julie1808

I have booked a holiday in US November/December - we arrive on 27 November 2009 at 7am - now someone has told me that this is Thanksgiving....is that right? And if so, can anyone recommend a great place in Los Angeles for thanksgiving dinner? We are staying in Hollywood so somewhere close to there would be good....will be a bit jetlagged after 13 hour flight from Australia. Thanks. All I really know about thanksgiving is eating Turkey, pumpkin pie and watching a ballgame!!

utahtea

Hate to break this to you, but Thanksgiving is the forth Thursday of the month, so this year Thanksgiving Day is November 26th.

You will be here on Black Friday. Black Friday is a term for the Friday after Thanksgiving in the United States, which is the beginning of the traditional Holiday shopping season. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping)

Utahtea

julie1808

Thankyou Utahtea - obviously whoever told me was looking at last year's date. Well, the start of the shopping season sounds pretty good to me!!

kelliebellie

Thanksgiving weekend is the busiest US travel weekend of the year. You will be fine at the airport, but if you still need to make reservations for a car, hotel, etc., I would get on that!

That weekend is a wonderful shopping weekend. Great deals to be had on electronics especially. I always stock up on camera memory cards at that time. Stores will be busy though.

kelliebellie

Oh, and don't plan any long drives on that Sunday, Nov. 29. Everyone will be going home and the roads will be crowded.

julie1808

Thankyou for that great info - my 16 year old daughter is very keen to buy an iphone and macbook while we are in US - seem to be a lot cheaper there than they are here in Australia. Is it likely they will be on sale on that day? Apple stuff hardly ever goes on sale here. Also, does anyone know the best shopping place to go on that black Friday in Hollywood or near to Hollywood which is where we will be staying - shopping for stuff like clothes, electronic stuff, homewares etc.

kelliebellie

There are whole websites dedicated to Black Friday. They publish the ads and good deals in advance. Obviously they aren't really running now, but will be during the month of November. Sample site:

http://www.blackfriday.info/

One of the big sale ideas for that weekend is the "doorbuster" special. They will have special prices and deals for coming in early. On that Friday, stores will actually open at like 5 or 6 am and special prices will only go until 11 or noon for example. Now the really, really good stuff will only be available for the first few customers. They will only have like 2 of that thing in stock and people actually line up Thursday night outside the store. But doorbusters will be going on all weekend, so read the fine print in the ads about the hours that something is on sale or the hours that you can get an additional discount on merchandise.

I don't know whether the Apple stuff goes on sale. The only problem with buying electronics here is are the voltages different? You will have to check with Apple about prolonged running of an American notebook in Australia.

Another way that I've been shopping Black Friday is on-line. Are you bringing a laptop or will you have access to one once here? A lot of stores, especially Best Buy, have been putting their great deals on-line which means you can shop at any time and not have to deal with crowds. You are staying long enough to have them shipped to you at your hotel, you should just look into using an Australian credit card on their website.

kelliebellie

And just to clarify, you don't have to rush to the mall from the airport. Originally Black Friday was just the one day, but retailers have expanded it to include the whole weekend. There is even Cyber Monday where a lot of retailers put their good deals on-line on the Monday after Thanksgiving to get everyone that is back at work by their computers.

The best, best deals will be Thursday very early morning, but again, those are very limited to just the first few people in the store or to the first hour or two of the shopping.

emalloy

One more hint. If you want an American credit card, you can get one that you pay for with traveler's checks or cash at all the large chains. They will have a limit of what ever you put on them and no one can charge more than the amount you have on them. There is a cost for setting one up but you won't have to worry that someone is using your Australian card numbers and your not finding out until it is too late to do anything about it.

sf7307

Apple stuff never goes on sale (once in awhile, you might find a $50.00 off coupon), however, they just announced reduced prices for the iPhone (the "lowest" version will now be available for $99USD) and Macbooks (price reduced $300USD).

Give us the specs for the iphone and Macbook, and someone here will know the price in the US.

NewbE

Chiming in to say that Apple stuff never goes on sale here, either, not even on Black Friday.

Dukey

I assume you are not traveling by air anywhere on the 29th (Sunday after the holiday) which is one of, if not THE busiest air travel days of the year in the US and perhaps almost as bad on the roads.

I assume you have seen the newest IPhone which is about to hit the stores.

sf7307

Aren't the iphones in the US still "tied" to AT&T? I'm not sure it would even work in Australia.

DebitNM

Where are you staying in Hollywood? Will you be renting a car?

kelliebellie

The $99 iPhone price will only be offered if you get the two year service agreement with AT&T. But I do believe you can buy "unlocked" iPhones and hook them to your own service plan, but they cost several hundred dollars more. Again, some advanced research will be needed. The other thing to look into is if the warranties are valid globally or if they are tied to the countries of purchase.

julie1808

Thanks so much for all of that great info- sorry to take so long to say thanks - my computer's been broken. When you live on the other side of the world, it really is great to be able to get the insider track on things!!
So thanks so much for all your help, Julie