Do You have any good travel tips?
That depends on what kind of things you like doing. Do you like visiting typical tourist sites? Light Outdoor activities? Fine dining? Just sitting out at the beach? Mountaineering?
If you can give some guidance on what you consider fun I can offer some suggestions. Without knowing your entertainment tastes though, I'd end up giving you a list of what I like to do.
Basically the same kind of things as discussed here: http://www.sc-resources.net/viewtopic.php?t=25625
You wrote Califonia - now that's a pretty broad term... More specifically where are you planing to go? I might be able to come with a few tips on San Diego and San Francisco.
If you don't mind being on the road, then take your rental from San Diego in the South up past Los Angeles, all the way to San Francisco - and as much as possible keep to the coastal line and Highway 1 (Highway 101, where 1 is not possible)... My girlfriend and me road that trip just in february and I can just say that the scenary is amasing - especially up by Big Sur, just before SF. Highly recommendable, but calculate it as a 2 days journey, so count on a stop along the way (properly just somewhere around San Luis Obispo).
Another thing around California, is Yosemite Park... We didn't have the time this trip though, but I've heard that it should be worth a visit too. By the way just next to Yosemite (well, 100 km or so
Best regards,
Michael
How safe is it to take a ride for a couple of days if You have not made a hotel reservation in advance? Whats the recommended approach?
In february it was absolutely no problem, but then again that was of season... Actually the only place we had reservation was in San Diego, but that was only since I had already been there a week for Change training before my girlfriend arrived.
Along the route, we stayed at Madonna Inn (www.madonnainn.com), which was more or less empty and was willing to accept a much lower rate. And in both San Francisco and Los Angeles, we just stayed at normal Travellodge motels (in the neighborhood of Pacific Heigths in SF and Santa Monica in LA).
Best regards,
Michael
Found these few links in my favorites, from when I planned the trip along Highway 1... Might be of interest?!
http://www.bitrot.de/bike_sfla.html
http://www.superpages.com/holidays/summer02/route1.html
http://www.byways.org/travel/byway.html?CX_BYWAY=2301
http://www.twodown.com/coasttrip/8-18/8-18.htm
http://www.travel-notes.org/pch.html
http://www.cs.brown.edu/people/asf/pch.html
Btw: a couple of experiences along the route to definately point out is:
- Malibu beach
- Solvang just close to San Luis (a must-see for a dane, I guess
- the Madonna Inn, where everything is a "bit" too much
- a very large sea elephant colony on the beach just somewhere between San Luis and Big Sur.
- big sur in general
- the 17 mile drive
- San Francisco, Alcatraz, ChinaTown, Japanese Tea Garden, etc.
Best regards,
Michael
One thing to be aware of if you're planning on driving north along the coast from San Diego.
Between San Diego and the very nice coastal areas to the north lies ... Los Angeles.
If you're planning on driving through LA, make *really* certain that none of your travel time overlaps 7:00 AM-9:30 AM or 3:00 PM-7:00 PM on a weekday. You haven't seen traffic until you've been in the LA basin in rush hour.
Heh... We were lucky to miss out on the infamous LA trafic while we were there - but more by luck than planning I guess...
However we were not that lucky all the trip, cause when we were heading back to LA from SF, the I-5 was closed of due to heaving rain, which had caused a mudslide across the interstate somewhere in the Hollywood Hills... So the drive ended up being like 6-7 hours longer than planned due to the detour and the miles worth of traficjam in the rushhour :-?
Best regards,
Michael
Most of the good points have been taken already.
Muir woods, just north of San Francisco, are really terrific. You feel like you're back in the middle of the forest in Return of the Jedi ;-)
It's not huge but easily accessed as I recall.
There another large state park north of San Fran, with a lighthouse along the sea.I enjoyed that part too.
Alcataz is fun, so is pier 39, with a genuine wwii Gato-type sub and the last Liberty/Victory ship that is still operationnal.
Big Sur is fun, though after a few dozen "wows" it becomes kind of repetitive, we wound up heading back inland and going through restricted terrain in an Army Base.
Once you're in the desert you can occasionnally see fighter planes on exercises.
Overall California is fun, but you want to avoid urban areas, they are enormously huge. I'd bet the San Francisco/San Jose metropolitan area is bigger than the island Copenhagen is on.
Oh, and you might to check for reservations, if you're going ton San Fran in August or September.
Check up on the weather in that case. California has a reputation for being warm that isn't really deserved. Back in 1991 or so I was there and was amazed at not finding any decent beaches in the LA area ! But go 50 kilometers inland and it can be very, very hot. But then it's the desert and there are no beaches !Originally Posted by tommy
San Francisco isn't very warm, and doesn't get to its summer high until August/September (which is why the tourist season there is later than the norm).
Well, California is a land of contrasts. The beach is too cold and the desert is too hot, or at least that was my experience in Southern CaliforrniaWell I don't want it too hot. I guess I will get a hint 28/5 when I goto Synergy
The is nothing as surprising as being in some very, very hot weather in the middle of the desert, and then stepping out of the pool and being very, very cold because of the water evaporating - but within minutes you're dry as can be.
For San Fran the weather in late August was great, but not hot enough for swimming in the ocean.
You'll want to keep in mind you're going from one of the safest places in the world (Denmark!) to one of the most criminal areas.... in San Francisco I wouldn't want to walk at night outside of the tourist areas.
Hmm... Can tell you what it's going to be during the next week
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/city...ionID=USCA0982
High 60s to low 70s along the coast during the day. Mid 50s at night. Possible morning fog or coast effect overcast, usually burning off by mid day.
Inland mid 80s or low 90s during the day. Low 60s at night. Pretty much sunny all the time.
Peregrine is near the coast, so expect the former set of temperatures.
Of course, anyone from outside the US will need to find a website to convert those into Celsius, otherwise it doesn't mean much.
I still think it's hilarious that the US is the only country still really using the British Imperial System...
[quote="PaulG"]That's all right. We still find it hilarious that the rest of the world thinks we care.
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