Thanks again everyone.
Options are opening up all over!

does anyone know if the end of May is a busy period in Mexico?..ie..would hotels and cars be difficult to rent at that time.

We have joined Expedia and are awaiting a reply to our itinerary options with them, but are still unsure of whether it is best to do it all from here or wait till we get there.
We kinda feel that, subject to it not being peak period, we are better waiting till we get there as last minute deals can always arise.
Sorry to ask so many questions, but so far, everyone has been so helpful.

cheers

B and B

LOL at the idea of me surfing.

I agree with the suggestions to fly to Mexico, if you must. I personally wouldn't want to rent a car in Mexico at all but I've never researched Mexico at all. I'd agree with the concept of flying to wherever has the best surf.

I'd definitely book ahead. I'd book things with a generous cancellation policy so if a better deal comes up, you can grab it. Check prices on Expedia or similar and then go to the hotel site direct and compare their prices. Folk here recommend Priceline for great last minute deals. Not sure of your price range but with $AUS the way it is, I'd say three star would be more than adequate.

One place I didn't have time to get to that sounds cool is Pasadena.

(Leaves singing Jan and Dean song....)

I'm confused on why you have to wait for Expedia on your itinerary..
Just go and plug in where you want to go and its instant.
Deals are to be had on really nice hotels for cheap so why not go for a really nice place..
May is Spring Break for Mexico and a lot of places..
DO NOT WAIT TO BOOK YOUR HOTEL!
Mexico depends on what time of the month you go since Memorial Day is a huge long weekend at the end of the month.
Priceline I would not recommend since you don't know the areas, where Expedia you get to choose your bed type, your room type, garden view, ocean view..you don't get that option with Priceline.
I would stick with Baja for now..Ixtapa/Zih is nice but its having problems with crime like they have never seen before..
Baja is gorgeous in a serene kind of way once you get out of Cabo.

I would not think it would be that busy in May. Most US schools have spring breaks in March or April. Mexicans take a holiday around Holy Week.

MY

I meant to say that spring break is not in Mexico..here in SD, SB goes from March, April and May..Memorial Day week and weekend is very busy in SD..start of the summer kicks off early here.
Mexico goes on holiday for Sept.16th to Vegas usually and Christmas.

Just remember, Australians, that the US is huge (not as huge, of course, as Australia). Just don't try to do too much and you will be fine.

In May there should be plenty of motel rooms because kids are still in school here.

Be sure to enjoy the squirrels. Australians always do because, guys, Australia and New Zealand do not have squirrels.

Aren't the mainland United States and Australia about the same size?

Australia is larger than the US--not hugely larger, but larger. Of course, Australia has only 20 million people and the US has about 300 million. So, you can drive for miles and see very few people in Australia. There was one sign I saw to the next large town that said something like "Cairns 1600 kilometers".

Actually, Lauren, in the meantime, I had looked it up, and the US is larger than Australia - 3.79 million square miles in the US and 2.97 million square miles in Australia!

westaustralians:

I love Mexico, grew up on the boarder between Tijuana and San Diego BUT I'm strongly advising you to NOT GO INTO MEXICO. It is extremely dangerous to be in Baja right now. The drug cartels are literally blowing each others brains out on the streets of TJ with hundreds of murders each week.
If you feel you have to go to Mexico cross the boarder at Tecate which is about a 50 minute drive east of the TJ boarder crossing.
Tecate is a much safer and nicer Mexican community.

sf - does that figure take into consideration the continental US or does it include HI and AL in the calculations. Just curious.

Your trip sounds like fun! As a resident of San Diego I hope that you reconsider driving to Mexico. I see it's been mentioned, but it's true that the crime just over the border makes it very undesirable.
The suggestion to fly from LA or SD to Cabo is much better and safer, and alot better use of your limited time.

thanks again everyone..cant believe how helpful everyone has been.

oh...about 90% of australians live on or near the coast, so we have huge tracts of land that are uninhabited..the nullarbor desert...the longest straight rail line in the world by the way...even tho it is a desert, is one of the great car drives...you can drive literally hundreds of miles without seeing another person, and the route is really scenic despite it being called a desert.
we all drive many miles a week compared to other countries so we are used to driving...everything and everywhere is so far apart!

anyway...an update...

we are booked and paid for flights into Honolulu from Sydney and onto Los Angeles and return....so at least we are gunna get there!

have searched a lot on the net and spoken to people at expedia..they have a office in Melbourne Australia.
they seem really good, but we have to do a bit ourselves and get back to them to finally price.

in Honolulu we are looking at the Outrigger Hotel, which is expensive but being our first stop its probably worth it...au$568

we stay there 2 nights and then fly into Los Angeles on the 19th May, staying at the Vagabond Inn...2 nights ...au$231

we will rent a car at the airport and use it until we fly into Mexico.
(assuming we can take it out of state to Las Vegas)
23 May we drive to Las Vegas..stay at Aliante Station?....2 nights...au$169.

From there we will drive to Hoover Dam and do a little touring...then drive to San Diego on the 23rd May, staying 2 nights at La Jolla Inn....au$280.

On the 25th we will fly into Los Cabos and stay 3 nights at Tesoro Hotel ..au$360

we will hire a car and drive up the coast a little without being too adventurous..keep within a half day of our hotel...look for some surf breaks etc.

On the 28th May we will fly into Acapulco via Mexico City and stay at Las Torres Gemales Beach Resort for 3 nights ...au$360

from there we intend to hire a car and drive up the coast to Ixtapa?...stay there 3 nights and drive back to Apapulco, on the 3rd June to LA airport where we leave for Sydney at 2230 (phew!)

We havent found a hotel at Ixtapa , however there seems to be plenty that we can choose from and as we will be looking for a surf and at the beaches, can take our time and find somewhere that is ok..

Well..thats the plan after reading what everyone here has said and others...it is full on and once I document it all on a calendar, I will get back to Expedia who will make the final costing and timetable the whole thing.It all looks to fit in by us, but we have to actually document times and dates to make sure it all fits together.

We really want to visit Mexico and have taken on board all the safety comments about it.This way we feel is the safest way to go and gives us the freedom to travel and explore a bit on our own.

Doeas anyone have any comments?...good and bad...We dont know anything about Ixtapa and if there are concerns we would look elsewhere..I am sure there are other safe alternatives from Acapulco.


once again..we really appreciate the time you have all taken to help us.

cheers

Bruce and Barb

You'll almost certainly be ok with taking the rental car to Las Vegas. It is a good idea to ask, though. What company?

Just the other day I had a loaner car for a few hours while my car was in the shop. The rental rules said no taking the car out of California, and 150 miles max. But, this was Toyota Rental Car - at a dealer, and not Avis or Hertz. I don't know about the rent-a-wreck/small local companies.

That flying to/around Mexico (L.A. - Los Cabos - Acapulco - L.A) sounds good in theory? Did you figure out the price. Not a good idea to wait until you get here, imho. You might find some last minute deals for a roundtrip LAX-SJD-LAX, or for LAX-ACA-LAX. But you would need to be prepared that there won't be any last minute deals (very likely, imho). No deals, I think for your itin of LAX-SJD-ACA-LAX

You'll almost certainly be ok with taking the rental car to Las Vegas. It is a good idea to ask, though. What company?

we havent gone that far yet..that is one thing we will probably leave till we get to each place...
we dont know if renting at airports is more expensive than downtown, but when you take in transfers to hotels, at $50 or $60 a time, thats a day's rental in most cities..



Just the other day I had a loaner car for a few hours while my car was in the shop. The rental rules said no taking the car out of California, and 150 miles max. But, this was Toyota Rental Car - at a dealer, and not Avis or Hertz. I don't know about the rent-a-wreck/small local companies.

That flying to/around Mexico (L.A. - Los Cabos - Acapulco - L.A) sounds good in theory? Did you figure out the price. Not a good idea to wait until you get here, imho. You might find some last minute deals for a roundtrip LAX-SJD-LAX, or for LAX-ACA-LAX. But you would need to be prepared that there won't be any last minute deals (very likely, imho). No deals, I think for your itin of LAX-SJD-ACA-LAX

yes....we want to spend a few days everywhere....without prices from Expedia as yet..and they should be cheaper...

LA to Los Cabos....au$300
Los Cabos to Acapulco....au$560
Acapulco to LA.....au$500

all those prices are for 2 people, so they sound fine...for a lot of country covered.
total au$ 136o..about us $1000

and its far better for us to book before we get there

thanks for your comments

Bruce and Barb

I would book everything before you go; especially the car rental. Try carrentals.com or hotwire.com. I think the best rates are via the internet. All flights and car rentals should be booked ahead. Your hotels are not familiar names to me; they are probably just average, passable places to rest. You don't HAVE to commit to those yet so you might consider researching the best places for best value at each destination further. I can tell you my favorite hotels in San Diego or Vegas for example, then you can research best possible price and see if it is doable.

Just a couple of comments. I've never rented a car in the States where you couldn't take it to a different state. I believe mrwunrfl simply had a special loaner car with restrictions deal from his dealership. Now taking a rental car out of the country is a different story and there certainly could be restrictions so I'm happy you've decided to turn the car back in in San Diego and fly to Cabo.

I believe you might have your date wrong for your travel to Las Vegas. I'm thinking you plan to arrive on 21 May rather than 23 May. This is important because it looks like you will be there one week night (cheaper rate) and one Friday night (higher weekend rate). If it were me, I would opt to stay on the Las Vegas Strip in the middle of the action rather than a bit away from it. Since you want to see Las Vegas I would stay where it is easier to actually see it. It's not hard to drive off of the Strip to do your day trips. Access to the interstate is generally within a few blocks.

Also, that last weekend in May is Memorial Day Weekend, a major holiday for the U.S. Monday is the actual holiday but many people take the preceding Friday off in order to have a 4-day weekend. I think you are driving to Vegas on Thursday and that is very wise since traffic on Friday will likely be quite heavy and probably heavier than normal on Thursday as well. Just be aware that you might be in some bad traffic getting to Vegas, leaving Vegas or both.

You already know you are squeezing a lot of travel into a short amount of time so I won't mention that part. I'm just afraid you've underestimated distances, traffic, travel time between your LA, Las Vegas, San Diego travels and you're going to spend most of your very limited time in the car.

Yes, must be the 21st when they are heading to Las Vegas.

Your airfares look good.

I do recall, back in the 80s, having a car rental from one of the majors that restricted taking the car out of California. Maybe they don't do it anymore.

You'll likely have a drop-off fee for the one-way rental. I don't think there will be much advantage to going off-airport at LAX (despite what a recent thread suggested). The rates are pretty good there.

If your main interest in going to Las Vegas is to visit the L.V. Motor Speedway then your choice has a good location in North Las Vegas. The photos at their website look nice and the place is new.

It is a poor location if you want to visit the strip.

hey sharona..sounds like it should be the name of a song!!

thanks for your comments

Author: sharona
Date: 01/24/2009, 04:45 pm

Just a couple of comments. I've never rented a car in the States where you couldn't take it to a different state. I believe mrwunrfl simply had a special loaner car with restrictions deal from his dealership. Now taking a rental car out of the country is a different story and there certainly could be restrictions so I'm happy you've decided to turn the car back in in San Diego and fly to Cabo.


yes..we have listened to people in here and feel thats the best option..





I believe you might have your date wrong for your travel to Las Vegas. I'm thinking you plan to arrive on 21 May rather than 23 May. This is important because it looks like you will be there one week night (cheaper rate) and one Friday night (higher weekend rate). If it were me, I would opt to stay on the Las Vegas Strip in the middle of the action rather than a bit away from it. Since you want to see Las Vegas I would stay where it is easier to actually see it. It's not hard to drive off of the Strip to do your day trips. Access to the interstate is generally within a few blocks.


yes..your right...well..we are Australians!!!..(about the dates)

yes..we agree..sounds the best way to go....we are used to walking a lot and am happy to leave the car and do some footwork..




Also, that last weekend in May is Memorial Day Weekend, a major holiday for the U.S. Monday is the actual holiday but many people take the preceding Friday off in order to have a 4-day weekend. I think you are driving to Vegas on Thursday and that is very wise since traffic on Friday will likely be quite heavy and probably heavier than normal on Thursday as well. Just be aware that you might be in some bad traffic getting to Vegas, leaving Vegas or both.


we should be flying into Cabo on the ummm...(you have us confused now...lol)....25th May...so..if that weekend is a holiday we will be in Mexico??...the Vegas trip will be on 21/21 May...




You already know you are squeezing a lot of travel into a short amount of time so I won't mention that part. I'm just afraid you've underestimated distances, traffic, travel time between your LA, Las Vegas, San Diego travels and you're going to spend most of your very limited time in the car.


Yes..we understand what you are saying....we are ok driving at night to maximise day hours.....but it will be tight...


Thanx again..great comments

B and B