USA San Francisco and New York.

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Bundy Bear

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It had been 7 years since I was last in the US so I was keen to see how things had changed or not changed now that Trump was in charge.

I was traveling with a friend who had never been to the US before and their only requirement was to spend up to a week in each location, so that ruled out and mileage running.
In the end chose 6 nights in San Francisco and 7 nights in New York,

Flights to and from the US were on Qantas economy, I used a voucher although I had to phone as you can't make open jaw returns, online. I was flying into San Francisco but flying out from Dallas. I had purchased the cheapest economy to get to the US but purchased a more flexible ticket from the US to improve my upgrade chances.
Brisbane to Sydney was the usual Qantas snack service offering,

If you are looking to do a refund do the refund online here: My TRS Claim

The Qantas international business lounge in Sydney was decent, not too crowded, the First lounge is obviously better but not worth the extra money and time to chase the status when your flights are self funded, I chose flights with a 2hr 30 minute window in Sydney which gave us less than an hourin in the lounge as we spent almost 30 minutes in the TRS queue for the GST refund, I wouldn't choose less than 2 hours when connecting in Sydney unless there was no other choice. I did walk past the Qantas First Class Lounge and got to say hello to Nestor.

The flight to San Francisco was almost full, there were only 3 spare seats none next to us. I had chosen aislie and window with the middle spare which remained open until the 24 hour mark when check in opened and that meant someone took the middle seat. We kept our seats and were lucky on the Sydney San Francisco flight there was a young woman who sat between us who slept for 8 hours and didn't take up much space, some people like their windows and others prefer the aislie. Sydney to San Francisco was lunch then a snack about 6 hours in and then breakfast 2 hours from landing which I think was rather good. Also only found this by accident that there is a small self serve area which had some food but also had eye masks and toothbrushs/toothpaste available.
 
Enjoy San Francisco, one of my favourite cities in the US. Please have an Anchor Steam beer and Ghirardelli. If you aren't on Yelp for reviews of everything... download it now. And please hang off the side of the Cable Car as it races down California St ... before they ban it for "public safety". Yes, I'm living vicariously :)
 
Already back home OzEire, I thought I would add a quick trip report to give people some ideas, with Facebook so much is already added about the trip that the urge to do a separate trip report can be hard work and time consuming.

Easier to add some thoughts once I am home and time to reflect, to help other users in their planning.

San Francisco.

I had purchased a T-mobile sim card for $55.00 + $20 shipping from Simcorner in NSW. this gave me 4gb of internet. This became particularly handy as San Francisco and again in New York it assisted you in your travels, walking, driving but also public transport options. The other useful option of the data is that you didn't have to print anyhing out; you could just show the tour operator your email or pdf pass, on your phone.

I had 2 phones although only carried my usual phone with the Tmobile sim and my spare phone had the Australian Telstra sim card was left in the hotel.

San Francisco airport has free wifi perfect for checking emails checking in on Facebook.

We picked up a 7 days MUNI pass at an information counter at San Francisco airport; $42.00 but only payable in cash, the pass covers the trams, buses and trolley cars in San Francisco but the ticket doesn't cover BART.

Buying a ticket from BART use youtube to show you how. https://youtu.be/Kyl2g11KSqc

Accommodation in San Francisco was not cheap, around US$200 a night was the starting price, I chose a place in the Mission/Castro area recommended by another AFF member.
I googled trip advisor to see what attractions were popular.

I pre booked a few events, tour to Alcatraz, a Big Bus tour, pick one you might like, a walking tour, the hightlight for me was a sail on an old Americas Cup boat.

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Even managed to catch up with a AFFer member when they were in town and even caught up with a few FT members as well.

After 6 days in San Francisco we flew to Newark, as it was an early morning flight caught uber, with Uber in the US the first default option is ride share so if you don't want to have to share the ride with someone else you best select the 2nd option.
 
New York

The flight was on Virgin America from SFO to Newark, there were options to JFK(New York) but I was more familiar with Newark and we were spending the first 2 nighs at the Hilton Newark Penn Station.
To get around New York we used the 7 day pass; which is USD $33.00 which is unlimited rides on buses and the subway. The 7 days pass doesn't include PATH, New Jersey Transit or the New York Waterways vessels.

Accommodation in New York is terribly expensive, as soon as you know your travel dates try and lock in some flexible bookings; as I was seeing $250-400 USD a night, I ended up booking 2 night at the Hilton Newark Penn Station ($139 a night) and then 5 nights at the Bentley Hotel which was on 62nd street, prices for the Bentley hotel were averaging between $150-$200 a night.
New York would be a good place to use points on accommodation.

I did a lot of planning but didn't book anything until I got to New York, as I got lazy in the planning stages but it was also good with summer the first few days were warm and humid before it cooled down then started to rain on my final day.

911/Museum was excellent great to visit when the weather is hot, as was the American Museum of Natural History, I guess my favourite part was seeing the statue of Liberty up close, yes I know you can view the statue of liberty on the ferry going to Staten Island but nothing beats seeing it up close.

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Some broadway shows were also prebooked, if you only have a limited time and have a show you particularly want to see then yes you could prebook but if you are there for a week or a bit longer than wait until you arrive and see what is available.

In a previous visit I did go up the Empire State Building and visited Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.

My travel partner was heading to the UK while I was heading to Dallas.

My flight out of New York was on Virgin America from La Guardia which you can access by using the F train to Jackson Heights Roosevelt station then transfer to the Q70 bus to La Guardia, with your Metro card you need to get another ticket for the bus. which you then show that to the driver, just remember to take out said ticket from pocket when going through security or you will get an extra pat down.

After 24 hours in Dallas catching up with relatives it was time to head home on Qantas QF8 17 hours is a long time on a plane; lucky my upgrade came through at the last minute as 24 hours out it was showing 0 in PE and J and 1 seat in F.

I also received a text to say the flight was delayed and then I did receive a follow up phone call from Qantas asking if I was aware of the flight delay, 1hr 45 minutes, so it was good to have the 2nd phone to receive calls if only I checked it occasionally.

Flight home in business was awesome, I don't want to know what it was like in economy although lucky it appeared to be only 50% full.

The US trip was good but expensive, the weather was cooler in San Francisco than I expected but it was hotter in New York than I expected. As it was summer I wore a Fremantle Dockers cap but I need to find something that has a brim, so a hat not a cap but caps pack so well and easier to take off and carry.

In San Francisco and also in New York you can find laundries who will do your washing for you for a reasonable price.

Before the trip I signed up for a 28degree mastercard which saved a bit of conversions but you don't get any points so it was a bit of a trade off. I might have to finish off with a table on the differences in exchange rates.

In New York the traffic was insane, I didn't believe it could be so bad, better to walk or take the subway.

Thanks for reading,
 
Great and practical info, especially re. transit options.

I found the US cities excellent for "wash n fold" same day laundry paid by the lb. Cheap (particularly compared with crazy hotel prices) and efficient.

Also recommend Laundry Locker (SFO, not sure about NYC), its an app - well you are basically in Silicon Valley after all - directs you to lockers in local office/apartment buildings, enter a code from the app to lodge and retrieve your laundry, app notification and SMS when its ready to collect...PayPal deducted after it is returned, and you get a receipt via email. I was happy to lose a few sox / jox on a trial, not essential jeans for rest of the trip, but it worked brilliantly every time.
 
Good report - nice to catch up in NYC.

I have done the Q70/Subway both ways, as well as using the LIRR.
 
Love the Dockers gear.... luckily it wasnt another sinking ship :)
 
Just thought I would post some details on the different exchange rates used by my 3 primary cards.

Amex
$83.00$113.670.730
Amex
$60.19$82.480.730
Amex
$27.39$37.480.731





28Degree
$42.00$55.850.752
28Degree
$71.25$94.030.758
28Degree
$38.00$50.460.753





Westpac
$37.00$50.900.727
Westpac
$76.00$104.650.726
Westpac
$385.43$530.760.726

As you can tell that 28 degrees mastercard had the best exchange rate although that comes with no points.

American Express just out did the Westpac Mastercard/American Express combination.

The interest free period on the 28 degrees can be up to 55 days, where the Westpac is 45 days similar to the American Express card.
 
Few other things to mention was that helps to know which direction you are wanting to travel on the subway.

In New York City uptown is north Down town and Brooklyn are south and the east.

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Also when using Uber the default is ride share.

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You have to unselect pool and use the other tab to get your own ride.

Also if looking to use wifi onboard almost always best to pre order it, who doesn't post on Facebook telling their friends you are flying at 39,000 feet.
 
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We just spent 8 nights in NYC, 3 nights in DC (incl 4th July) and am about to head to Boston for a couple of nights as we speak. I bought the prepaid US 4Gb Sim card that was mentioned above but directly from Sim Corner at T1 Syd airport saving the $20 shipping fee (ps T mobile is the carrier and you get 1 hour free Gogo Wifi on board AA flights: using it now ;)). We also bought the 3 day NY pass for US199 ( https://www.newyorkpass.com/En/order-products/ ) and that saved us $$ for a lot of the attractions/ museums in NYC etc. We clocked up US350+ in admission fees etc on the 3 days. The 7 day NY subway pass for unlimited subways for US33 is also a good saver if you are staying in NYC for a while.
 
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