Finally booked!advice on itinerary please.

**Minniebella** · 10 Jan 20, 10:39 AM

After all of the backwards and forwards of trying to figure out new dates after DH came home and said he was only able to take a certain period off from work, he was eventually clear to take our original dates of mid-end August.Amazing!

I feel like I have been checking flight prices everyday, multiple times a day for the last 4 months.When around a week ago United airlines had a great deal on for indirect to San Fran and home from LA for under �300 each!I must admit, I got very excited and nearly booked but was still unsure about doing San Francisco and also I had my heart set on flying PE on the way home.I am only small, but get very restless when tired, which is especially awkward when I usually have a child draped across my lap soundly sleeping 😩 So I was looking for that extra bit of comfort to see me through that long flight home.

Anyway, enough waffling on... I priced up a package with BA including Car hire, hotel in Anaheim and hotel in San deigo and was happy with the price, done a dummy booing for PE on way home and all looked within our budget so called BA and all sorted!

So far our itinerary looks like this

14th August Heathrow to San Jose, drive straight to Monterey.
14-16th Monterey
Was planning on Staying in Monterey, but seems there is a car show on and It�s is getting pretty full with ridiculous prices😱
17-18th The Madonna inn (on recommendation of Cornishfrogboy... thank you)
18-22nd LA beach area
Explore Santa Barbara and coastline on way down, possibly staying in Santa Monica or Marina del Rey for 4 nights and doing Hollywood sights, universal and WB tour from here
23-25th Fairfield inn Anaheim, 3 days Disneyland from here and possibly Knotts berry on leaving day?
25-31st Best Western island palms in San Diego (Booked a suite as I�m sure we will need some space by then!)
31st late afternoon flight from LAX

Does anybody have any recommendations on an Airbnb in Monterey area or where to stay close by?Could Santa Cruz be a good option?

I know my plan of basing ourselves at the beach and driving into Burbank/ Hollywood may seem a bit silly, but this is how we done it on our last trip... that was 10 years ago though🤔could this still work for the two Burbank days,with leaving early morning and evening returns?
Any recommendations for our last few hours near airport on leaving day?

Thank you if you are still reading.

Vertigo · 10 Jan 20, 11:26 AM

I can't offer any advice as I am going to LA for the first time myself this year, but I will follow this with interest.

We won't be doing as much travelling as you as we are only doing 11 days and staying in the LA/Anaheim area for all of it, but we have booked a luxury beach condo in Malibu for two nights in the middle to break up the LA and Anaheim parts of our trip.

**cornishfrogboy** · 10 Jan 20, 12:41 PM

That looks great and I am really pleased for you.

Re the Monterey car show issue, many others have mentioned the same thing. Have you considered basing at Carmel and then, on the day you leave,visiting Monterey... or simply driving on, through and onto the Big Sur etc?

Re your last day.. and just a thought. We had a late afternoon flight from LAX and similarly were at San Diego for the last stage of our vacation. We were very worried about the drive North and then the LA traffic causing possible delays. For this reason, we cut short in San Diego and spent the day driving a very leisurely stroll up to Long Beach where we stayed the night on RMS Queen Mary. Whilst it was intended simply as a preposition, it was a great evening spent drinking in the Art Deco bar and strolling the absolutely massive ship. The cabin was also a real throw back in time.

Next day, we drove to Santa Monica with no problems (but taking an hour longer than we were told) and parked up by the beach. This was part of our Hollywood tour that we took from a location one block behind the pier. The key to this plan was that as the day passed, we were parked just 7 miles from LAX. We thus had no concerns about missing our flight!... although again, it took considerably longer than our Satnav was telling at 1 hour 45 minutes. With this idea, you would get a view of two different LA beach areas and with this in mind, you could get back that day in San Diego from shortening the LA Beach phase of your vacation.

It�s just a thought and I know that you have been to California before. You may have already seen/done some of the above.

You will find detail on my trippie, the link of which is in my signature below.. If it is worth further investigation.

Happy planning.

**cornishfrogboy** · 10 Jan 20, 01:05 PM

Originally Posted by Vertigo

I can't offer any advice as I am going to LA for the first time myself this year, but I will follow this with interest.

We won't be doing as much travelling as you as we are only doing 11 days and staying in the LA/Anaheim area for all of it, but we have booked a luxury beach condo in Malibu for two nights in the middle to break up the LA and Anaheim parts of our trip.

Are you doing a pre trip report? I have just read your �wot no Disney� one. I am always fascinated by reports and pre trips as they often give great ideas for future trips of my own!

jdouds · 10 Jan 20, 06:03 PM

Vertigo are you considering doing some more of the coast, 11 days LA area is a lot and dare I say far to much for most . 5/6 days for many gets all the basics done. With going so far it may be good to see a little more.

Vertigo · 11 Jan 20, 02:01 PM

Originally Posted by cornishfrogboy

Are you doing a pre trip report? I have just read your �wot no Disney� one. I am always fascinated by reports and pre trips as they often give great ideas for future trips of my own!

I hadnt planned to simply because the dibb is heavily weighted to Florida and i wasnt sure it was worthwhile.

But I will as not only because you have said that, but because its good for me to track my own progress and get feedback. Especially as we know what we are doing in Florida but know nothing about LA!

Vertigo · 11 Jan 20, 02:05 PM

Originally Posted by jdouds

Vertigo are you considering doing some more of the coast, 11 days LA area is a lot and dare I say far to much for most . 5/6 days for many gets all the basics done. With going so far it may be good to see a little more.

Hi - no, not more of the coast in terms of staying over. But you are right that we will have some down days where we plan to drive almost randomly up the PCH and take it in. Opinions welcome!

I will be doing a pre trip today, but the rough plan so far is:

5 days LA (2 days universal, WB, WOF, Hollywood tour etc in there)
2 days in Malibu
4 days in Disney Anaheim

will pad this out in the pre trippie and you will get some context but we will need people's opinions as we are new to California.

jdouds · 11 Jan 20, 06:18 PM

We would probably advised an overnight stop up the coast , but as you want to stay put then probably a day down to San Diego or la Jolla