San Diego Trip Report

We travelled with http://www.unitedairlines.co.uk/ Business Class LHR - LAX and collected our hire car at LAX booked through http://www.airline-network.co.uk

The drive from LAX to San Diego took approx. 2.5 hours.

Arriving at our hotel, http://www.hisandiegoonthebay.com/ this hotel was in a great location downtown, within easy walking distance of Horton Plaza and the many fine restaurants within the Gaslamp area.

On our 1st morning in San Diego we took breakfast at the http://www.elephantcastle.com/content/locations/san_diego a restaurant adjacent to the hotel, however, the service was diabolical to say the least, hence, we never stepped foot in the place again.

For sightseeing we visited the following attractions:

San Diego Museum of Art
San Diego Natural History Museum.
Old Town State Historic Park.
Reuben H. Fleet Space Theatre and Science Centre.
San Diego Aerospace Museum.
Coronado is also worth visiting for at least half a day.

The above is just a few of the attractions we visited, however, San Diego has a great choice.

For relaxation we visited La Jolla, Mission Beach, & Pacific Beach.
I would recommend the http://www.trolleytours.com/ this is a great way to see the city, and, establish your bearings.

Although we hired a car, we did travel on public transport to visit various attractions, although, if you intend to visit San Diego, please do your research for your intended visit, especially with your chosen hotel, although the transport system is very much geared up, a car is very much a necessity.

San Diego is located close to the border with Mexico, http://www.tijuana.com/ being the city, we had visited Tijuana on a previous visit for the day, although I would not recommend this for a day trip.

We spent 7 days in San Diego, and this was our second trip to San Diego, a city we will be very pleased to return to.

From San Diego, we drove 330 miles along I-15 to Las Vegas, which took us approx. 6 hours including a refreshment stop at Barstow.

Las Vegas

This was our 8th trip to Las Vegas, and we had booked the http://www.MonteCarlo.com we have not stayed at this hotel previously, although we have always stayed on the strip.

On arrival at the Monte Carlo, I handed our car over to the Valet, and checked in with no queues or problems, as we had booked direct with the hotel we received a complimentary upgrade without asking.

Although we have only passed through this hotel on previous visit's, we found this hotel one of the best to navigate as a guest, with the elevators close by to check in and the pool, easily accessible from our room.

This hotel has had some negative comments regarding noise from the construction site, my only concern was the music around the pool area was far to loud, when I did complain to management about the noise around the pool area, I was informed it was loud over ride the construction noise.

Overall we were impressed with the Monte Carlo.

Not much to report on re in and around the strip area, as this is one of the most frequently asked questions in the American forum.

However, if you fancy a change from Vegas, for day trips, I would recommend:

The ghost town of Rhyolite which is located 4 miles west of the town of Beatty, just outside Vegas on Highway 374 in Nye County, you will locate it by the East entrance to Death Valley.

The above location is a real ghost town, and offers visitors a great historic experience, unfortunately, this location can only be accessed by car.
Lake Mead National Park

Located 25 miles outside of Las Vegas, towards Boulder City Lake Mead National Recreation Park has offers multiple marinas, boating, fishing, and water sports. It also caters to hikers, climbers, campers, and car tours, and a great way to escape Vegas for a day.
There is also the usual, Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, etc., etc.

One extra tip, we purchased the http://www.americancasinoguide.com/ from http://www.amazon.com/ this was a great coupon book, whilst most of the 2-1 buffet coupons are for off strip hotels, this is a great way to escape the strip, and may save you a few $.

We stayed at the Monte Carlo for 7 days.

From Las Vegas we took the I-95 and drove 450 miles to Lake Tahoe.

The drive took approx. 7 hours with a refreshment stop at Tonopath

The above drive may seem a little daunting, however, every 50 miles or so, you pass through an original "community"

Lake Tahoe

We had booked the http://www.holidayinnexpresstahoe.com/ situated on South Lake Tahoe.

Choosing Lake Tahoe as a stop over was a great decision, as this location was fabulous.

Within walking distance of our hotel, there was sufficient restaurants, quaint shops, and numerous casino's.

We took a sightseeing cruise on the lake to Emerald bay, breathtaking views of the Sierra Nevada Mountains this was a 2 1/2 hour cruise, and well worth it.

We took the aerial tram, known as "Heavenly's Gondola" to the top of the mountain, the views from the observation deck cannot be described, apart from breathtaking.

We stayed at Lake Tahoe for 2 nights.

Leaving Lake Tahoe, we took US-50 which became I - 80 via Sacramento, and into San Francisco.

The drive was approx. 200 miles, and took 5 hours, however, this journey can be done in less time, as we stopped off for refreshments at several outlets.

Arriving into San Francisco, we passed over the Golden Gate Bridge, which has a toll, at $3.00, if you intend to drive over this bridge, STAY IN THE OUTSIDE LANE (Right Lane) as the left lane is for fast track.

San Francisco.

We booked the Crown Plaza Union Sq http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/cp/1/en/hotel/sfous/event-facilities/meeti located at Powell St, and Sutter St.

On arrival at our hotel, we handed our car over to the Valet, and checked in with no problems.

The following morning, we dropped our hired car off at O'Farell Street, 2 blocks away from our hotel.

This hotel was in a fantastic location, within walking distance of Union Sq., and the cable car running alongside the hotel.

This was our second trip to San Francisco, we visited the following:

Pier 39 at Fisherman's Wharf, very touristy, although worth a visit.

Lombard Street, Lombard Street is San Francisco -- and America's croquets street

We also visited several neighbourhood, including:

Chinatown, the entrance to Chinatown is known as "Dragon's Gate." Do not be surprised by the hustle and bustle, Chinatown is best explored on foot; whatever your taste, you will find it in Chinatown with it's exotic shops, renowned restaurants, food markets, temples and small museums, also "dim sum" lunch is sold almost everywhere.

Noe Valley, which is a "Village within the City," this neighbourhood has an inviting array of trendy boutiques, comfortable pubs, outdoor cafes and restaurants, all of them interesting and unique.

We walked over the http://www.goldengatebridge.org/ this was breathtaking to say the least, although well worth the experience, and although it can be very windy to walk across remember to dress warmly with a good jacket.

Although we had done the http://www.Alcatraz.us tour day tour on our previous visit, having chosen this time to do the evening tour, this was a completely different experience, the experience was somewhat more interesting, with the night lights of the city in the distance, and the mist from the bay in the background, one got a feeling of what it felt like to be a prisoner at that time.

We stayed in San Francisco for 7 nights.

A number of points about San Francisco:

A car is not required as public transport is easy to navigate, and parking rates are far to high, we never used public transport during our visit to San Francisco, we walked everywhere, and although some hills were steep to climb, this made our trip enjoyable.

Yes, there does seem to be a large number of homeless people on the streets, but we never felt intimidated by any of them.

Finally, do not be fooled by the temp in San Francisco, warmer clothing is required.

Having departed our hotel, we checked in with United Airlines at SFO, and although we were travelling business class, the agent was a stickler with our baggage allowance!

The above is just a small sample of our itinerary, and although we created the all of the above ourselves, I trust it will assist anyone thinking of doing a diy trip to the USA.

This completes our west coast trip.

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