California in January?

[Bristol spark]

Thank you Dave, thats great.

Well i have pressed on and ordered my plane tickets from fear of selling out, but appears none else has even chosen there seat yet!

I did have to change flights slightly as Vegas and LA go to different UK airports! Heathrow and Gatwick.

So going to and from Vegas, which also gives me an extra day out there due to dates of available flight so have 19 days out there.



One question, are either of these available seats better, or are they all the same? Do they all have windows?

Ive only ever flown on easy jet, so not too sure what to expect other than pics I've found online.

Edited by Bristol spark on Saturday 30th April 15:25

[bloomen]

American weather is utterly mental, even more so at that time of the year I should imagine.

I've done Wyoming, Utah and Montana in April and had to abandon multiple routes due to snow. This wasn't flurries, this was 6-8 inches on main routes plus surprise blizzards. None of them were officially closed either.

In some of those place on that route you may not see another building for 100-150 miles so I can't imagine they'll be ploughing every inch. If you're lucky you might see an electronic sign. If it says 'slick' then there's a layer of snow on it.

I've done a lot of the deserts in October and froze my nads off in the middle of the day. They were still superb.

If it were me I wouldn't press myself with a set itinerary, especially one of that magnitude. Have a sniff around and see how it feels. Wander off down some lanes in wine country and get lost in the desert with no particular place to go.

The distances are deceptive and can quickly become quite the grind.

Edited by bloomen on Saturday 30th April 18:05

Edited by bloomen on Saturday 30th April 18:05

[David Beer]

Bristol spark said:

Thank you Dave, thats great.

Well i have pressed on and ordered my plane tickets from fear of selling out, but appears none else has even chosen there seat yet!

I did have to change flights slightly as Vegas and LA go to different UK airports! Heathrow and Gatwick.

So going to and from Vegas, which also gives me an extra day out there due to dates of available flight so have 19 days out there.



One question, are either of these available seats better, or are they all the same? Do they all have windows?

Ive only ever flown on easy jet, so not too sure what to expect other than pics I've found online.



Www.seatguru.com. Must say only done UC maybe five times. It's a lot of points, prefer to do 3 flights prem economy. . But I do fly Gold so get all the ic benefits.

Edited by Bristol spark on Saturday 30th April 15:25

[marcosgt]

Which seats are available?

Anyway, it was a long time ago, but assuming that's downstairs on a 747 they all had great views as you kind of got a panoramic view through all the windows, or at least that was my experience, I guess they might have got all 'secluded' and you can't see that any more...

If they've not changed, them sitting near the back is better (although not too close to the kitchen) as you have/had more windows to look through.

M.

[ViperDave]

If I had the chance I'd go for front row, but my experience is based on BA where 1AK are the sought after seats.

On BA 1AK are close enough to hold a conversation with your travel companion, they are quite private seats as no one is needing to go past you, one thing though is on BA they don't have any overhead locker space but there is a wardrobe in front between the seats where you can put your bag. The other key benefit of the front row is that because of the curvature of the nose the first window has a forwardish view, you cant see out the front like the guy behind you but upstairs who thinks he's in charge, but you get a slightly different perspective and where taking off on a 747 sitting on the upper deck is quite a civilized and stately affair, conversely it seemed quite frantic and far more dramatic sitting in 1A. Of course thats all based on BA so probably bks as far as virgin is concerned.

[battered]

The "unpopular" seats towards the back in the middle run can be rather good on the long haul parts of the trip, as if you are lucky you may get 3 or 4 in a run to yourself. I had this coming out of Seattle once and took the opportunity to stretch out and get my head down for a while. Window seats are only good when there is somethingt to see. If it's clouds or endless views of the Atlantic for the next 12 hours, I'd just as soon have a kip.

[David Beer]

http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Virgin_Atlantic_A... Did you check seat guru?

[Bristol spark]

Well only 10 days to go!!!

I think I've got my route about sorted now, everyone seems to think I'm nuts, so it may be a little over ambitious in the time frame.
But TBH id i could probably spent a week in each stop if i had the time

This is my route:

6th - Stay Bloc Hotel Gatwick
7th - Fly to Vegas, Arrive 1PM. Pickup hire car and Relax in Vegas in afternoon.
8th - Day in Vegas, Battlefield Vegas, Hoover Dam
9th - Grand Canyon, will get a plane ride there.
10th - Drive to salt lake city, arrive mid afternoon, PM around the Salt lakes.
11th - Drive to Yellowstone, Arrive Mid afternoon, PM around Yellow Stone.
12th - AM around Yellow stone, PM Drive to Montana.
13th - Day in/around Montana.
14th - Drive into Canada, midway stop at Kimberley.
15th - Drive to Vancouver.
16th - Day in Vancouver.
17th - Drive to Seattle, Arrive Midday. PM around Seattle.
18th - Day in Seattle, Boing Factory Tour AM, PM Around Seattle.
19th - Start Drive Towards San Francisco, Stop over in Eureka, keeping to main highway "5"
20th - Drive to San Francisco, keeping on the Coast Road, Route 101/1.
21st - Day in San Francisco
22nd - Day in San Francisco
23rd - Drive to Los Angeles.
24th - Day in Los Angeles.
25th - Drive to Death Valley am, Death Valley PM, hotel in Beatty (next to death valley)
26th - Drive back to Vegas Airport, flight 3PM.



I have had to book most of the hotel's as they are all pretty well booked (i expected them to be empty this time of year).


So do we think this is manageable? Or any Advice?

Cheers

Edited by Bristol spark on Wednesday 28th December 20:32

[p1stonhead]

Bristol spark said:

Well only 10 days to go!!!

I think I've got my route about sorted now, everyone seems to think I'm nuts, so it may be a little over ambitious in the time frame.
But TBH id i could probably spent a week in each stop if i had the time

This is my route:

6th - Stay Bloc Hotel Gatwick
7th - Fly to Vegas, Arrive 1PM. Pickup hire car and Relax in Vegas in afternoon.
8th - Day in Vegas, Battlefield Vegas, Hoover Dam
9th - Grand Canyon, will get a plane ride there.
10th - Drive to salt lake city, arrive mid afternoon, PM around the Salt lakes.
11th - Drive to Yellowstone, Arrive Mid afternoon, PM around Yellow Stone.
12th - AM around Yellow stone, PM Drive to Montana.
13th - Day in/around Montana.
14th - Drive into Canada, midway stop at Kimberley.
15th - Drive to Vancouver.
16th - Day in Vancouver.
17th - Drive to Seattle, Arrive Midday. PM around Seattle.
18th - Day in Seattle, Boing Factory Tour AM, PM Around Seattle.
19th - Start Drive Towards San Francisco, Stop over in Eureka, keeping to main highway "5"
20th - Drive to San Francisco, keeping on the Coast Road, Route 101/1.
21st - Day in San Francisco
22nd - Day in San Francisco
23rd - Drive to Los Angeles.
24th - Day in Los Angeles.
25th - Drive to Death Valley am, Death Valley PM, hotel in Beatty (next to death valley)
26th - Drive back to Vegas Airport, flight 3PM.

I have had to book most of the hotel's as they are all pretty well booked (i expected them to be empty this time of year).


So do we think this is manageable? Or any Advice?

Cheers

I wouldn't really know how to cut things out, but that seems like a hell of a lot to do in 20 days!

You will love it I'm sure though have a good time!

[battered]

If you like driving, yes. But there is a LOT of driving in that. It's 400 miles from SF to LA. That's great in a day, but if I were doing PCH I would want to take my time and stop. I've had a couple of trips to Cali, it's lovely and there are loads of lost corners that are better than the honeypot areas that everyone flashes through. You need to take your time to find them.

I suspect that your trip will be a bit like the Japanese tourists of the 80s: 2 weeks in the UK, starting...NOW!
Tower Bridge, 5 minutes, photo, back on the bus.
St Paul's, 5 minutes, photo, back on the bus.
Houses of parliament, same
Buck House, as above.
Then on the Stratford Upon Avon, the Cotswolds, Lake District, Edinburgh, back to Heathrow in time to go home.

[Rollin]

We had 3 weeks to do half of that and could have used more time.
If you just want to drive somewhere and not do anything when you get there, then fine.
I can't see the point of doing the Yellowstone/Montana/Canada bit.
Yellowstone is not a place you can get around fast. It will also be getting dark by 5pm won't it?

[fttm]

Haha enjoy your trip . Hope you've checked your mileages , it's a lot farther than it looks , plus oop Narth the roads can get quite messy . Have fun .

[p1stonhead]

Rollin said:

We had 3 weeks to do half of that and could have used more time.
If you just want to drive somewhere and not do anything when you get there, then fine.
I can't see the point of doing the Yellowstone/Montana/Canada bit.
Yellowstone is not a place you can get around fast. It will also be getting dark by 5pm won't it?

I agree that the Yellowstone Canada bit is a step too far in terms of driving. I would go straight from vegas to San Fran via Yosemite albeit at this time of year the whole place will be frozen over I'm sure. . I am biased as I did this a couple of years ago in the summer

I'm assuming with ten days to go, it's too late to change things op!

Edited by p1stonhead on Wednesday 28th December 21:09

[smack]

I hope you guys have a radar detector. Else have the gift of the gab to talk your way out of tickets! Waze while great on busy freeways, doesn't help you with mobile radar, a favourite weapon of US cops out in the quiet roads.

[8.4L 154]

Viperdave here

What are your plans for Yellowstone, most of the snowcoach and snowmobile trips into the park depart early morning and return in the evening and they have to be guided so no doing your own thing. So rocking up at lunchtime in west Yellowstone will see you peering at the park beyond the entry station where the ranger will politely be telling you to turn around.

If your heading to the north entrance, its a long day trip from bozeman to the end of lemar valley and back, and a good chance of wildlife hold-ups, We spent an hour following a herd of buffalo and we were part of the herd for quite some time of that too.

[8.4L 154]

ps, I really hope you booked the SUV not the Mustang. When you pick up your SUV check it has M+S tires with good tread, they will then suffice for most states in chain control areas with 4x4. But some of the states you are driving through also require you to carry chains in control areas.

Also as soon as you can, drain the windowsill washer bottle and refill it with a bottle of -50 screen wash from walmart and keep some in the bottle in the trunk or buy two. We had an early start in San Fran one year heading up to twin falls ID, We should have known it was a cold day because there was frost on the car in San Francisco, but didn't spend the time to do the screen wash, up in the desert we saw the temp drop to about -30c and even with the running engine the washer bottle froze solid, took a week to defrost it, fortunately it was so cold the snow on the road stayed frozen so the muck was ok.

[GCH]

Bristol spark said:

Or any Advice?

Yes. Cancel your hotels and rethink your route, unless you want to see a lot of the US from a perspective of a long distance trucker, seeing lots of a whole lotta nothing.

I have driven all of that at various times (helpfully I live in the US) but from my perspective, that is too much to cram in over under 20 days if driving it all, if you actually want to see much or have any energy to spend any time in any of your stops, and some of it isn't a great routing for scenery.


If you absolutely must drive that route then I strongly suggest that you do the motel route for most of it rather than pre booked, as it is much more flexible for when you won't make your next planned stop. You also haven't factored in the weather in some parts of that at this time of year which will probably throw an additional spanner in the works for you, plus the days are shorter, so less daylight anyway.


Also, little things like the Boeing factory being north of Seattle, so why drive past the factory in everett into seattle, only the next day to drive back north for 40mins to the factory, and then back south again? That is the whole morning gone if you do that. TBH I wasn't that impressed with the Boeing factory either - too many buses, walking through viewless underground tunnels, and not much else besides a couple of viewing platforms. The museum of flight (south of seattle) is a far better use of your limited time. However, if you do decide to still do the Boeing factory, when they ask who needs mobility assistance, then say you do, and then you get driven to/from from the buses on a golf cart via the factory floor and the production line, which is a lot closer than you get on the tour normally.


Driving SF to LA in one day is also a missed opportunity - the CA1 on that part is a must (especially heading south as you are on the correct side of the road for the ocean) and there are many good places to stop en route. Driving the whole 1 on that route is 14 hrs minimum, so spread that over at least two days, ideally more. A single day in Los Angeles is also a total waste (I expect the usual loads of replies saying it is a dump, but it really isn't.)

Sorry man, not trying to be negative, but you did ask.


What are your absolute MUST sees from your planned list of places?

[Bristol spark]

Thank you guys very helpful.

And yes all my hotels are flexible bookings (i made sure) so i can make amendments.

The more i look at the map now, it looks more of a challenge! (mind i love a challenge!)


Im thinking of going back to nearer my original route:




This would give a full day at yellow stone, so can get the snowcoach (thanks 8.4L i did not realise could not explore on own).

Then head straight to Seattle, with a halfway stop near Spokane.

Then from San Francisco to LA go along the coast along with a halfway stopover.

Then would have 2 full days in L.A.

And a full day at Death Valley.


6th - Stay Bloc Hotel Gatwick
7th - Fly to Vegas, Arrive 1PM. Pickup hire car and Relax in Vegas in afternoon.
8th - Day in Vegas, Battlefield Vegas, Hoover Dam
9th - Grand Canyon, will get a plane ride there.
10th - Drive to salt lake city, arrive mid afternoon, PM around the Salt lakes.
11th - Drive to Yellowstone.
12th - Day at Yellowstone.
13th - Drive Towards Seattle, Stopover halfway near Spokane.
14th - Seattle
15th - Seattle
16th - Start Drive Towards San Francisco, Stop over in Eureka, keeping to main highway "5"
17th - Drive to San Francisco, keeping on the Coast Road, Route 101/1.
18th - San Francisco
19th - San Francisco
20th - Start drive to L.A on Coast Roads, stopover halfway.
21st - Arrive in L.A
22nd - L.A
23rd - L.A
24th - Drive Towards Death Valley Hotel
25th - Death Valley
26th - Drive back to Vegas Airport, flight 3PM.


Do we think this would be more manageable?, and be able to see a lot more.

Or still too far?

Alternatively, i could have longer in Vegas, to Utah, and straight over to San Francisco with 4/5 days in both San Francisco and L.A.
And do the North another year.

My must do's are the Canyon and Vegas area, San Francisco and L.A. and would be nice to see the coast coming down from Seattle.

Any yes booked an SUV, Grand Cherokee or similar

All advice much appreciated

Edited by Bristol spark on Wednesday 28th December 22:26

[8.4L 154]

Great that you have flexible reservations as with a destination you have to reach the temptation is to try and get there, These are remote places and it can get very cold, dead in a matter of minutes if not prepared type of cold. There is also a huge misconception that we brits are st at snow and the rest of the world copes better. The first bit is correct, we are st when it snows, the misconception is the rest of the world is better, they aren't. When the white stuff is flying they are just as st, ok they get the ploughs out and clear it up, but SLC in a snow storm is chaos, the roads up and over mountains close (including/especially interstates), Roads down from ski resorts are nose to tail jams with spin outs all over the place.

What we do on trips like this is to book flexible rooms, not uncommon for us to book a few options ahead of time in busy places and choose where we go and stay based on the short term weather forecast or direction we are taking with the trip and cancel the ones we don't need. Most flexible rates can be cancelled the afternoon of arrival or T-24

you are hitting SLC bang in the middle of the outdoor retailers expo 9-12th and they fill nearly all hotel rooms in SLC and price gouging is rife due to low availability. Watch out for MLK weekend getaway also.

The I5 is a pretty boring road, and your missing one of the best bits from south of Oregon to Redding, around Mt Shasta and shata lake.

You can drive Yellowstone north entrance, if there isn't a storm on.

6th - Stay Bloc Hotel Gatwick
ok
7th - Fly to Vegas, Arrive 1PM. Pickup hire car and Relax in Vegas in afternoon.
ok
8th - Day in Vegas, Battlefield Vegas, Hoover Dam
ok
9th - Grand Canyon, will get a plane ride there.
ok
10th - Drive to salt lake city, arrive mid afternoon, PM around the Salt lakes.
ok but don't forget you lose an hour time zone and will likely get in late afternoon, the salt lake is not much to look at anyway. if you want to see the lake then you can access antelope island from Layton area

11th - Drive to Yellowstone.
probably take a good part of the day to west Yellowstone, the weather can be brutal once you start the climb halfway between Idaho falls and west Yellowstone, driven this in a blizzard and it was pretty scary stuff and much of the driving on faith and a prayer, its nice if the suns out though.

12th - Day at Yellowstone.
Snow coaches go to either the grand canyon of Yellowstone or old faithful, They both stop off for wildlife on the drive up Madison river and part ways at Madison junction, the GC of Yellowstone was the quietest and longest and some spectacular views if its sunny, the old faithful tour was a bit of a disappointment in comparison, as it was grey and misty around old faithful, not sure if that's a local weather as it was blue sky the rest of the day. you get a bit of time in the old faithful area for lunch and to watch a squirt, you can get out to the old faithful viewing easily as they clear the path, but the rest of the geysers are hard work with combinations of thick ice pack trails and heated bare icy parches, we took our own snow shoes and skipped lunch to see more, overall i expected a lot from old faithful but was disappointed in winter, lots of steam in the cold obscuring the view in winter against a grey sky rather than clear summer view. I'd still do it again given half a chance though. Saw more wildlife on the OF tour than the GCY due to its lower elevation.

13th - Drive Towards Seattle, Stopover halfway near Spokane.
there is a big ass waterfall in down town Spokane, not sure if its frozen in winter though. Washington is not the best state to drive across, but if you can take in Grand coulée dam and the lake above it to the south with dry falls at the other end. if your on a more southerly route palouse falls is not bad either, and the colombia gouge is probably more scenic than over the mountains on the I90, but its a bit of a long way around.

You could also take the souther route across, Twin falls has a nice water fall nearby and the snake river is in a pretty deep gouge. The roads north of Boise are a nice drive, through to lewiston and pullman. Look up old spiral hwy


14th - Seattle
15th - Seattle

Second the museum of flight,

16th - Start Drive Towards San Francisco, Stop over in Eureka, keeping to main highway "5"

see the note above about Shasta. Oregon are a bit funny about roads and safety, you cant pump your own gas, and they have big wide roads with huge shoulders and 55mph speed limits, strict chain rules. Even the interstate is quite slow compared to other states.

17th - Drive to San Francisco, keeping on the Coast Road, Route 101/1.
18th - San Francisco
19th - San Francisco
20th - Start drive to L.A on Coast Roads, stopover halfway.
21st - Arrive in L.A
22nd - L.A
23rd - L.A
24th - Drive Towards Death Valley Hotel
25th - Death Valley
26th - Drive back to Vegas Airport, flight 3PM.

Edited by 8.4L 154 on Wednesday 28th December 23:11

[fttm]

Certainly sounds more like a holiday than an endurance event .