Shame, apologies and grovelling requests...

[Guest]

Hello Dibbers.

I have to start this with an apology...

Despite using The Dibb (and Dibbers) almost to the point of obsession when planning my Orlando trips of 2013 and 2015 with near perfect results, I have practically finished my West Coast planning without consulting once.

The reason? I forgot that there was a California section to this forum. The shame...

I hope you can forgive me enough to take a quick a quick look at my itinerary below and A) let me know if it looks OK (i.e. ease my mind that I haven't made any terrible mistakes) and B) make any suggestions for improvements/adjustments/additions

Most of the below is already booked and paid for but some of the accommodation could be cancelled if need be...

Background - It was my brothers 50th birthday last month and it is my 40th in September so we (my brother and his wife and my girlfriend and I) decided to go to Vegas for a blow out for a few days. This has now grown into the following fortnight holiday. Budget is kind of tight so please don't recommend anything like changing to the Bellagio etc...

Day 1 - Fly from Manchester to San Francisco with Thomas Cook - arrive at around 3pm PST. 2 bedroom house booked in Castro for 3 nights via Homeaway. Host is picking us up from the airport

Day 2 - Early bird Alcatraz tour booked (in the hope that the jet lag will mean getting up for the early bird tour will be easy).

Day 3 - Free day in San Francisco

Day 4 - Check out of house, back to airport and internal flight with Alaska Airlines to Las Vegas. Flight time is around midday (I think it lands at about 2pm). Check into Bally's for 2 nights

Day 5 - Free day in Vegas

Day 6 - Check out of Bally's, hire a car (not yet booked) and drive to Grand Canyon (south rim). Lodge booked for one night in the National Park (Maswick Lodge). Watch sunset.

Day 7 - Watch sunrise - check out of Maswick Lodge - drive back to Vegas and return hire car. Check in to New York, New York for 2 nights

Day 8 - Free day in Vegas

Day 9 - Pick up hire car, booked from USRentacar - SUV Hyundai Santa Fe or similar. Hoping this will be big enough for 4 adults and 4 cases... Drive to LA and check into AirBnB home in Hollywood for 4 nights.

Days 10 >12 Free days in LA. Considering a day/night in Universal Studios for Halloween Horrors.

Day 13 - Check out of LA house and drive up Highway 1 to Pismo Beach (stop off for lunch in Santa Barbara). Check into hotel in Pismo for 1 night. SeaCrest Ocean Front Hotel. This was booked via Hotwire using the "surprise" Hot Rate option (although I was 99% confident which hotel we would get). This does mean that we can't cancel though.

Day 14 - Check out of Pismo hotel and back on Highway 1 to Monterey. Check in to the Stage Coach lodge - again, booked via Hotwire so no cancellation possible.

Day 15 - Check out of Monterey hotel, drive to San Francisco to return hire car and get flight home (flight leaves around 5pm).

Does any of that ring any alarm bells?

As always, thanks in advance for any tips or advice and I'm sorry for neglecting you wonderful Dibbers.

Andrew

[Casey12]

Hi how about booking a tour in San Francisco? Dylan’s tours look fab.

[jdouds]

Hi in San Fran make sure you get bikes cycle over bridge to sausilito and get the boat back. If possible I would do a day less LA and do an extra night Monterey . Possibly short whale watching trip, 17 mile drive ,pebble beech, Carmel all beautiful

[AlexE]

if you are looking to cut costs in Vegas, we stayed at the Carriage House - no casino, no restaurant and no resort fees. we were very pleased with the price and a lovely room (think it might be a timeshare place and we got it via booking.com) and literally a few minutes walk from the Strip.

[Willeve]

We did the Alcatraz early bird on our first day, we were awake crazy early. Put a jumper on, it will be chilly.

[MichelleT]

On your free day in San Francisco I would definately look at Dylan’s Famous Tour. We have done it today and it was excellent, we never usually book tours but we found this so informative and it gave us a great overview of the city along with lots of picture stops, we loved it.

[BallisticJack]

Originally Posted by MichelleT

On your free day in San Francisco I would definately look at Dylan’s Famous Tour. We have done it today and it was excellent, we never usually book tours but we found this so informative and it gave us a great overview of the city along with lots of picture stops, we loved it.

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100% agree. It was an excellent tour when we did in June 2016.

[Guest]

Thanks for all your replies - Dylan's Tours seem very popular so will definitely take a look at that.

[Tweety1]

Originally Posted by MichelleT

On your free day in San Francisco I would definately look at Dylan’s Famous Tour. We have done it today and it was excellent, we never usually book tours but we found this so informative and it gave us a great overview of the city along with lots of picture stops, we loved it.

See more...

I too agree with Michelle this tour was amazing and worth the money!
Hi Michelle hope ur having a fab time not sure where u r but our first day in San Diego today went to the Zoo its amazing(first time since we left to go on the dibb as we have been just full on) x

[alysond]

Originally Posted by MichelleT

On your free day in San Francisco I would definately look at Dylan’s Famous Tour. We have done it today and it was excellent, we never usually book tours but we found this so informative and it gave us a great overview of the city along with lots of picture stops, we loved it.

See more...

Another fan here, best way to see a ton of stuff in a short time