Californian Roadtrip HUUUR

[TW]Fox;27754691 said:
It would be absolutely fine unless you wanted to take in Yosemite or other high mountain parts where you'll find mountain passes closed. You'll get good deals on flights in November, too.

It won't be searing hot but it won't be crap like England in November either.
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Interesting. I thought it may be too cold but then again I was driving along the M80 in my MX5 with the roof down today and it's hardly warm!

It would be nice to see Yosemite, but I'm not overly fussed. And, like you said flights should be a bit cheaper! Just need to decide on Central America or California! Argh.
 
To anyone considering doing this sort of trip and not booking a Mustang / convertible for your first time - you must.

Who cares if your hire car for 3 weeks has cheap plastics when it's roof is down as you drive down the PCH.
 
If you are looking at early November then could be fun to try and arrive around Halloween - good time to be around San Diego unless you hate the idea of a bazillion hot chicks milling around wearing ridiculously small outfits of course :p

Autumn is good times in California, May/June time you can get some marine layer sea mist on the coastal routes which burns off by the afternoon (May grey, June gloom as we call it) but could affect plans for early morning PCH drives. September/October/early November are basically perfect times to visit from the UK - the weather is pretty much perfect and it does an excellent job of breaking up that miserable period in the UK between the August bank holiday and Christmas :p
 
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Arsonist said:
I did sort of this route a few years back. Got a train from NY to various places across mainland, and then hired a car in San Fran. Drove down the coast to Santa Barbra, then into LA, then to Williams for that big canyon thing, then onto Vegas where we flew out. A month of much beer, many pancake breakfasts, and some truly nasty strippers.

Places you must go - Santa Barbra, it was simply stunning, as we stayed in a mod-con yurt in the mountains on a huge private medicinal marijuana estate.

LA sucked, honestly. Don't spend more than 2 days here. Also don't go to McDonalds in Compton. It was really scary.

Williams was lovely, as staying here allowed us to drive into the canyon itself, to the river (required 1337 driving skills). Temperature got up to 43 degrees in there when up top it was only 32. The swim in the river was something I will never forget.

VEGAS BABY!!!!! Enough said.

Hope that helps.
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2 days in LA? Having a laugh? Get out as soon as possible IMO. Orange County is nice though for a stop, if you class that as LA.

Two days max in LV as well. One day to wander round the casinos and see how ridiculous they are then the next to do some shooting if you want (otherwise 1 day/2 nights).

I'd rather spend another 2-3 days at Death Valley and head up to Mammoth and the surrounding area (or some of the other national parks).

As for temperature in November, it was t-shirt weather when I was there, although a light fleece was useful in the evening in some higher locations. the temperature was still hot enough in Death Valley for someone to get mild heat stroke (unlikely to happen if you're only out of the car for half an hour, that was a day in the sun hiking). That was the beginning of November.
 
Peerzy said:
To anyone considering doing this sort of trip and not booking a Mustang / convertible for your first time - you must.

Who cares if your hire car for 3 weeks has cheap plastics when it's roof is down as you drive down the PCH.
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Did it in a Hyundai Elantra when i went, for 2 weeks.

Went back three years later and did it better - Mustang convertible for 3 weeks. Best trip i've had.
 
Might as well piggyback here, we're looking to go to California from the last weekend in May to 14th June roughly, airfares are currently ridiculous at £650 return from MAN to LAX. The same journey from Dublin is £390! Is it worth hanging on and see if prices drop or should I just bite the bullet and fly from Dublin, and figure out a way to get there?
 
One More Solo said:
Might as well piggyback here, we're looking to go to California from the last weekend in May to 14th June roughly, airfares are currently ridiculous at £650 return from MAN to LAX. The same journey from Dublin is £390! Is it worth hanging on and see if prices drop or should I just bite the bullet and fly from Dublin, and figure out a way to get there?
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I looked at flying from DUB and it's a pain, on the face of it there are countless £50 RyanAir flights but once you add baggage and a hotel for the nice before it was going to cost £250~ each.

£650 isn't a bad price but I'd be aiming closer to £500.

We did 3 nights in LA and it was fine, we spent a day doing Hollywood and driving around, a day doing SM beach and a day doing other bits and I felt that was right. If going back now I'd probably only spend 2 nights there but for a 'first time' 3 felt good.

We then did 4 nights in San Diego which was really cool.

We stayed in Vegas for 4 nights as well because the hotels are so lol cheap in the week. Staying Sunday to Thursday ended up costing like £30 a night in one of the nicest hotels on our trip. 4 nights included spending an entire day doing the Grand Canyon though (I insisted on driving it).

I did 1 day in DV and stayed just outside Yosemite that night. Mammoth Lakes really is a beautiful place and I would make sure you spend a night there. We then did 2 in Yosemite, 3 in San Fran and 4 doing the PCH (the last 2 in Santa Barbara).

If I was planning the trip again for a 'first timer' I think we got the timings spot on. If I was doing the trip again for myself we'd spend a day less in LA, a day extra in San Diego and then see if we could spend an extra day in San Fran and an extra day doing the PCH (but this would obviously take us to 3 weeks 2 days).
 
One More Solo said:
Might as well piggyback here, we're looking to go to California from the last weekend in May to 14th June roughly, airfares are currently ridiculous at £650 return from MAN to LAX. The same journey from Dublin is £390! Is it worth hanging on and see if prices drop or should I just bite the bullet and fly from Dublin, and figure out a way to get there?
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It's worth waiting. I've been waiting months with £850+ returns from LHR until this week when it halved in price and I booked.

It won't ever be £390 though as there is £71 of Air Passenger Duty to pay on a fare from the UK, so if you can get to Dublin cheaply and don't mind the hassle then thats a valid option.

There are £517 return fares from Heathrow to LAX with Air Canada with a transfer in Canada from Heathrow for your selected dates (31st May to 14th June) though. Couple of cheap Virgin Trains Advance tickets to London and you're sorted.

The transfer is actually quite appealing as the Canadian airports have US border pre-clearance, that means you can do US immigration whilst changing planes and walk straight out of LAX as soon as you land, rather than do the awful 90 minute standing around at the border in LAX if you take a direct flight.

The timings are good as well, the only real downside is that it's Air Canada Rogue from YVR to LAX on the outbound so cramped but it's not a huge flight.

The problem with flying Transatlantic from Manchester (except Virgin Atlantic) is that you end up one of the American carriers old narrowbody jets, its too long a flight to sit in a 757 with overhead televisions :p
 
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Amp34 said:
2 days in LA? Having a laugh? Get out as soon as possible IMO. Orange County is nice though for a stop, if you class that as LA.

Two days max in LV as well. One day to wander round the casinos and see how ridiculous they are then the next to do some shooting if you want (otherwise 1 day/2 nights).

I'd rather spend another 2-3 days at Death Valley and head up to Mammoth and the surrounding area (or some of the other national parks).
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Have to concur with all this. My schedule has me arriving LA at 8pm and leaving LA in the car at 8am the following morning, 12 hours should be fine :D
 
Not a bad shout on Heathrow, Fox. I'll see what happens over the next few weeks and make a call on it. Dublin is going to be a hassle but a ~£500 flight from Heathrow would be OK. If I can get a flight from Manchester for ~£575 then I'll hit buy I think.

There's a £475 flight from LHR but the itinerary is horrible!
 
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[TW]Fox;27757449 said:
Have to concur with all this. My schedule has me arriving LA at 8pm and leaving LA in the car at 8am the following morning, 12 hours should be fine :D
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Do you have a rough copy of your schedule, if that's not too much to ask? Just plugged your route from your old thread into google maps and sent it over to my GF and (having lived in the US as well) she thinks it's a great route.

I have no idea how much time to spend in each place but do want a few moments where it's relaxing and not driving solid for the whole time (which I personally enjoy).

One More Solo - do you have to fly on Sunday? We're flying on the Thursday at 12:15, arriving 15:30, non stop form Heathrow and then return 17:50, arriving 12:15 just over 2 weeks later and our flights were only £490 and that's a pretty good itinerary in my opinion. If you can be more flexible it's worth trying.
 
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Where would people recommend making stops using Janesys route? I'm flexible over 2 or 3 weeks next September but would like maybe 4 nights in Vegas so I can go to hoover dam and GC as well as the casinos etc. Is it worth visiting Reno or Sacramento on way to SF? I'm thinking 2 nights in LA, one in San Diego, 4 in Vegas and 3 in SF so far,then night in Santa cruz, and a night in Santa barbara. Then back to LA for flight home. Where around Death valley and yosemite is worth stopping? Thanks.
 
Sacramento is a good stop but I'd say you only need a day there. We visited Yosemite when all the strikes were on so everything was shut, we drove all the way through it and stopped for pictures, there were things we could have done if the strikes weren't on but tbh just driving through it was enough to see everything!

Shame you can't do more than 1 day in SD, it's an amazing place.
 
I think if I went to SD for a third time I would still commit three days to the place. Everyone has different opinions of places mind.
 
Lima said:
What things would you recommend in SD?
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My memory is awful but the Zoo, Sea World, San Diego Bay (USS Midway museum), lunch/tea at the gaslamp quarter, Oldtown, beaches, etc. We were always doing something, it's a really nice place to chill out, you don't have the hustle and bustle of SF/LA, lovely restaurants etc.
 
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