USA West Coast - LA, San Fran San Diego

[AVC]

HI, welcome to the USA West Coast AVC TR.
Breakdown:
Sectors flown – 3
Hotels stayed at – 4
Miles Driven – 1000
Shoes &Lego sets bought – far too many

Now, don’t expect too many photos of soon-to-be-demolished meals (especially airline ones), but do expect details on how good the showers were, tips on premium seating and queueing, and crazy luggage antics.

Day Zero. Yes that’s right not day one yet. In order to avoid ridiculous Monday morning Sydney traffic, and, knowing my luck, a late airport pick up, we decided to stay locally at the Stamford near the airport. With the three of us and our 6 bags crammed into my wife’s Subaru. And that was the lightest it was going to get. We work local, so the car was dropped off for a three week holiday of it’s own.

The Stamford was great. Slight problem at check in. “We don’t have your booking here”. That would be our pre-paid booking. Tip one. Always carry the paperwork. Sorted out within a few minutes. Decent sized suite (this was to be an all-suite holiday, as we didn’t really want to face the prospect of putting Miss 4 yo to bed, and then hiding in the bathroom, or sitting quietly in the dark), and the big plus was this suite had a second bathroom off the living area. Dinner was by way of room service, as the restaurant didn’t open until 6pm, and we didn’t want Maddie to have a late night. We were as far away from the lifts as humanly possible, which was quiet.

Day one saw us waking up in the best possible way. Well, maybe the second best most possible way, depending on your point of view. SMS messages saying “your Premium Economy Upgrade has been approved” YES!! A great way to start. So, a cattle class transfer to the airport, and off we go.

Check in was seamless, and on to the J lounge, with the new kids area. The pancakes were great, if somewhat non-circular.
The flight over on QF107 was superb. Great service, and a very non-full cabin. The FAs even went back to Y to get Maddie’s kids meal. And checked on us regularly to see how we were going.

A 0630 arrival into LAX was Express all the way. We were de-boarded in short order. Fastest way through immigration? Carry a child. “You with the baby!” as we were herded to the USA citizen line, which was just us. Not that Maddie is a baby, but still light enough to carry when required.

So there were were. The US of A. Our transport? Hmmm. I could see 3 limo drivers. One holding a sign with a name like Manuel Rodrigez, one with something like Harrison Ford, and one sign in some Chinese language. Damn. Back to Tip One. Out with the paperwork, and ring Saferide. He was lurking outside as he was told 0600, then 0700, and didn’t expect us out so quick.

Apparently, there are speed limits in the US. It’s just that nobody really takes much notice of them. We were punting along at eighty miles an hour, with the traffic flow. Suits me. Helpful, friendly driver who gave us some very useful tips for our future driving endeavours.

And on to the Marriot Suites in South Anaheim. Certainly not up to the level of the Stamford. A bit tired, and the vanity area had no door separating it from the bedroom. Oh well. Even better was the shower. What is it with hotels and bad plumbing? This shower head was to be christened as the Kramer Shower. Sort of like getting hit with a fire hose. Maybe I could pretend I was in the movie Rambo.

 

[AVC]

DISNEY!!
Disney is great. Being that this Park is in SoCal, it’s also known as the United States of Mexico, and nearly all the announcements were made bi-lingually. Which is a bit weird at first. But then again, you’re in a foreign nation, everything is a bit weird. I’m thinking I could live here and maybe open a string of tattoo parlours. There seem to be a market for it.

But back OT. We were lucky enough to be here in time for the newly opened Cars Land, in the California Adventure side (basically a theme park in it’s own right). We had a 4 day Park Hopper pass, so we could go between Cali and Disney at will. Cars Land is amazing. They have basically re-created Radiator Springs in real life. Life size. Complete with the latest ride, the Radiator Springs Racers, which is the biggest Scalextric set in the world. And the fastest.

Who likes waiting in line? Not me! The Park Hopper passes also mean you can use the Fast Pass system. It does the waiting for you. So instead of waiting up to 2 hours for a ride (the new RSR ride was up to 2.5 hours at one stage, yikes). You can queue at the popular rides virtually, while you line up at other stuff. Like meeting Mickey, Donald, and every damn fairy princess in Disneyland. It’s a 5 year old girl thing.

 

[AVC]

Nice hand placement Maddie…

Hot tip. Get a Premium Photo Pass. There are about one thousand photographers in Disney. With a PPP card, they take a photo, scan your card and you can download all your photos later. Works on all the rides that have cameras too
.

Another hot tip. If you’re taking a 4 year old princess, 4 days is not enough. But we managed to cover most of it
Best rides: Radiator Springs Racers, California Screaming (coaster), Splash Mountain.

Worst Rides: Autopia (it’s like LA traffic, but a ride), and Space Mountain. SM is an “indoor” roller coater, in a space theme. We got fast passes and were proceeding inside and my daughter, normally reasonably fearless, got scared and wanted to bail. So off went mum and Maddie to exit stage left. Good instincts my daughter has. That ride was brutal. I’ve done real life aerobatics, including flat spins that weren’t as harsh. Strike that one off the “let’s go again” list.

Mummy LOVES the teacup ride! Not!

 

[AVC]

Avis – Your Other Car
Off for a two day leisurely drive North to San Fransisco. Interstate? No way! We’re going up the One (they’re big on numbered roads over there). This is the American version of the Great Ocean Road. Without the Twelve Apostles. Or however many of them are left now. The Big Sur. A bit treacherous, but some spectacular views.

Stopover was at the Pismo Beach Lighthouse Suites. Now THIS was a suite. I’ve lived in apartments, and maybe some houses, that were smaller than this. Great view over the ocean. Only one minus. No room service. But some nice local restaurants. What they lacked in room service they made up for at breakfast. Best damn waffles on the planet.

The view from the suite.

Strike a pose!

 

[AVC]

Another place to see about halfway between LA & SF is Hearst Castle, which brings opulence to a whole new level.

What, the pools not heated? Pfft!

Oh, but the indoor one is!

See, even a 4 year old can operate this camera!

Hearst Castle is just inland of the stinky seal colony:

HI!

 

[Hvr]

Nice hand placement Maddie…

That's a 21st birthday photo for sure. Just tell her it looks like she found Minnie rather than Mickey.:mrgreen:

 

[AVC]

On to the Hilton San Fransisco Union Square. This place is huge. The foyer is as busy as a small airport. Speedy check in thanks to HHonors, and free internet. Should’ve hired a golf buggy to get to the room though, this seemed to be a recurring pattern this trip.

No ordinary car park demountable for these guys!

In room, we find there’s no fridge. There’s a locked cupboard that looks like it hides a mini bar. A call to Guest Relations. “No sir, we’ve removed the fridges from the rooms, but we can send one up”. Bam, ten minutes later, a fridge appears. Nice bathroom, a bit on the small size. Only two towels. Problem. Another call to Guest Relations. Problem solved. I’m liking this place. Let’s go three for three. All of the USA seems to have coffee percolators in hotels, but no kettle, so I make the request. Five minutes later up comes a silver tray with not only a kettle, but cups and tea bags. Win. Being able to heat up water is a plus when your daughter still has warm milk (as in formula) at bedtime.

Nice lodgings:

Nice view of the carpark:

 

[AVC]

Alcatraz:
You’ve seen the movie, now see the actual cells. The only thing missing was a paper mache head of Clint Eastwood. A truly amazing piece of history.

The escape cells were basically left as is

Another must see (IMO) is the Cable Car Museum. Not only is it the museum, but the place where the cables are driven from. If you are planning to use public transport a lot (and there is no shortage of it in this city) get a three or five day Muni Pass.

They rotate the turntable with manpower. This is NOT the batcave.

There’s no shortage of cheap shopping downtown. Hell, Macy’s has an entire floor of women’s shoes. That’s all I need. But it’s got a nice café called the Burger Bar, overlooking Union Square. Every time we got back to the hotel it seemed we were carrying more stuff. Actually, we WERE carrying more stuff. Time to break out the suitcase-in-a-suitcase trick. Three checked bags weren’t going to make it, no matter how I did it. Hot tip. Go to customer service at Macy’s, show them ID and get a 10% discount card. Which cancels out the sales tax you pay on everything in CA, but the ticket prices do not include tax (7.5%).

Yes, it’s a curved escalator!

 

[Hvr]

I loved Alcatraz and it lived up to its reputation being bitterly cold and windy when I visited.

As for the cable car museum, well I was like a boy in a toy shop. I thought I was in seventh heaven and could've stayed all day.

 

[AVC]

We decided to do a helicopter tour of the city. Bell Long Ranger. Leather seats. Plush. Man, this was the quietest and cleanest helicopter I have even been on. Then again, the ships I am used to flying in normally have hoists and nightsuns. Or guns. As luck would have it, the bridge was fogged in. Pilot says “we can’t fly over the bridge, so we’ll just hang around under it for a bit”. Now when he says under, he MEANS under. Flew straight under the damn thing. Different air rules over here I guess.

Alcatraz from the air

Under we go!

Play ball!

Another cool thing was the famous Lombard St. Not only did we get to see it, but I actually drove down it, albeit not during a car chase.

Fisherman’s Wharf is worth a look, and the nearby promenade, home to the Wax Museum, and the Rainforest café, which looks sort of trashy from the outside (being that it’s in that very touristy trash shop strip) but it has some amazing aquariums and animated wildlife.

You get to keep the cups:

The resemblance is uncanny:

My daughter said “see, zombies ARE real”

After what seemed to be more shopping than sight seeing, I had to organise an airport transfer. Local Limo (SUV) was going to be just under $200, all inclusive. Super Shuttle (charter, so no sharing) was $75. My wife says just use Super Shuttle. OK. The driver was unhelpful, unfriendly, and, in the words of my wife, “a rude prick”. Right about then she decided that the extra hundred would have been worth it. The guy didn’t even put our bags on the footpath. No tip for you!

 

[AVC]

The night before. We kinda trashed the room after a week:

The LOTFAP is not called that for nothing. Emphasis on the P. Check in time. Now we had 4 checked bags (and our free limit with United was one each), so we had to pay for one. The pram and car seat we bought in LA were freebies too. ID please. Thankyou. Now for the security screening. ID please (and this was just to get in the line). Get to the actual screening area. ID please. FFS. Once again, having a small child in tow meant a trip through the metal detector instead of the cancer machine. No feel ups required.

At the gate we were told the flight was full. Very full. They were offering freebie bag checking for rollaboards. Sold. And of course, prior to boarding, ID please. We already paid the extra fifteen bucks for “extra leg room” seats. Sort of the premium economy of United Domestic. Good job we did, as we were about to spend longer than anticipated on board.

Step one of our short hop from SFO to SAN, was a grand tour of the SFO taxiways. Then waiting in line for our turn on runway 1L. Finally, we turn on to the runway. Cross the piano keys. Wait. Wait some more. Pilot spools up. I’m thinking “this power setting is not going to get us far”.Then, another left hand turn. WTF? So here we are sitting in no man’s land between 1L and 1R. 10 minutes turns to 20 mins, turns to 40 minutes. Finally, the FO finds the PA to tells us that they had “a problem with their seats” What, like THEIR seats or the passenger seating? I dunno. All I know is that is now 10 minutes before we are due to land and we haven’t taken off yet. No chance of making up that time in flight. Unless this bird has afterburners. Or a flux capacitor.

 

[AVC]

San Diego
Back into shorts and T-shirts. Many of my friends in the US or regular visitors say that San Diego is the best. It’s the city of freeways. Miss the freeway ramp? No problem, there’s another one two blocks down. Many great things to see.
Stayed at the Hyatt Mission Bay. A great place to stay for Seaworld, as they have their own water taxi to the Seaworld dock. Very convenient. Not so great if you require a kettle, or an early night. A request for a kettle came back with “we don’t have any, but can send you up a thermos of boiling water”. Fair enough, I guess that will have to do. Two hours later the phone rings. Waking up my wife. Not good. These guys could incur what is known as “the wrath of Jen”. And I wouldn’t even want that, and I’m a professional tough guy. What, pray tell, do these idiots want at 10pm? Just to find out if we still needed the thermos. Grrrr. Well yes, about TWO HOURS AGO!! These guys were off my Christmas card list.

Nice view though:

Next day, a follow up equiry to the front desk, just in case the other shift had no idea what a kettle is. “You know you can heat water with the coffee percolator with no coffee cartridge?”. Yes, but it not only smells like coffee, it comes complete with small pieces of coffee in it, so not very suitable. I can confirm that there is not a kettle in the entire place.

A written complaint to Hyatt eventually got me response. “We’re sorry, we strive for excellence blah, blah, blah” However they did offer a free upgrade on our next stay. Not sure what that means. If we book a suite do they upgrade us to the Presidential Suite? I don’t know, but I’m sure as hell going to find out. Oh and guess where your room is? Yes waaay down the end of that hallway. I was used to this by now.

 

[AVC]

Seaworld – This is a pretty cool place. And if you’re doing a penguin encounter, damn cold. One day is not enough. If you’re planning on seeing the many shows, and/or doing “experience enhancements”, plan on two days. We did “Dining with Shamu” (orca), “Penguin Encounter”, and my wife went up close and personal with the white Beluga Whale. We also paid for the “Premium Seating” option, which gives you the “Premium Boarding” line in some rides, and all the shows, and they reserve the best rows. It’s also policed pretty well, much to the liking of the Tony Hancock types Well, we’re paying the extra bucks after all.

Dolphin. Tastes like chicken!

The “Pets Show”. Worth a look.

Dining with Shamu:

The Beluga Whale Experience, and yes, that water is colder than it looks:

Penguin Encounter:

 

[AVC]

Safari Park – This place is definitely worth a look. It’s inland, so gets warm in the summer. Based on the website, you cruise around in little road trains. In reality most of the park is a giant zoo. Lots of walking. The place has a relaxed natural feel about it. You can even do a “Safari Tour” which takes you inside the exhibits to get right up and personal. We didn’t think three hours in the back of a truck with Little Miss would work though
.
All aboard! All economy:

The up close option:

This place is on hundreds of acres

There’s a bird show on a few times a day:

But these birds were just sitting in the trees near the front. No cages.

Big wetlands area. We got to see a live hatching of a flamingo

 

[AVC]

San Diego Zoo – World Famous. But in reality, a bit disappointing. I guess us Sydneysiders have been spoilt by Taronga Park. But if you really want to see pandas, it’s the place to go.

The USS Midway - If you like all things military, this is worth a look. Lots of planes and lots of helos on a massive aircraft carrier. Get in early and do the bridge tour. Well worth it. I don’t recommend the Fantail Café though.

Budding avaiator:

I still think the F4 Phantom is the coolest looking fighter.

Now THAT’S a mixmaster!

 

[AVC]

Legoland – Made for the kids. There’s pretty much no rides they can’t go on. There’s a water park attached to Legoland but we didn’t go there. We got saturated enough just from the water rides that are there. Most flume rides (essentially sitting in a big log) you get a bit splashed. Sometime a lot splashed. The one at Legoland takes this to the extreme. And it’s not even exciting. One oval track. Up, around, down, drench. Not happy. Oh well, at least it’s summer. End of the day saw us hit “The Big Shop”. For some big shopping. I’m carrying around a pile of boxes, getting comments like “are you actually buying all that?”. Well, yes, I’m not carrying it around the store for exercise. But it’s cheap. Sometimes half what you’d pay in Oz. At the checkout we didn’t even crack $650. That’s a lot of bricks. I went back.

Giddy up!

This boat ride is armed with giant water pistols. But you can shoot back!

Remember Star Wars?

This is a full size Volvo, it’s all Lego except the wheels

Real Volvo this time, Lego people.

They have a replica of Vegas, and lots of other famous structures.

The BIG shop:

The BIG shopping:

 

[AVC]

Balboa Park –

Now, this area is home to more museums than you can poke ten sticks at. Also adjacent to the Zoo, as we didn’t want bore our child senseless we visited the Air & Space museum, the Automotive museum, and the Model Railroad Museum.

Air & Space Museum, the real Apollo 9

The indoor version of the F4

Flying lessons:

ROTATE!

Car museum:
The old

The not so old:

Model Railroad Museum:

A few “works in progress”. These enthusiasts are sticklers for authenticity. This particular layout is modelled of a real life track. Note the aerial photograph is the foreground. Them’s some old jet engines. 707 perhaps?

Our final night in the USA proved to be a packing challenge. Armed with 2 new suitcases (which was our plan to buy here anyway), we managed to squirrel away the seemingly endless pile of shoes and Lego. I travel with one pair of hiking boots and a pair of joggers. I bought another pair of boots in country. The two girls had at least 25 pairs between them. I kid you not. Although at least 15 pairs of them were bought on tour. Still…

Come fly-out day, my wife was starting to get a bit worried that we hadn’t had the SMS to say “your Business Class…etc etc”. I was worried that all the luggage wasn’t going to fit in the car. Come T minus 5, it looked apparent that we were flying cattle, albeit in the A380. I swear the EF website said there were lots of empty seats, but check in proved me wrong. The aircraft was full. About as full as the car was on the drive back to LAX.

How much is too much?

I must say, however, the A380 is the nicest cattle class I’ve experienced. The funky way the seat base changes angle assists when reclining. Although I am six foot, so it still falls short a bit. And having the seat in front of you right in your face is really fun. Even more fun when one of the girls (I was on the aisle seat) wants to go the toilet, and has to do a Houdini-like act to extricate themselves.

Still, a very quiet aircraft. It did help to be in the 5[SUP]th[/SUP] row of Y.

The words “I’m never flying economy again” were heard more than one time. Of course I’m thinking “yeah right, until December on those super-cheap deals we got to Thailand”. Maybe I should have got that in writing. Or video. Or both.

The next challenge. Customs and Quarantine. Best method when you’ve got stacks of stuff. Misdirection. Like a magic show. Wave a silk scarf over here, and they don’t notice the 6 suitcases over there. I had the “over $900” boxed ticked, and my wife the “food, blah blah” box ticked. When questioned at the initial checkpoint I explained that I had purchased a camera lens worth $1500, which I claimed on the TRS. The lady explained what the limits were in her broken English. I though “whatever” and on we went to the quarantine line, explaining we had some Greenies (dog treats) that were a packaged product available in Australia in any case. They explained that “yes, but they are subject to an import licence”. Which had me thinking “this is then more about taxation than quarantine”, and over to the baggage search bods. Initially there were looks of horror at out two fully stacked luggage trolleys, but we knew exactly where we had stashed our Greenines. Luckily, the girl we had was an animal naturist (whatever that is) and knew that the dog treats posed no risk to the country.

Thank you, proceed. Which still had me wondering. I buy a fifteen hundred buck lens. TRS give me back one fifty when I leave the country. My import limit is nine hundred. By the book, do I give them back the difference? I dunno. But now wasn’t the time to find out. Not with two suitcases full of Lego, a billion pairs of shoes, about 5 Lala Loopsie dolls, and more “I am an obvious souvenir T-shirt” than we left with.

Free pick up from the airport courtesy of two work colleagues. Why plural? Too much luggage for one vehicle.

It's good to be home. The animals survived the house sitter. The house didn't burn down. And I got my car detailed while I was away. Now for the washing.... thanks for reading!

 

[AVC]

I loved Alcatraz and it lived up to its reputation being bitterly cold and windy when I visited.

As for the cable car museum, well I was like a boy in a toy shop. I thought I was in seventh heaven and could've stayed all day.

When we were there, they did a "hot swap" of a cable car brake assembly (that big lever).

They basically stopped the (loaded with passengers) car out the front and a mechanic brought out a replacement on a trolley, along with a block and tackle and a little ramp (the assembly must have weighed a hundred kilos.)

Took him about 15 minutes.

 

[sage]

Great report! I have been pondering a similar trip for my family but considering the youngest is still under 3yo...we are waiting a year or so until her tolerence to long flights increase. Thanks for the all the great ideas in California that I hadn't even considered for kids.

 

[TraceyK90]

Great TR, now what Lego sets did you get and are they for you or Maddie?