California Road Trip - again...........

[Fats25]

Firstly - I have used the search function, and have picked all the bits I think we will be interested in. i.e. The other threads have helped us to make our minds up and not try and do too much. We got married in Vegas earlier this year, and we will head back to Vegas at some point in the future, and can do Death Valley/Yosemite as part of that trip. This will be a coast holiday (is actually our honeymoon).

I am hoping this thread will help to fine tune! Travelling last week September, first week of October.

This is our current itinerary.

• Day 1 - Arrive in San Fran - A bit of exploring and drinking.
• Day 2- Get up and explore on foot/public transport - to arrive at Pier 33 for Alcatraz tour at 18:30
• Day 3 - Explore remainder of San Fran on foot
• Day 4 - Pick up car (have booked a Mustand convertible - or "similar" - are hoping it is not the "similar"!) explore the San Fran area by car. Stay in San Fran.
• Day 5 - head down to Carmel for the night. Stop at Pebble beach on the way. Approx 100 miles.
• Day 6 - Drive to Hearst Castle for after lunchtime tours. Leave and head for next town south - TBD, poss San Luis Obispo.
• Day 7 - Head to Santa Barbara and stay in Santa Barbara (allows us to backtrack day befores route through Big Sur in case it had been misty on the way down).
• Day 8- Travel to and stay in LA
• Day 9 - stay in LA - itinerary TBD
• Day 10 - stay in LA - itinerary TBD
• Day 11- head to Palm Springs - stay the night
• Day 12 - No idea yet
• Day 13 head to San Diego - stay in San Diego
• Day 14 - San Diego
• Day 15 - Travel home from San Diego

We have left Day 12 blank as it keeps a day free in case we fancy extending our stay anywhere along the way.

So what have I missed? Do we have the balance about right for driving vs actually doing stuff?
Any further advice most welcome.

[RDMcG]

Check out the Peterson auto Museum in LA.
If you get to Oxnard (near LA) there Muliin automotive museum is the probably the best new Museum in the US

http://www.mullinautomotivemuseum.com/

[Rollin]

North of the golden gate bridge is worth seeing (Stinson Beach etc)
There's a restaurant called Nepenthe on Big Sur which has great views and reasonable food (OK for lunch). I think I went because it was mentioned on PH.
West Hollywood is a good place to stay in LA. Consider Mondrian, Andaz, The London, Standard or Chateau Marmont ($$$) for accomodation. The area has great bars, clubs and restaurants (Whisky, Roxy,Rainbow,Skybar,House of Blues,Key Club,Bar Marmont,Viper, Body Shop etc ). Maybe avoid Santa Monica boulevard at night as it's a bit cock heavy. You can get an easy bus to Santa Monica for the day and walk down to Venice beach from there. Nice walk to Beverly Hills from West Hollywood. Have a drink in the Beverly Wilshire while you're there and take the missus for some shopping (window or otherwise) on Rodeo Drive. There's a restaurant on Via Rodeo which is great for people watching (McCormick & Schmick's) and The Grill on the Alley is very good too (or was).

I'm going to california for 3 weeks next wednesday. I will be going from SF to LA but probably not the coast route as I've been that way quite a few times. I've only booked SF and LA hotels so route will remain very flexible but at the moment will be.
SF
Bolinas
Napa
Lake Tahoe
Yosemite
Death Valley
Palm Springs
San Diego
Los Angeles

I much prefer the National parks to the beach road to be honest, lots more to see and always changing. Won't be going to Vegas if I can help it, LA offers much more.

So looking forward to it now after typing that!

[Mazdarese]

Firstly, lucky git. We did a similar trip but taking in Vegas last year for our Honeymoon. It was amazing.

Your itinerary looks great, but I would add:

• Don't stay too long around Pier 33, it's a dump.
• Enjoy your Chrysler Sebring
• San Luis Obispo is a fantastic place. Try and be there on a Thursday night for the Farmers Market. Novo is a great place to eat.
• Santa Barbara was a bit 'meh' for us. Maybe because it was our last night.
• Palm Springs - very nice, very hot. The cable car might be out of season for you.
• San Diego - great place, loved it there. Make sure you go over to Coronado for a couple of hours, and DO NOT miss the USS Midway. Fantastic.

Enjoy yourself, you'll have a fantastic time I'm sure.

[Matt..]

Rollin said:

Yosemite
Death Valley

You're brave if you aren't booking accommodation for national parks. You might get lucky of course, but i wouldn't be leaving Yosemite accommodation till the last minute (unless i liked staying many miles away!).

[Rollin]

Matt.. said:

You're brave if you aren't booking accommodation for national parks. You might get lucky of course, but i wouldn't be leaving Yosemite accommodation till the last minute (unless i liked staying many miles away!).

Have tent

[DJFish]

Recommend:
Bourbon & branch in SF, book in advance.
Nepenthe in Big Sur
Andaz in LA

Try and take in a hockey/ baseball match, very good fun!

[theboyfold]

LA -> Palm Springs -> San Diego seems a waste of time to me.

Palm Springs is a long way to go for very little. It does have a WWII plane musuem, but that's it. I'd tack on a day in SD or LA to be honest. If you want to see planes, go to the Aircraft Carrier in SD.

Otherwise, it will be great. On your way through Big Sur, if you make one stop, make it McCray cove. It's simply the prettiest spot on the way down!

[The_Doc]

We caught a rodeo in Salinas (60 mins East of Carmel/Monterey) and it was absolutely unbelievably cool. I'm serious about this, I'm talking pure American culture with men lasooing horses and BUCKING BRONCOS !

At one point they brought out a 30 foot high model of a boot, painted in stars and stripes, with a women on horseback inside, the horse/woman combo rose out of the boot, the national anthem played, people stood with tears in their eyes and about 500 white doves were released. I though I was actually in a film.

I did this type of road trip last year, 3 weeks and it blew my mind.

[Fats25]

Some good advice on here guys. I like the Rodeo idea, and the Mrs will love the Art Deco car museum.

With regards to visiting Palm Springs, I know a few people have been and loved it, and it is part driving holiday, so I don't think it will be wasted.

Keep them coming - we will be sitting down and filling in the blanks over the coming weeks.

[Mazdarese]

Fats25 said:

Some good advice on here guys. I like the Rodeo idea, and the Mrs will love the Art Deco car museum.

With regards to visiting Palm Springs, I know a few people have been and loved it, and it is part driving holiday, so I don't think it will be wasted.

Keep them coming - we will be sitting down and filling in the blanks over the coming weeks.

We enjoyed Palm Springs. It's a nice drive out, and it's good escape from the hustle and bustle of the cities. Some nice restaurants too.

[Blib]

The Monterey Bay aquarium is stunning. If you like fish, that is.

[Lubermans]

I'd echo the Palm Springs recommendation - we stopped there last year for a day to break up the journey from LA to Scottsdale and both wished we had at least another night. Managed to squeeze in the cable car which is well worth doing and also visited a great outlets place for a bit of shopping (Cabazon?). There was also a good choice of restaurants in town.

We are planning to go back next year but start off in San Fran for a three week trip, having a bit of trouble convincing the OH she wants to do the night tour of alcatraz though Hope you follow this thread up with a good write up!

[Robatr0n]

We just got back from driving the Pacific Coast Highway and our plan was very similar to yours (well, until LA as we only stayed there one night and then went to Vegas). We had an absolute blast and will most certainly be doing it again.

One thing to bear in mind, the good lady and I were driving a Corvette convertible but most of the time we kept the roof up unless we were wearing hats as the sun was burning our heads! If you get the opportunity, check out the Hertz Adrenaline collection as you're able to rent muscle cars for not alot of money.

Here's a shot of us at Laguna Seca (which is very close to Monterey bay):

[Fats25]

Robatr0n,

That looks cool - and being a Biker - I would love to get to Laguna Seca. Will be adding that to the list of To Do's.

We have as above hired a Mustang Convertible - this is my biggest fear of the holiday though that was alluded to earlier in the thread. It would put a dampener on it if we got stuck with the Sebring! We really want a convertible. End of September/start of October should not be too hot. Otherwise I would be happy with any of those adrenaline cars - I did look at them to start with.

I noticed the small print of the Hertz Adrenaline is they can still change your vehicle for a "similar". So I have gambled with Dollar to give us what we want. My hope is that we can go into the rental place on day 1 and explain how much we want the car. I may well call Hertz and have a chat with them, as I can cancel the booking without charge up to 7 days in advance that I have already made.

Do you mind me asking what you paid for the car, and did you book from UK? We will have car for 12 days. I also looked at booking on the US sites, and they were extortiate.

[Robatr0n]

Fats25 said:

Robatr0n,

That looks cool - and being a Biker - I would love to get to Laguna Seca. Will be adding that to the list of To Do's.

We have as above hired a Mustang Convertible - this is my biggest fear of the holiday though that was alluded to earlier in the thread. It would put a dampener on it if we got stuck with the Sebring! We really want a convertible. End of September/start of October should not be too hot. Otherwise I would be happy with any of those adrenaline cars - I did look at them to start with.

I noticed the small print of the Hertz Adrenaline is they can still change your vehicle for a "similar". So I have gambled with Dollar to give us what we want. My hope is that we can go into the rental place on day 1 and explain how much we want the car. I may well call Hertz and have a chat with them, as I can cancel the booking without charge up to 7 days in advance that I have already made.

Do you mind me asking what you paid for the car, and did you book from UK? We will have car for 12 days. I also looked at booking on the US sites, and they were extortiate.

Glad you're visiting Laguna Seca, it's a lovely track. When we arrived they had some very tuned looking Mazdas and Minis flying around the track but they were being taken apart by the Mustangs and Camaros on the straights. The noise of the V8s made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end!

I'm sure I read on the Flyertalk forums that if you reserve a Mustang Convertible from Hertz then you are guaranteed one so long as they have them available. The best thing you can do is to ring them and make a note on your reservation that you require a Mustang and that should ensure you get one.

I originally booked a Mustang GT from the Adrenaline range only to be told they didn't have any available even they it's suppose to be guaranteed! Initially they tried to give me a V6 Camaro which I point blank refused but then the manager offered me a Corvette for no extra charge.

For the 4 days rental, it cost me £180 to rent the Corvette (my brother also paid £180 for the Challenger R/T and my friend and his wife paid £180 for their Camaro SS). When I got to Vegas, I rented a Challenger R/T for 6 days and that cost me £300. These prices include all the taxes and charges too.

[Ian_S]

Robatr0n said:

For the 4 days rental, it cost me £180 to rent the Corvette (my brother also paid £180 for the Challenger R/T and my friend and his wife paid £180 for their Camaro SS). When I got to Vegas, I rented a Challenger R/T for 6 days and that cost me £300. These prices include all the taxes and charges too.

What did you think of those cars? looking at the adrenaline collection for when I hit vegas in October.

[Fats25]

Thanks for the info Robatr0n. I have paid £400 including all taxes, insurance, additional driver - in fact everything except the Sat Nav for 12 days hire.

I just read terms and conditions, and I can cancel at any time up to 48 hours before with just a 25€ fee.

So I will go and see the hire place on the Sunday (we are scheduled to pick car up on the Tuesday) and will inform them if they cannot guarantee what we want, then I will cancel and go elsewhere at the time. At least it gives me something to play with!

[Robatr0n]

Ian_S said:

What did you think of those cars? looking at the adrenaline collection for when I hit vegas in October.

The Challenger R/T is pretty roomy. We managed to get 5 of us in one (not as much as a squeeze as you may think) and 3 suitcases in the boot too. It had the least power out of all of them and this was quite noticeable when we had the opportunity to put our foot down a bit but it still felt fairly quick. I felt as though it was more of a nod towards the muscle cars of old but with modern day comforts. It was also stupidly easy to get the wheels spinning when pulling away without even trying. You can still hustle them around the twisty bits but it does feel a little on the heavy side.

The Camaro SS was fantastic. It's no where near as roomy as the Challenger and I seriously doubt you'd be able to fit 2 average sized people in the back seats in comfort. This is actually the second SS I've driven and it felt brutally fast and well screwed together compared to the one I rented from Avis a couple of years back. One thing I loved was the HUD coupled with paddleshift controls on the steering wheel, it meant I could concentrate and give the car some stick without my eyes ever having to leave the road. My only complaint is that it's quite muted and could do with a fruitier exhaust. The handling was great too!

The Corvette is just awesome. This wasn't the best example of a Corvette (we've hired a much lower mileage Corvette before now) but it was still a hoot. Luggage space is rubbish so if you're considering renting one you have to take into account that only a meduim size suitcase would fit in the back in contrast to the ZHZ Coupe of old which would swallow 2 huge suitcases with ease. When I first drove a Corvette it felt very low, the steering felt sharp, throttle response was great but something was missing. I took me about 10 minutes to realise that you just couldn't hear the V8 until you passed 4krpm. One removed fuse later and all the baffles on the exhaust were opened up and it just sounded fantastic.

If you get the chance to hire one of the range, do it! We use to rent Chargers/300Cs/Voyagers/etc.. but they are complete and utter rubbish by comparison. They can't corner at all well and they have absolutely no poke.

[Robatr0n]

Fats25 said:

Thanks for the info Robatr0n. I have paid £400 including all taxes, insurance, additional driver - in fact everything except the Sat Nav for 12 days hire.

I just read terms and conditions, and I can cancel at any time up to 48 hours before with just a 25€ fee.

So I will go and see the hire place on the Sunday (we are scheduled to pick car up on the Tuesday) and will inform them if they cannot guarantee what we want, then I will cancel and go elsewhere at the time. At least it gives me something to play with!

That's a very good rate to be honest! Let us know how you get on.

Just one last thing, have you checked out any of the CDP rates for Hertz? If you're a member of certain clubs or your company has a scheme with Hertz, you're entitled to use a CDP code to redue your rate. I'm an AA member which entitles me to 10% off my booking with a free additional driver thrown in for free.

Another thing to keep in mind is that a husband/wife are automatically allowed to drive the rental car and will be covered by the insurance to do so too at no extra cost.