bluestar29

Can any body help me. The plan was that me, my husbond, and kids was coming to Los angeles in this week. now he has left us. The kids has really lokking forward to come overthere, but he took all our money. So can anybody help with a good, but cheap place too stay?? Or maybe sombody have a guesthouse they will rent out cheap? My daughter is 14 years, so if you have kids, they mayby could have fun together. Iīm 32. We are from Denmark. I could been a different, but funny kind of vacation. we really need to get away from home and have fun

kauai_aka

aloha bluestar, that's awful. i'm sorry about husband wrecking your vacation plans. have you tried looking up craigslist or vrbo for last minute cancellations? hope you find something soon.

bluestar29

I will try that. I just donīt like the thought of been there alone. so it could have been fun if a familiy had a guest room that we could rent, for a little money.

Gretchen

If this is for real you might try couchsurf.com --stay in homes. Don't know about the US. How are you getting here?

bluestar29

Gretchen.

What is for real? sadly it is true what I wrote. we will fly from Denmark. and that is expensive, so we have to stay cheap.

NeoPatrick

I'm sorry if this sounds insensitive, but it costs a lot of money to do a trip from Denmark to Los Angeles. It's not just a place to stay, but all the other costs while there if you and the kids want to enjoy yourselves. If your husband just left you and your children with "all the money" -- shouldn't you be worrying more about daily living expenses and getting on with your lives at home? I mean it sounds like you may have huge money issues coming up in your lives -- why make them worse by doing a huge trip you clearly can't afford at this time.

Again, sorry if this sounds insensitive, but I mean it to be a voice of reason here.

On a related note, I know you have been looking for the past month for a nice home to rent for three weeks in LA. Did you find one? If so, can you get your deposit back? That should be a big start towards renting something else -- or using that money for other issues in your lives.

bluestar29

yes we found a house. but it is in his name, so i can do anything. i now it cost a lot of money, And i still have money. just not to live in a fine place. and my daughter was looking forward to come over there.

i have looked and found "cheap" hotels, but i would been more fun if we could find a guest house or something like that. and relly se the Los Angeles life.

hope you understand my english..

cd

bluestar
So sorry for your problems. Sometimes life just sucks, however, I think Patrick has some valid points, but it's your decision. I have never stayed at a hostel but you might want to consider it. They are cheap and have common areas to gather for eating and recreation and it sounds like you want to be with other people. Anyway check out this site: http://www.twizi.com/losangeleshostels.htm

NeoPatrick

Now I'm sorry to become too personal, but is the house you've rented in LA that is in his name refundable? Is it paid for in full? Is he going to LA also on his own and use it? If not, it seems it would be awfully good if somehow you could get money back from it, or if it is already paid in full for the three weeks that you could still use it. To be honest, if the house was reserved for "Mr. and Mrs." you should be able to do the cancellation on it yourself, or get the deposit back. According to your previous posts, you are the one who was doing the reserving, you should be able to take over handling it.

socialworker

The UCLA Guest House and the Tiverton House (also a hotel on campus) are very well-priced, include breakfast daily and have on site microwaves (and perhaps a full communal kitchen, but not sure about that). They also have the tremendous advantage of not charging state hotel tax which in CA is 12%.

http://map.ais.ucla.edu/portal/site/...008f8443a4RCRD

http://www.tivertonhouse.ucla.edu/features.html

If the very long URL for the guest house does not open, just google UCLA Guest House and it will come right up.

The Tiverton House has the advantage of being in Westwood Village which is a great part of LA. Do not be put off by the part that says that it is for patients and families. Anyone can stay there and it is very pleasant. Also public transportation to many great places is available very economically on the Big Blue Bus which is a busline that goes all over many of the nicest parts of Los Angeles.

I am also a person who was not sure of the sincerity of your original post but it seems that you are telling the truth. Best wishes.

socialworker

Perhaps a tad harsh, Gekko. If you look at Patrick's post above, you can see that she has been working on the itinerary for >1 month. That is what convinced me to give her the benefit of the doubt.

kswl

bluestar29, I'm terribly sorry that you are having these problems. I understand that you want to continue with your vacation plans; do you already have your plane tickets?

If I were you I would try to stay in the UCLA housing that socialworker provided in the link above. Instead of staying a full three weeks, which I think was your stated intention on the other thread, I would pay the fee to have the tickets changed to 10 or 14 days at the most and then the per-night cost won't be so expensive.
Even though you'll pay several hundred dollars in change fees you will save thousands in lodging costs.

Good luck, and Godspeed.

Marginal

If your husband has left you, a vacation will not solve your financial problems.

It sounds as though you need to get your financial affairs in order, pronto. The kids will get over it.

happytrailstoyou

You say you have "kids," but you mention only a 14-year-old daughter. How many children will travel with you?

Are you looking for a guesthouse near the beach, or would you be happy with a cheap place to stay no matter where it is located? Fresno, for instance.

Have you considered vacationing closer to home? In Spain or Portugal, perhaps.

trippinkpj

If it was me, I'd vacation closer to home.

NeoPatrick

Since bluestar has stated that they looked at VRBO and didn't see "anything we liked", I doubt that they will be happy staying in a hostel or university housing. To go from what was obviously planned to be a very luxurious 3 weeks in Los Angeles to a "sleep on someone's couch" emergency, I really think that staying home or drastically altering the plans would make a WHOLE LOT more sense.

Meanwhile, bluestar's other posts seemed to indicate working with "homesforthemoment" which requires full payment two months before arrival (so it would long have been paid in full if they are arriving this week as she states). If in fact they did sign up with them (as she indicates they did reserve a house but in her husband's name) I'd sure be trying hard to get some of those thousands of dollars already paid, or trying to go ahead and use the three week rental that was clearly already paid for. Those are VERY expensive homes they were looking at. Something here just doesn't seem right.

nytraveler

If you made the reservation for the house and have the plane tickets already I would simply show up, go to the house and move in. It was obviously too late for him to get money back - and since it's paid for, why not use it?

If he's there as well - that would just be very embarassing for him.

That's assuming you have the cash in had to pay for the rest of the vacation - airport transfers, car rental, fod, activities etc.

If yuo don;t have tht cash available - I suggest that this vacation is a really bad idea - and you do something loser to home - visit family perhaps - tht wuold be almost free.

socialworker

Patrick, the UCLA guest houses are quite pleasant, albeit basic, hotels, not youth hostels. We have stayed at both sites more than once and their location, comfort, cleanliness, pleasant service and lack of hotel tax makes them a very good choice when one is either money conscious or if one is going to be gone most of the time, only using the hotel as a place to sleep. I heard some serious concern for finances in her post and these hotels are an incredible value for the money.

NeoPatrick

socialworker, I don't disagree with what you say, but this poster made clear earlier she wouldn't be happy with ANY VRBO rental listed for LA -- and there are plenty of really spectacular upscale ones. If they wouldn't be happy with any of those upscale apartments, how could they possibly be happy with a basic hotel? My point was that when someone is unwilling to originally do anything but absolute top luxury, when money becomes an issue, their happiness is doomed by having to go several steps below what they ever thought they could survive.

If I had planned a wonderful birthday party at French Laundry, but suddenly found myself with no funds, I'm sorry, but going to Denny's instead is going to be even more depressing than staying home.

happytrailstoyou

If I had planned a wonderful birthday party at French Laundry, but suddenly found myself with no funds, I'm sorry, but going to Denny's instead... Good one. This is the kind of flexibility bluestar and her (several) kids need.