SF, LA and Hawaii advice

[mrsnicola]

Following x

[nickyjw]

Following along with interest as we are planning for next year too.
This is our current itinerary...
LA 3 nights (Universal)
Disneyland 6 nights
Palm Springs 1 night
San Diego 5 nights
Oahu 8 nights (3 at Aulani)
We are a family of five, three teenage daughters... Who will be 15, 18 and 20 and interested in suggestions for rooms that sleep 5.
We have booked Aulani and some car hire so far.

[cornishfrogboy]

Can’t help with Hawaii.

SFO.
Alcatraz is a must.
Dylan’s ultimate cycle tour is great, you pick up bikes, cycle the Golden gate then down to Sausalito where you dump your bikes and mosey around for a couple of hours before they pick you up in a minibus and drive you up through Marin to Muir Woods where you see the Giant Redwoods. It is however a fair old cycle for an 8 year old).

Getting to LA, The drive is 400 miles, but with some awesome stuff along the way.
Monterey for whale watching, aquarium and cannery row.
Big Sur
Pfeiffer Park.
Hearst Castle
Madonna Inn/Pismo beach.
Solvang Santa Monica.

LA.
Disney
Universal Studios
Warner Bros Studio tour.
Hollywood tour
RMS Queen Mary for an overnight stay.

I believe that you are trying to put an awful lot in a 20 day break if you include Hawaii (24 days inc NY). As you will see from the trip reports in my signatures, we absolutely hammer it in terms of multiple destinations yet would not consider your plan. You have to take into account the days lost due to travelling time. As a previous poster has said, a 1 hr flight does not take 1 hour of your time for the reasons given. It takes the best part of a day, hotel room to hotel room. As a guide, you have to add 3 hrs on the start of a flight (Car drop, to terminal, check in, security etc) and 1 hour on the end (baggage reclaim getting out of airport).. then there is getting to your start point airport and getting from the finish airport to your destination. I would look to cut 1 of your 3 main destinations and save it for another time.
Flying times. (Without all the extra bits)
London-SFO 10 hrs
LA - Hawaii 6 hrs
Hawaii- NY 11 hrs

Drive from SFO to LA non stop 9 hrs



If it was Hawaii that you cut, then you could extend to Yosemite or fabulous San Diego.. or both.

If it was either SFO or LA you cut, then you are avoiding the distance between the two (and all the wonderful things on that route).

We have every intention of visiting Hawaii in the future, but would not do it with both LA and SFO in the time scale that you are considering.

Hope it helps.

[Lottie2004]

Hi, following this thread - I did post on General Trip Planning and got some great responses !
I am planning a trip next June (4 adults all celebrating our 50tn Birthdays !
3 nights San Francisco
5 nights Big Island
5 nights Maui
3 nights LA
We’ve had some quotes - but would be interested to hear anyone’s DIY options ?
Thanks xx

[vegboatride]

Following with interest on the Hawaii info
I’ve just completely a trip report from San Francisco to Los Angeles on the PCH which we did in February 2020 If that helps anyone. I don’t know how to link it to my signature but it’s in the California trip report forum. Happy planning

[ShenzyT]

Awh, love this thread.
We're planning West Coast also for July 2022.
We're in Aberdeen, so we're planning Aberdeen - Heathrow - Las Vegas.
1 night in LV, drive to the Hoover Dam, then onto Grand Canyon.
2 nights in Grand Canyon Area
Drive back to Phoenix, fly from Phoenix to San Fran
4 nights in San Fran
San Fran to Oahu - 7 nights in Oahu
Fly Oahu to LA - 7 nights in LA.
Then home :-(

[paw]

We did Hawaii when my son graduated and my daughter finished her A levels. Supposedly our last full family holiday - he’s now 42 and she’s 36! We went via Toronto and returned via Vancouver with 5 days in each. We stayed a couple of days in Honolulu and a full week on Hawaii, although we regret not adding Maui on. I wouldn’t reduce the time at any place but would have extended the holiday.

The inter island flights in those days were a bit like catching a bus: arrived at the airport; booked in at a hatch in a shed; dropped our luggage at a gate in a chicken wire fence, queued at said gate and got on the next plane that arrived. We got there 2 hours early for our flight back to Honolulu and we’re on a plane within 15 minutes. I’m sure it’s much more sophisticated now.

[landandword17]

Originally Posted by paw

We did Hawaii when my son graduated and my daughter finished her A levels. Supposedly our last full family holiday - he’s now 42 and she’s 36! We went via Toronto and returned via Vancouver with 5 days in each. We stayed a couple of days in Honolulu and a full week on Hawaii, although we regret not adding Maui on. I wouldn’t reduce the time at any place but would have extended the holiday.

The inter island flights in those days were a bit like catching a bus: arrived at the airport; booked in at a hatch in a shed; dropped our luggage at a gate in a chicken wire fence, queued at said gate and got on the next plane that arrived. We got there 2 hours early for our flight back to Honolulu and we’re on a plane within 15 minutes. I’m sure it’s much more sophisticated now.

See more...

It's not! It's still very stress free and like catching a bus, even the inter-isalnd terminal is more like a bus shelter albeit a lovely outdoor one. We did Maui and Lanai only and we'd love to go back bit it's a long trip. I heard there s going to be a direct flight from Orland to Honolulu but I don't know if I'd have it in me to face that flight So my advice is also to extend the trip and do as much as you can as it's not very likely that Hawaii will be somewhere that most of us would visit several times because of the distance and time zones.

[KarenG]

Originally Posted by landandword17

It's not! It's still very stress free and like catching a bus, even the inter-isalnd terminal is more like a bus shelter albeit a lovely outdoor one. We did Maui and Lanai only and we'd love to go back bit it's a long trip. I heard there s going to be a direct flight from Orland to Honolulu but I don't know if I'd have it in me to face that flight So my advice is also to extend the trip and do as much as you can as it's not very likely that Hawaii will be somewhere that most of us would visit several times because of the distance and time zones.

See more...

I’ve never done Maui to Lanai but the travel between Oahu, Big Island and Maui were nothing like catching a bus - it was full on airport security and processes, just not very long on the plane itself.

I think it’s worse at the moment with PCR testing and stuff due to COVID.

I wonder if Maui to Lanai is different to other inter island travel (because of the nature of Lanai) but I don’t know. I think it must be as my experiences were definitely not like catching a bus!

Would love to know what you thought of Lanai though