California flights etc help

[Dinkydoos]

Hi there
Have got a bit carried away and seem to have changed a fairly low key trip to NYC area into a cAlifornian odyssey.....
I have a quote for 2 adults and 2 kids (10 and 8) school summer hols for:
Birmingham direct to New York ( staying there a week as have relatives with a summer house on an island)
Then fly direct to San Francisco a week later and then after another 15 nights fly back from Los Angeles to heathrow. The flights plus a SUV car for all the time is £4500. Does anyone know how that seems, I didn't think it was too awful seeing as the lowest New York return I could find was £650 each.... But would hate to overpay.
And anyone any itinerary ideas, hotel, places tips for california who have been recently, I know loads of you had a thread and we're going this year so any info about what worked or not would we great.
Rough plan is
San Fran 4 nights
Yosemite 3 nights
Monterey 2 nights
Big sur 1 night
Santa Barbara or somewhere 3
La 2 nights

Any advice appreciated ( especially as I told DP we would just have stick at going to my relatives place and have a relatively low key holiday!)

Yes, we used travelbag and they only wanted 100 for each person and rest 12 weeks before!
It's United AIrlines, not my fave but as we are 15 mins from Bhx then it's a no brained to get that direct flight to NYC.
What's your itinerary?

Flying United as well as we are flying from Glasgow and Luke you they fly to Newark as a hub. So far we have this:
1 night in hotel at Phoenix Airport
2 nights Tusayan to visit Grand Cranyon
2 nights in Las Vegas
1 night in Bakersfield as a stopover
2 nights in Santa Cruz
3 nights in Cambria
3 nights in LA
3 nights in Laguna Beach
5 nights in San Diego

Like!

Hi
Very interested in this thread. And amazed with the prices you got quoted Dinkydoos! I nearly fainted this afternoon as I had a quote of £11110 for me, DH, DD (18) and DS 13! That was flights, car, and hotels, into Sf, out of SD?

With Trailfinders - I must ring Travelbag tomorrow!

Your original itinerary is basically my honeymoon, and it was pretty perfect.

The Holiday Inn in Santa Monica is in a great location and I think has parking - good use of your points. If you're a member they will prob upgrade your room or similar.

I love love loved Santa Barbara, lovely beaches and shops etc.

We stayed inside Yosemite but in retrospect I think I'd stay just outside the park and drive in each day if I were doing it again.

Yes to the elephant seals!

Sheba that seems a bit high! Whats it all broken down into?

We've just done something very similar this summer with out the New York bit. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Fishermans Wharf- good location very close to cable car stop. Tip get there about 8-8.30am to be able to get on without having to queue! We had a car whilst in SF but could have managed without it. It cost 40$ to park the car each day. But it did mean we could drive across the Golden Gate and admire from the other side of the bay. Wished we had gone further up the coast to see the redwoods in Marin County. We also stayed at the Hyatt in Santa Barbara, which was nice as it was just across the road from the beach. Loved the drive along Pacific Highway No 1 wished we had more time to do it though. Saw plenty of elephant seals.

Loved Yosemite, we stayed just outside the park, only thing in the summer is the waterfalls aren't really waterfalls and the river levels are quite low so we couldn't hire canoes.

Definitely want to go back.

Hello all!
Still plotting the trip.
Booked so far:
San Fran- 4 nights hol inn express fisher mans wharf
Yosemite - 4 nights curry village although trying to change last 2 nights to the lodge
Monterey- holiday inn express 2 nights
Not booked yet but think 1 nights at the madonna inn!
Santa Barbara- 2 nights hol inn express
La - 2 nights either at hol inn express Hollywood walk of fame, or may see if can use the few marriot points I have to stay at the marriot in Santa Monica.
How's everyone else getting on?
sheba that quote was high! Did you get another one from travelbag?

Ended up booking with BA as a holiday package! Really far in advance but we sort of had this year's Hol messed up, so 2015 it is!
Our itinerary:
3 nights SF
2 nights Monterey
2 nights Pismo Beach
1 night Santa Barbra
5 nights LA/Santa Monica
3 nights San Diego

All in £8k, with separate rooms between us & kids on some stops! Not quite sure if expensive or not, but anyway, done now! Decided against Yosemite, may do a national park from LA, as it's our longest stop... Kids & DH are water babies/people so thought it would be a better outcome on the PCH...

Now for the recommendations on 'must dos'n

Sheba, your itinery is very similar to ours, I've been watching this thread with interest.
We go next August

3 nights SF
3 Yosemite ( dh really wanted to go)
2 Monterey
2 Pismo Beach
3 Santa Monica
2 San Diego

( we couldn't get our hotel in Santa Barbara, but will stop there en route)

We are going with virgin for about £8500, there are some pricey hotels in there though.

Now deciding what to do where, particularly in La, we too have been to Florida, but not for 7 years. The dc ( and me) will fancy a theme park possibly Knotts Berry Farm and Universal, maybe Seaworld in San Diego.

Looking forward to reading your plans!

I'm getting excited now, booked it in Saturday, think it was a good deal. Booked it with Trailfinders. Flight from Glasgow to Heathrow with BA and then BA direct to Phoenix.

1 night in Phoenix.
2 nights in Grand Canyon.
2 nights in Las Vegas.
2 nights in San Francisco.
1 night Pismo Beach.
4 nights in LA.
3 nights in Laguna Beach.
And that leaves 5 nights before we fly home that we are going to book a villa in San Diego for.
So 20 nights accomodation and mini van hire plus flights ( fly home from San Diego with BA back to Heathrow and then Glasgow) for all 4 of us ...DS2 will be 13 so counted as an adult for £6600 ish alltogether.

Obviously got the price of the villa to add on plus holiday might come down a little as Travel Agent was having a problem booking the ocean front room in the Laguna Beach Hotel and had to use a different system, he's reasonably sure he can get it down this week by £200.

Oh forgot to say that's starting 29 August next year!

Yosemite is nice, but a lot of driving and there isn't actually much to do there for 4 days unless you want to do lots of walking. We spent a day touring it and were quite happy with that.

We did this trip last year -

3 nights LA - drove up to palm springs from there too, for outlet shopping
2 nights San Diego
2 nights Williams - Grand Canyon, also did Lake Havasu City on the way
3 nights vegas - this was a bit of a recharge stop, did a few shows.
1 night Bishop - in between Death valley and Yosemite
1 night Modesto - just outside of Yosemite which gave us the full day there
1 night Monterey - drove down some of the coastline from here, Boxby bridge, Pfeffier beach, etc
3 nights SF - Actually best to ditch the car here, parking is expensive and it isn't very driveable. We ditched it then got one on the last day to drive to the airport, and walked around SF.

We saw LOADS, did very long days, and drove well over 2000 miles I think. My favourite was the Grand Canyon.

SUV is nicer to have, since you will be spending a lot of time in the car. It's nice to have that space.

Tinkerball, I thought I'd been ripped off when I saw that price, until I realised your ds will need 3 weeks off from school!

Yes he will, wee letter to the school will be needed! When in August do you leave?

We go on 30th July. Dd wanted to be home for her GCSE results day.

Ooh, exciting to hear everyone's plans!
With regards to my first bit of plan, our issue is that my DS birthday is on 2nd august, and so will be the last day in yosemite.
If it wasn't that, then I may have reduced yosemite to 3 nights and then onwards. But don't think it would be a great birthday for him driving...
But suppose we could do 3 nights sf, then 3 nights yosemite, leave yosemite on 1 st august, and go to Santa Cruz or monterey and be there for his birthday? Gawd knows!
Think your prices have all been pretty good if included accommodation!

Anyone worked out how much spending money to take? We haven't been to the USA since 2007. I know eating out is reasonable, but this time we are feeding the equivalent of four adults. Also don't want to skimp on any sightseeing, I think we will book Alcatraz in advance.

Dinky, could you be in Monterey for his birthday? You could do the Aquarium, it looks fab, and do lunch and birthday cake there?

We were originally flying home on 16th, but my Ds didn't fancy spending his birthday on a plane.

Alcatraz gets very booked up, you need to book it as soon as the dates are released. And the night tour is much better than the day tour. Our 9yo dts found it absolutely fascinating.

We hummed for ages about the school thing but it's the only way we can afford it and he won't be missing that much, he will catch up on anything he needs to.

Not sure about spending money yet....last year we did 16 days (2 New York, 14 Calufornia) and took £2700 which was just enough. We ate out breakfast and dinner ever day and paid for petrol and did some trips, we are not mad designer shoppers but obviously bought some stuff to. Plus pay for parking at some hotels and the transfer between Newark into Manhattan was over a hundred dollars each way.

Yes book Alcatraz as it sells out, there is only 1 company that lands on the Island. We loved it!

dingit your itinerary is similar to ours! but notice you getting down to San Diego, which I really fancy but think we don't really have time for. Decisions!
Was also tempted to pop in Santa Cruz, and do one night there and one monterey instead of 2 in monterey but am concerned all the packing and unpacking will drive us nuts...
Spends, hmmmm. Eating out plus the dreaded tips adds up, esp if you are wine drinkers like we are . But it would be rude not to, with all that local Californian stuff to try!

Dingit/Dinkydoos
Wow! Great to have some fellow Cali go-ers! I thought I was being way too early to be excited! And trying to keep calm so I don't excite the DCs. Have DD (18) and DS (13), so will have to combine the trip to include my DD's obsession with the Kardashians (!) and DS fascination with wildlife! He really wanted to go to Yosemite but I have promised whale watching and SeaWorld SD.
Will definitely cycle over the Golden Gate in SF and go to Alcatraz. Big Sur will be a must do too! And a definite studio tour, plus will try and get tickets to either baseball or basketball - real treat!

I'm relieved my prices were too bad. We've also tried to add a couple of more luxurious hotels during the trip. I'm toying with the idea of getting an apartment in Santa Monica instead of hotel but I can see this trip being quite full on, so maybe no need to have such plush accommodation.

Will now be keeping regular watch on this thread, just to contain my excitement!