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Old 21 Mar 20, 04:56 PM  
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kateb78
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Mobile Pacific Coast Highway - March 2020 - trip summary

Otherwise known as “the covid19 tour where we got sent home early...”

Well what a couple of weeks it’s been! Today we should have been in Las Vegas. Instead I’m writing this summary from my socially distant house in Yorkshire!

My husband and I planned our trip for the last 10 months and were so looking forward to it. We were due to travel from 7-21 March but actually managed 7-16 March due to the corona madness which started halfway through our trip. We are lucky to have got home before the stay at home orders were issued in California and the Vegas hotels shut down.

Still, I thought it would be good to write the summary as it was a good trip while it lasted and it may help someone at a later date when we can all get back to booking our trips again...

Flights and car
We booked with BA holidays so had Avis car hire as part of the package. Our flights were from MAN LHR SFO and the return from LAS LHR MAN. In hindsight I’d be reluctant to book with them again because they are money grabbing!

We booked WT+ and I was amazed at the lack of benefits offered. No dedicated check in. No free seat selection. After checking the seat maps for our flight out we ended up caving in because there were only middle seats left plus one option of 2 seats together. Going out was an A380, coming back was a 747. Neither have huge WT+ sections so it felt like we were left with little choice.

As it was the flight out was good. WT+ ended up being half full so we needn’t have paid. I suspect that was something to do with the escalating covid19 situation though. The A380 is a lovely plane and so smooth and quiet. The food was ok, entertainment was good, not many drinks offered except water and the crew were ok too.

We took off and landed on time. We were through immigration in about 30 minutes and there wasn’t a lot of evidence of health screening going on because we were all filtered into one line whatever type of passport we had. All US immigration halls seem so disorganised despite the fact that this is their only job!

We knew we’d be tired when we arrived so had booked the new Grand Hyatt at SFO rather than picking the car up straight away. It was 2 steps on the Air Train and we were in the lobby. Perfect!

The next morning we hopped back on the Air Train and to the car rental centre. We’d booked a mustang and signed up to preferred so we went straight to the garage. The guys at the desk there were very helpful. Our luggage wouldn’t all fit in the mustang boot so my husband went back to the desk and they agreed to swap it for a Dodge Charger RT 5.8l Hemi for no additional charge. He was delighted. We got the print out from them showing $0 charges and off we went. Drop off at San Diego airport was equally quick and efficient. The car was lovely and we covered almost 800 miles, adding about $100 of fuel which included through the week and filling up before returning. A bargain for such a beast!

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Edited at 08:12 PM.
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Old 21 Mar 20, 04:56 PM  
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Hotels

RADISSON AT MANCHESTER AIRPORT
We booked using part Hotels.com vouchers which made this very good value. We were upgraded to premier room. This is such a convenient hotel - except if you’re flying from Terminal 3 and then it’s a bit of a hike (especially with luggage) and you have to go outside at one point. We’d parked in the T3 meet and greet car park so actually had to do the trek twice with cases! Still it was a comfortable night and included breakfast which made for a leisurely morning before heading to bag drop.

GRAND HYATT AT SFO
Gorgeous new hotel inside the airport. 2 stops on the Air Train from the international terminal. We were off the plane and in our room in 1 hour. We had a view of the runway from the 10th floor. The room was so comfortable after a long flight. The bathroom was fab. It’s very modern so lots of USB sockets and nice touches like coffee maker, binoculars and motion activated night lights in the base of the bed and in the bathroom.



HOTEL ABREGO - MONTEREY
Booked deluxe room and we were upgraded to premier. The room was so spacious and included a fireplace. Free parking, free water, keurig coffee machine, good toiletries, rubbish hairdryer. Very friendly staff and nice bar area off the lobby. It was in a great location and about 5-10 minutes walk to downtown Monterey where there were lots of nice shops and restaurants. Having walked around Cannery Row, we were pleased we’d booked the location we chose.



PEBBLE SANDS - CAMBRIA
Beautiful, cute inn opposite Moonstone Beach. We had a side sea view and a fireplace. Free coffee was available in reception. Homemade cookies in room with fridge, microwave, coffee maker. Just lovely. The hotel had many thoughtful touches like beach towels in reception, a notice about tides, and rags and spray to clean car windscreens. Our room also included a free breakfast which was limited but perfectly good enough to start our day.



INN BY THE HARBOR - SANTA BARBARA
We searched for ages for the right hotel in SB. It’s just such an expensive place! There seems to be either motel style older places or luxury places like The Ritz Carlton. There’s not much in between. We settled on the Inn By The Harbor because it was reasonably priced and was a 10 minute walk to the harbour. It is a motel style hotel with a central garden courtyard. The reception area is tiny but offers wine and cheese each evening and then cookies and milk later on. The staff were all really friendly. Our room was dark and dated but perfectly functional and had a full kitchen which we weren’t expecting!



HILTON GARDEN INN - BURBANK
I wanted to book The Tangerine but my husband wasn’t sold on it so we ended up in this chain hotel. Perfectly good but lacked personality. The room was comfortable but no view as the hotel is just off the i5. It was chucking it down (and didn’t stop for the whole time we were there) and we found out Disneyland was closing so the day was a write off as we spent hours getting through to ebookers to cancel Anaheim hotel. All wasn't lost though - we did our washing and had happy hour drinks and appetisers in the hotel restaurant!

BEST WESTERN PLUS ISLAND PALMS - SAN DIEGO
This hotel is in a great location on Shelter Island. It’s spread over several buildings with a tropical theme. Shelter Island has the bay looking towards San Diego and the naval base on one side and the marina on the other. We had a 1st floor room with balcony overlooking the marina. We spent each morning and evening watching the comings and goings which was really enjoyable. The room was very spacious and clean and tidy. The hotel has a bar and restaurant off the reception area where they have a happy hour and half price appetisers in the bar. It was about 10 minutes drive to downtown San Diego and we were really pleased to be a little removed from the main action. My one tip is to park in the free car park directly opposite the hotel rather than pay the $15 a day charge from the hotel.


Edited at 09:35 PM.
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Old 21 Mar 20, 04:57 PM  
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Places we visited

Monterey - we loved the vibe of whole place. Downtown had lots of shops, restaurants and bars. Old fisherman’s wharf was unsurprisingly a tourist trap, as was Cannery Row. However it’s all well maintained and easy to get around.



Carmel by the sea - this would be the place I’d want to live if I moved to the US! It’s picture postcard cute. There are excellent shops on the Main Street and we wished we’d had a bit longer here. We’d probably stay in this area next time instead of Monterey.



17 mile drive - breathtaking views! $10.50 entry through any of the gates and then the route is marked with red markings on the road. Some of the houses round here are amazing! You’re given a map on entry and it suggests several stop of points. It’s easy to park and take photos but make sure you allow plenty of time to do the whole route justice. Pebble beach golf course is one of the stops so allow more time if you’re into golf!



Big Sur - Wow. Just wow. We drove the road in not the best weather and it was still spectacular. There are some narrow, windy bits which could affect you if you’re susceptible to travel sickness. If you’re driving north to south like we did, there are huge sheer cliff drops at your side of the road so it was pretty thrilling. Again, there are loads of places to stop at every step of the journey.



For Bixby Bridge we crossed the road and walked a little way up the road opposite the parking area. This gave much better views of the bridge with the ocean in the background. You just need to be careful crossing the highway there.



For McWay falls we just stopped at the side of the road rather than take the trail. You can walk a little way along the roadside and still get great views.



I was quite surprised at how many shops, cafes and little hamlets were along the road. We didn’t stop at any but there are lots of options if you needed food. I really wanted to go to Nepenthe but it was absolutely pouring and we just weren’t dressed for it! Just an excuse to go back I guess

Cambria - a sweet little seaside town with a Main Street and plenty of restaurants to choose from as well as a small supermarket and deli. We stayed on Moonstone Beach which has a lovely boardwalk and we really enjoyed a morning stroll here. It’s much less built up than Pismo Beach which was another option we were considering for a stop. We were happy with our choice.



Hearst Castle - we weren’t sure about doing the tour but we’re so glad we did. The castle is actually 5 miles up a track which you can only get to on the official tour buses you get from the tour centre. There’s no option to go by yourself. There’s an imax theatre in the tour centre which has a beautiful film about how Hearst Castle came to be. It was fascinating. The tour itself then starts off with the journey up to the castle and that’s breathtaking in its own right with views down the mountain to the sea. We had a great guide who showed us round a small part of the grounds including the Neptune pool and then we visited some of the grand downstairs rooms. The whole place is just bonkers! We loved it. We didn’t spend too much time exploring the grounds because it was pouring again and we’d left our coats in the car but it all looked amazing and they’re rightly proud of it.



Santa Barbara - what a lovely city! It has a fantastic mix of mountains and ocean. State Street has some beautiful shops and it’s the best looking shopping street I’ve seen in a long time! We walked to the harbour and had a fantastic meal watching the boats coming in with their daily catches. We ate many prawns! The next morning we went to the Santa Barbara Courthouse. What a beautiful setting. It’s all free and we wandered around freely among actual court cases. We went up the tower and had the place to ourselves. The view was stunning.



Solvang - a danish town in the middle of California? Why not! Complete with windmills and a Thomas Kinkade gallery. We had a wander around this strange little place. There were some nice bakeries which looked good but we didn’t manage to try any.



Burbank - we didn’t really see much of this place! This was where the madness started and we had to sort out a few travel plans. Plus the rain was torrential and I didn’t fancy facing it after finding out my Disneyland trip was off We also planned to do the Warner Brothers tour but that was closed. We were going to use Burbank as a base for that and seeing the walk of fame and Griffith observatory... but we couldn’t be bothered! Next time.

Carlsbad - stopped at the Premium Outlets here on the way to San Diego. It’s the same as the Florida and Vegas outlets. Not really many bargains to be had though I bought the obligatory Kate Spade purse. We then had a bonus and my first ever Panda Express. OMG I’m obsessed. Loved it.

San Diego - I was so excited to visit San Diego and it lived up to expectations despite the unknown hanging over our visit and whether we’d have to find a flight home. I had a lovely message from Aims as we arrived about the pending closures so we shuffled our plans and managed to see everything we wanted to. We were impressed with how easy it was to get around San Diego. We were amazed at the free parking available almost everywhere. On street parking is free on Sundays. Can’t imagine that in London, or even the town where we live!

Old Town - what a lovely state park! We enjoyed looking around the little shops here and soaked up the atmosphere.



Trolley Tour - we bought tickets in advance from Expedia when they had 25% off. We parked at Old Town (for free!) and had breakfast before starting the tour. At the beginning we were the only 2 on the trolley. The driver was great and very knowledgable. This was a great way to see all the main sites. We stayed on for the complete tour which took about 2 hours although it was hop on hop off and the ticket lasted 24 hours. The ticket also gave free entry to the Sheriff Museum at Old Town. This was a really interesting museum and you can sit on a police bike and in a police car as well as get locked in a jail cell!



USS Midway - again, we’d bought tickets at 25% off from Expedia. This was an excellent way to spend a couple of hours and we really enjoyed it. It’s a huge aircraft carrier and a magnificent feat of engineering. A Vietnam veteran who’d flown missions from Midway gave a really interesting talk on the flight deck about how planes land and take off from an aircraft carrier. Well worth a visit!



Balboa Park - I didn’t realise this park is bigger than Central Park. We spent a lovely couple of hours wandering around even though all the museums were closed. We went on Sunday to watch the Spreckles Organ Concert - it’s free every Sunday from 2-3pm (and it’s streaming online at the moment!)



Coronado - this is another place I’d choose to live if I moved to the US. Just need to start saving the multi millions of dollars I’d need to buy a house here. They are stunning! We walked through the iconic Del Coronado and enjoyed some ice cream from Sprinkles. We then walked down to the soft sandy beach and tried to figure out how we could get the money we’d need to live here. We concluded it’d take a thousand years. So maybe another visit at some point will have to suffice



Cabrillo National Monument - $20 entry gives 7 days access to this fab national park with amazing views over San Diego, the naval base and even as far as Mexico! It was a lovely way to spend our last afternoon watching jets taking off from the naval base and the boats coming and going. We also went inside the lighthouse. Thoroughly enjoyed our visit here.


Edited at 10:37 PM.
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Old 21 Mar 20, 04:58 PM  
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Food we ate
We ate in some great independent places on our travels as well as some of the more familiar chains like Cheesecake Factory, In N Out Burger and Chick Fil A. There were loads of options in Monterey and San Diego where we were spoilt for choice! I don’t think we had a bad meal the whole time we were there.

Final thoughts
When we arrived in the US on the Saturday there weren't many obvious signs of the covid19 situation. However by Thursday, Disneyland, Warner Bros Studios and lots of other major attractions started closing. By Monday, everything in San Diego and Las Vegas was closed too. It’s such a sad situation as obviously it’s affecting the lives of so many people.

However we were lucky to have some of our holiday and everything we did we really enjoyed! My husband was gutted that we missed out on a Vegas fix so that’ll probably be the first place we book once the world is back to normal.

In the scheme of things our holiday being disrupted isn’t a big deal and we know we can do it again. In the meantime we hope everyone stays healthy. Planning holidays will get us through this, so please feel free to ask any questions you may have
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Old 21 Mar 20, 09:11 PM  
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Great summary, Kate- and helpful, too! I appreciate the hotel recommendations for Monterey and Santa Barbara, especially. I know we’ve talked in private message, but again I want to say how sorry I am that your trip was cut short. You did so many great things in the time you had though, it sounds like you made the most of a lousy situation- it’s a shame about Vegas though, and missing Disneyland. I hope you will be able to come back soon!
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Old 21 Mar 20, 09:46 PM  
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Originally Posted by Aims View Post
Great summary, Kate- and helpful, too! I appreciate the hotel recommendations for Monterey and Santa Barbara, especially. I know we’ve talked in private message, but again I want to say how sorry I am that your trip was cut short. You did so many great things in the time you had though, it sounds like you made the most of a lousy situation- it’s a shame about Vegas though, and missing Disneyland. I hope you will be able to come back soon!
Thank you Amy. Us Dibbers are lucky to have you as a source of amazing knowledge. We loved our trip and will definitely be back! I’ve just added some photos to my post and a bit more info about Santa Barbara - glad some of it is useful. Thanks again x
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Old 21 Mar 20, 10:29 PM  
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Originally Posted by kateb78 View Post
Thank you Amy. Us Dibbers are lucky to have you as a source of amazing knowledge. We loved our trip and will definitely be back! I’ve just added some photos to my post and a bit more info about Santa Barbara - glad some of it is useful. Thanks again x
You’re welcome! Very glad to have helped in any way. I was just coming back on to say that your photos are gorgeous! You got some great shots, thanks for sharing them. x
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Old 31 Mar 20, 01:41 PM  
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Looks amazing, thanks for your write up.

We were supposed to be doing a West Coast PCH holiday followed by a Hawaiian Island cruise in April/May, but obviously that is now cancelled. Will definitely consider re-booking once everything is back to normal though.
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Old 31 Mar 20, 02:09 PM  
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Thanks for sharing. Looks like you had a lovely time, especially given the circumstances
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Old 31 Mar 20, 05:59 PM  
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Originally Posted by Ladyshopper View Post
Looks amazing, thanks for your write up.

We were supposed to be doing a West Coast PCH holiday followed by a Hawaiian Island cruise in April/May, but obviously that is now cancelled. Will definitely consider re-booking once everything is back to normal though.
You're welcome! It was a great trip even though we got given a few curve balls and missed out on some things we planned. I'm sure we'll be going back as soon as we're able as well! All the more time for planning...

Originally Posted by pinktraceb View Post
Thanks for sharing. Looks like you had a lovely time, especially given the circumstances
Thank you. Yes we did have a great time. I'd love to go again and hope for slightly better weather! (and hopefully not have to fly home early...)
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