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Old 13 May 16, 10:16 AM  
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Mum & Daughter Go West

Hi all. Not sure where to start but the beginning is normally a good place!

After having some last minute jitters about our forthcoming road trip and seeking advice on the Dibb I had a couple of requests to do a pre-trip report from other mums thinking about similar trips with their children on their own. Apologies if I bore you going into such detail but after initially thinking I’d find it too time consuming, once I started the words just flowed. Can you tell I’m typing this back to front!

Why?

Not that anyone needs an excuse for a holiday but I have always had a longing to go to San Francisco (loved watching the Streets of San Francisco when I was younger – nothing to do with Michael Douglas of course!) so when an old college friend of mine said she was getting married in San Francisco in the summer I naturally couldn’t refuse the invitation to join the celebrations. So this trip started off as a 4 day holiday to San Francisco but once I started doing a little research and reading trip reports (yes I blame the Dibb!) that’s when the trouble started and we have ended up with what I am hoping is going to be a fantastic road trip.

The Cast

Although I am very happily married, as odd as it may sound my travelling companion is not my husband. We have travelled a lot but he doesn’t particularly enjoy it. He is a bit of a home bird and I think I have inherited my Australian mothers love of travel. So our 15 year old daughter is coming with me. She tells everyone she loves America even though she’s only been to Florida so I’m hoping this trip will give her a lifetime of memories and encourage the similar love of travel that I have.

The Itinerary

Mon 4th – Fri 8th July (4 nights - Las Vegas)
After staying overnight at the Premier Inn in Gatwick we are flying with Virgin to Las Vegas. Hoping the flight isn’t as noisy as some I have read about. We did look at flying into other airports but then I heard that Garth Brooks was playing his final Las Vegas concert on 4th July so I just had to get tickets. DD wasn’t too impressed though as she’s never heard of Garth Brooks. I don’t think I’m helping matters either by playing his CDs in the car!

Hopefully we will land on schedule at 1:15pm local time. The concert is in the new Las Vegas arena at 5pm. This is where I made a rookie mistake. Initially we were booked into the NYNY but at Xmas a Dibber posted about a Thomas Cook offer at the Cosmopolitan that seemed too good to pass up so I cancelled the NYNY, not realizing it was the closest hotel to the arena, and booked the Cosmo. The Cosmo certainly seems a higher standard hotel than the NYNY but I’m hoping I don’t regret the change if the flight is late.

Fri 8th – Sun 10th (2 nights – Grand Canyon)
So after 4 nights in Las Vegas and hopefully free of jetlag which I always seem to get, we now leave for one of the highlights of the trip, the Grand Canyon. We have 2 nights at the Bright Angel Lodge. Intending on seeing a sunrise (dd not keen on having to get up at 5am on holiday!) and a sunset, as well as driving to Desert View and getting the shuttle to Hermits Rest. Hoping to secure a reservation at El Tovar as well.

Sun 10th – Tues 12th (2 nights – Las Vegas)
Initially I was looking at driving from the Grand Canyon to Phoenix as I thought we may have had enough of Vegas by this stage. However, charges on one way car hire put paid to this so we are returning to Vegas. I had booked the Vdara purely on the basis that it had a washing machine/drier in the room (sad I know but I plan on travelling light, I don’t think the same can be said for my teenage daughter!). However, following advice from Daytonababe regarding the ease of using local laundromats, I have changed the booking to the Venetian. Something just kept drawing me to this place and it’s abundance of dining options certainly helped, which the Vdara seemed to lack.

Tues 12th – Sat 16th (4 nights – San Francisco)
This morning we drop the hire car back to the airport ready for our Virgin America flight to San Francisco. I have always flown economy (even on those long arduous flights to Australia) so when I was pricing up these flights I couldn’t resist paying just a few dollars more to experience first class travel. Granted, the flight will be over before its begun but it will probably be our one and only time flying first class, unless I win the lottery!

We are staying in San Francisco for 4 nights and OMG I never realized how expensive the accommodation is. Originally we were booked into the Chancellor on Union Square. We chose this hotel due to its close proximity to one of the pick up points for Dylan’s Famous Tour which we are doing the following day. Slight spanner in the works when we received an email from Dylan’s a couple of months ago explaining they were having to drop their Union Square pick up due to new traffic regulations. So because San Francisco is the only place we don’t have a hire car (again following advice on various forums) I decided to cancel the Chancellor and book us into the Best Western Plus Tuscan at Fisherman’s Wharf. This seemed to be the sensible solution as it is only a few minutes walk to the new Dylan’s pick up point. Its also closer to the Alcatraz Night Tour which we have tickets for, plus a friend who is going to the wedding is staying nearby and has a car.

Sat 16th – Mon 18th (2 nights – Yosemite)
Off to SFO airport this morning via shuttle to collect the hire car for the next stage of the trip. (We could have picked up a car in the city but I wanted a mid-size SUV and these only seemed available at the airport.) So from the airport we head to Yosemite for a 2 night stay at Yosemite Valley Lodge. Yosemite isn’t a place I’d ever thought about visiting but once I started reading some trip reports on here together with some amazing photos (Abiknox & Lolly’s spring to mind) I knew we couldn’t travel all this way without seeing it. We have booked the Glacier Point Tour to give me a break from driving.

Mon 18th – Tues 19th (1 night – Monterey)
So today we head to the Pacific Coast Highway and Monterey. We are staying at the Holiday Inn Cannery Row which has free parking and free breakfast included.

Tues 19th – Wed 20th (1 night – Pismo Beach)
Off again today down the PCH to Pismo Beach and the Kon Tiki Inn. I hesitated with this hotel as you cannot book online as such, you have to email them and pay via paypal. However, they have been very quick and polite in their correspondence and have risen from number 2 to the top spot on Trip Advisor since my booking so they must be doing something right.

Wed 20th – Sat 23rd (3 nights - LA)
Today we come to the end of our journey down the PCH and arrive at the Magic Castle Hotel in LA. In contrast to the Kon Tiki this hotel was number one on Trip Advisor and has slipped to number 2 but with the number 1 hotel costing nearly $1000 per night, I understand why they call LA la la land! Although the Magic Castle is by no means plush it does seem to get rave reviews about its customer service and the added extras like free breakfast & snacks, ice-cream, laundry, etc, was definitely a draw.

We have a one day front of line pass for Universal Studios. These were quite expensive but as we are going at a peak time and I have read conflicting stories about whether you can still upgrade to FOTL on arrival, I thought it was worth the extra.

We also have the Warner Brothers Studio Tour booked as my dd loves Friends so if she doesn’t like anything else, the fact she can sit on the Friends sofa, will be a highlight for her.

Sat 23rd - Fri 29th (6 nights – Anaheim)
So we now arrive at our final destination, Anaheim. We wanted to end the holiday on a high and Disney is it! We have 5 day hopper passes and intend on spending every minute in the Disney parks. We have been to Florida on numerous occasions but always get the feeling that there is so much to do that we’ve missed something, if you know what I mean. So, although we expect it to be really busy, we are just going to soak it all in. We are staying over the road at the Park Vue Inn, nothing plush but the location can’t be beaten, the free parking and free breakfast are also a bonus.

On the Friday we fly back from LAX to Heathrow with Virgin.

So that’s it folks. I hope you’ve managed to stay with me. I’ve enjoyed the planning immensely and hope the trip lives up to our expectations. Please feel free to make any comments or point out any errors in my planning.

Only 7 weeks to go!
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Old 13 May 16, 06:02 PM  
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kermit40
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well done, very informative and not at all long ! Your trip sounds fantastic, I shall be defiantly be taking some tips and look forward it hearing a review... Enjoy your trip
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Old 14 May 16, 07:16 PM  
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Wow - looks like an amazing trip you have planned We are hoping to do the San Francisco - Anaheim part next Summer so I will subscribe and look forward to hearing what you think of all the coastal destinations. Have an amazing time!
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Old 15 May 16, 09:54 AM  
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Originally Posted by kermit40 View Post
well done, very informative and not at all long ! Your trip sounds fantastic, I shall be defiantly be taking some tips and look forward it hearing a review... Enjoy your trip
Originally Posted by Buggles94 View Post
Wow - looks like an amazing trip you have planned We are hoping to do the San Francisco - Anaheim part next Summer so I will subscribe and look forward to hearing what you think of all the coastal destinations. Have an amazing time!
Thank you both.
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Old 18 May 16, 02:38 PM  
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Don't worry about Cosmopolitan. It's maybe 10 to 15 minute walk to NYNY. Just take a cab if time is tight. My brother in law stayed there last month, said it was amazing.

Trip looks great.
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Old 21 May 16, 08:45 AM  
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Thank you for posting your pre trip report, you are very organised. You are visiting a lot of places we are going to in July/August so hopefully you will find to write a trip report when you get back to let us all know how much you enjoyed it all.
Have a fantastic time.
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Old 21 May 16, 12:11 PM  
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Originally Posted by georgemac View Post
Don't worry about Cosmopolitan. It's maybe 10 to 15 minute walk to NYNY. Just take a cab if time is tight. My brother in law stayed there last month, said it was amazing.

Trip looks great.

Thanks. The walk will probably do us good and wake us up after the long flight.

Originally Posted by carolynne67 View Post
Thank you for posting your pre trip report, you are very organised. You are visiting a lot of places we are going to in July/August so hopefully you will find to write a trip report when you get back to let us all know how much you enjoyed it all.
Have a fantastic time.

I will try and do a trip report though not sure it'll get done before you leave. Always seem to be affected by jet lag, even more so flying west to east. Hope you have a fabulous trip too.
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Old 21 May 16, 01:35 PM  
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Thank you. What a great pre trip report. You are so organized! It all sounds fantastic. I will be following with interest, as we are going back in Jan. and doing some of the west coast. We stayed in GC National Park this year. It was amazing. Woke up to see several moose just outside our door. GC is just amazing. Just love the Venetian and if I can ever afford it, will stay there one day. Have a wonderful time.
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Old 30 May 16, 10:53 AM  
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Originally Posted by JoS View Post
Thank you. What a great pre trip report. You are so organized! It all sounds fantastic. I will be following with interest, as we are going back in Jan. and doing some of the west coast. We stayed in GC National Park this year. It was amazing. Woke up to see several moose just outside our door. GC is just amazing. Just love the Venetian and if I can ever afford it, will stay there one day. Have a wonderful time.
Thank you very much.

Just got tickets to see V The Ultimate Variety Show. Bargain on Travelzoo at £20 each.
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