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Old 30 Apr 19, 08:41 PM  
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#11
aimo
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Getting Excited
 
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Originally Posted by liz-paul View Post
We're doing similar this July, with kids of same age. Our plan is 5 nights in Glendale (near Burbank) where we will do LA (Universal, Warner Bros tour, Santa Monica, Science center, Griffith park etc) followed by 3 nights in Joshua Tree (to do the NP, Palm Springs Aerial runway, Pioneertown and some chill out time), 2 nights in LA Jolla (just outside San Diego) and then 4 nights in San Diego (for the zoo, USS midway, Old Town, whale watching/boat tour etc).

Our plan includes more time in LA than most people on here recommend but we are visiting family as well.

My thoughts on the planning so are:
1. Accommodation is very expensive
2. California is huge, you have to be brutal in cutting down what you want to do - you've already done that by sticking to the South

I plan to do a trippie when we're there or when we get back, but that might be too late for your planning...
Thanks for your post. Can I ask where you have been looking for accommodation? Hotels? Apartments? Air bnb?

I have been trying really hard to narrow it down, so much to do and see!
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Old 30 Apr 19, 08:49 PM  
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#12
aimo
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Getting Excited
 
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From the useful advise I have already received from the wonderful dibbers I think I will plan to have one base for Santa Monica/LA, one base for big bear, one base for Joshua Tree/Palm Springs and finally San Diego.

The only reason I was interested in visiting Fontana was for the speedway, and it seemed to be in the right direction for my next stop. I think it would only be a stop along the way rather than an overnight. Unless anyone can advise of a similar venue near one of my other bases?

Similarly, the main reason for heading to Barstow was for the Calico Ghost town (and outlets, but I don't mind skipping the outlets). Is there anywhere else similar closer to some of my other bases? The paramount place where westworld was filmed looked amazing, but I understand it burnt down. : (

Also, any thoughts on Big Bear lake?

Thanks again
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Old 30 Apr 19, 09:57 PM  
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landandword17
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Originally Posted by aimo View Post
Thanks for your post. Can I ask where you have been looking for accommodation? Hotels? Apartments? Air bnb?

I have been trying really hard to narrow it down, so much to do and see!
Airbnb was illegal in some places and a grey area in others. The beach towns had a minimum stay for condo rentals so I stayed with hotels and motels. Accommodation is more expensive than Florida, California on its own is one of the biggest economies in the world ahead of the U.K. even so it’s a high cost of living state but I have been able to keep the costs under control. I aim for an average of £150-170 per night.

You will need to look at the aggregators to get an idea of accommodation costs. Expedia, hotels.com, booking etc. Go through Quidco for cash back on your bookings.
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Old 30 Apr 19, 10:22 PM  
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#14
Olympiad
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Originally Posted by aimo View Post
From the useful advise I have already received from the wonderful dibbers I think I will plan to have one base for Santa Monica/LA, one base for big bear, one base for Joshua Tree/Palm Springs and finally San Diego.

The only reason I was interested in visiting Fontana was for the speedway, and it seemed to be in the right direction for my next stop. I think it would only be a stop along the way rather than an overnight. Unless anyone can advise of a similar venue near one of my other bases?

Similarly, the main reason for heading to Barstow was for the Calico Ghost town (and outlets, but I don't mind skipping the outlets). Is there anywhere else similar closer to some of my other bases? The paramount place where westworld was filmed looked amazing, but I understand it burnt down. : (

Also, any thoughts on Big Bear lake?

Thanks again
In terms of Outlets there's a big one, Ontario Mills, which would be on route from LA to Palm Springs. There's also Palm Springs Premium Outlets.

In terms of other ideas in that general area then Route 66 gets properly going east of San Bernardino (for somewhere a bit different to stay take a look at the Wig Wam motel, stayed in the one in Arizona). You could link Barstow in to a drive along some R66 and through Siberia, Baghdad and Amboy which gave a real taste of it - unfortunately you would have to double back a bit back down to Palm Springs.

If you're into movie sets then a trip to Pioneertown, not far from Joshua Tree, is worth a visit - it was built to be a living movie set and a number of westerns filmed there.
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Old 2 May 19, 09:48 AM  
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#15
aimo
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Getting Excited
 
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Originally Posted by Olympiad View Post
In terms of Outlets there's a big one, Ontario Mills, which would be on route from LA to Palm Springs. There's also Palm Springs Premium Outlets.

In terms of other ideas in that general area then Route 66 gets properly going east of San Bernardino (for somewhere a bit different to stay take a look at the Wig Wam motel, stayed in the one in Arizona). You could link Barstow in to a drive along some R66 and through Siberia, Baghdad and Amboy which gave a real taste of it - unfortunately you would have to double back a bit back down to Palm Springs.

If you're into movie sets then a trip to Pioneertown, not far from Joshua Tree, is worth a visit - it was built to be a living movie set and a number of westerns filmed there.
The wig wam motel looks awesome! I'm all for some unique stays along the way! Thanks for the tip about Pioneer town, is there much to do there? Or is it more somewhere to go to have a look for a couple of hours?
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Old 2 May 19, 10:37 AM  
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Olympiad
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Originally Posted by aimo View Post
The wig wam motel looks awesome! I'm all for some unique stays along the way! Thanks for the tip about Pioneer town, is there much to do there? Or is it more somewhere to go to have a look for a couple of hours?
Pioneetown is very much a just spend an hour or so there. It has a diner etc and I think in peak season does things like western gun fights.
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Old 2 May 19, 11:37 AM  
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landandword17
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Pappy and Harriet’s is the restaurant/bar there. They have gigs most nights.

My favourite outlets are Desert Hills just outside Palm Springs. If you’re looking for unusual accommodation look on Airbnb for the airstream trailers in Joshua tree.

Also bear in mind the ghost town is also a few hours kind of place.A West coast holiday has a different pace than a Florida one.

Edited at 11:42 AM.
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Old 12 May 19, 04:53 PM  
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liz-paul
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Originally Posted by aimo View Post
Thanks for your post. Can I ask where you have been looking for accommodation? Hotels? Apartments? Air bnb?

I have been trying really hard to narrow it down, so much to do and see!
Apologies, I'm only just looking back at this

In Glendale we are staying at the Glendale Embassy suites which has the advantage of 2 room suites and no bed sharing for the children!

Joshua Tree is an Airbnb, as far as I can tell they are allowed there but not in many other places. HOWEVER, my brother who lives in LA literally said he had no idea what I was talking about when I said they are illegal in lots of places in California and said loads of his friends do airbnb So who knows what the state of play is...

La Jolla is another hotel (can't remember which one, sorry) and San Diego is the handlery hotel which looks fairly basic but was affordable. All hotels booked through hotels.com as I was using tesco clubcard vouchers towards them (saving a few hundred £s as I had quite a lot saved up).
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Old 13 May 19, 10:06 AM  
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Olympiad
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The Airbnb situation is so confusing because what we commonly refer to as LA is in reality a number of different cities which each sets their own rules and regulations.

Rather than being illegal it's more the case that different cities are imposing stricter rules on short term letting (not just airbnb but also homeaway, vrbo etc).

For example Santa Monica doesn't allow the rental of whole homes for less than 30 days, but you can rent rooms althouhh the owner is required to be in residence.

The city of LA is also enacting new laws that come in to effect this July which limits the number of days a property can be rented out for and restricts it to the owners primary residence.

The level of enforcement has been variable so I'm sure that to all intents and purposes many people may well be unaware. However personally I don't think I'd take the risk with a property that it wasn't clear were following the 'rules'.
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Old 13 May 19, 10:40 AM  
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landandword17
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Originally Posted by Olympiad View Post
The Airbnb situation is so confusing because what we commonly refer to as LA is in reality a number of different cities which each sets their own rules and regulations.

Rather than being illegal it's more the case that different cities are imposing stricter rules on short term letting (not just airbnb but also homeaway, vrbo etc).

For example Santa Monica doesn't allow the rental of whole homes for less than 30 days, but you can rent rooms althouhh the owner is required to be in residence.

The city of LA is also enacting new laws that come in to effect this July which limits the number of days a property can be rented out for and restricts it to the owners primary residence.

The level of enforcement has been variable so I'm sure that to all intents and purposes many people may well be unaware. However personally I don't think I'd take the risk with a property that it wasn't clear were following the 'rules'.
Good point. Santa Monica is enforced fairly strongly. So is West Hollywood and Beverly Hills. I think the higher the property values the more likely the other residents will complain and I can’t really blame them. If I paid 3 million for a house/apartment I’d be more likely to lift the phone if there was a stream of tourists in and out next door. I also think all the above are there own districts. Some people seem to be getting away with it in Anaheim (not in LA county) but then you also see a good few Tripadvisor posts where people have their reservation cancelled at the last minute because the landlord got caught. Other places are allowing it and making the landlords get licensed and pay taxes, San Francisco does that. It’s a bit of a head wrecker figuring out what’s okay and what isn’t but for me coming from so far away and paying so much money to get there, if there’s any conflicting information/grey area I’m not willing to risk it.
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