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Old 11 Mar 12, 05:01 PM  
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chelseyleigh
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See you on the West Coast Walt...Finally! August/Sept 12' PT

I am so glad to finally get round to writing this trippy! Even though this trip was booked over a month ago I have had no time what with uni deadlines and what not, But my hand in is on monday (12th) and im off for a month and plan to get some serious West Coast planning going during this time!

Ok first to explain the title...Well atleast the 'Finally' part. Since i was about 13 years old we have started the year planning on a trip to california for the summer. Each year something has gotten in the way of it, be it fanancial issues, My dads health problems, insurance being far too expencive due to my dads health problems, more financial issues when the reccesion hit. But eventually.. 7 years later.. My generous mum and dad have saved the pennys away and are now in a very comfortable place in there jobs and we are finally able to make that long overdue trip to the west coast - and i could not be more excited! Next year me and my brother will both be at uni at the same time so due to the fee's increase, it would most certainly not be an option then, so it was pretty much this year or not at all!

Heres the genereal Plan

Who:

Me - Chelsey (will be 20) Definately the biggest disney fan of the group but only ever visited Florida in the states so really looking forward to seeing the variety through out the West coast and vegas Currently studying Fashion Design Technology at London college of fashion and working part time as a waitress. - Cheif planner - Yes even over my parents!



Dbf - Ryan (20) We have been together for 5 years now and this will be our 3rd time to the states together, but also his first to the west coast, which is a huge positive for me as he has been plenty other places round the world! More of a subtle fan of disney and a bigger fan of universal etc. but also really looking forward to Vegas although its a bit of a pain that he will be turning 21 a week after we return! Studying motorsport engineering and also a part time waiter. - Not so much of a planner, justs sits back and goes with the flow, probally why we work so well together!



Mum - Nikki (43) The only one of the group to have visited the West Coast before, To be honest she is the main one to bring up this idea of visiting the west coast (as many years ago as it was!) Really looking forward to seeing San Francisco again! - Also a lover of disney, She is a childminder so lucky her, has an excuse to spend her days watching/playing/reading disney! Involved in the planning of things she is particularly interested in but generally has the final say over everything!

Dad - Paul (46) Also only ever visited Florida so really looking forward to seeing this new state. He is surprisingly to me getting into this planning lark quite a lot and i think hes really looking forward to seeing more historical/cultural things such as Alcatraz, Gran Canyon, San Diego's millitary museums etc...Works as an estate agent.



(Very very old picture but the only one I have of them on my Mac :S)

Brother - Jack (will be 17) Hes at that age of trying to be the 'chilled out, not bothered' teenage type, but i no he's excited really he's studying his alevels at the minute and also coaches tennis part time.



Brotheers friend - Also called Jack (17) Friends with Jack from school, Studies engineering at college, Dont really no much else about him to be honest but he seems nice enough to me!

Obviously I dont have a picture of him and i feel a bit weird steeling one of his facebook page! haha!

When

We fly out from Heathrow on the 21st August with BA (booked through BA but actually flying on American Airlines, so not really sure what to expect!) and into LAX
Flying home on the 6th (landing on the 7th) September (Managed to get it so much cheaper by going into school times as luckily none of us are back to college/uni by then!) from San Francisco international.

The Plan so far

21st August - Leave home around 5.30am (I LOVE early starts for holidays - Althought its about the only time I do like early starts...)
Flight departs from Heathrow at 11.05am and arrives at LAX at 14.20, We are hoping to arrive and check in to the hotel by 6pm (2am local time!) I would imagine we will all be pretty pooped so will probally just grab a quick bite to eat and then fall into bed! We haven't booked a hotel yet but have been advised on Santa Monica - somewhere nice but still affordable! - Any reccomendations would be great!

22nd/23rd/24th August - We aren't planning on making any solid plans but during our visit to LA we plan on visiting Universal Studios, visiting 1 or 2 beaches, lots of shopping and some sort of movie star house/movie set tours whilst looking around hollywood On the evening of the 24th we will be driving down to Anaheim, checking into our hotel (Not sure weather it will be a disney hotel or just a hotel nearby disney) and spending the evening getting some yummy grub from DTD and just generally taking in the disney atmosphere - Reccomendations please!

25th/26th August - These 2 days will be spend visiting both disney parks. I also plan on getting in 2 disney breakfasts and 2 more disney dinners I LOVE disney dining - Again reccomendations would be great! On the evening of the 26th (after eating our last disney dinner) we will drive down to San diego and check in to our hotel - wont be pre-booking this one, all part of the fun of a fly drive! Depending how tired we are we will spend the evening exploring a little or just hit the sack!

27th/28th August - Whilst in San diego we would all like to visit seaworld and San Diego's famous zoo! My dad and I would imagine most the males of the group would also like to visit one of San diegos famous Millitary museums - Again Reccomendations please! If we have time i would also love to see the beautiful Coronado, perhaps it will be a girly visit with my mum, during the boys visit to the museum!

29th August - Today will be an early morning as we are hoping to spend the morning finishing of San Diego and then around 2pm traveling down to Vegas. I no this is a long journey (Approx 5hours i beleive?) So we will probally make a quick stop a long the way for a quick bite and will hopefully hit vegas by 7.30/8pm. As soon as we arrive we will check into our hotel, which is undecided yet over MGM grand or TI. We will then spend the evening exploring the strip and eating No matter how tired we are, Im pretty sure the bright lights of vegas will wake us up!

30th/31st August - During our stay in Vegas we hope to do a little shopping, a good visit round all the hotels along the strip, lots of yummy buffets (Reccomendations please!) and also a tour round the grand canyon, also trying to decide which one! We would also like to watch a show, hopefully one of the many cirque du soleil shows!

1st Sept - Start of labour day weekend! Good job we are leaving Vegas! - This morning will be a very early start as we will be taking a long 8hour trip to yosemite! We plan on waking up with enough time to fill up on our last vegas buffet breakfast and then making a move! We will definatley stop somewhere a long the way to eat and hope to make it to Yosemite by 6pm where we will check in and grab a bite to eat.

2nd Sept - We will spend today exploring yosemite and perhaps doing a treck of some sort! Nothing too hard core though! would love to see some of yosemites beautiful waterfalls! We will be leaving Yosemite around 3pm and hopefully be in San Francisco by 7pm. We will then check in to our hotel, find some lovely seafood to eat and explore the beautiful San Francisco!

3rd/4th/5th/6th Sept - During our stay in San Francisco we plan on visiting Alcatraz perhaps a night tour, visiting the walt disney museum , some more last minute shopping, Visiting the golden gate bridge and just generally taking in the beautiful city. Oh and lots of Seafood! The 6th will be our last day and unfortunatly we will have to leave around 2pm for the airport

So thats the plan so far!
I would love to hear everyones opinion on our plans and any advice or reccomendations for absolutely anything!
Im hoping to keep this PT pretty up to date with any changes

Thanks for reading guys!
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Edited at 01:34 AM.
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Old 11 Mar 12, 05:28 PM  
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Aims
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Sounds like a fantastic time! You've chosen some great locations and activities and I think you're all going to have a blast. I have some recommendations for military related museums in San Diego for your Dad:

1. USS Midway aircraft museum (a must-do!), this is downtown close to the airport:
midway/

2. San Diego Air & Space Museum, in Balboa Park (same area where the Zoo is located). This is not strictly a military museum, but if your Dad, anyone else, has an interest in aviation in general including space, this is a great museum.
sandiegoairandspace/

The drive from San Diego to Vegas is approx 5-6 hours.
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Old 11 Mar 12, 05:39 PM  
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chelseyleigh
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Originally Posted by Aims View Post
Sounds like a fantastic time! You've chosen some great locations and activities and I think you're all going to have a blast. I have some recommendations for military related museums in San Diego for your Dad:

1. USS Midway aircraft museum (a must-do!), this is downtown close to the airport:
midway/

2. San Diego Air & Space Museum, in Balboa Park (same area where the Zoo is located). This is not strictly a military museum, but if your Dad, anyone else, has an interest in aviation in general including space, this is a great museum.
sandiegoairandspace/

The drive from San Diego to Vegas is approx 5-6 hours.
Thats great! Thanks so much! Ill be sure to show my dad them links
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Old 11 Mar 12, 07:02 PM  
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You're welcome. If any of you decide to do the USS Midway, be sure you wear comfortable walking shoes- it's a huge place and there are a lot of stairways. It's a very fascinating tour, and there are lots of military aircraft on display on the top flight deck. Audio guides are included with admission, plan a good 2-3 hours to tour the museum. There is a cafe on board with simple eats like sandwiches and snacks (including churros!), but if you are looking for another place for a simple, inexpensive lunch there is an outdoor seafood eatery called The Fishette which is a short walk from the USS Midway. It's part of a seafood restaurant called Anthony's, but the Fishette is an outdoor window you can walk up to and order from. When it's ready, you pick it up at another window and there is outdoor seating on a patio that overlooks the bay so you can sit and watch all the boats going by. It serves fish and chips and other fried up seafood like clams, shrimp, fish tacos...it's quick, very reasonably priced and large portions. It's all paper plates and plastic flatware, but I find it a much better deal than spending a lot of money at the USS Midway cafe for average tasting eats. Except for the churros...get yourself a churro on the Midway, lol.

The Fishette menu:
gofishanthonys/fishette.html
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Old 11 Mar 12, 07:08 PM  
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How exciting! I definitely need to save up some pennys of my own to go to the West Coast. A lot of people say you can't do Vegas/LA/San Francisco in 2 weeks but I reckon the "main" things you definitely can So looking forward to hearing on your return!
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Old 11 Mar 12, 07:29 PM  
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Looks like a good itinerery ,must say your very organised with your planning.

We had an amazing time on our West coast trip last year and even though the driving distances are so long we did,nt find them half as bad as we expected.

Be sure to book your trip to Alcatraz in advance as they get filled up quickly.

One of the best ways to see the Grand Canyon from Vegas is a helicopter trip most also incorporate the Hoover Dam and finish off flying down the strip,it can be expensive but an amazing experience.
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Old 11 Mar 12, 11:53 PM  
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chelseyleigh
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Originally Posted by Aims View Post
You're welcome. If any of you decide to do the USS Midway, be sure you wear comfortable walking shoes- it's a huge place and there are a lot of stairways. It's a very fascinating tour, and there are lots of military aircraft on display on the top flight deck. Audio guides are included with admission, plan a good 2-3 hours to tour the museum. There is a cafe on board with simple eats like sandwiches and snacks (including churros!), but if you are looking for another place for a simple, inexpensive lunch there is an outdoor seafood eatery called The Fishette which is a short walk from the USS Midway. It's part of a seafood restaurant called Anthony's, but the Fishette is an outdoor window you can walk up to and order from. When it's ready, you pick it up at another window and there is outdoor seating on a patio that overlooks the bay so you can sit and watch all the boats going by. It serves fish and chips and other fried up seafood like clams, shrimp, fish tacos...it's quick, very reasonably priced and large portions. It's all paper plates and plastic flatware, but I find it a much better deal than spending a lot of money at the USS Midway cafe for average tasting eats. Except for the churros...get yourself a churro on the Midway, lol.

The Fishette menu:
gofishanthonys/fishette.html
Wow that sounds great! Cant wait till fill up on seafood! Yummy!
And ive never tried a churro so will definately make sure to pick one up! Thanks for all your info! I definatley no where to go for more :P

Originally Posted by MFras23 View Post
How exciting! I definitely need to save up some pennys of my own to go to the West Coast. A lot of people say you can't do Vegas/LA/San Francisco in 2 weeks but I reckon the "main" things you definitely can So looking forward to hearing on your return!
We have been saving up for years, and cannot wait! I am slightly worried in getting so much done, but we do have just over 2 weeks not including flight days so hopefully all will be do-able!

Originally Posted by florida girl View Post
Looks like a good itinerery ,must say your very organised with your planning.

We had an amazing time on our West coast trip last year and even though the driving distances are so long we did,nt find them half as bad as we expected.

Be sure to book your trip to Alcatraz in advance as they get filled up quickly.

One of the best ways to see the Grand Canyon from Vegas is a helicopter trip most also incorporate the Hoover Dam and finish off flying down the strip,it can be expensive but an amazing experience.
If the trip was all down to me i would plan every last minute! Haha i love it!

Am slightly nervous about all the long distance driving as i am slightly prone to car sickness but hopefully with lots of air con and lots of breaks for yummy american food, and lots of mountain dew to cool me down! i should be ok!

The grand canyon tour we are looking at is a helicopter that lands in the canyon and then takes you over to a ranch where you get a carriage ride and lunch included and ends with a flight over the strip, but we arn't sure yet!
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Old 13 Mar 12, 12:36 PM  
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Originally Posted by chelseyleigh View Post
Wow that sounds great! Cant wait till fill up on seafood! Yummy!
And ive never tried a churro so will definately make sure to pick one up! Thanks for all your info! I definatley no where to go for more :P



We have been saving up for years, and cannot wait! I am slightly worried in getting so much done, but we do have just over 2 weeks not including flight days so hopefully all will be do-able!



If the trip was all down to me i would plan every last minute! Haha i love it!

Am slightly nervous about all the long distance driving as i am slightly prone to car sickness but hopefully with lots of air con and lots of breaks for yummy american food, and lots of mountain dew to cool me down! i should be ok!

The grand canyon tour we are looking at is a helicopter that lands in the canyon and then takes you over to a ranch where you get a carriage ride and lunch included and ends with a flight over the strip, but we arn't sure yet!
Sounds like the trip we did with HeliUSA we booked it through Thomas Cook, we also did a optional horse ride at the ranch which was brilliant (I've never rode before but OH said when will we ever get the chance to do this again)
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Old 13 Mar 12, 03:52 PM  
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Great Pre-TR!

San Diego is amazing, highly recommend a visit to La Jolla if you've got a car. Such a beautiful place and only a 25 minute drive. You can see the seals and baby seals depending on the time of year!
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Old 25 Mar 12, 07:26 PM  
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Looking forward to your report when you have been as we are planning on visiting California next year.
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