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Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Original poster

We are off to California!!

221 replies

shesariver · 05/11/2012 09:26

After many hours research and lots of help from fellow Mumsnetters on my previous thread now cant quite believe that we are all booked up (through Trailfinders) so thanks again!

Final Itinerary worked out - we fly out from Glasgow next August 31st and spend 2 nights in New York, and then fly onto California.

4 nights San Francisco, then pick up a car - 1 night Monterey - 1 night in Santa Barbara (at a lovely hotel right across from the beach) - 4 nights Los Angeles - and last but not least 4 nights in an ocean front room in a hotel on Laguna Beach!

Now we can start planning all we want to do!

OP posts:
clam · 01/12/2012 11:17

There are a couple of viewing points on the Northern side of the bridge, one to the left and one to the right. Or you could google set locations for the film and see if it lists it. Lots do.

SittingBull · 01/12/2012 17:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

homework · 07/12/2012 23:38

Myself and my son went a couple years back , had a fantastic time . Agree with weather on San Francisco . We did the usual tourist stuff but women in tourist office was great at given us list of buses that went to major attractions . We also went to mass and where invited to a lunch afterwards which was very interesting , bit of a surprise really . My son was a star for an hour or so , as kids wanted to hear about different between there lives and his , which to me wasn't that much . We just happened to pick a church near to where we where staying . Found people very helpful on most part , had two major freighting incidents one at breakfast at McDonald's , some women followed me into bathroom , started shouting and screaming at me for no reason , this was in la near walk of fame . Second also in la was some man screaming at my son and shouting in his face cause he sat down in a seat that he though he should have had . Came back two or three times during the journey to scream at us . Was very freighting for us both. Took me a while to calm my son down and get him to want to go back on bus to get back to hotel later in day. So a few loopy people but you can get that anywhere we just happened to be unlucky. We loved the griffin observatory, the star shows fantastic . We also walked though the park , as used public transport for getting around on the whole trip.

Zavi · 08/12/2012 00:03

In Fishermans warf in SF there is a recording booth that you can use to do your own recordings in! It's just like a recording studio and even if you can't sing it will be a fabulous, great fun holiday memo - and they will download it for you so you can take it away. It's such a good holiday memo even if you can't sing!

California is a really great place and the people really are so open and friendly.

Be careful tho, they love the Brit accent and will keep asking you to repeat simple words just so that they can hear them again e.g. Water, tomato, and British expressions like "Cheerio"

They really are that so far removed from Europe that the natives really are easily fascinated by all of that!

clam · 10/12/2012 22:27

Zavi Really? Xmas Hmm I've been to the US many many times and they might say that they like the accent but I've never been asked to repeat anything.

GirlWithTheMouseyHair · 11/12/2012 05:57

I'm with Zavi, I live in LA and get this a lot, all friendly though.

If you want any insider non tourist tips for LA pm me!

FWIW we drove Monterey to LA and took 10hours, because we did the scenic PCH route and stopped lots, but it's doable

rubyrubyruby · 11/12/2012 06:41

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mummytime · 11/12/2012 07:11

The USA is VERY VERY big. I have done SF, LA and Vegas in one trip, but that involved too much driving and was pre-kids.
I have traveled by train from NYC to Boston, but would suggest only doing one in a trip, and if it was a longer trip I would add in time going up state eg. Cape Cod or the Catskills or something.

Chopstheduck · 11/12/2012 07:15

ruby try talking to trailfinders, they will help you work out an itinerary. We were going to use them, but then our local travel agent beat their quote by a little bit.

WE only realised AFTER we booked that we probably could have added on New York quite cheaply, but then I think we would have needed 4 weeks, and dh work were already getting a bit hissy about 3 weeks.

rubyrubyruby · 11/12/2012 07:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

clam · 11/12/2012 07:57

You're not too late. For our trip in August this year I didn't book anything until April.

rubyrubyruby · 11/12/2012 08:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

clam · 11/12/2012 11:54

Although, disclaimer, we didn't use any sort of agency. I booked everything independently - lots of work, but it meant we were totally free to go exactly where we wanted when we wanted, and could build in more down-time (which we needed, as it's a thrilling but exhausting trip) and spend time with friends in LA.

CiderwithBuda · 11/12/2012 12:01

Bookmarking this thread as we are off to California next year too. Fly in and out of Las Vegas. No itinerary as yet otherwise.

We went over Xmas 1990 and flew into San Francisco and did th drive down to LA. Doing it all with 11 year old DS this time. Can't wait.

mummytime · 11/12/2012 16:00

I've only used an agency once in all our US trips, and that was the most disappointing of our trips. You can usually get rooms last minute (except not near a Casino on a holiday weekend). We've stayed some amazing places "just turning up" we've also found great little cabins etc.; sometimes if you try to book one place in the guide book and they are full they will recommend their friends down the road. From Las Vegas we have gone the other way, and been to amazing places in Utah and Arizona (Zion, Bryce, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon).

Chopstheduck · 11/12/2012 16:40

We use the agency purely to grab flights while they were cheap, it meant we could book the flights and car hrie and jsut paya deposit at the time. We only actually booked one hotel through them! All the rest we've booked independently as good deals came up. So you can go to an agency and not do the whole thing with them.

triplets · 19/12/2012 23:22

Awwwww you lot you are making me want to pack my bags. West Coast is my most fav place in the world. Been to Calif in 91/93/96 and 2007. Our last trip was for a month with the trio. We planned and booked it all ourselves and it was just amazing. I love Arizona, staying on route 66 in a former brothel, watching the kids faces when we took the train to the Grand Canyon and were held up by three cowboys who came a whooping and a hollering on their horses chasing the train!! The wine festival in Sonoma, watching The Phantom of the Opera in the Venetian, renting an artists house in Sedona, sitting in the hot tub watching humming birds, ooooooooooo I could go on and on.......happy happy days.

Stylelostinlabour · 30/12/2012 20:05

Oooohhhhhh you have all just convinced me that this is the holiday for us next year. I will be back with lots and lots of questions

There are 5 of us I'd like to see SF and its sounds amazing but not sure of where else I'd like to see so any suggestions would be great?

usuallydormant · 30/12/2012 20:16

Ooh, we managed to do most of SittingBull's list when we were in SF. I'd add:

Get the city pass for about $70 dollars which gives free entry (and queue hopping) for lots of the best museums and is a public transport pass for a week. We travelled everywhere by bus with a 5 yr old and 2 yr old no problem.

There's a 1950s fire truck you can book to do a tour of the GG bridge: cheesy but lots of fun.

We stayed in hotel del sol in Marina district, which was very child friendly and spacious.

Such a fantastic city.

webwiz · 30/12/2012 20:32

We've just booked our flights to SF (and back from Las Vegas) for July/August this year. We've done the trip a couple of times before but this is our last big family holiday as the DCs will be 22,20 and 16.

We are going further in this time as we are flying back from Las Vegas so we'll be doing Monument Valley/Lake Powell/Byrce Canyon which will be new. I am insisting on some empty days though as DH would have us moving on every day if I let him. So far we've got flights, a car and one hotel booked but that's it. We have a rough itinerary and we'll gradually add hotels over the next few months.

I am very excited about it already.

ssd · 30/12/2012 20:52

am jealous!!

Stylelostinlabour · 30/12/2012 21:07

This is all new to me so have is it better to decide on places to stay and then book flights or book flights and car and then decided where and for how long?

We have a 9 year old, 7 and 4 so would like some empty days in each place and was hoping to start in San Francisco but then where?

webwiz · 30/12/2012 21:22

Stylelostinlabour we use the Virgin holiday brochure as a starting point to look at where their fly drive tours go and which hotels they use. We work out a rough itinerary and then book the flights and a car. You can book hotels through a website like booking.com or hotels.com and you can cancel right up to a couple of days before you arrive.

We are starting in San Francisco and then driving down to Los Angeles staying in Camel (very pretty) and then San Luis Obispo on the way. We''ll then stay in LA for several nights so we can go to Universal Studios and chill a bit before heading in to Las Vegas. We are going for just under three weeks as its a bit of a rush to fit it all in otherwise, oh and get a decent sized car/minivan and the whole thing will be much more pleasurable!

Stylelostinlabour · 31/12/2012 09:54

Right I think I've sorted a plan for the trip but I'm struggling with getting flights for less than 4.5K

Can go from any airport in the UK and was thinking the following very similar to shesariver.

SF 3 nights
Carmel/Monterey 2 nights
Santa Barvara 2 Nights
LA 3 nights
Laguna Beach 3 nights
Flight from LA back to UK

Anyone see a problem with the above or have other suggestions and will there be enough to keep the kids entertained?

webwiz · 31/12/2012 11:19

That sounds expensive Style its cheaper if you don't fly at the weekend or if you go with a carrier other than Virgin/BA. We are changing on the way back so that we can come back from Las Vegas and arrive back at Heathrow (flights to SF are from Heathrow and flights from Las Vegas are from Gatwick) and that has brought the cost down as well.

Your itinerary looks good - plenty of time for a splash in the pool or on the beach as well as time visiting places.