US help.

[nomoreliaola]

hihi

Yosemite Tours from San Francisco, Yosemite Tours | Yosemite Tour Shuttle

how does this day-tour to yosemite look like?

also, intend to bicycle across GGB and Sausilito via this company: http://blazingsaddles.com/san-francisco.aspx
http://blazingsaddles.com/san-francisco/maps-and-rides/san-francisco-self-guided-tours.aspx
anyone done this before?
thanksthanks

 

[nomoreliaola]

i went sonoma the last time and didnt enjoy it cos its a wine tour lol, but i did enjoy a nepalese lunch there ... cheese tour i suppose its spamming cheese? got any other tour? lol

How old is little one? Just 1? U have to prepare to keep kid entertain. they may not want to return to seat after 4hrs of drive. depending on how old is kids u may want to break things up quite a bit or just have kid watch/play tablet most of the time down. or read a book etc then U may last more than 4hrs. if U have 2 not sure how U do that.. no room back seat.

Note I need car seat or boaster seat here
No Grand Canyon? LA that many days.. doing any theme parks?

U have 11 free days..
No Winery? my young ones love cheese if so U could do sonoma, have kids run around in the country. do a farm stay there in like Red Barn Farm/full house farm. enjoy bread maybe can do Olive oil tour, spend time relaxing with family in Sonoma valley.
Sonoma Cheese Trail and Map | Sonoma County (Official Site)

U may want to think of San Diego - Zoo and Seaworld. your toddler may enjoy that more than hollywood/Universal.

 

[patryn33]

i went sonoma the last time and didnt enjoy it cos its a wine tour lol, but i did enjoy a nepalese lunch there ... cheese tour i suppose its spamming cheese? got any other tour? lol

Not into such food stay away from Sonoma or those winery regions. Stick to what u enjoy. I don't joint tour but f&e

What spamming cheese?

 

[nomoreliaola]

Not into such food stay away from Sonoma or those winery regions. Stick to what u enjoy

What spamming cheese?

lol okok i tot got other tour to that area

 

[patryn33]

That area is about food, wine cheese olive oil farm, cooking They don't interest u no pt venturing there.

U can do hot air balloon and stuff if u into it

 

[Shiny Things]

hihi

Yosemite Tours from San Francisco, Yosemite Tours | Yosemite Tour Shuttle

how does this day-tour to yosemite look like?

Mmm - you're probably better off doing this yourself if you can, and doing it over two days. Yosemite's nearly a four-hour drive from SF, so that's going to be a LONG day of touring.

also, intend to bicycle across GGB and Sausilito via this company: Blazing Saddles - San Francisco Bike Rentals and Tours
Best Self Guided Tour San Francisco Bike The Golden Gate Bridge - Blazing Saddles
anyone done this before?

Yeah - I can highly recommend it. It's not for the wildly unfit, because there's a decent climb to get up to the bridge deck, but that's the only really hard part of it. And if you get a nice day it's gorgeous.

 

[Els_Ang]

I took up a whale sighting cruise in san diego and san francisco both. We SAW TONS OF DOLPHINS swimming along side the boat. some of the most memorable moments of my years in the US.

Hi frozentrace,

Do you rem which tour group u went with for Whale Watching cruise in SF? I checked out a few, but, reviews were quite fairly mixed, so, am thinking might as well go for an agency whom someone nearby has tried before.

 

[Els_Ang]

If U own one just bring your own car seat. U can use it on the plane too. I find out my 2 kids sleep better using their own car seat. If thats your kid 1st long trip, U will find out real soon how kiddo enjoy seating down on your way here./[/url]

We're taking the red eye flight, am thinking that if we seat her on the child-seat on board, then once after take off, will have to remove again and let her lie across our laps as I dun think it's very comfortable to sleep in a car-seat for 6 hours (Flying from SG-> INC), hence the initial thought of not bringing our own car-seat. As feel that may be very ley-cheh to bring here & there, so many stuff...

Las Vegas to Grand Canyon is 4.5hr drive 1 way, I would stay in Grand Canyon a nite. Child may not be too fond of the ride. 9hr a day can be too much for spouse and child. Esp if its spouse keeping kid entertained all the time./[/url]

Seems like quite alot of driving here. As only my Hubs will be driving, so, still dunno if we wanna go over to Grand Canyon. Hope to go tho, maybe I'll share the 4 hours with him then he can entertain the small one.

SF Zoo pales in comparison to San Diego Zoo. if U just want child to see some animals sure take kid there. I bet U know they don't really care of big or great is the place. They don't even car about the scenery. Bay Area Discovery Museum is a great place for kid that age, run around freedom to touch things without the fear of kid breaking things. /[/url]

I browse thru SD zoo, it really looks kinda amazing as compared to SF zoo. But, I also notice that the distance to drive over from MOnetrey to SD is like 6-7 hrs. I doubt we'll drive there then. Afterall, we are only in US for about 17days. Dun wanna spend too much time travelling to too many places, and end up just touch & go.

Are U planning on driving between these places? Vegas to San Fran or LA to San Fran is a fairly long drive. /[/url]

Will be driving from SF to LA, in between, will stop by Monterey & maybe Big Sur. Then from LA will drive over to LV. I think by breaking up, per drive is rarely more than 4 hours. Hope we can survive. 1st time doing a road trip with young child.

 

[nomoreliaola]

Mmm - you're probably better off doing this yourself if you can, and doing it over two days. Yosemite's nearly a four-hour drive from SF, so that's going to be a LONG day of touring.

oh the thing is dun really wana drive after north of LV. dunwana geh khiang, well actually my ex-roomie died in car accident near flagstaff on the way down grandcanyon days before we were due to return to singapore ..
hence wana just do train/bus train to the scenery places from two bases in LV and SF. i did research for both GC and Yosemite, and i think GC overnight via bus (south summit) would be similar to driving in terms of things to see due to the overnight stay. yosemite? i am not sure ...

Yeah - I can highly recommend it. It's not for the wildly unfit, because there's a decent climb to get up to the bridge deck, but that's the only really hard part of it. And if you get a nice day it's gorgeous.

yeh~ then i will go for a morning bike trip then~! can imagine the breeze and scenery in the middle of the bridge

 

[patryn33]

@ Els_Ang
Both my kids sleep better in a car seat at that age. Our flight from States to KIX/NRT they were on car seat. yes its ley-cheh to bring along stroller, car seats for 1. 6 hours on the lap is very uncomfortable for U all.

Is this your 1st time to the West side of States? if so Grand Canyon is a should not miss site for adults. Then again if U plan on going to Vegas, its mainly for adults. U may want to consider sticking to Cal State (hitting just the 3 major cities SF, LA and Diego) and reserve Vegas for the future when U return. Can do the Utah, Grand Canyon loop. if U into hiking and lots of nature thats like 10-14 day thing if U really into it. Shopping wise U get alot by visiting Gilroy/Desert Hills etc.

17 days - if U are going to Disney @ Anaheim go to San Diego from there certainly not from Monetrey! thats crazy. Anaheim to San Diego is just 1.5hrs away. Plan well it wouldn't that much of a touch and go. Do you have a draft Itinerary? Keeping to a 4hr a day schedule is good.

Your old plan is below, if U do LA then can go San Diego. U flying out from SFO or LAX?

23/04-26/04: SFO
Drive from SFO to Monterey. Pick up car from Union Square
26/04-28/04: Monterey
May stop by Big Sur for 2D1N or may just travel straight up to LV/LA

 

[Shiny Things]

A thing to watch out for if all y'all are thinking of renting a car in the USA in the next couple of months: a whole lot of GM owners might be forced to park their cars until their ignition switches can be fixed, and in the meantime those car-owners are going to be renting, which will drive up the price of rentals.

So if you're thinking of travelling over here in the next couple of months, lock in your car rental now (you don't have to pay upfront, just reserve it). Overbook it if you need to - book for longer than you'd originally planned - because if you haven't prepaid, you can usually drop cars back early with absolutely no penalty (at least you can do this at Hertz, and probably Avis as well)

 

[derazor]

Dear all,

Need some advice.

I'd be picking the car from JFK and returning at Lower Manhattan

The Car Hire 3000 - Book cheap car hire | Car rental online website doesn't have a return address that is near to Lower Manhattan.

If I were to book direct with Hertz which they have is quite expensive. Should I book with carhire3000 and upon the return of the car, I take a cab to my destination?

Is there a site that has good price for Hertz or Enterprise as I see they have car rentals at Lower Manhattan?

Cheers.

 

[swordspirit]

hmmm, u renting the car and returning on the same day?

 

[derazor]

hmmm, u renting the car and returning on the same day?

Not really maybe 2 days. Why?
1 day more ex?

 

[patryn33]

Dear all,

Need some advice.

I'd be picking the car from JFK and returning at Lower Manhattan

The Car Hire 3000 - Book cheap car hire | Car rental online website doesn't have a return address that is near to Lower Manhattan.

If I were to book direct with Hertz which they have is quite expensive. Should I book with carhire3000 and upon the return of the car, I take a cab to my destination?

Is there a site that has good price for Hertz or Enterprise as I see they have car rentals at Lower Manhattan?

Cheers.

Can cost not cheap with the crazy jam in NYC.
U may wanna do your math factor in the can cost and decide which is the best option. U know the dates, where u going.

Here is a cab fare calculator
http://www.taxifarefinder.com

 

[derazor]

for my niagara car rental, the SUV( ford escape ) is cheaper than full sized car ( Impala/Malibu). Should I SUV?

Also should I need to rent the GPS or I just use google phone GPS ( with subscribed data ) ?

 

[derazor]

Can cost not cheap with the crazy jam in NYC.
U may wanna do your math factor in the can cost and decide which is the best option. U know the dates, where u going.

Here is a cab fare calculator
TaxiFareFinder - Estimate Your Taxi Cab Fare, Cost & Rates

Basically, normally would ppl use cab ( no choice due to luggage ? ) or the subway is fine? Most of the car rental return is at West or East Side

Typically in manhattan when does traffic goes crazy?

 

[patryn33]

Basically, normally would ppl use cab ( no choice due to luggage ? ) or the subway is fine? Most of the car rental return is at West or East Side

Typically in manhattan when does traffic goes crazy?

A lot of luggage don't use subway
Manhattan - weekdays from 7am to 8/9pm is bad, rush hour like 7-9am or 3-8pm nuts

 

[Shiny Things]

for my niagara car rental, the SUV( ford escape ) is cheaper than full sized car ( Impala/Malibu). Should I SUV?

Also should I need to rent the GPS or I just use google phone GPS ( with subscribed data ) ?

Google Maps is OK for the east coast where there's data coverage everywhere - on the west coast, it's worth ponying up for Navigon GPS, because you won't always have data coverage.

Basically, normally would ppl use cab ( no choice due to luggage ? ) or the subway is fine? Most of the car rental return is at West or East Side

Typically in manhattan when does traffic goes crazy?

Manhattan traffic is always crazy, it's more than twice as densely populated as Singapore. Don't take the subway either, because wrangling luggage on there is impossible. Suck it up and get a cab.

 

[fone]

for my niagara car rental, the SUV( ford escape ) is cheaper than full sized car ( Impala/Malibu). Should I SUV?

For type of car, please check amount of people and luggage you have. Both can seat 5 people, but luggage wise, SUV should be able to fit more.

Also should I need to rent the GPS or I just use google phone GPS ( with subscribed data ) ?

Google Maps is OK for the east coast where there's data coverage everywhere - on the west coast, it's worth ponying up for Navigon GPS, because you won't always have data coverage.

I'm fine with using google maps with/without data on my HTC phone. IIRC google maps work with downloading maps and probably needs data to calculate the route/find destination. First, have offline versions of the map of the area cached before you travel. Then load the route first before you set off, when you have data (ie in populated areas). This way, google maps will only require GPS to function while on the route, just that you might not be able to re-route or find POIs mid route if you happen to not have data coverage. Lastly, request for a paper map at car rental place/rest stops just so that you can still navigate without data, if all else fails.