Planes trains and automobiles - USA summer, are we mad?

bPeteb · Jun 28, 2019

I just checked our email and we booked these flights last August. DSC offer was on so needed to find points flights to SFO for my partner before booking paid J for me. Two weeks after we booked sale to USA - $2k cheaper. This status chasing thing is expensive!

Since then we’ve booked just about everything we need/want to. We wanted to travel to or from NYC/San Fran on the California Zephyr and ended up with from NYC. On top of the cross-country train our musts for this trip were a visit to Boston, return visits to DC and Chicago, some more Frank Lloyd Wright, maybe baseball in NYC but most importantly Yellowstone.

The itinerary –

QF J BNE-SYD then SYD-SFO (top deck row 14)

San Francisco, three nights (including July 4)

AA F SFO-ORD then ORD-BOS

Boston, three nights

Amtrak Acela Boston-NYC

New York City, nine nights (The Caledonian Chelsea, direct High Line access!)

NYC – pre-booked Yankees v Blue Jays, Statue of Liberty with crown

Amtrak Acela NYC-Washington DC

Washington DC, one night

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, in DC for 50th anniversary lunar landing

Drive DC-Ohiopyle, PA

Ohiopyle, one night

Drive Ohiopyle-Pittsburgh

Fallingwater, Kentuck Knob, Polymath Park, Flight 93 Memorial, Warhol Museum

Amtrak Capital Limited, Pittsburgh-Chicago, roomette

Chicago, one night

Amtrak California Zephyr, Chicago-Salt Lake City, roomette

Salt Lake City, one night

DL Y SLC-JAC, drive Jackson Hole to Yellowstone

Yellowstone three nights then back to Jackson Hole

DL Y JAC-SLC, Amtrak California Zephyr, SLC-Emeryville, roomette

San Francisco, one a bit nights

QF J, SFO-SYD (upper deck, row 14) then J SYD-BNE

Take off Tuesday

TomVexille · Jun 28, 2019

Oooh, California Zephyr is on my list of things I want to do. Interested to hear what you think.

VPS · Jun 28, 2019

Looks great except for the weather. Love your TR and get lots of ideas. Happy trails

Major · Jun 28, 2019

Looking forward to your Amtrak reviews

NoName · Jun 28, 2019

Looking forward to the report!

kookaburra75 · Jun 28, 2019

TomVexille said:
Oooh, California Zephyr is on my list of things I want to do. Interested to hear what you think.

Ditto - the whole itinerary looks great. I'm looking forward to the Trip Report as well

drron · Jun 28, 2019

Well my initial answer on seeing the title of your thread was....yes!
But that's a great itinerary.I hope you like the PA driving.We did that in reverse in March 2002.So the Flight 93 memorial was basically a field of wreaths with a fenced off big hole.Couldn't stop crying.
But Fallingwater is definitely one of the highlights of our trips to the USA.
July 4th and the 50th Anniversary of the lunar landing should be highlights as well.

bPeteb · Jun 28, 2019

Thanks drron. I was a mess in NYC in 2005. I'd spent a lot of time at WTC and WFC in 1992 and the destruction and smell of smoke must made me a blubbering mess.

bPeteb · Jul 2, 2019

We're jinxed. Called to board QF529 to SYD and then we just stood on the aerobridge.

People started turning around and apparently the captain had said to go back to the lounge.

So here we sit. Boarding hopefully at 1:35. Valuable Flounging time being wasted!!!

bPeteb · Jul 2, 2019

We ended up departing about 45 minutes late and at the gate, after an arrival from the south, 30 minutes late. Transfer bus waiting, zero lines at immigration, on our second glass of Mumm rose. All is good in the world

bPeteb · Jul 4, 2019

I'm sure the priority queue was add long as the normal one but saying that also pretty sure most of the people in that line weren't in the right one. First world problem...

We were both very excited to walk up those steps to the upper deck. 14K and J. One family of six up there! Two great 'older' FAs. Both desperately sad that the 747s are being retired next year. I'm sure one hinted she'd first worked on one in 1984!

We'd pre-ordered and food order had stuck. I slept ok, partner not so much. Both a bit hot I think. We'll remember that for the return.

No coriander warning in the description!!

bPeteb · Jul 4, 2019

Breakfast. My odd looking poached eggs were actually very nice.

We'd left Sydney about 20 minutes late but made that up and landed on time. Then we sat on the taxi way for maybe 15 minutes then our gate was still occupied and sat waiting for it as well so it was 2:30 by the time we walked off.

Immigration took about 30 minutes all up. My bag was waiting so Murray have come out first, but it took another 30 for partner's bag to finally get to the carousel

Used the airport wifi to book an Uber from level 3. We were at our hotel right on 4

View from room 201 of The Metro Hotel

bPeteb · Jul 6, 2019

Metro Hotel was/is super cheap - USD136 plus taxes per night. We don't need fancy five star with fawning staff and acres of room that we just won't use. We want good location, friendly staff and a comfy bed and with a 24 bus outside, and a block from Haight, Metro had all three.

There are four rooms on the front of the hotel facing Divisadero and ours was on the top floor. Queen size bed, desk under window with a couple of chairs, compact bathroom with a ship sized shower and great full size Trader Joe toiletries. No aircon, just a fan. If it was hot these four rooms would suffer from road noise as soon as you open the double glazed windows. The rooms at the back would be better from a noise, or lack of, perspective.

A little oasis at the back of the hotel

bPeteb · Jul 6, 2019

We got changed and started wandering. The Painted Ladies were only a few blocks away, tick.

Then back in the opposite direction to Haight-Ashbury and Cha Cha Cha that had come highly recommended by friends. It was excellent, and we ate too much. Way too much. Sangria was also excellent (USD35!). I'm converting everything in my head thinking hell this is expensive but it is what it is. If we can't afford it we don't have it. We can afford it...

These shrimp were amazing! Calamari fantastic. Cheese quesadilla just wow.

as were those little chillies

we didn't need this delicious pork, or the equally delicious potatoes...

We were nowhere near tired so thought some local brews would help with that. Two blocks down Divisadero was Bean Bag Cafe with an excellent seven hour happy hour. We tried one or more of these...

bPeteb · Jul 7, 2019

No breakfast offered at the Metro so we went back down the road to Bean Bag Cafe and had some ordinary coffee and some giant bowls of granola, fruit and yoghurt.

Then we walked to Golden Gate Park via the beautiful streets of Haight-Ashbury,

entering via the fuchsia grove.

saw our first squirrels

bPeteb · Jul 7, 2019

More of the gardens and another squirrel in Golden Gate Park

on the way to the California Academy of Sciences.

We didn't visit the de Young, amazing building but what was on didn't appeal.

The de Young taken from the living roof of the CAofS

Flower power lives on...

and a giant red fire engine outside of the CAofS

bPeteb · Jul 7, 2019

We really enjoyed the California Academy of Sciences, except for the price - USD40! Kids and pensioners were in the $30s. I saw one senior look at the ticket price and turn away saying "this is too expensive for me."

Very much a learning experience for kids but great exhibits for adults as well - a rainforest with butterflies, a huge aquarium, that you walked over, through and under and finally the amazing living roof.

bPeteb · Jul 7, 2019

We'd each bought a couple of one day muni tickets via the muni apps on our phones. They were US$5 each. They gave us a full day of travel on buses, trains and trolley buses but not street cars. We've done the street car thing so it wasn't worth the additional 7.50 per ticket. All you did was activate the ticket before you got on whatever mode of transport, and then that was it. No tagging on or anything. Super easy and great value considering single journeys were, I think, 2.75.

Golden Gate Park is a long way from downtown SF and the wharf area so we caught the first bus that pulled up at the CAofS. We had no idea where it was going and thought we'd made a mistake when we saw it was going to Richmond and new it was over the bridge. Wrong Richmond. It took us right to the number 1 bus and that took us all the way downtown to Embarcadero.

We did a lot of walking and neither of our legs/feet were up to it. Mine have never really been the same since I became Mr Titanium Toes. My poor partner had fallen down our stairs at home two weeks before we left and badly sprained his ankle (it could have been far worse) and it is heavily strapped. We could have made better use of our muni tickets down by the waterfront.

Queen Liz in town

Instead we walked from the Hyatt all the way to the gorgeous art deco Maritime Museum, with stops for lunch, walks out along a couple of piers

bPeteb · Jul 7, 2019

and a visit to the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park and its collection of ships and boats.

bPeteb · Jul 8, 2019

We caught one of the beautiful trolley buses back to the Castro. They even have at least Melbourne tram running the line along the wharves and up to the Castro.