HELP! Planning Cali trip July 06!
 

Hi! Me and a friend, both broke college students, are trying to plan a trip to California this summer! Never been and don't know if our itinerary is realistic or not! Would love help from people who've been there! Anything we MUST see before we leave? Also, any tips on saving money would be GREAT! :)
Thanks!

Day 1) Plane land San Francisco, rental car, drive to Lake Tahoe. overnight Lake Tahoe

2) Explore Lake Tahoe. overnight Lake Tahoe

3) Drive to Lassen Volcanic Park, climb Lassen Peak, drive to Redding, overnight there

4) Drive from Redding to Eureka, then start down Hwy 1, overnight in Fort Bragg (any better suggestions here?)

5) Drive to San Francisco early AM, see Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz. overnight SF

6) Drive to LA via Hwy 1, overnight San Luis Obispo

7) Finish Hwy 1 to LA, overnight LA

8) Explore Hollywood, Santa Monica, etc. overnight LA

9) Drive to San Diego, snorkeling and kayaking in the afternoon, overnight SD

10) San Diego Zoo, overnight SD

11) SD Wildlife Park, drive back to LA, overnight there

12) Go on Price is Right (believe it or not this is the whole reason of the trip! she's an addict!!), overnight LA

13) Fly out LA

Whoa - that is one packed itinerary. You will spend A LOT of time in the car and not much time in any of the places you visit. I would cut something out of your itinerary - prioritize what you want to see. Otherwise you will go a lot of places, but not really see anything.

stefani - you need to find out if you can rent a car if you are under 25 years of age. Since you are both students, and probably under 25 years old, you may not be old enough to rent from many car rental places.

When I was under 25, I think I rented from Avis and Enterprise. I'd start there.

Thanks for the responses! If you had to cut something out, what would you cut out? Oh, and my friend will be 25 at the time of the trip so the car rental is taken care of.

I'm not sure it is possible to drive from Lake Tahoe to Lassen and then climb Lassen all in the same day. Mapquest shows it's 180 miles from Tahoe City (North Lake Tahoe) to the gate at Lassen Volcanic Park. You'd be lucky to make that in 4 hours, on a busy summer day could take much longer. (On a busy summer day getting from South Lake Tahoe to North Lake Tahoe could be a couple hours.) Estimated time to climb to the peak is 4.5 hours (more for inexperienced climbers...). Because of that I believe they stop people from starting the climb in the early afternoon. Is there any particular reason you want to scale Lassen? If it's real important you may want to end your day in Lake Tahoe in Truckee, then get a real early start so you'd have a chance to get to Lassen around noon.

That's too much driving in too little time. Since there's not much to see in Eureka or Ft. Bragg, could you fly directly to Redding from San Francisco? The schedule would still be tight, but would see everything you want to see. I would actually recommend saving Northern California (Tahoe and Redding, plus Yosemite) for a future trip. There's plenty to see between San Francisco and San Diego.

What the heck is a "Cali"??????? Please buy your bubble gum before you reach the border.

Curious

Well- first of all I hope you're not an English major - or communications - or anything in the liberal arts. Biology perhaps - given your intense interest in animals?

Second - agree with others that you're trying to cover way too much territory. (I would do completely different things on a trip to this area - but obviously our interests differ.) You'll end up spending most of your time on the road, rather than seeing/doing anything - unless driving is the purpose of the trip.

Suggest you stick to San Francisco to San Diego and see in more depth. Or else - stay in the north and drop San Diego - and just end in LA for the game show.

I have a friend who says...her and I

...drives me nuts!

....stef....me and a friend drives me

equally as nuts.

Listen to what Iceeu2 says:

I have a friend who says...*her and I*

...drives me nuts!

....stef....*me and a friend* drives me

equally as nuts.

Icee, I agree!
What are our schools teaching?
This is such bad grammar.
Thanks for posting icee!

I don't think the plan is realistic. Way too much driving. If the Price is Right thing is the major reason of the trip why not concentrate in the Los Angeles and San Diego area? I think this would be more relaxful for you and you will experience much more of that area. You are spreading yourselves thin with your driving plan.

For the Price is Right -you will need to send a written request for tickets to the show in advance of your trip as you may already know. They ask for the dates you will be in the area. They send you tickets according to the dates you applied for. When I requested tickets on my last trip to CA the tickets I received did not include any of the weekend days I would be there and I recall there was one day during the week as well. (I was disappointed that I could not use the tickets I had). Oh well! Another tip if you plan on going to the show is to get there very early. Just because you have a ticket does not mean you will get in. They hand out more tickets than what they will actually seat. The line to the show starts forming around 2:00-3:00 am. One of my co-workers attended and interviewed for the show last year. She did not get picked. Oh well!
I wish you better luck!
Hope this helps.
Annika