Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Old 3 Mar 19, 07:59 PM  
Link to this Post
#1
BONZO
Imagineer
 
BONZO's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 02
Let's go... to San Francisco (pre trip report)

Pre-trip Report

Let’s go…to San Francisco
March 2019


Cast (it’s the usual one!)
Me: Shaun, 50’s, loves travelling, eating and drinking (not necessarily in that order!)
Alison: 50’s, ditto to the above!


Well, it’s another trip thanks to another bargain fare and following the brief break from tradition for our Cape Town trip we are back on track with flying indirect once again. I always thought that once we’d starting chasing Tier points we’d spend the bulk of the flights flying west to America but instead the really good deals have mainly been going east thanks to Qatar Airways.

A West coast trip has always been on the cards for us - my initial thoughts was that it’d be a 3 or 4 week trip covering all bases. However, what we’ve done is to split it up – we did Las Vegas in 2015 and Hawaii in 2016. So it’s California on the list now – but that’s a BIIIIIIG state! So we’ve decided to tick off San Francisco this time around.

So, what’s the routing this time?

1. Heathrow to Inverness - (STAY OVERNIGHT)
2. Inverness to Heathrow
3. Heathrow to Los Angeles- (STAY OVERNIGHT)
4. Los Angeles to San Francisco -(STAY FOR A FEW NIGHTS)
5. San Francisco to Los Angeles
6. Los Angeles to Heathrow
7. Heathrow to Inverness
8. Inverness to Heathrow

So, why Inverness this time round?

In simple terms, Air Passenger Duty is not levied on flights from Inverness or any airport further north. This means that significant savings can be made if you technically start your journey from here. The higher the class of travel the higher the savings will be.

For us it gives more Avios and more Tier Points which is what we are after plus a chance to visit some more places in the UK that we’ve not explored that much.

So the actual ‘holiday’ is Inverness to San Francisco, and back again. We have to go via Heathrow, and we’ve added a stop in Los Angeles (for 2 reasons – 1 is extra tier points and avios, the other is that the aircraft are a bit more up to date on the Los Angeles flights).

Because we’re starting in Inverness (and ending up there at the end), we need to book flights to get there and back again! This is where the Avios come in handy – we’ve booked reward flights to go there and back. On the homeward leg we were planning on landing at Heathrow, a couple of hours break then flying up to Inverness, then promptly flying straight back again on the same plane!


As ‘luck’ would have it, after we’d booked, the schedules changed which gave us a horrible long layover at Heathrow of about 8 hours, so Alison rang up and rescheduled flights 6 & 7 to another weekend altogether! Then we realised we’d have a really early start on the Monday morning for the Heathrow to Inverness flight, trying to get round the M25 in rush hour, so after a quick chat we decided to book a hotel at Heathrow using a Hotels.com reward.

So what we booked so far is:

Sunday 24th March – drive to Heathrow, park in long stay parking and stay at the Sofitel (attached to Terminal 5)



Monday 25th March – flight 1 Heathrow to Inverness (it's not a big airport!)



pick up hire car, check into Heathcote B&B



then drive out to see the Loch Ness monster!





Tuesday 26th March – flight 2 Inverness to Heathrow, flight 3 Heathrow to Los Angeles (on the A380)



check into Crowne Plaza hotel



Wednesday 27th March – flight 4 Los Angeles to San Francisco, check into Grand Hyatt near Union Square




Thursday 28th March –

Friday 29th March – Alcatraz



Saturday 30th March –

Sunday 31st March -

Monday 1st April – flight 5 San Francisco to Los Angeles, flight 6 Los Angeles to Heathrow (on a 747)



Tuesday 2nd April – collect car from long stay parking and head home


Saturday 27th April - drive to Heathrow, park in POD parking


flight 7 Heathrow to Inverness, check into Kinnock Lodge B&B, then see a bit of Inverness




Sunday 28th April – flight 8 Inverness to Heathrow, collect car, head home

That’s all we’ve planned so far but we have bucket lists (as always!)

Inverness
Distillery tour – not sure which one just yet
Loch Ness – should do this on 25th March
Trip to Isle of Skye – not sure if we’ll have enough time


San Francisco

Alcatraz cruise: booked
The rest is going to be all the usual tourist stuff, depends on how much we can actually fit in. Thanks to the all the Dibbers that have posted recently in the West Coast Planning forum. Not an exhaustive list but a starter for us to pick through and to start scheduling things.
Ferry Building marketplace - Slanted Door for Vietnamese cuisine
Chinatown - The Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory
Lombard Street
Golden Gate Park
Pier 39
Golden Gate Bridge
Coit Tower
Haight-Ashbury neighbourhood
Mission district - Burrito at La Taqueria
Lands’ End hiking trail
San Francisco Go Car Tour
San Francisco Scavenger Hunt Adventure
Walt Disney family museum
Golden Gate Park
USS Hornet
Ferries - Sausalito/Tiburon
Anchor Brewery Tour


So over the next week or two we’ll start working our way thought some of the above and decided how and when we’ll do them!
__________________
http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sign...igpic534_1.gif

1988 ~ Contemporary ~ Honeymoon
1989 ~ Off site
1994 ~ EuroDisney ~ Santa Fe
1999 ~ Off site
2001 ~ CBR (Aruba) ~ Poly (Tahiti)
2003 ~ WL & HRH
2004 ~ Pop Century, RPH, CSR, PBH, Contemporary
2006 ~ DLP ~ Newport Bay
2007 ~ POR ~ HRH ~ GF
2008 ~ All star sports, BCV, RPH, Vero Beach, VWL
2010 ~ OKW ~ BCV ~ HRH ~POP Century ~ Vero Beach ~ VWL
2013 ~ AKL ~ HRH ~ BCV ~ Vero Beach ~ VWL

Edited at 08:15 PM.
BONZO is offline Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 3 Mar 19, 08:27 PM  
Link to this Post
#2
LOU LOU DISNEY
VIP Dibber
 
LOU LOU DISNEY's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 13
Mobile

Sounds great even with all those flights! I thought I had booked loads of flights for our trip to SF but not quite, we’ve 5 to get but that includes a internal flight to Vegas!
Hope you have fun, I’ve quite a few of those things on my list for April, I’m doing the Dylan’s famous tour & Muir woods with a trip to Sausalito in the middle. I can’t wait!
__________________

✨Disneyland Paris - 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17 x3, 18, 19x2, 22, 24.
✨Disneyworld Florida - 08, 14, 15, 17.
✨Disneyland Tokyo & Disney Sea - 2016.
✨Disneyland California - 2018, 2023
✨Disney Magic 🚢 - 2021
⭐️NYC - 2016, 2017, 2019.
⭐️Las Vegas, Grand Canyon -2018
⭐️San Francisco, Las Vegas & Antelope Canyon -19 ⭐️Washington DC - 22⭐️LA/Anaheim-23 ⭐️Seattle -24
LOU LOU DISNEY is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 4 Mar 19, 11:28 AM  
Link to this Post
#3
Melbatb
Imagineer
 
Melbatb's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 13
Mobile

Sounds like another fab trip! Not long to go!
__________________

Index of my trip reports
2016 Quebec - Kuala Lumpar - New York City 2017 Dubai - Eurocamps France - Ontario and Quebec - So-Cal 2018 Montreal - Bangkok - New England 2019 Argentina - Quebec City - Hong Kong - 2020 Switzerland 2022 Arizona - Costa Med Cruise - Oslo 2023 Hong Kong - Gothenburg
Melbatb is online now Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 5 Mar 19, 06:14 PM  
Link to this Post
#4
sparkles18
Imagineer
 
Join Date: Apr 12
Another great holiday, can't wait to read your trip report.
sparkles18 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 8 Mar 19, 10:35 AM  
Link to this Post
#5
BONZO
Thread Starter
Imagineer
 
BONZO's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 02
Well,

Planning is moving on and we've managed to get some additional things booked.

On the 25th March we are going to do the Loch Ness by Jacobite experience - nice 2 hour trip on Loch Ness including a visit to Urquhart Castle.



At the other end of the trip on March 31st we'll be going to the Presidio Picnic

Tagline is The national park picnic returns with food and dance that celebrate the diversity of the San Francisco Bay Area!



Lots of food carts, craft beer, music etc.

presidio.gov/events/presidio-picnic

Looks like a nice relaxing thing to round off our trip.

More planning to do this weekend.
__________________
http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sign...igpic534_1.gif

1988 ~ Contemporary ~ Honeymoon
1989 ~ Off site
1994 ~ EuroDisney ~ Santa Fe
1999 ~ Off site
2001 ~ CBR (Aruba) ~ Poly (Tahiti)
2003 ~ WL & HRH
2004 ~ Pop Century, RPH, CSR, PBH, Contemporary
2006 ~ DLP ~ Newport Bay
2007 ~ POR ~ HRH ~ GF
2008 ~ All star sports, BCV, RPH, Vero Beach, VWL
2010 ~ OKW ~ BCV ~ HRH ~POP Century ~ Vero Beach ~ VWL
2013 ~ AKL ~ HRH ~ BCV ~ Vero Beach ~ VWL
BONZO is offline Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 11 Mar 19, 11:34 AM  
Link to this Post
#6
BONZO
Thread Starter
Imagineer
 
BONZO's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 02
Well,

We had a very productive planning session at the weekend and soon realised that with such a short amount of time we can’t fit everything in so as usual we’ll cherry pick the “must do’s” and see how we get on.

Latest booking is for the Anchor Steam Brewing company tour on 29th March.




Definitely going to fit in The Disney family Museum somewhere along the line.




At least one of us will cycle over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito and catch the ferry back.


__________________
http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sign...igpic534_1.gif

1988 ~ Contemporary ~ Honeymoon
1989 ~ Off site
1994 ~ EuroDisney ~ Santa Fe
1999 ~ Off site
2001 ~ CBR (Aruba) ~ Poly (Tahiti)
2003 ~ WL & HRH
2004 ~ Pop Century, RPH, CSR, PBH, Contemporary
2006 ~ DLP ~ Newport Bay
2007 ~ POR ~ HRH ~ GF
2008 ~ All star sports, BCV, RPH, Vero Beach, VWL
2010 ~ OKW ~ BCV ~ HRH ~POP Century ~ Vero Beach ~ VWL
2013 ~ AKL ~ HRH ~ BCV ~ Vero Beach ~ VWL
BONZO is offline Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 18 Apr 19, 06:07 PM  
Link to this Post
#7
red cuillen
Excited about Disney
 
Join Date: Feb 13
Used to live in Nairn near Inverness. You must go to Girvans (near Eastgate Shopping Centre).
Isle of Skye is quite a long way, scenery spectacular of course, but a couple of hours to Kyle.
You could explore the Black Isle (Channory Point for dolphins if the tide is right). Or drive along the A96 to Nairn to visit Culbin Forest, go inland on the B9007 between Nairn and Forres to visit Logie Steadings for cake then walk to Randolphs Leap, a narrow gorge on the Findhorn River, or drive and park there! Further east to Baxters (soup) visitor centre and you are nicely placed for a visit to a Speyside malt!
Should this trippie go into the California section - might encourage more people to use airports that don't attract APD!
red cuillen is offline Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 20 Apr 19, 10:03 PM  
Link to this Post
#8
disney owl
Imagineer
 
disney owl's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 02

disney owl's Reviews
Hotel Reviews: 1
Restaurant Reviews: 5
sounds good
__________________
Sue
June 1996 & 1998 - DLP Camp Davy Crockett
August 2000, Oct 2002, Sept 2008 & Sept 2016- DLP Offsite
June 2001, August 2003,2007 &Sept 2010 - WDW Offsite
June 2005 - DLP Davy Crockett Ranch
disney owl is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 12:20 AM.


Powered by vBulletin - Copyright © 2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
DIBB Savings
AttractionTickets.com

Get £10 off each Disney Ticket with the code ATDIBB10

Get up to £50 off per room at Disney or Universal with the code DIBBHOTELS


theDIBB Blog
One of the the five worlds found in Epic Universe, How to Train Your Dragon... Read More »
Disney announced that a new nighttime show, “Disney Dreams That Soar,” will run nightly at... Read More »
Walt Disney World Resort guests can get ready to have a “glowing’’ good time when... Read More »


theDIBB Menu


Exchange Rates
US Dollar Rates
ASDA  $1.2354
CaxtonFX  $1.2297
Covent Garden FX  $1.2545
FAIRFX  $1.2350
John Lewis  $1.2380
M&S  $1.2178
Sainsburys  $1.2354
TESCO  $1.2364
Travelex  $1.2353
Updated: 23:00 28/03/2024
Euro Rates
ASDA  €1.1447
CaxtonFX  €1.1406
Covent Garden FX  €1.1513
FAIRFX  €1.1432
John Lewis  €1.1457
M&S  €1.1263
Sainsburys  €1.1440
TESCO  €1.1445
Travelex  €1.1435
Updated: 23:00 28/03/2024

DIBB Premium Membership
Did you know you can help support theDIBB with Premium Membership?

Check out this link for more information and benefits, such as...

"No adverts on theDIBB Forums"

Upgrade Now



X