Road Tripping in the USA!
- Thread starter [TW]Fox
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I stay at the Beach House on Hermosa Beach when visiting LA. I can't sing its praises enough, it's right on the Baywatch beach with lots of decent dining and bars within walking distance. Santa Barbara is just north of there and you should drive around the neighbourhoods to see the homes. Jaw dropping.
You know that scene in GTA V at the start where Micheal is sitting on a bench and Franklin asks him where blah blah's house is then they steal two sports cars... that's the strand.
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$10 a beer in some bars and it's completely accepted too.
Don't stay in the Financial District because it's completely dead on weekends and pretty crap weekdays too. North Beach has a lot of night life but gets loud at night so don't stay any where too close to Columbus Avenue. Tenderloin is the bronx of the city and is genuinely rough there so steer clear, Outer Sunset and Soma are a little sketchy too. Pacific Heights is stunning and same for Presidio, you want to stay in the north east quadrant. I like the Haight Ashbury area for it's peace and love vibe, the Corona Heights Park gives gorgeous and less traveled look over the city.
The whole of San Francisco is 7 miles x 7 miles so it's pretty small and parking can be tough.
I'd highly recommend looking up AirBnB and staying at a place on there. You'll find much cheaper prices and get to stay in an actual San Francisco apartment, it's essentially a website where people put their apartment up for rent when they're away for a few days.
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[TW]Fox;29811724 said:
Foster City?
Already checked it out, and prices are also nuts there too.
Thanks for this, really helpful, have started looking at AirBnB places now. Can get full apartments which are really nice. Still mega $$ though
SF prices are indeed absurd and the stock seems very poor, outdated etc
We decided to book 1 night in the Lafayette Park Hotel, spend the day in SF and then the following night in Monterey. Incase it helps anyone, this is our hotel itinerary:
Los Angeles | Courtyard By Marriott 4 nights £483
San Diego | Hilton Gardens 1 night £109
Palm Springs | Omni Ranch 2 nights £284
Las Vegas | Trump International 3 nights £389
Yosemite | The Bishop 1 night £131
San Francisco | Lafayette Park 1 night £130
Monterey | Hyatt Regency 1 night £159
Los Angeles | The Anza 2 nights £235
Total 15 nights @ £2000 including parking, resort fees and taxes
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I would be spending a bit more time on the Pacific Coast Highway, there are some lovely places to stop such as Monterey, Santa Cruz, Pismo Beach, Santa Barbara.
I personally think you are trying to do too much in 3 weeks. I did Vegas/Death Valley/Yosemite/San Fran/PCH over 3 weeks and that was already enough. You are doing all of these but adding in San Diego and New York.
Given New York flights are so cheap anyway you might be better using those days in the places you are already visiting. You can actually get flights from the UK for little more than the £450 for both of you from LAX
Day 1: LA (Fly in) Saturday and head straight to San Diego
Day 1-3: San Diego
Day 4-7: Vegas
Day 8: Death Valley (or alternatively just drive it in a day, it's a very easy drive)
Day 9-10: Yosemite
Day 11-13: San Fran
Day 14-15: PCH - Monterey?
Day 16-17: PCH - Pismo Beach?
Day 18-19: LA?
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Your flights also look expensive.
Example flights:
Thomas Cook - 20th May - 10th June - Manchester to LAX - £440 each
British Airways - 22nd May - 12th June - Heathrow to LAX - £552 each
You could then add on a christmas break to New York separately at around £350 each for flights.
Example flights:
Thomas Cook - 20th May - 10th June - Manchester to LAX - £440 each
British Airways - 22nd May - 12th June - Heathrow to LAX - £552 each
You could then add on a christmas break to New York separately at around £350 each for flights.
[TW]Fox;29814282 said:
First night we fly in about 8pm so that's pretty much gone. The next 3 days are intended for Disney, Universal and then open exploration in LA and the surrounding areas. At least that's the plan cause i'll be a monkey's uncle if the wifey intends to drive around LA for 3 days. Plus we've got another 2 days on the back end of the trip for spending more time there incase we saw something we wanted to spend more time on (we also fly out of LA)
Truth is, our itinerary is pretty light and mainly just has 1 or 2 things to do in each city so it's pretty flexible if you have any suggestions. I don't think we want to stay more than a day in SF or SD (both look like industrial shanty towns) but happy to load up more days in Palm Springs, LV or surrounding areas of LA like Santa Monica/Santa Barbara
Re: Marriott - I know its grossly overpriced but so is everything else. It's all terrible old crappy stock and I'm super sensitive on sleep so I need somewhere that has very quiet AC and comfortable beds so I can wake up refreshed and ready to drive the next day.
Good luck - in my experience almost everywhere has those window-mounted AC units which are particularly noisy. I share your frustration and tried hard to find hotels with proper ducted AC but they are few and far between.
Even new build properties still seem be fitted with them.
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Starting my road trip tomorrow. Currently on a stop over en route to Vegas. Gone for a standard premium car from Alamo, not planning anything specific route wise because I prefer the flexibility and just sheer randomness of just driving and seeing where I get too. I'll be doing Yosemite, maybe Yellowstone and San Fran though somehow or another.
I went on a microlight lesson/tour with http://hangglidingtahoe.com/
Went on a two hour south flight with HD video. Video was taken with a gopro mounted on the end of the wing looking back at the cockpit.
Probably over priced, but I thought it was worth it for a one-off.
My flight (GPS Essentials on Android)
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?hl=en&authuser=0&mid=1jCAEtbo2utDNzvnyzyoOdFSpO0o
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Why does nobody ever plan enough time for San Diego 
For San Fran we stayed just north (San Rafael), it meant driving across the golden gate bridge each day (which was lovely, but also a fee each time) and saved tons. We found $10 a day parking easy providing you were willing to do a 10 minute walk down to Fishermans Wharf.
For San Fran we stayed just north (San Rafael), it meant driving across the golden gate bridge each day (which was lovely, but also a fee each time) and saved tons. We found $10 a day parking easy providing you were willing to do a 10 minute walk down to Fishermans Wharf.
Looks fun, though not sure I would do that, too much of a control freak!
We stayed here http://thelandingtahoe.com which was for me the best hotel option in Tahoe, very boutique and funky and we did a couple of nights which was a real chill out zone. Had the private beach to ourselves and food was great.