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Thread: Hiring a car for fly drive holiday in California and things to do

  1. #1
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    Hiring a car for fly drive holiday in California and things to do

    We are currently planning a fly-drive holiday in California

    We will be flying out from the United Kingdom on 2nd July and spending 15 nights in California

    Our current plans are to divide the time between

    Los angles area 3 days

    Sequoia 1 day

    Yosemite 3 days

    Las Vegas 3 days

    Santiago 3 days

    Can anyone please provide advice on best approach to hiring a car ,places to visit, things to do, where to eat

    regards Brian

  2. #2
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    We just did a 12 day trip in April. We flew into Orange County, drove down to San Diego the next mornng, worked our way up to Napa, then back into San Francisco and flew home from there.

    We rented from National. Work has a contract with them and that was the best 1-way rate I found. It was actually dirt cheap for a 1-way, I suspect because it was at the end of Spring Break travel season and they needed to move cars out of the Anaheim area.

    In the LA area we stayed a night in Santa Ana right across the street from the airport as we had a late arrival (very late figuring in the time change.) On the way north we spent a night in Irvine, then two nights in Santa Monica. Santa Monica was great as it was walking distance to a lot of stuff. In LA we did the Peterson Automotive Museum and spent a little time down in that area walking around then spent time in Santa Monica at the pier and some time in the shopping district. The next day We did a tour with a company called A Day In LA which ran out of Santa Monica. We got an overview of Venice, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, etc. We saw way more than we could have in a day driving ourselves. The next day we headed north on the 1 toward San Luis Obispo so we never went up to the San Fernando Valley.

    For food, I recommend the TripAdvisor app. It will show you what's nearby and its proven to be be a great travel tool for us.


  3. #3
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    Brian,

    I'm not familiar with coming from the UK and renting in the US, but coming from the US we have rented a car in several times in England, Scotland, and Italy. I asked my wife (who makes all the arrangements) and she said she researched the license and insurance requirements and tips (and local traffic regulations) on internet travel sites. Specifically, the Rick Steves web site was useful for us, but that was for going in your direction!

    Italy required an international drivers license but the UK did not. My Lovely Bride thinks that license is required when going to a country that uses a different language. She verified the insurance coverage by calling both the car rental company and our insurance agent.

    I assume you are familiar with driving on the other side of the road! My first experience was in the Cayman Islands, then a number of times in the UK. The big multi-lane roundabouts in London were the worst to get used to. At least in the UK the road signs were in English! (In Italy even the place names are different - the signs to Venice say Venezia!) In the Cayman Islands motor scooter rental was common - a local told me the "Black Spot" markers along the roads were where someone was killed, usually a tourist and usually on a motor bike. Yikes.

    I suspect every rental car in the US has an automatic transmission since very few people here can drive a stick these days. Once (and once only) I rented a stick shift car in England and while I drive one here every day, the experience there was not good. The problem was acclimating to shifting with my left hand while negotiating the "wrong" side of the road on the narrow streets in crazy traffic. Good fun! I will pay more for the automatic next time...

    Renting a GPS with the car might be expensive here, you might check ahead of time. If you have a GPS it might have maps for here or you might be able to buy them. It might be more economical in the long run to buy a cheap GPS when you get here and save it for the next trip or sell/give it to a friend planning a similar trip.

    JKJ

  4. #4
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    Oh yeah, skip the GPS option and just use your smartphone and google maps. Be sure to invest in a car cell phone charger though.

  5. #5
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    Assuming you mean San Diego? Don't underestimate the driving time it takes to get from one of those places to other, including traffic jams, and waiting to get in parks, etc. You will be spending a lot of your holiday in the car.

  6. #6
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    Oh, I looked at your location list. We once planned to drive from Las Vegas to Yosemite in late spring or early summer, I can't remember. Our planned route was closed due to a late snow in the mountains and we had to take the long way around.

    JKJ

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    Any woodworker who gets near Pasadena ought to try to see the Gamble House.
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  8. #8
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    Yeah that's a lot more mileage than we did in not much shorter of a trip and we were constantly on the move from dawn til dusk. We pretty much kept our home schedule so we were going to bed by 8-9pm and I was up before dawn on days I ran. I'd get back, shower, and we'd get breakfast and be to our first stop by the time it opened. One long day we were on the road by 6:20am.

  9. #9
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    That is a lot of driving. California is big. Los Angeles to San Diego can be as little as 2-1/2 hours (without traffic) but often closer to 4 hours. It can take 2-1/2 hours for me to go into LA for a concert (from Ventura).

    That said, your choices are interesting (with the exception of Las Vegas IMO). I hope you have you lodging arranged fot Sequoia and Yosemite. The campgrounds and cabins typically fill on the lottery day (the day at the start of the year when reservations can be made). Traffic getting in and out of there can be horrible.

    As for food, California has many great restaurants. An App called Open Table allows for a lot of choice and is sensitive to driving time. Trip Advisor is good for Hotel / Motels. in my experience, GPS for a rental car does not cost any more these days (Hertz) other times it is a nominal fee.
    Shawn

    "no trees were harmed in the creation of this message, however some electrons were temporarily inconvenienced."

    "I resent having to use my brain to do your thinking"

  10. #10

    World Class Museum

    Last edited by Mike Hollingsworth; 05-28-2017 at 11:51 AM.

  11. #11
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    If you have the time (closed on Tuesday) and interest, consider the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens in San Marino (www.huntington.org) just east of LA. It is a hidden gem off the beaten path but might be worth the time depending on your interest. It is basically a great museum and garden all in the same spot.

    Be aware that sections of the highway along the central coast are closed due to rock slides.

  12. #12
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    If it were me, I would cross Las Vegas and Los Angeles off the list, and spend those days in Yosemite. I think you could spend a month there without getting tired of it. Personally, I like the desert a lot as well (Joshua Tree, Mojave), but it is not an environment everyone would want to spend time in.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nicholas Lawrence View Post
    If it were me, I would cross Las Vegas and Los Angeles off the list, and spend those days in Yosemite. I think you could spend a month there without getting tired of it. Personally, I like the desert a lot as well (Joshua Tree, Mojave), but it is not an environment everyone would want to spend time in.
    I didn't enjoy Las Vegas, even though it was a just stop-over for us. The big attraction was the cheap flights into Vegas and the inexpensive rooms - they REALLY want to get you into town. The casinos we saw were actually fun - lots of free entertainment for the kids (puppet shows and things) and good food. The sad thing was the looks of resignation and depression on the faces of the gamblers, especially those leaving the building. The poor casinos somehow failed to entice me to gamble even a dollar! We rented a car there and drive to Boulder (Hoover) Dam then Yosemite and San Francisco.

    I've spent a lot of time over the years in and around San Francisco as well as Los Angeles and some in San Diego. Los Angeles is a horror (except for the architecture). My preference is strongly San Francisco and the surrounding area, both up and down the coast and inland. I enjoy the desert too.

    JKJ

  14. #14
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    I'd ditch Vegas for sure (probably LA as well, except for the Gamble house) and go to the San Francisco area instead -- especially Muir Woods, but also Napa/Sonoma valleys. Getting to the biggest redwoods up north is a long trek, with not much along the way, but Muir woods is very accessible and wonderful. Lake Tahoe is also a nice area, and you can drop down to the south end f you need to gamble.

    Be sure to go to the zoo in San Diego, the tours of some of the big ships are also quite interesting.

    Yelp is my go-to app for finding good food, look for 4+ stars and over 100 reviews and you'll almost never go wrong.

    A month is not too much time to spend in Yosemite!

  15. #15
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    Grand Canyon, Zion

    If willing to drive from Las Vegas, and depending on whether you like civilization or wilderness, I'd head for Zion National Park then drive down to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I get weary when people overuse the word "awesome" but it truly applies here. Amazing. Awesome. Well worth the time.

    JKJ

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