk and www.thomascook.co.uk it is a bit early for deals to be out for September but you can look out for deals on www.cheapflights.co.uk

Car hire is best to buy via an agent like holidayautos this will include all this extra insurance you need and you can also take an upgrade to include extra driver and a tank of petrol. Use this link for about 15% off standard pricing http://www.holidayautos.co.uk/cgi-bin/liveweb.sh/QSearch.w?ctryref=GBR&lang=EN&aff=xOneAccount also if you use www.quidco.com you can get another £10 per booking money back. One way car hire within California is normally not charged as an extra but it is worth checking its included if booking different pick-up and drop-off locations.

If you want to take a fly drive you will find you have to add insurances to fully cover you this can be almost as expensive as hiring a car from scatch, an alternative is to take separate insurance with www.insuranceforcarhire.com who will cover up to 31 days in the USA for £109 or £129 with an accident excess cover.

Have a great tiime.