California road trip

Old Jul 23rd, 2014, 06:11 AM
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California road trip

Hi, I'm looking for advice from anyone that can help. Me and a friend are taking a road trip in California in November. We are picking our car up at midday on 15th November in Las Vegas and dropping it off at mid day on 24th November at lax. I would really like to San Fran, la and San Diego. I was wondering whether anyone could recommend a good Itinerary or places that are also worth seeing. I really stuck with trying to plan this so any advice would be a big help.
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Old Jul 23rd, 2014, 07:03 AM
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Why November? Already bought your tickets before asking advice on what to see?
My thought: others will disagree- Fly to Las Vegas. Rent the car. See the LV area including Red Rocks, Valley of Fire, Hoover dam and Death Valley. From Death Valley head for Los Angeles. See Los Angeles and head for San Diego. Drive from SD back to Las Vegas and turn in the car. Fly to San Francisco. See San Francisco. If you must fly home from Los Angeles, fly or take the train back to Los Angeles from SF.
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Old Jul 23rd, 2014, 08:24 AM
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They have their dates . . .

Becky - your biggest problem is that SF is the outlier - At that time of year there is no nice way to drive from LV to SF w/o driving all the way up 395 to the Tahoe area and then across the state to SF. That is a wonderful road trip -- but looooong. You only have 9 days so that might be out of the question.

The shorter drive is butt ugly through Bakersfield and up I-5.

Do you mostly want a 'road trip' or do you want to spend time in places seeing/doing? If you haven't prepaid the car I might actually consider flying from LV to SF and collect your car there. 2 days LV, 2 days SF, 2 days driving down the coast to SD, 1 or 2 days in SD, 1 or 2 days in LA - fly out. There is your nine days.

If you must pick the car up in LV - you'll just have to suck it up and drive the 9 hour drive plus stops between Vegas and SF (so in real life - about 11 hours)
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Old Jul 23rd, 2014, 10:01 AM
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End up in November as it's when we would have enough money to book our around the world trip. This is just a small visit in 12 months worth of travelling so didn't really think of where to go in terms of dates. Just where we wanted to go. The car is already book so no moving on that. What to spend more time seeing and doing things if possible. Looks like I'll have to suck up the drive.
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Old Jul 23rd, 2014, 10:09 AM
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>>Looks like I'll have to suck up the drive.
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Old Jul 23rd, 2014, 11:37 AM
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We just got back from California. My favorite part was Sonoma county, Guerneville, Healdsburg and some of the vinyards such as Quivera. The drive up to Tahoe is exhilarating, but bring tire-chains in November. Yosemite is amazing. Everything is spread out, so get ready to drive! You can use http://www.usa-vacation.com to find chambers of commerce, hotels, things to do, etc. in each county.
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Old Jul 23rd, 2014, 11:53 AM
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If you drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, it's worth it to go through Death Valley, especially that time of year.

San Francisco is definitely a bit of a problem, though.
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Old Jul 23rd, 2014, 06:06 PM
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I think you need to pick between San Francisco or San Diego. The are in opposite directions. You can spend 2 or 3 days in Vegas, drive to San Diego where there is lots to see and do or 3 days, drive up to LA and spend the last 3 days there. There's your 9 days.

It's too bad about the car. It would have been easier and likely cheaper if you had booked to fly between a couple of these cities. But, too late for that. Although, if you booked through a Travel Agent the money may not have already been paid so you might double check that. You could then get a couple of days in San Francisco.
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Old Jul 23rd, 2014, 07:22 PM
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Another flight to consider would be flying on Allegiant air from Las Vegas to Monterey on a Thursday or Sunday.
allegiant.com
Rent a car from there and see a great section of the coast.
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Old Jul 28th, 2014, 07:35 PM
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Unless you prepaid your car, you can cancel without penalty. I have done it many times. I agree about staying in the south land if you have to fly to LV. Driving to SF is long and if you hit any kind of rush hour traffic, it will be even longer. You really will not have 2 days in the City. TOMFULLER gave suggestion about taking train back to LA from Sf I wouldn't even consider that. Amtrak is a very long trip from SF to LA as it makes several stops and one can never count on it being on time! Stick with the South land. Lots to see and do there.
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