Finding out California everyday prices?

sarmia

Not sure if the title explains what I want.....we are going to Cali next April and are still undecided on how much money we need to take. Is there a website where it gives prices on how much things cost over there, i.e meals, drinks, fuel, clothes just things like that.

THanks in advance!

trets77

fuel was expensive ( in USA terms ) in California compared to over the state line in Nevada. seeing as your not going for a year , who knows what the price will be then.

debs66_2

Hi Sarmia, we went to Cali last summer, and are going back this summer, so hope I can help a little.

your question is a little 'how long is a piece of string', but I think what you want to know is how expensive is it to eat, buy clothes etc..?

I personally found that on the whole, items were fairly like for like in terms of dollars against GBP. for instance, a nice meal at an average restaurant that might have cost us $9.95, I would expect to pay £9.95 over here. but then you have the exchange rate so it costs you pretty much half.

it all depends on your tastes, and whether you prefer expensive or basic, just like over here.

on our last holiday, I didn't feel that we spend all that much, but that is because we paid for so much before we went, on top of flights, accommodation, car etc.

in the run up to the trip, we wrote out a basic 2 week itinerary, and surfed online for hours to find something we would all like to do. once pencilled in (and it all changed in terms of days etc, as we don't like a regimented holiday), we pretty much knew what we would definitely be doing. we therefore bought tickets for Universal studios + Seaworld etc, and got an online deal. for those days out, we only needed fuel and food for the day. we also pre-booked some surf lessons, so again that was a 'turn up and enjoy' day.

fuel isn't as expensive as it is over here, but it depends again on how big a car you get and how much travelling you will do.

we took around £1000 in travellers cheques on our trip (for 2 adults + 2 teens), and a couple of credit cards. we certainly didn't skimp at all, but we didn't spend a huge amount on cards. the exchange rate is so good you will certainly get value for money whatever, and a credit card is always useful as a back up.

sarmia

Hi Debs,

Thanks - we went to New York, Vegas and Orlando in late 2005 (2 adults) first time abroad with oh and first time as an adult. We had about £175 per day which then was $300 this was plenty but my oh went a bit on buying clothes (which he usually hates doing over here) so only bought back £100.

This time we are going to Anaheim, Hollywood and driving up to San Fran - 15 nts in total and we have a little one who will be 2 just wondering if the £175 would be enough.

We arent 'extravagent' but there is soooo much we want to do just want to be able to do it.

Thanks again
Sarah

steveo3002

mcdonalds style burger meal (biggger portions than here) $4-6 , most burger chains have 99cent specials or some kind of 2 for 1 special in the window thats worth taking advantage of if you have limited funds

steak and chips at somewhere like sizzler $8-12 (lots of places have a lunchtime special at around $5-6 for steak/chicken n chips etc)

fresh made sub style sandwich and a drink $4-5

pizza $15-20 ..again bigger than ours

12 cans of fizzy drinks $4 ish , often on speical at 3 for $10

2ltr coke etc $1 ish ,sometimes on special at 25cents

theme park food will be expensive compared to outside , so take a packed lunch or plan to eat after you leave

clothing...well depends what you want, its always cheaper than here

t shirts , jeans and undies can be got for under $10 up to stupid prices for flash desinger makes , or touristy t shirts are 3 for $10 ,trainers are cheaper too

petrol...we was paying about $40-50 to fill up our big dodge magnum last dec in cali...watch the pump prices as they tend to vary more than in the uk

for stuff like toothpaste , shower gel , snacks etc we go to the 99cent store and get stocks of all the bits n bobs we need

any more prices just ask, we was in cali for a month last nov/dec

sarmia

Thanks Steve thats great!

steveo3002

sarmia wrote: »

Thanks Steve thats great!

no probs

where do plan to stay , i might be able to help more

try and have a look at the following shops between them the carry nearly everything you need and theyre all over the place if you will be driving 99cent store , target , walmart

for phoning home go to 7 eleven store and get an international phone card $5 will get you several hours talking via freephone number

heres thier sites..they have store locators etc
http://www.99only.com/
http://www.walmart.com/
http://www.target.com/
http://www.7-eleven.com/

http://www.sizzler.com/ is a trusty resturant, steaks, chicken burgers etc
http://randys-donuts.com/ famous donut place near the airport

couple of other fast food places you might not have seen
http://www.wendys.com/
http://www.in-n-out.com/
http://www.dennys.com/
http://www.ihop.com/
http://www.carlsjr.com/
http://www.wienerschnitzel.com/
http://www.oldcountrybuffet.com/ hometown buffet...its a huge place with all kinds of salads and cooked foods , help your self and eat as much as you can lol, its around $8-12 per person inc a drink , breakfast is cheaper than lunch and so on , some folk go in when its change over time so you pay for lunch and then get dinner at the reduced rate lol

heres a gas price site...god knows how much it will next year, but its $3.80 today in the disneyland area
http://gasprices.mapquest.com/index.jsp

Mark7799

Why not take a debit or credit card and use it accordingly?

socks_uk

steveo3002 wrote: »

no probs

where do plan to stay , i might be able to help more

try and have a look at the following shops between them the carry nearly everything you need and theyre all over the place if you will be driving 99cent store , target , walmart

for phoning home go to 7 eleven store and get an international phone card $5 will get you several hours talking via freephone number

heres thier sites..they have store locators etc
http://www.99only.com/
http://www.walmart.com/
http://www.target.com/
http://www.7-eleven.com/

http://www.sizzler.com/ is a trusty resturant, steaks, chicken burgers etc
http://randys-donuts.com/ famous donut place near the airport

couple of other fast food places you might not have seen
http://www.wendys.com/
http://www.in-n-out.com/
http://www.dennys.com/
http://www.ihop.com/
http://www.carlsjr.com/
http://www.wienerschnitzel.com/
http://www.oldcountrybuffet.com/ hometown buffet...its a huge place with all kinds of salads and cooked foods , help your self and eat as much as you can lol, its around $8-12 per person inc a drink , breakfast is cheaper than lunch and so on , some folk go in when its change over time so you pay for lunch and then get dinner at the reduced rate lol

heres a gas price site...god knows how much it will next year, but its $3.80 today in the disneyland area
http://gasprices.mapquest.com/index.jsp

This is bringing back so many memories... My sister lives in California and we visited a few years ago.

We loved In-n-out burgers and Home Town Buffet.

My sister said fuel prices are so bad now she's just bought a moped (it's all relative - not as bad as UK). The new TESCO stores (Fresh n Easy) are good but not cheap.

Where in California are you going? It's a pretty big place. Up north you have all the vinyards which are nice to visit as well as the Giant Redwoods and the quaint towns like Eureka. Then you've got the San Francisco area (how I wish we'd realised that we were only an hour from the Jelly Belly factory!) with Alcatraz and Pier 39 - and the seals.

Los Angeles was disappointing in my opinion but Disney made up for it, although if anyone is going to California 'because of Disney alone' I would recommend Disney in Florida over California.

Southern California is hot. My sister now lives in San Diego (she used to live in Fremont, near San Francisco Bay. We visited Tijuana, just over the US border in Mexico. Be prepared for the children begging for money and also the people trying to sell stuff, especially silver necklaces.

I should get my sister to register to MSE and answer your questions.

Coolhandluke

How does the Seven-Eleven phone card work that gets you Freephone calls home?

Bennifred

socks_uk wrote: »

This is bringing back so many memories... My sister lives in California and we visited a few years ago.

We loved In-n-out burgers and Home Town Buffet.

My sister said fuel prices are so bad now she's just bought a moped (it's all relative - not as bad as UK). The new TESCO stores (Fresh n Easy) are good but not cheap.

Where in California are you going? It's a pretty big place. Up north you have all the vinyards which are nice to visit as well as the Giant Redwoods and the quaint towns like Eureka. Then you've got the San Francisco area (how I wish we'd realised that we were only an hour from the Jelly Belly factory!) with Alcatraz and Pier 39 - and the seals.

Los Angeles was disappointing in my opinion but Disney made up for it, although if anyone is going to California 'because of Disney alone' I would recommend Disney in Florida over California.

Southern California is hot. My sister now lives in San Diego (she used to live in Fremont, near San Francisco Bay. We visited Tijuana, just over the US border in Mexico. Be prepared for the children begging for money and also the people trying to sell stuff, especially silver necklaces.

I should get my sister to register to MSE and answer your questions.

Oooh, socks_uk! Would love to hear about any recommendations for "must-do" and "must-see" for around San Diego! We're planning a week or so there on the way to Australia with our three sons who will be 18, 21 and 24 then. Never been to California, but have been to Florida several times. The Aus trip is to show 'em all where I grew up, and we've decided to make a mega-trip out of it - we're thinking it'll probably be the last time we can persuade them to come on a "family" trip, they're all off doing their own thing mainly, sob!