redsoleslady

Hi all, I'm a 27yo female solo traveller from Jakarta going to spend summer in west coast, I need comments from experts on my itinerary below:

13 July arrive LAX by SQ eta 13.25pm
Stay in Santa Monica for a week
21 July morning go to Anaheim by Amtrak from Union Station to Anaheim, planning to do Disneyland for full three days (park hopper or no park hopper? worth the 40dollars?)
24 July morning go to San Diego by Amtrak from Anaheim to SD Santa Fe (stay in Little Italy), planning to visit Zoo, Balboa Park, La Jolla, and town sightseeing within full 3 days (enough time? do I need to visit OB?)
27 July morning fly to Las Vegas, NEED ADVICE WHERE TO STAY, budget for room only USD500nett for 3 nights (Options: Trump, Monte Carlo, MGM Grand), I need to know which has more pro than cons, location wise, dining option, swimming pool, etc. My initial plan is to stay one night in ARIA then 2 nights in Monte Carlo, good idea or not? I'm gonna take one day to visit GC national park via Airplane (9.5hrs total trip), looking to book at Papillon company, does anyone know or has comments on this company?
30 July afternoon fly to SF, stay in Union Square area (Maybe Nikko), plan to do city sightseeing, Alcatraz at night (is it ok to do this alone or better do the daylight time?), day trip to Yosemite during stay in SF (must do), day trip to Monterey Bay (worth it? to do or not as I only have like 4 and a half day in SF and one day already dedicated for Yosemite?)
3 Aug very late at night fly back home from SFO (My flight is actually on the 4th at 01.15am, how far ahead I should go from my hotel in downtown to the airport? take BART or taxi for safety reason?)

I need savvy tips and travel advice for my trip above from locals and destination experts.
Many thanks in advance!

redsoleslady

SORRY, I DUNNO HOW TO EDIT OR DELETE MY POST ABOVE BUT HERE'S THE EDITED VERSION:

13 July arrive LAX by SQ eta 13.25pm
Stay in Santa Monica for a week

21 July morning go to Anaheim by Amtrak from Union Station to Anaheim, planning to do Disneyland for full three days (is 3 full days too much for Disneyland California? This is my 1st time here, I've been to Disneyland Paris, completed in 2 full days and also for Disneyland HK done in 2 full days)

24 July morning go to San Diego by Amtrak from Anaheim to SD Santa Fe (stay in Little Italy), planning to visit Zoo, Balboa Park, La Jolla, and town sightseeing within full 3 days (enough time? do I need to visit OB?)

27 July morning fly to Las Vegas, NEED ADVICE HERE:
I will stay in ARIA for 2 nights, on 29th super early morning at 06.30am (hotel pick up at 4.30am) I'm gonna take one day to visit GC national park via Airplane (9.5hrs total trip), looking forward to book at Papillon company, does anyone know or has comments on this company? I will have to catch 10pm flight out LAS to SFO on that day.

29 July last flight to SF by Southwest, gonna be out SFO around 1.15am (depends on the check luggage wait time), plan to take cab to my hotel (is it easy and safe to catch a cab so late in SF? are they waiting on the taxi stand at such timing? how can I know that the driver won't take me around the city to charge me more like most taxi driver in Paris? how much we should tip for such trip?), am gonna stay in Union Square area that's near BART Powell St (Maybe Nikko), I plan to do city sightseeing, Alcatraz at night (is it ok to do this alone or better do the daylight time?), day trip to Yosemite during stay in SF (must do), day trip to Monterey Bay (worth it? to do or not as I only have like 4 and a half day in SF and one day already dedicated for Yosemite?)

3 Aug very late at night fly back home from SFO (My flight is actually on the 4th at 01.15am, how far ahead I should go from my hotel in downtown to the airport? I plan to arrive in SFO at 10pm, is it ok? take BART or taxi for safety reason? how long is the trip from downtown to SFO by BART vs by cab?)

I need savvy tips and travel advice for my trip above from locals and destination experts.
Many thanks in advance!

janisj

Just a couple of quick notes right now. Disneyland/California Adventure is larger than DL Paris. I love DL but 1 days was enough for me for DL Paris. . . So IF you actually needed 2 days for Paris, then yes you'll want 3 days there. But I honestly think devoting one full day to Disneyland and one day to Calif Adventure should be enough. Especially traveling solo since you can use the single rider queue for some of the more popular rides.

The parks will be crowded though so doing 3 days with some breaks would definitely be reasonable.

With your short time in SF I'd only do the Yosemite day trip and forget about Monterey. You can see some of the same sorts of things in SF without traveling all the way to Monterey.

MichelleY

Agree with Janis. Since you don't have a car, all the best stuff to see in the Monterey area would be difficult and frustrating. Concentrate on SF.

sf7307

Adding - it's perfectly fine to take the Alcatraz Night Tour alone. You won't be alone on the boat or the tour, and you can get back to your hotel by public transport, taxi or Uber very easily. Doesn't the last night tour go out at 6:30 or so? You'll be back in time for dinner.

tomfuller

Is there an earlier flight out of Las Vegas that goes to Oakland? A taxi to your hotel is always safer than walking to your hotel from a BART station that may have some homeless people.
The other option for a solo traveler would be to take the Amtrak bus to Bakersfield and the San Joaquin train to Merced and a YARTS bus into Yosemite.
Leaving Yosemite, the YARTS bus brings you back to the Merced Amtrak station for a San Joaquin train that will take you to Emeryville or Oakland with a bus over to San Francisco (several different stops).

janisj

>>Is there an earlier flight out of Las Vegas that goes to Oakland? A taxi to your hotel is always safer than walking to your hotel from a BART station that may have some homeless people.

janisj

That is not to say I still wouldn't try for an earlier flight . . . I hate arriving at a hotel at 2AM and trying to get a decent night's sleep.

But a taxi will be perfectly safe.

jamie99

Just make sure that the tour to Grand Canyon does not go to Grand Canyon West which is a tourist trap and not part of the National Park.

redsoleslady

Sorry for the late reply guys, last night I just got robbed after work, so I have to sort things out for a while.

Anyway thanks for the reply, the only thing that made me take such late flight is because of the 9.5hrs trip to GC south rim via airplane, I calculated that the tour is done at around 4 or 5pm and there's no southwest flight leaving at 7pm to SFO on the 29th.

I kinda feel the timing is a bit off with my schedule, all because of San Diego trip, I can go there earlier than 24th (due to ComiCon, no availability of hotel for the night of 23 to 24), do you think I should shortened my trip in SD to 24, 25, and leave vegas at 26 so I can take earlier flight on the 29th?

Or the other unfavourable option is to skip GC NP altogether which is like my super last resort, so I can take earlier flight to SF. But SF locals, do u think taking cab at 2am from the airport ok or not so sure?

janisj

Sorry about the robbery - hope things are OK.

I'd leave thing as they are but Just stay in Vegas that night. Instead of a very late flight, take an early AM flight to SFO the next morning. If your room isn't ready yet the hotel will hold your luggage until later in the day.

You won't lose any sightseeing time in San Francisco since you wouldn't start out until the morning of the 30th anyway.

Plus rooms are MUCH cheaper in Vegas than in SF so you will save $$ with one more night in LV and one less in SF.

redsoleslady

Yes I'm fine, thanks @janisj

Yes, I will follow your advice on staying in LV, will arrive SF on the 30

dbdurand

Hi. I’ve read all the posts in this thread and have a few comments.

I note that you have wisely chosen central locations for your visits to San Diego and San Francisco. But you are planning to “stay” in Santa Monica for a week. I’m guessing that you are thinking of using SM as a base for seeing the sights in the LA metropolitan area . This is not an unusual strategy. But I grind my teeth every time I read it. Santa Monica is about as far west from the center of most of the LA attractions that you can get without falling into the ocean. I suggest you think hard about this.

Since you will be using public transportation, I suggest you consider locating near the center or not too far from the center of the subway and light rail system. That would be Union Station in downtown LA. But anywhere along the red (subway) line would work.

You might want to take a look at maps of the Metro system at this site.

https://www.metro.net/riding/maps/

redsoleslady

@dbdurand Thanks for your advice, will take into consideration! I'm still hoping that the metro Expo line extension to downtown Santa Monica will be done somewhere in May, which just in time for my July trip

My main concern to not stay in Hollywood is due to safety feeling that everyone suggest for me as a lone female traveller to no stay in Hollywood (not saying Hollywood is dangerous or anything but they said SM is way nicer place for female solo traveller). My initial plan is to split my stay half half hollywood and SM but after long consideration, I decide to just based in one place. As for staying in Downtown LA, again, I dunno how safe/walkable it is at 9-10ish pm and the attraction is kinda lacking compared to Hollywood or Santa Monica. Beverly Hills is long gone from my consideration due to budget.

Jean

IMO, you would need to take the same care staying in Santa Monica as you would in Hollywood, but it's all in the location of your lodging and where you intend to walk. There are parts of both that I would not walk alone in at night.

I think DTLA is as safe as either SM or H, and it has good public transportation to all parts of LA. We attend evening concerts and plays in DTLA, usually parking once and walking between restaurants and the theaters. We're never alone on the sidewalks, and there is traffic passing by at all hours. I'm not sure what "attractions" you're seeking, but DTLA has multiple museums, performing arts venues, ethnic neighborhoods, interesting open spaces, etc. What it doesn't have much of is shopping that would interest tourists and much lodging in the modest budget range, although things are improving in both.

jamie99

Target date for the Expo completion to Santa Monica is May 20.

SeaUrchin

A woman walking alone at night in SM, LA or Hollywood is taking a risk. There are people around but a lone woman who doesn't know the area stands out. Walking around as a couple is a whole different story, many times safer.

People may approach you for money or who knows what. Keep your eyes open and your wits about you at night and in some places in the daytime too.

There are a lot of mentally ill people on the streets as well as
those without good intentions.

I hope you have a safe wonderful trip.

redsoleslady

@SeaUrchin Thanks for the tips! Will not go out alone after 21.30ish

Surfergirl

A quick note on the Expo line. It HAS been completed for some time now and Metro is simply doing the testing of the rail line and each of the streets that are being crossed at grade level . . . making sure the barricades go down and the signalization is working properly.

If it ends up like the opening date for the other lines (or phase 1 of the Expo Line), the maximum delay would be about 2 weeks.

This past week there has been testing going on where the Expo line currently ends (at Robertson in Culver City), and conducting timing and other issues. So the train that comes into the Culver City station is taken out of service at that point, before moving onto the new segment for testing.

This has been super rough on commuters because it causes a lot of delay going to and from downtown. For example, I was on my way to the Sports Arena Thursday evening, and we had to wait at the Culver City station longer than anticipated for the second train, since they took the first train that arrived out of service for testing. Then yesterday, I took it downtown to go to the Broad Museum, and had an absolutely miserable wait later that afternoon at 7th & Figueroa (where the train ends) due to rush hour because the blue line runs on the same line right there. A 45 minute wait and there are NO seats on the platform. It was hot, tiring, and just awful with crowds of people waiting.

Not to mention the fact that they have absolutely NO people manning the stations; my senior tap card refused to let me in through the barricade (I must have accidently tapped it twice); then thinking it wasn't working because it needed money, I went to reload it and instead of it telling me to tap to reload after I used my credit card, it shot me out a new regular tap card (deducting an extra $1 for the card) and cost me another $1.75 when I tapped the card because it wasn't a senior card! No one there to sort it out. And I did have $14 left on my senior tap card. Well, I'm just going to give the regular one to my son rather than waste the $18.25 left on the card.

Point being, if you are a visitor, and since the vending machines are not easy to understand, find someone that uses the machine all the time waiting to reload his or her tap card to assist you (not me though, since I clearly did something wrong!).

janisj

Hi Surfergirl.

I know LA pretty well though I don't get down there as often as I used to . . . But (just me mind you) just the thought of visiting LA w/o a car gives me palpitations