San Francisco for a week
Discussion
Looking to taking my two kids to san Francisco for a week in October. When I say kids they are 16 and 15. Looking to fly from Aberdeen and just 1 stop. Been looking at air France and the cheapest I have found is £2300. If anyone knows where else to look for cheap flight then that would be great 
I was at a travel agent yesterday pricing up flights to the USA in October. The agent informed me of two things:
1)Prices go up massively in half term.
2)Any special deals will probably be available in July for October.
So at the moment, £2300 for San Francisco isn't looking too ridiculous. Have you looked at flying to the east coast and then changing to a budget airline?
1)Prices go up massively in half term.
2)Any special deals will probably be available in July for October.
So at the moment, £2300 for San Francisco isn't looking too ridiculous. Have you looked at flying to the east coast and then changing to a budget airline?
JoJo97 said:
Looking to taking my two kids to san Francisco for a week in October. When I say kids they are 16 and 15. Looking to fly from Aberdeen and just 1 stop. Been looking at air France and the cheapest I have found is £2300. If anyone knows where else to look for cheap flight then that would be great
Possibly my favourite city. I could happily spend a week there but for most people a week can be a long time in a city and it’s expensive hotel wise while if you move out a bit hotel prices drop accordingI’ve never flown from Aberdeen so you’re probably limited flight wise, unless you get to Gatwick or Heathrow where direct flights are available. I’ve flew to the US from Glasgow with Continental changing in NYC/Newark. I’ve found Delta inexpensive for getting to the West Coast with a one stop over via Atlanta, also flew with American, US, and BA.
Scottish half terms (if that’s when you’re going) are different form the UK so you may not get stung with increased fares.
I really like the Fishermans Wharf area, it’s touristy but I’ve never stayed there. I always stay on Union Square and have stayed in the Chancellor Hotel several times, great hotel, well situated right on a tram stop. For first timers the Hop on Hop off (HoHo) is a good way of getting around, it’s stops on Union Square and they run all day, the driver is like a tour guide but mostly it’s just efficient at getting around as it stops at all the main sights regularly as well as going over the Golden Gate about 2 hourly and stops over that side for half an hour or so.
There so much around the area I’d be tempted to do 4 nights in San Francisco and then 3 either on the Monterey Peninsula area or head up to Tahoe or Yosemite. It’s such a long way to go for a week if it were me I’d want to cram as much in as I could. You could also drive so far down highway one before making an about turn back to SF or get your inbound flight from LA and do it all. The wine country is very nice around Napa and Sonoma but not great for teenagers I guess.
Any questions give me a shout.
tuffer said:
Take plenty of change for all of the beggars, tramps and drug addicts you will be tripping over. SFO is a dump, hire a car and drive out to Yosemite, up the coast to Oregon or down to Carmel, much nicer.
Can’t disagree about the tramps. It’s a major metropolitan area so it’s going to have issues that go with that but I would never have called it a dump. One of the few American cities with a bit of old-worldly character IMO.Off on Friday to SFO for the annual family jaunt to Tahoe, and always stay in SF for a few days. We're travelling from Edi and it was around £700 per seat, which is what its been most years taking into account a gradual increase with inflation/fuel etc. Never payed less than £600 (in the last 5 years anyway), but never more than £750. Best best is via LHR unfortunately, then direct. Although on a 'flat' map it looks pretty straight going via the East Coast (since there's a direct Edi-Ewr), the travel time is a bit longer and you've the hassle of queuing for immigration at Ewr and making sire you don't miss the connection.
Annual tradition includes hiring a Chevy Tahoe, staying at the Fairmont in a room with a view and over-indulge in the Tonga room. Just booked up the accomodation last night in SF and the Fairmont is crazy-expensive, so for the first time every I foind a place near Union Square. Shame as I realy like the atmosphere at the Fairmont but given my 'kids' are 24 and 21 and need their own room, spending £1K for 2 nights seemed a bit excessive.
And although it seems crazy going the 'wrong way' to start, we've sometimes had decent prices on KLM via Ams...and although it looks wrong on a map the total travel time isn't so different as via Lhr or Ewr. We've never managed to get a cheaper total price by either looking at getting low-cost flights to London, or low-cost flights in the US - it's always been cheaper overall on a single ticket.
I tend to just mess about on Expedia with different outbound and return dates and see what comes up cheapest, then check if the same fare is cheaper with the airline direct. Also check code-shares - this year I found the flights I wanted at a price I would actually go with on the Continental web site (I've a Star Alliance Gold Card, so I tend to avoid BA as I get loads of free luggage on SA). Then checked same flights via BMI and they were about £100 more expensive, and same flights on the United site were £50 cheaper...so a United ticket it is this year.
Annual tradition includes hiring a Chevy Tahoe, staying at the Fairmont in a room with a view and over-indulge in the Tonga room. Just booked up the accomodation last night in SF and the Fairmont is crazy-expensive, so for the first time every I foind a place near Union Square. Shame as I realy like the atmosphere at the Fairmont but given my 'kids' are 24 and 21 and need their own room, spending £1K for 2 nights seemed a bit excessive.
And although it seems crazy going the 'wrong way' to start, we've sometimes had decent prices on KLM via Ams...and although it looks wrong on a map the total travel time isn't so different as via Lhr or Ewr. We've never managed to get a cheaper total price by either looking at getting low-cost flights to London, or low-cost flights in the US - it's always been cheaper overall on a single ticket.
I tend to just mess about on Expedia with different outbound and return dates and see what comes up cheapest, then check if the same fare is cheaper with the airline direct. Also check code-shares - this year I found the flights I wanted at a price I would actually go with on the Continental web site (I've a Star Alliance Gold Card, so I tend to avoid BA as I get loads of free luggage on SA). Then checked same flights via BMI and they were about £100 more expensive, and same flights on the United site were £50 cheaper...so a United ticket it is this year.
Edited by tvrolet on Tuesday 20th March 13:29
a311 said:
tuffer said:
Take plenty of change for all of the beggars, tramps and drug addicts you will be tripping over. SFO is a dump, hire a car and drive out to Yosemite, up the coast to Oregon or down to Carmel, much nicer.
Can’t disagree about the tramps. It’s a major metropolitan area so it’s going to have issues that go with that but I would never have called it a dump. One of the few American cities with a bit of old-worldly character IMO.I much prefer SFO to New York City as there are far less undesirables.
As for expensive accomodation, sadly this is true. We rented an appartment that was situated on the same block as the Tram musuem which was very reasonably priced when compared to hotels and proved an ideal location for us.
If you're looking for accomodation, you could do worse than try here...
http://www.grosvenorsuites.com/
Stayed here a couple of years ago and can recommend.
http://www.grosvenorsuites.com/
Stayed here a couple of years ago and can recommend.
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