Travelling to San Francisco and LA

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  [Deactivated] on 27/02/2019 - 09:31

  +1

  http://mochimachine.org/wasteland/

  Above is a poop map of san francisco. Probably stay away from those areas.

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  idonteven on 27/02/2019 - 09:49

  +2

  Car is the best way to get around. I went in December/Jan. I hired a GLA250 MB but upgraded to a GLC300 with Sixt rent-a-car for dirt cheap. Can't remember exact pricing but the price I paid for the GLA250 would have gotten me a Camry-equivalent with the other major brands. for my Apparently they are relatively new and still trying to break into the US market hence their cheap prices.

  AirBNB would probably be cheapest, lots of great options.

  If you're in LA, might as well go to San Diego, Las Vegas (check out Hoover Dam which is close by, one of my favourite sites when I saw it).

  • 

    boomramada on 27/02/2019 - 10:03

    Hiring a car, thats sounds like a great idea for travel between cities, I will do bit more research on that, thanks :)

  • 

    91rs on 27/02/2019 - 11:25

    Done similar with rentals with Sixt and its been great, however they do not have an "excess" for any damage or accidents, you are liable for total loss and you will need insurance to cover this, most travel insurance only covers the first up to $6k (that I was able to find). They've been around quite a while and are popular for non-standard cars as they are often privately owned and then leased or rented out via Sixt.
    Just something to keep in mind.

    https://www.sixt.com/car-rental-insurance/

    • 

      boomramada on 25/03/2019 - 20:33

      What is Loss Damage Waiver (LDW)? is it like excess waver?

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  Fergy1987 on 27/02/2019 - 10:01

  My advice is get the hell out of LA ASAP - San Francisco is way better - or do road trips to San Diego etc

  Public transport in LA is horrendous…..so yeah Car is your main option except the traffic sucks….It takes like an hour and a bit to go from Hollywood to Santa Monica on a bus. Its ridiculous. Also Hollywood is a dump. Anything "Celebrity" related you will be bitterly disappointed.

  San Francisco is great though, Alcatraz is worth it - Make sure you hit up that Boudin sourdough bread while you are there. We stayed right near fishermans wharf and I found that to be a really good location. Because if you want to go into the city you can just jump on one of those hopon hopoff buses. Its pretty expensive though compared to the rest of America.

  • 

    albert648 on 20/03/2019 - 12:49

    Boudin's kind of gone downhill over the past couple of years. I prefer Acme.

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    Kiwi131313 on 05/05/2019 - 04:05

    Unfortunately I'm a bit late to this one so I can't +1 Fergy's comment, but I wish I could give it a +10. LA was the worst, we stayed in Hollywood and it was a dump. The traffic is so bad, it takes forever to get anywhere. The only time I had fun in LA was going to Six Flags Magic Mountain, but the traffic made that a headache too.

    You can catch a train for pretty cheap down to San Diego from LA, only 3 hours and great scenery. This was probably the highlight of our 4 weeks in the US (or maybe I was just glad to be out of LA…). Whatever time you were going to spend in LA would be better spent down there.

    San Fran is very expensive, we did the Alcatraz tour which is great, but book ahead! I think we also did a city tour that we found on Groupon. That was a cheap way to explore the city and find out about some local things. We stayed in an Airbnb in Oakland, which meant a bit of a drive to get to the city but it was cheaper and we flew into Oakland airport and left for Yosemite for it was much easier being in that direction.

    Not sure where you are flying to and from and how long, but we also rented a car in San Francisco and drove to Vegas which was fun. Stopped off at Yosemite along the way.

    I would recommend:

    • Fly into LA. Usually the cheapest flights. Take a day to recover (book a day room if you need to as all the flights are 13+ hours and you'll arrive at 6am LA time but it's midnight Aus time).
    • On the second day go to Six flags or Universal if you have kids. Theme parks are a great way to stay awake and get over jetlag.
    • Third day catch a train to San Diego. Spend 2 - 4 days there. Do a cruise to see all the war ships, go to Old Town, spend some time at the beach, see the zoo. We were only there for one night so I'm sure there are heaps of things to do that I don't know about.
    • Fly from San Diego to San Fran. Tick off some things on your bucket list.
    • Hire a car and drive east. Drive through Yosemite Valley if you have time. We stayed the night in June Lake but any of the small towns around there are picturesque. Just note that we were there in June (US summer) and the main road to get to June Lake, called Tioga Pass, was still covered in snow, so we had to detour and add about 4 hours onto our trip.
    • Drive through Death Valley. Amazing desert and it was crazy seeing snow and it being 18°C one day in Yosemite, to driving though a desert where it was literally 50°C the next.
    • Go to Vegas. If you are in for a good time and don't have kids stay on the strip at a casino. Try to go midweek as we paid $40/night at the SLS casino Tuesday - Thursday, but it is $150+/night on Fridays and Saturdays. If that isn't your thing, there are plenty of nice, more resort places to stay. We stayed on Lake Las Vegas for a weekend, much cheaper and less hectic than the strip.
    • Fly back to Vegas and then back to Aus. We booked a connecting flight with the same airline, same ticket and got the Vegas to LA flight free.
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  TheMindsetTraveller on 27/02/2019 - 10:14

  If you must visit the USA, I wouldn't, then for LA, my suggestion is that you will definitely need a rental.

  If you are planning to see everything in LA, then I would suggest you considering staying in/at an airport hotel.

  Believe it or not, the airport is pretty central.

  Plus hotels are much cheaper than say Santa Monica, West Hollywood.

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  [Deactivated] on 27/02/2019 - 11:12

  Check your seasonal weather in San Francisco. Fogs can build in the bay and blanket the city for days on end during certain parts of the year. It's kinda fun seeing a city inside a cloud for a while, but it can last many days.

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  GG57 on 27/02/2019 - 11:19

  We stayed in LA for a few days, at Manhattan Beach, and found that area to be quieter, more neighbourly than others.
  We had a hire car so were able to get about, otherwise you might be stranded. Close to Anaheim, LAX, and other beach-side suburbs.

  For SF, we found Fishermans Wharf to be pretty touristy but probably worthwhile having a look at. We didn't have a car, stayed near Union Square at the Mystic Hotel (highly recommended), took a hop-on/off bus trip but otherwise used the cable cars.

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  brad1-8tsi on 27/02/2019 - 12:32

  +1

  I was in SFO in 2012. We stayed at Hotel Tomo in Japantown as our VBO (AIRbNb/stayz type thing) accommodation was cancelled without reason 1 week prior to departure.
  We (wife + 10yo + 14yo) walked or caught public transport. Parking was too hard unless you paid for a parking station.
  Good:
  Alcatraz
  Palace of Fine Arts
  SF Giants Baseball at Oracle Park - great views over bay and great atmosphere. get tickets off stub hub.
  Hired bicycles and rode along SFO Bay through the Presideo (there was a good sports outlet store there) and across the GG Bridge and into Sausalito for lunch.
  Went to a jazz club in Haight-Ashbury district.
  cable car ride
  Sea Lions at Pier 39.

  Other stuff I can't remember

  We then hired a car through rentalcars.com and drove to Yosemite National Park for 2 nights. It was well worth it it although I would stay outside the park at somewhere reasonably priced rather than at the overpriced concessions within the park.

  Not for me:
  Ghirradilli Square
  Fishermans Wharf

  LAX:
  2012 trip flew SFO to LAX. In hindsite I would have flown to John Wayne Intl near Anaheim or driven.
  We went for Disneyland/theme Parks stayed at Embassy Suites. It was cheap and cheerful, family friendly, had a buffet breakfast and a shuttle to the theme parks.
  We did hire another car and did a day trip to San Diego Sea World.
  We also went up to Hollywood and went to a "Totally 80s" rock concert at the Hollywood Bowl
  Went to Universal Studios
  Went to the Le Brea Tar Pits (if you like fossils & dinosaurs)
  There is heaps to do in LAX

  2018 Trip:
  Got a hire car
  Stayed at The Charlie in West Hollywood 1 night.
  Dined / Boozed at EP&LP
  Went to Melrose Place unintentionally.
  Sentimental visit to Tower Records (closed)
  Cruised Santa Monica Boulevard & Sunset Strip
  Awesome vegetarian lunch in Santa Monica
  Walked from Santa Monica Beach to Venice beach & return
  Other stuff.

  If you can get to San Diego, the Gaslight District is fun. We also went to Palm Springs, Las Vegas & Oem, Utah and hiked Xion, Arches and 3 other major national parks.

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  dprodigy on 02/03/2019 - 12:08

  Hey mate! Fellow Aussie here, living in Orange County, CA.

  I might be able to help but a few questions.
  Are you travelling solo or with a partner, family?
  Are you into nature?
  Are you more an amusement park or museum kind of person?
  Is road trip your thing? (CA1 is promising, one of the best coastal drives. There is a lot to do and see in the drive from San Diego to SF)

  Cheers,

  • 

    boomramada on 10/03/2019 - 18:52

    Sorry for late reply, still planning at this stage.
    Its 2.1 of us travelling, thinking of either flying or driving to SF > LA
    I noticed there is a coastal drive, still deciding how to spread out the two weeks of travel between those two cities.

    If driving, rental car, does it need international lic, can we get a baby seat etc.

    So far plan is to spend week in SF, few days on the way and few in LA.

    Do like Amusement park, nature if its easily accessible.

    • 

      Kiwi131313 on 05/05/2019 - 04:14

      All an international drivers permit does is translate your drivers licence into another language. So assuming your licence is in English, no you don't need one. Just have your Aus licence and passport with you when driving. Also check out some tips about what to do if you get pulled over in the US - i.e. they don't know if you have a gun or not, so don't go putting your hands in your pockets for your wallet unless you explain what your'e doing first. Plus learn their road rules - driving on the wrong side of the road, 4 way stops, etc.

      I'm sure you could hire a baby seat from any of the normal car hire places. A tip - they can charge anywhere from $4 flat fee for the whole trip to up to $11/DAY depending on who you hire with, so be sure to take this into account when comparing the cost of a hire car.

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  dane45 on 29/03/2019 - 10:32

  I've stayed a few days in LA at Echo Park and Santa Monica. Didn't have a car and just used Uber to get around in LA, then walked and used PT in SF.

  Internal flights in the US I recommend Southwest, make sure to check their website because they don't list their fares with aggregator websites like Skyscanner. If you book with them make sure to check back regularly because if your fare drops and you notice, they will refund you the difference in credit to use on future flights.

  If you don't mind wasting a day, the cheapest option for travelling between LA and SF is the Megabus. There's also an overnight sleeper bus that's more expensive, but it's accommodation for the night and you don't lose time travelling.