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aizutto

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Hey guys,

Thank you for all your response on my earlier question.

After consideration,I decided to just go to Los Angeles. Might be there from 30th August till 5th Sept.

So deducting all the hotels & flight, we would be left with SGD2K for the whole trip. I would only get my pay in August so that is another additional SGD1K.

Is this a good budget? The event I am attending is on the 2nd/3rd so we prolly would be exploring for the few days.

How is the fare for the buses and metro? Is it expensive?

Thanks for all your help!
 

lastkopek

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My thanksgiving experience not that bad. I went to walmart got a xbox360 for $110. :)

Just that theres so many ques in the store u need to ask which is which.the premium outlets is good just that parking is hard.i noticed not many whites into this black friday thing. The outlet in san diego full of mexicans. Its like im the only few asian there plus filipino.

They are smarter online coupon shopping 😁
 

Shiny Things

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How is the fare for the buses and metro? Is it expensive?

Thanks for all your help!

No. No no no. Don't do this. You can't do LA with only the buses and metros; the public transport infrastructure in LA is a disgrace. The Metro doesn't go anywhere you'd want to go (even with the new Metro Line to Santa Monica), and buses in LA are going to take hours and hours.

Either rent a car, or take taxis/Uber.

I have never actually been to one of these thanksgiving sales myself, but why are there stampedes and fights and all if the deals aren't even that great? Stupidity? Lol

Basically, yeah.

Don't waste your time queueing up at 12:01am and running the risk of getting trampled for deals that will probably be sold out by the time you get to them; in fact most stores have stopped offering "doorbuster" deals on Black Friday just because they're scared of people getting hurt in the rush.

Amazon usually has some OK deals for Black Friday, though.

Hoover dam and grand canyon i tink u can do it together in a day.i find hoover dam nicer..grand canyon the PRC shutter army will make u feel turn off .

I'll be honest, I have to strongly disagree with this. The Grand Canyon South Rim (not the West Rim, which isn't as nice) is four hours each way from Las Vegas. You can't do that and the Hoover Dam in one day; even Hoover Dam and Red Rock Canyon is a bit of a squeeze.

That said:
28 Nov Grand Canyon to Sedona
I recommend this to everyone, but it's worth mentioning again: when you're doing this drive, head out the east entrance of Grand Canyon National Park, and stop at the Cameron Trading Post to pick up some Native American souvenirs and eat at the restaurant. The fry bread is fantastic.

Go visit both outlets in vegas..some really good deal. If u drive save your money on the hotels..consider travelodge. Use the spare cash for shows or shopping 👍

I have to disagree with these as well. The two premium outlet malls in Vegas are basically exactly the same stores; going to both of them is a waste of time. The South one's a bit bigger, but the North one might be closer if you're staying up the top end of the strip.

Hotel-wise, economising on the hotels while you're on the road is a pretty good idea: you don't need to go all the way down to Motel-6 or Super-8 level (some of them can be really scuzzy), but the cheaper chain motels are suprisingly good: Hampton Inn (Hilton's economy brand) and Holiday Inn/Holiday Inn Express (IHG's economy brand) are absolutely everywhere in roadside America, and they're always consistent. (And if you're loyal to one chain, you can even rack up some pretty decent hotel points too - don't forget to sign up for the chain's loyalty program if you aren't a loyalist already.)

In Vegas, though, you'll get the best deals at the big hotels on the strip, especially around that Thanksgiving weekend (because everybody flies home to visit their families that weekend, so there's no big conferences in Vegas). You can get the Mandalay Bay on your dates for about $110 a night, or my personal fave the Vdara (every room is a full-on studio apartment) for $135/nt.

I will be heading over to California in September. Will be planning about 11 days of road trip around Las Vegas, Anaheim, maybe SF. Can anyone recommend a reliable car rental services and what car to rent? Only 2 of us with maybe 3 big luggage.

So as much as I'd love to recommend a classic American muscle car - a Mustang, or even better a Corvette - you're not going to fit three large bags in the back of a Corvette. I used to own one; half the reason I got rid of it was because it didn't have enough luggage space.

Around the $50/day mark you're probably looking at a decent full-size car, maybe even a mid-size SUV. Avis, at least, has a "pick any standard car and go" policy if you book a mid-size or larger; I swapped a mid-size sedan for a Hyundai Santa Fe 4WD SUV when my parents came over for a road trip earlier this year, and that'll have more than enough storage space for you.

(It turned out to be a bloody good trade, too: the Hyundai was a deeply boring car but it got us from point A (San Francisco) to point B (Albuquerque) and back and never missed a beat. The 4WD came in handy when we ended up driving through snowstorms three days in a row, including a bananas chucking-it-down one-foot-an-hour snowstorm 9500 feet up on the otherwise-gorgeous Route 12 in Utah. There was a Prius in front of us that was slip-and-sliding all over the road, but I just kept my speed low and stayed in his tracks, and it was rock-solid.)
 

patryn33

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I have never actually been to one of these thanksgiving sales myself, but why are there stampedes and fights and all if the deals aren't even that great? Stupidity? Lol

You see that at Walmart, Kmart usually. These ppl not making your kind of income to travel out of their state let alone their country. They fighting over limited 10-30 pieces of item. TV generally, you want to check in a TV home and be running a inverter for it? Lol

Tons of doorbuster around, even have mattress deals but do check in? Lol. For those going no hard to google for doorbuster blackfriday to get an idea
https://blackfriday.com/ads/854-sears-black-friday-mattress-doorbusters

Otherwise those outlet RL etc deals decent, at times give u extra off for first 100 customers. You don't that the craziness
 
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gerald85

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So as much as I'd love to recommend a classic American muscle car - a Mustang, or even better a Corvette - you're not going to fit three large bags in the back of a Corvette. I used to own one; half the reason I got rid of it was because it didn't have enough luggage space.

Around the $50/day mark you're probably looking at a decent full-size car, maybe even a mid-size SUV. Avis, at least, has a "pick any standard car and go" policy if you book a mid-size or larger; I swapped a mid-size sedan for a Hyundai Santa Fe 4WD SUV when my parents came over for a road trip earlier this year, and that'll have more than enough storage space for you.

(It turned out to be a bloody good trade, too: the Hyundai was a deeply boring car but it got us from point A (San Francisco) to point B (Albuquerque) and back and never missed a beat. The 4WD came in handy when we ended up driving through snowstorms three days in a row, including a bananas chucking-it-down one-foot-an-hour snowstorm 9500 feet up on the otherwise-gorgeous Route 12 in Utah. There was a Prius in front of us that was slip-and-sliding all over the road, but I just kept my speed low and stayed in his tracks, and it was rock-solid.)

I was looking at Avis and did not see any SUV under that pricing. Seem to range about USD$800 for 11 days. Can share which other rental company which is affordable? Would prefer a normal decent car that can bring from A to B.
 

Shiny Things

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Since it's a year out and most of the hotels in America only open their bookings a year in advance, right now is probably as good a time as any to mention the America-wide total solar eclipse on August 21st, 2017.

The must-see bit of the eclipse - the path of totality - will stretch all the way across the country from Oregon to South Carolina. The best viewing (lowest chance of clouds) is going to be in the west, between eastern Oregon (note, not the Oregon coast - that's going to be foggy and cloudy in August) and Wyoming.

If you're excited by this, pop over to Seymour Solar for a solar filter and some eclipse glasses, then get your fingers moving to line up a hotel. Here's some places to look at:

  • Eastern Oregon: sheltered from the coastal clouds by the Cascade Range, Eastern Oregon is pretty dull to be quite honest, but it'll give you clear skies and plenty of scope to move around if you've got some local cloud. The town of Madras is a good bet, though most places are already booked by people driving over from Portland. Further to the east, the town of Ontario (make sure you don't accidentally book the one in Canada) is the cheapest way to do the eclipse; the Super 8 in Ontario has eclipse-day rooms for just eighty bucks. To get here, fly into Portland or Boise and rent a car.
  • Eastern Idaho: the mountains in the Sawtooth Range in central Idaho will shelter Eastern Idaho's Snake River Valley from clouds, making for some likely pretty good viewing. Look around Idaho Falls, which is near the south end of the eclipse path (the closer you are to the edge of the eclipse path, the shorter the eclipse). The town of Rexburg, a few miles north, is an excellent bet, and the Brigham Young University campus will probably have a pretty good viewing party, but it's expensive as hell - the two-star Super 8 in Rexburg is already going for $450 a night. The easiest way to get here is to fly into Salt Lake City, rent a car, and drive north.
  • Wyoming: Wyoming is slightly riskier for clouds, but it's definitely the most picturesque place to see the eclipse. The tony resort town of Jackson, at the foot of Grand Tetons National Park, is a great pick: the valley will be sheltered from clouds, there's a huge star party in the town park on the big day, and (god forbid) if the weather turns bad it's easy to do a quick sprint west or east to find somewhere clear. Jackson Hole has its own airport, but eclipse-week flights are probably gonna be pricey; you can also drive in from Salt Lake City or Denver, though it's a pretty long schlep.
    The problem is that everyone else is already onto this as well: Jackson is stratospherically expensive at the best of times, but hotels are doubling or tripling their rates, and some are even putting 3-night minimum stays in place. But you're lucky, I've got a tip for you: the Motel 6 in Jackson has just opened up booking for eclipse day; it's only $180 a night; and it has a bunch of rooms open, though they're gonna go fast. You're welcome. (And if you stay in Jackson, you can hit up Yellowstone National Park on the days after or before the Big Day. Bears! Geysers! More bears!)
  • Further to the east, Wyoming's high plains open up, and this is a great pick as well if Jackson ends up sold out. Look in little towns like Riverton, and the lil' hot springs village of Thermopolis (slightly north of the eclipse path, so you'll need to drive south on the day). The great bit about this part of the country is that it's easy to drive east or west to find a clear spot - US Highway 26 runs for nearly 200 miles exactly along the eclipse path. The cowboy town of Casper in the east of Wyoming is a good place to see the eclipse; it won't be a cheap place to stay overnight (there's an astronomers' conference in town on eclipse day), but it's an easy two-hour drive from Cheyenne and Laramie, or even a four-hour drive from Denver.
  • There is literally nothing in Nebraska, but the wide-open spaces and easy roads make it easy to find a clear part of the country to see the eclipse. Fly into Denver for the western half of Nebraska (try North Platte as a staging point), or Omaha for the eastern half, and rent a car.
  • Further east, there are big cities that make it easier to stay close to the eclipse: the northern suburbs of Kansas City are in the path; so are the southern suburbs of St Louis (I'd stay out of the downtowns myself, because the traffic to the eclipse path will be horrendous). If you like country music, Nashville is completely within the eclipse path; Columbia, in South Carolina, is a great pick as well. The problem is, the further east you go, the more risky the weather becomes (you're more likely to have to do a last-minute sprint to get away from clouds). And the eastern states will be more crowded as well: you'll have the entire eastern seaboard of the USA flooding into Nashville and Columbia, but there's plenty of wide-open space out west in Oregon and Idaho.

I've locked in a hotel room in Jackson for the big day, so I might see some of you there!
 
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Shiny Things

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I was looking at Avis and did not see any SUV under that pricing. Seem to range about USD$800 for 11 days. Can share which other rental company which is affordable? Would prefer a normal decent car that can bring from A to B.

What are your dates, and where are you picking up and dropping off?
 

Shiny Things

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No worries, i just choose SIXT with Buick range.

By the way, what are the petrol price like in US?

Dirt-cheap. It might change by the time you get here, but right now it's about:
  • $2.20 USD/gallon in Vegas
  • $2.70 USD/gallon in LA
  • $3 USD/gallon in SF

Divide those by 3-ish to convert them to SGD per litre - so it's roughly 75 SGD cents/litre in Vegas, 90 cents in LA, and $1/litre in San Francisco.
 
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lastkopek

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I have to disagree with these as well. The two premium outlet malls in Vegas are basically exactly the same stores; going to both of them is a waste of time.

I have to disagree here. Different outlets will have different deals. Same shop but diferent deals and different items on sale. If u drive go ahead visit both.

Since u already there no harm visiting both..theres no such thing as waste of time😂

If u reaĺly have more time to spent go visit SD. 3 outlets waiting for u there.
 

ceecookie

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I've a 10.5 hours layover at JFK, excluding the 2 hours for check in. Any good places in the vicinity to kill time? I can only spend 4 hours max in the lounge
 

gerald85

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Dirt-cheap. It might change by the time you get here, but right now it's about:
  • $2.20 USD/gallon in Vegas
  • $2.70 USD/gallon in LA
  • $3 USD/gallon in SFv

Divide those by 3-ish to convert them to SGD per litre - so it's roughly 75 SGD cents/litre in Vegas, 90 cents in LA, and $1/litre in San Francisco.

Wow good. Driving at night from LAX to Las Vegas at about 10pm. Dangerous and dark?
 

Shiny Things

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Wow good. Driving at night from LAX to Las Vegas at about 10pm. Dangerous and dark?

It's not dangerous at all, but it's probably not a great idea. That's a four-hour drive through the freeways of LA and the desert, and if I understand you you're talking about getting straight off the plane when you're jet lagged to hell and gone, and hopping in a car for a four-hour drive on the wrong side of the road.

I'd do a night at an LAX airport hotel, and then do the drive in the morning when you're fresh. If you really want to do this, make sure you stop every couple of hours for a coffee, even if you don't feel tired; and if you do feel tired, be ready to bail and find a hotel.
 

Shiny Things

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Wow good. Driving at night from LAX to Las Vegas at about 10pm. Dangerous and dark?

One other thing to add, if you do decide to do the drive, is that it's going to be really dark, especially once you get out of greater Los Angeles and up toward the Mojave National Preserve. There's literally nothing there... and that's what makes it special.

If you're feeling really brave, pull off the freeway at the Shell station at Cima Road, exit 272 off I-15 - you'll probably get there about 1am or so, so it's a great place for your second coffee break. Grab another coffee, then move away from the lights of the service station a bit - maybe drive down Cima Road a little - and just look up.

One of the things you never see in Singapore: you never see the night sky. It's always either raining, light-polluted, or both. But out in the Mojave, there's no clouds, no rain, and no light pollution, because you're hundreds of miles away from the nearest big cities; the Mojave has the darkest skies of anywhere in the continental USA, except for a few spots right in the middle of Nevada. Once you give your eyes a few minutes to adjust to the darkness, this is what you're in for.
 

invisible999

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One other thing to add, if you do decide to do the drive, is that it's going to be really dark, especially once you get out of greater Los Angeles and up toward the Mojave National Preserve. There's literally nothing there... and that's what makes it special.

If you're feeling really brave, pull off the freeway at the Shell station at Cima Road, exit 272 off I-15 - you'll probably get there about 1am or so, so it's a great place for your second coffee break. Grab another coffee, then move away from the lights of the service station a bit - maybe drive down Cima Road a little - and just look up.

One of the things you never see in Singapore: you never see the night sky. It's always either raining, light-polluted, or both. But out in the Mojave, there's no clouds, no rain, and no light pollution, because you're hundreds of miles away from the nearest big cities; the Mojave has the darkest skies of anywhere in the continental USA, except for a few spots right in the middle of Nevada. Once you give your eyes a few minutes to adjust to the darkness, this is what you're in for.

Shiny is the expert in this, listen to him folks.

Agree, one of the things you can see in Nevada/California desert at night is the Milky Way. People in Singapore will spend their whole lives never seen it with their own eyes.

Last year I was in Zion NP taking four my friends there. At midnight I pulled them outside and drove up in the Kolob Canyon purposely for this. They told me thank you afterwards.

But the best night ever I had was at Great Basin NP, on UT-21, at 2AM where there was no living soul next 40 miles.
 

hicheerios

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SIM card purchase?

Saw alot of gurus here.. would need advise from west coast US gurus.

Any idea where to buy the SIM card in San fran? I will be in US for about 3weeks.. not sure which operator to buy from. Can advise?

Thanks.

My itinerary as follows.. any recommendations or advise that I must see?

Day 1 Arrive @ SFO midnight
Day 2 SF
Day 3 SF
Day 4 SF - Outlet shopping
Day 5 SF - Sonoma Wineries
Day 6 SF
Day 7 SF (Friends Visit)
Day 8 SF (Friends Visit)
Day 9 SF/ Monterey thru Highway 1
Day 10 Monterey - Aquarium
Day 11 Monterey/Cambria
Day 12 Cambria/ LV
Day 13 Las Vegas - Grand canyon visit
Day 14 Las Vegas - Hoover dam visit
Day 15 Las Vegas - Outlet shopping
Day 16 Las Vegas - Outlet shopping
Day 17 LV/LA
Day 18 LA - Hollywood visit / griffin park
Day 19 LA - Santo monice/venice beach
Day 20 LA - Universal studios visit
Day 21 LA - rodeo drive/beverly hills/ natural history museum
Day 22 Leaving LA - SIN
 
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