US help.

[invisible999]

Regarding driving on US-1

Just a word of advice for those who are planning to drive on CA-1, or Highway 1 (incorrectly put US-1, in the headline which is completely different highway) in California between San Francisco and Santa Barbara on either direction.

Today I had 5.5h drive between Cambria and Pacifica and it was NOT rosy and romantic.

First, the drive between Hearst Castle and Big Sur is really curvy and winding. That's is well known fact and average speed is no more than 25-30 mph. If anyone in the car is easily affected by sea sickness, you'd better pick up different route because this section goes for 1.5h or more.

Secondly, the read has not fully recovered from landslides of previous years, multiple sections are still affected and road construction is happening at number of places. Close to Big Sur from the southern side there is one way traffic when you have to stop and wait your turn to proceed. Depending on day and time line of waiting cars might stretch for couple of miles and more and that means that you have to stop and wait 30-60 min until you clear construction segment.

And finally - there is traffic, which got considerably worse compared what used to like 10 years ago. Drive from Monterey to Santa Cruz is 20 miles and it took 50 minutes. Only after passing Santa Cruz road become clearer up to Pacifica.

 

[invisible999]

Been about 7 years since I last went to USA.

Doing multiple cities over 1 month holiday self drive. East and west coast

Any recommended websites for cheap hotels and car rentals? For comparison

Or those usual Expedia / booking.com type ?

In addition what Shiny suggested - go and read car rental and hotel sections of flyertalk forums. There are threads where coupons/discount codes are posted in relevant threads or wiki sections and it might give you 10-40% off if used properly.

Also, for staying you might want to consider AirBnB for staying because for some cases you might save 50% compared to hotel room prices.

 

[invisible999]

Couple words of advices if you are planning to visit Yosemite and Sequoia NP

After this week trip, several advices for those who plan to visit Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks.

1. If you plan to visit three or more parks, get Annual Park Pass. It is $80, while entrance fee for each park is $35. (note - prices in this post are in USD)

2. For both Yosemite and Sequoia NPs - if you want to stay inside the park in a lodge, make your reservation 9-12 month in advance and expect that it will cost minimum $300 if you are going in high tourist season.

3. If you want to save on lodging you might consider staying 10-20 miles from the park entrance where you can find rooms for $170-$200 in high season but it will be 1-1.5h additional drive to the park/visitor's center.

4. you should consider minimum 2 nights for each park - they are huge and you will see less than 10% if you go there for just one day.

5. Hiking/walking is the key to see and enjoy beauty of parks - plan to hike several hours per day.

6. Gas is very limited and very expensive inside parks and if you run out of gas while driving, you might be ended up royally screwed. Make sure that you have full tank of gas before reaching the park - fill up 20-30 miles before park entrance.

7. Regarding gas - while most gas stations credit card machines can read chip and NFC cards, some - do not and it requires to swipe the card. If you plan to use credit card for gas purchases (which you should) make sure that magnetic strip is activated and your card has your name on it - at gas stations attendants might want to see the card, your ID and names on those should match. Also - use credit cards instead of debit , gas stations charge additional fee for debit card usage.

8. in 99% of park territory there is ZERO cell phone coverage - don't expect that you will get any cell signal, I'm not talking about LTE/4G coverage. And if you rely on GPS and Google Maps - make sure that you download offline section of the map before leaving.

 

[fzhfzh]

Just a word of advice for those who are planning to drive on CA-1, or Highway 1 (incorrectly put US-1, in the headline which is completely different highway) in California between San Francisco and Santa Barbara on either direction.

Today I had 5.5h drive between Cambria and Pacifica and it was NOT rosy and romantic.

First, the drive between Hearst Castle and Big Sur is really curvy and winding. That's is well known fact and average speed is no more than 25-30 mph. If anyone in the car is easily affected by sea sickness, you'd better pick up different route because this section goes for 1.5h or more.

Secondly, the read has not fully recovered from landslides of previous years, multiple sections are still affected and road construction is happening at number of places. Close to Big Sur from the southern side there is one way traffic when you have to stop and wait your turn to proceed. Depending on day and time line of waiting cars might stretch for couple of miles and more and that means that you have to stop and wait 30-60 min until you clear construction segment.

And finally - there is traffic, which got considerably worse compared what used to like 10 years ago. Drive from Monterey to Santa Cruz is 20 miles and it took 50 minutes. Only after passing Santa Cruz road become clearer up to Pacifica.

5.5 hrs isn’t that bad. The going the other way is usually 4.5-5hrs anyways. Worst timing I had was driving to LA on Christmas Eve. Took 8 hrs to get there as highway is all jammed.

 

[fzhfzh]

After this week trip, several advices for those who plan to visit Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks.

1. If you plan to visit three or more parks, get Annual Park Pass. It is $80, while entrance fee for each park is $35. (note - prices in this post are in USD)

2. For both Yosemite and Sequoia NPs - if you want to stay inside the park in a lodge, make your reservation 9-12 month in advance and expect that it will cost minimum $300 if you are going in high tourist season.

3. If you want to save on lodging you might consider staying 10-20 miles from the park entrance where you can find rooms for $170-$200 in high season but it will be 1-1.5h additional drive to the park/visitor's center.

4. you should consider minimum 2 nights for each park - they are huge and you will see less than 10% if you go there for just one day.

5. Hiking/walking is the key to see and enjoy beauty of parks - plan to hike several hours per day.

6. Gas is very limited and very expensive inside parks and if you run out of gas while driving, you might be ended up royally screwed. Make sure that you have full tank of gas before reaching the park - fill up 20-30 miles before park entrance.

7. Regarding gas - while most gas stations credit card machines can read chip and NFC cards, some - do not and it requires to swipe the card. If you plan to use credit card for gas purchases (which you should) make sure that magnetic strip is activated and your card has your name on it - at gas stations attendants might want to see the card, your ID and names on those should match. Also - use credit cards instead of debit , gas stations charge additional fee for debit card usage.

8. in 99% of park territory there is ZERO cell phone coverage - don't expect that you will get any cell signal, I'm not talking about LTE/4G coverage. And if you rely on GPS and Google Maps - make sure that you download offline section of the map before leaving.

One day is possible if you don’t hike. For Yosemite for example, glacier point, tunnel view are both driveable and you can see most of Yosemite from these 2 places. Any then just a short hike at the forest of giant trees to end the day. This is what I usually do when bringing people there for a day.

For phone coverage, at&t has coverage in the parks from experience. Other
than in deep foliage, you should have signal. But to be safe it’s better to bring a gps.

 

[invisible999]

One day is possible if you don’t hike.

Going to Yosemite and Sequoya without hiking and just driving around only is pretty much the same as want to know how flowers smell when sniffing them with air mask on.

Just my 2c.

 

[Skyline34_]

hi folks, am heading over to LAX / LV / SFO later in the year and looking for a USA data sim card which I can use in a hotspot/mobile router device

Funnily enough, I can’t seem to locate a suitable sim card - the ones I see on qoo10 do not support hotspot; any kind soul can advise where I can purchase the correct sim?

Cheers

 

[Avizoa]

hi folks, am heading over to LAX / LV / SFO later in the year and looking for a USA data sim card which I can use in a hotspot/mobile router device

Funnily enough, I can’t seem to locate a suitable sim card - the ones I see on qoo10 do not support hotspot; any kind soul can advise where I can purchase the correct sim?

Cheers

you can always get it from their local at&t or tmobile store, some plans allow you to tether some does not. so check with their staff. Unless you have a jailborken iphone or rooted android which bypass the restriction.

 

[Avizoa]

Just a word of advice for those who are planning to drive on CA-1, or Highway 1 (incorrectly put US-1, in the headline which is completely different highway) in California between San Francisco and Santa Barbara on either direction.

Today I had 5.5h drive between Cambria and Pacifica and it was NOT rosy and romantic.

First, the drive between Hearst Castle and Big Sur is really curvy and winding. That's is well known fact and average speed is no more than 25-30 mph. If anyone in the car is easily affected by sea sickness, you'd better pick up different route because this section goes for 1.5h or more.

Secondly, the read has not fully recovered from landslides of previous years, multiple sections are still affected and road construction is happening at number of places. Close to Big Sur from the southern side there is one way traffic when you have to stop and wait your turn to proceed. Depending on day and time line of waiting cars might stretch for couple of miles and more and that means that you have to stop and wait 30-60 min until you clear construction segment.

And finally - there is traffic, which got considerably worse compared what used to like 10 years ago. Drive from Monterey to Santa Cruz is 20 miles and it took 50 minutes. Only after passing Santa Cruz road become clearer up to Pacifica.

This is really interesting because I just drove that stretch in march and it wasn't as bad as what you have stated. Could be the summer holidays i guess?

 

[kashanai]

Does anyone know for Malaysian holding WP in Singapore, any issues applying for visa ?

 

[invisible999]

hi folks, am heading over to LAX / LV / SFO later in the year and looking for a USA data sim card which I can use in a hotspot/mobile router device

Funnily enough, I can’t seem to locate a suitable sim card - the ones I see on qoo10 do not support hotspot; any kind soul can advise where I can purchase the correct sim?

Cheers

Get Starhub prepaid SIM card, top up for $20, it will give you 2GB of data for 4 weeks, in device settings, set shppd as APN number and enable data roaming.

Above is the most cost effective solution.

 

[invisible999]

This is really interesting because I just drove that stretch in march and it wasn't as bad as what you have stated. Could be the summer holidays i guess?

When was it? I am telling last Friday, June 21st experience.

 

[Skyline34_]

thanks mate, are u referring to the Starhub happy roam prepaid ?

I see 2GB/4GB for $18/$25 respectively

Get Starhub prepaid SIM card, top up for $20, it will give you 2GB of data for 4 weeks, in device settings, set shppd as APN number and enable data roaming.

Above is the most cost effective solution.

 

[Avizoa]

When was it? I am telling last Friday, June 21st experience.

I'm not doubting you report, i'm just stating that it was still clear during late march when i drove that stretch and it became so bad now.

 

[invisible999]

thanks mate, are u referring to the Starhub happy roam prepaid ?

I see 2GB/4GB for $18/$25 respectively

Correct. Contrary to previous years, this time it was quite fast - I got 4G either with Tmobile or ATT at metropolitan areas and at countryside it was 3G. Well, if you decide to go wilderness/NPs then there is no coverage there.

 

[invisible999]

I'm not doubting you report, i'm just stating that it was still clear during late march when i drove that stretch and it became so bad now.

Weekends and Fridays CA-1 are killing. Weekends/Fridays combined with school holidays and tourist season - just avoid CA-1.

 

[invisible999]

Sharing California National Parks travel itinerary

Hello everybody,

After coming back several people asked about California travel itinerary. I decided to post the itin here as well in case someone will find it useful.

I personally think that one day National Park is not enough to fully enjoy them at fullest and if you want to have Grand Californian Vacation and Adventure, I’d rather suggest following itinerary: two days for each of following parks – Lassen National Park, Yosemite NP, Sequoia and Kings Canyon NP.

Here is the suggested itinerary:

1. Lassen NP:
a. (assuming that you've arrived at SFO/SJC) Leave Bay Area on Friday around 4PM and drive towards Lassen NP. The drive is via I-80, I-505, I-5, CA-36. Drive will take about 4-4:30h assuming no delays. So you should arrive around 9-9:30PM. You need to book a place at/around Lassen NP where reception is open till late evening because at most places they close around 8PM.
b. Saturday-Sunday: spend two full days in Lassen. One day walk around Manzanita Lake, hike to the top of Lassen Peak. Second day – Bumpass Hell and hiking on the top of Cinder Cone to walk around and see multi-color earth.
c. Retune back to your lodging, rest well to be ready to leave next day towards Yosemite

2. Yosemite NP:
a. Next week, Monday: drive from Lassen to Yosemite via CA-36, US-395 and CA-108 or CA-120. The drive is more than 5 hours, so you will need to leave no later than 10AM. Stop by alongside the route at small/cute towns, like Genoa which is the place of the first settlement in Nevada and visit local museums there. There are number of such cure places alongside of US-395. Do rest stops at US-395 - there are at picturesque places. Arrive at your lodging at/around Yosemite around 7-8PM. Rest well for next two days.
b. Tuesday-Wednesday: two full days in Yosemite. There are plenty of information about hikes and things to see – one day you could at least attempt to hike Yosemite Falls and Four Mile Trail. Next day you can go to Tioga Pass and places around it or some other places – Yosemite gives plenty of options. Come back to your lodging, rest well for next drive to Sequoia and Kings Canyon NP

3. Sequoia and Kings Canyon NP:
a. Thursday: Leave Yosemite, drive to Sequoia and Kings Canyon NP. Depending where you are going to stay at Yosemite and Sequoia/Kings Canyon, and which road you will take the drive will take 3-5:30h. My suggestion is to avoid roads CA-41 near Yosemite and CA-245 near Sequoia/Kings Canyon – they are very curvy and if anyone is affected by sea sickness, they are not going to have nice ride while in car. Unfortunately, there is not much you can do around entrance of Sequoia/Kings Canyon because both CA-180 (entrance to Kings Canyon) and CA-198 (entrance to Sequoia NP) are very curvy, but CA-198 is worse. So I suggest to book lodging either inside the park and enter via CA-180 or close to the park alongside of CA-180.
b. Friday-Saturday: two full days in the park. One day – Sequoia NP: Moro Rock trail, Giant Forest loop, General Sherman Tree, Tunnel Log. Second day – Kings Canyon NP – hike towards meadows and waterfalls.
c. Sunday: leave and drive to your next destination.

If you think that three NPs and 9 days are overkill for California, you can combine just Yosemite and Lassen, starting from Yosemite which is closest to Bay Area. At south section of Yosemite there are sequoias grove where 4-6th largest trees in the world are located. So you can substitute going to Sequoia/Kings Canyon with above.

One more question/problem – lodging. I was not expecting that lodging was/is such a problem in the middle of the tourist season. If you want to stay inside the parks, at lodges, you should book your stay as early as possible – meaning a year in advance and should expect that night will cost minimum $300/night (prices in USD).

Staying next to the parks, like we did is less expensive, you can get around for staying for less than $200/night, but note that it will take one hour or more to reach park from your lodging. So while staying outside of the park, 1.5-2h every day will be spent to driving/waiting in line to get into the park and driving back.

Other advices I've outlined earlier in my post (filling petrol before getting to the park, petrol station credit card usage, etc) still applies.

 

[Avizoa]

Weekends and Fridays CA-1 are killing. Weekends/Fridays combined with school holidays and tourist season - just avoid CA-1.

totally agree since it is summer holidays

 

[Skyline34_]

thank u !

Correct. Contrary to previous years, this time it was quite fast - I got 4G either with Tmobile or ATT at metropolitan areas and at countryside it was 3G. Well, if you decide to go wilderness/NPs then there is no coverage there.

 

[Panerex]

What Brands of merchandise is cheap in US?
Heading over to LA/ LV / SFO soon.

Thanks