new trip ideas

[lukese]

hi people, i know a few of you on here have done this before.

im planning on driving from san francisco to vegas, picking up LA and Highway 1 inbetween, and any other things of intrest along the way.

has anyone done this, how much time should i allow, how much money do you think it will cost? im allowing two weeks, allthough i may fly to new york first to break up the flight if i do this ill allow another two daysnights.

basicly im aftger tips on things to do, car hire firms, every thing im looking at so far looks a lot more expensive than i had planned but dont know if im looking in the right places.


any input greatfully recived


Luke

[Geko]

hi people, i know a few of you on here have done this before.

im planning on driving from san francisco to vegas, picking up LA and Highway 1 inbetween, and any other things of intrest along the way.

has anyone done this, how much time should i allow, how much money do you think it will cost? im allowing two weeks, allthough i may fly to new york first to break up the flight if i do this ill allow another two daysnights.

basicly im aftger tips on things to do, car hire firms, every thing im looking at so far looks a lot more expensive than i had planned but dont know if im looking in the right places.


any input greatfully recived


Luke

I done something similar back in 2005. I spent 3 weeks in the states. I flew to NY, stayed for 3 days. Flew to Miami. Stayed for 3 days. Drove to Orlando. Stayed for 2 days. Then I flew over to Frisco. Stayed for a few days and drove to LA. And then drove on to Vegas.

It is about 600 miles from Frisco to LA. I took route one. Which is a great drive. we had intended on using route 5, as it is a lot quicker. But after talking with some locals, we were persuaded to use route 1 and go through Big Sur. It is a nice road. Coastal. And along the way I saw a dead horse skeleton by the side of the road. No flesh at all. And some Elephant Seals all burping and farting. We stopped for Lunch in Big Sur and the journey took 9 hours. We were in a Premium SUV so had plenty of room and it was pretty comfy. I booked online at Alamo, for ease and reliability. There was 4 of us and it cost £200 for a weeks hire.

In Frisco I stayed in a Hostel. My friend wanted a cheaper option as all the hotels I picked were £200+ a night. But very nice. I found a wicked Hostel right near the Pier. At the time it was a lot cheaper, but is still pretty cheap.

Take a look - http://www.sanremohotel.com/

Frisco was very good for a night out. And I fell in love with the barmaid at Impala Nightclub. Her mum was from Oldham, and I am from England. So we had a lot in common.



I hated LA. And struggled to find a reasonably priced cheap hotel. I ended up staying downtown, which I wouldn't recomend. And spent our nights in the SKybar, which I found out after is a popular place for the "in" crowd and celebs. I didn't think much of it though.


Vegas is wicked. I drove the same vehicle from LA to Vegas as from Frisco to LA. I got all the directions from Google Maps before hand, and funnily enough never got lost once in the whole 3 weeks. It's a nice drive, and took about 3 1/2 hours. I drove down the Freeways at between 100mph and 130mph as they were so nice, and empty. But I got some funny looks. So I don't recomend speeding as I think they are pretty hot on it over there.

I stayed in the Hotel New York. But wouldn't go back. It was OK. But not great. Most of the accomodation is cheap. But if I had to pick a hotel it'd be Mandalay Bay every time for me. Great place, great bar. Mixx. Very Nice.

It was a while ago, and very alcohol filled so some of it is hazy. Especially the nights. But need anymore and I'll try and remember.

I booked my flights on Expedia, into NY, out of Vegas. Flew with BA and it was only £500. Which I thought was very good.

[CzarJunkie]

Just to add, the locals hate it when you call it Frisco, stick to it's actual name while you are there and you won't go far wrong.

[ant3b]

Sounds interesting I would love to do this. I would think Frisco is easier to type.. but I would

[Geko]

Just to add, the locals hate it when you call it Frisco, stick to it's actual name while you are there and you won't go far wrong.

lol

It's easier to type. I don't think I mentioned the place at all when I was there. Used words like " I love it here". or "This is my favourite city in the USA".



Also, when in Frisco. Make sure you visit Alcatraz. And the bike ride is pretty good too. But it's over 20 miles and a lot of it is uphill. I had a couple of fatties with me. Who struggled!

If I think of more. I will add to the thread.

In Vegas there are a lot of good places to eat, if you like good food. Suprisingly, for a place in the desert, the sushi was very very good.

[Little John]

I did it the other way round in 2005 well sort of.

We started in LA down to San Diego, to Vegas to SF back down to LA via the pacific coast highway. It was a really great trip loved every minute of it.

The things to watch out for
SF hotels are expensive we used the holiday in near pier 39 it was ok and free internet access but it was about $180 per night. not too bad when its $2 to the £ but not so good at the moment.

Car parking in SF your looking at $20+ per 24 hours so if your landing in SF have a look round then pick a car up when you leave to save a bit of cash.

SF is cold its just like over here so take a jumper especially at night.

PCH can be done in a day but don't do it, you will miss so much stop off in a few places go watch the whales off the coast the scenery is awesome I loved the drive especially with the roof down.

LA is horrible, and hotels are a rip off, we stayed at one place near universal on the first trip 2005 and it was reasonable $80 per night we went back in September and their price was now $180 per night we upped sticks and moved down to Anaheim. The downside is the drive 20ish miles takes about 2 hours. Once your in LA its not to bad for driving just avoid the highways they are bumper to bumper most of the day.

Theme parks, there are loads in the area, Disney has 2, universal studios, Six flags magic mountain just north of LA in Valencia, notts berry farm. If you have been to universal in Florida you will know what your getting but the back lot tour is miles better but the rest of the park is a little disappointing. Disney is great, six flags has some excellent rides.

Studio tours, we went on the Warner brothers and it was pretty good and was the one everyone says go for, shame was they don't allow photos for most of the tour and cameras are locked away no please no photos you don't get the chance. but it is a real working studio and you will see lots of sets and stuff with real people from shows.

Vegas is Vegas lots to see lots to do and lots of money to spend and loose I like the Paris hotel, pretty central for walking everywhere and not to expensive. and the $20 tip trick at checkin will get you a room upgrade so don't book the expensive rooms just give a decent tip and you will get a better room no problem.

Car hire, book in advanced. the us sites seem cheap but they add loads of extras on when you book so don't think that the $200 for the week is all your probably closer to $400 after everything is added on. I booked mine in the UK with a travel agent (friend) Watch out for one way car hire charges. We were going to drive from new Orleans to LA and the one way hire charge was $1200. yes that is a long distance but they charge depending on the distance between pick up and drop off anything over 500miles is the top rate Vegas is just over 400 miles from SF. Vegas to LA or the other way round, one way drop off is free with most hire companies.

So costs sorry for the mix of dollars and pounds
$90 per night in hotels average, Vegas Friday Saturday and Sundays the prices go up a lot (triple) sign up for the hotel mailing lists and loyalty schemes for the special offers.
Car hire 10 days will be about the same as 14 days just save the parking in SF about £400
Flights are about £500 each either if you fly direct or via New York they will be about £500 we did multiple locations and it only went up by about £60

Our last trip with cost us about £1800 each all hotels, food, 2 lots of car hire all fuel but we did about 3200 miles so knock a bit off for that but fuel is cheap over there anyway.

And don't forget extra bags for the shopping.

[Geko]

Seems that Little John and myself are both in agreement. LA is shit.

I'd definately recomend the SanRemoHotel (hostel) for Frisco. It's 5 mins from The Pier.

[Little John]

Its not shit but the traffic is, lat time in 2005 we didn't really spend much time in LA, we arrived late at night after the PCH drive found the hotel, went to universal the following day and hollywood bowl and after back to the hotel. Then went down and stayed in Anaheim early the following morning for 2 nights near disney then a drive to Vegas. WE came back from Vegas the following day and had a few hours driveing round LA to see sights in the dark and then headed over towards a hotel near the airport for our early morning flight home.

In September we had 6 days in and arround LA, one was a laugh we were driveing between movie filming locations like Rydel high and thunder road from Grease, the tunnel from back to the future 2 and Elliots house in ET and a few other places. Traffic was ok sort of as we were faily relaxed no rush or need to get anywhere or anything. But the following days heading up to Universal and then back later in the day then the same up for Warner Brothers we had times to get there for park entry and tour starts but we lost hours just sat in traffic. Then the trip back at night we were tired after the drive up and the day in the parks just to sit in more bloody traffic another 2.5 hours to do 20 miles. I used to be ok sat in traffic but I guess as I have got older I just don't want to any more. ohh and I used to get overtime for sitting in traffic so I really enjoyed it.

LA is ok but the traffic really lets it down, there are some rough areas and some not so rough areas. Some places we went to you would never think about going with everything you hear, Compton, Inglewood Long Beach but we drove around them and didn't feel threatend.

[Geko]

LA is ok but the traffic really lets it down, there are some rough areas and some not so rough areas. Some places we went to you would never think about going with everything you hear, Compton, Inglewood Long Beach but we drove around them and didn't feel threatend.

It took me 2 hours to do 5 miles at rush hour on the freeway. Nightmare!

As for South Central. It's only the media that makes you fearful. Most people were really nice. I hated most people I met in LA. Superficial and fake. Yet, everyone I met from Long Beach were proper nice people. We played pool and drank in the hotel bar with them.