Hello folks, Guess it's too late for the Prius-meet... I won't be taking the Prius, so can I rent a Prius Wagon somewhere?? (Last time I had an "intermediate", free upgrade to full-size and the rentalcar-guy saw my stack of suitcases and handed me the keys to a Chrysler Pacifica . Doubt I'll get that lucky this time) Any tips on: - car rental (guess the airport is as good as any, we can get a small SUV for ~1000$/14days through travel agent with all wavers/insurances), - lodging (2 adults, 3 kids (4,8,10yrs old), any hotelchains that have cheap familyrooms?) - internet (e.g. McDonalds in Netherlands all have free WIFI, is this common in the US also? Would help tremendously with finding hotelrooms for the next night.) - any touristic AND LESS touristic must see sights? Likely we'll be going to LA too (and Disney, the kids have seen Eurodisney 5 times now, about time to see the "REAL" Disneyland). Oh, and for all effort you put into answering me, we might just go to Paris and the British Channel-Islands as nothing is final yet...
For lodging, take a look at Vacation Rentals, Homes, Apartments & Rooms for Rent - Airbnb . They are a fairly new B&B booking service. A quick look for Las Vegas shows rooms as low as $33, up to an entire home for $245. Hotel prices vary wildly depending on availability and how much they think you're good for. Big convention in town can be very expensive. Car rental. In airport is the most convenient, and expensive. There are typically car rental agencies outside the airport , for much less. Many Toyota new car dealerships rent cars, and they're much nicer people to deal with. WiFi is available at Starbucks, Peets, and most other coffee shops. There are better hamburgers at In-n-Out than McDonalds, but I haven't seen any with WiFi. Good chain sandwich shop is SubWays - order 2 foot longs and have them cut them up for the 5 of you. Good small grocery store is Trader Joe's - get ready made sandwiches, drinks, bananas... Many supermarkets have a deli section where you can order custom made sandwiches. Whole Foods Markets is a high end supermarket with many ready-to-eat options like soups, salad bar, even a diner bar. Las Vegas is the land of buffets. All of the big casinos/hotels have buffets that are decent eating for a reasonable price. Breakfast at a Hilton is really nice, and not too high. Dinner buffets can be a lot more expensive. I found the big buffets ok for about 3 days, and then I went off the strip for non-tourist fare. I think the term in Chicago is "appreciate". Entertainment has the asking price, and an extra "appreciation" (tip) gets you better seating, openings where it's already full, etc. A friend and I once went to a show in Reno and didn't understand the appreciation rules. We were seated behind a pole, ignored for service.
I've chatted with a Dealership, they'll get back to me about renting a car. Looking at the airbnb site now. We did find suspiciously cheap hotels in Las Vegas... We'll probably do a tour of some parks (with the park-pass, Bryce Canyon, Yosemite, etc.) and see how much of LA and San Francisco we can squeeze in too. Las Vegas just opened a waterpark in May that looks sweet. But the prices are no laughing matter... (~$200 for the family). Guess I'll try to get over my Dutch cheapskate mentality for the next two weeks...
In San Fran we rented bikes and rode over the Golden Gate bridge. My favorite attraction in the heart of LA is the La Brea tar pits.... I think this gives you, besides amazing Saber Tooth tigers and Mastedon skeletons, an appreciation of the environmental sensitivities in CA, to realize God gave California the tarry bitumen right smack dab in the middle of LA.
Many days in August San Francisco weather is overcast and/or foggy. A local sport is visiting the tourist areas to watch all the tourists in their "summer" outfits freezing in 59 degree fog. September is when SF has more sunny days. As long as you bring warm clothing, a tour boat around SF bay is fun. Alcatraz is now a park, but you have to book ahead of time to catch a boat over to it. The America's Cup yacht race is on now - really impressive to see rich folks toys. Walk across the Golden Gate bridge if you can see it. If it's fogged in, skip that one. Warning on Golden Gate tolls - there are no people collecting the toll. They picture your license plate, and mail the bill to the registered owner. So your rental company would send you a bill months after you return. The Exploratorium is a neat place to visit. It's not your usual tourist destination, but Luscious Garage | Hybrid Specialists would be worth dropping by just to see the place. This is a full time Prius independent garage. Occasionally a Honda hybrid, or maybe a Leaf, but mostly Prius. There's even a night shift dedicated to Prius taxicabs. One place to consider staying in SF is the youth hostel at Fort Mason/Fisherman's Wharf. They are open to people of all ages, and have a few family rooms. Free parking (!) and walk to the tourist area at Fisherman's Wharf. Much more character than a room in a hotel. In Las Vegas, I wouldn't worry too much about a $35 B&B. It's the $75 one that should be $35 to watch out for. The economy has be down for the last few years, and there are many folks in Las Vegas who can use the extra income from renting out part of their home to tourists. Read the descriptions/reviews - there are probably some real bargains available. There are also some real dumps, so you'll have to be careful. A water park in LV during August sounds dangerous to me. If you're not religious about using sun block, you could end up crispy critters. Be sure to use sun block designed for water use, and apply more whenever you get out of the water.
Thanks for the advice so far. We started out in LV travellodge on the strip. After a 23 hour day, the kids were out like a light and we soon followed... Next day we headed to the Grand Canyon and so.e more parks. Tomorros might see us go to Bryce Canyon and back go Vegas, this time we'll stay awake to see the nightlife there. Deathvalley, Yosemite and SF should be next. I went for the full insurance package through Sunny cars (Alamo car). Tried to get a free upgrade, but to no avail. The guy really got pissed off when I told him I dfove all my suitcases to the airport in a Prius and that the intermediate SUV should have at least the same capacity I didn't mention my three kids went with another car... The GMC Terrain is struggling with 4suitcases (5 people for 19 days...),a large coolingbox and a load of bags with toys for the kids... But so far we are just in awe (again) with the stunning beauty of the US. And the vastness... Oh, and I saw my first Model S on the first day here! (Sorry bout the typo's, on my phone...)
And the model S count went up by 3 today alone...(San Francisco). Weather is excellent, but the long pants are coming out for dinner...
Thanks for bringing the good weather . The fog seems to being held offshore for a few days. Maybe a bit in the morning, but gone by 8 AM. Tesla has really arrived in the area. I usually see a few every day, max of 5 one evening traveling across Palo Alto. Try some Clam Chowder in a bread bowl from one of the outdoor stands at Fisherman's Wharf. I think Sabella has the most chowder for the money. Walk a few blocks towards the Golden Gate Bridge to Hyde Street. There is a maritime museum with early wood ships. Free to walk along the pier, a few dollars to wander around on board the historic ships. Another block to Aquatic Park. Great swimming if you don't mind 60 degree water... The finish point for several swims from Alcatraz. I took a swimming lesson there from a gal who had just done the Dolphin Club "Splash & Dash". That's swim the Golden Gate to Marin County, and run back to Aquatic Park over the bridge.
glad you're enjoying your trip r-p! we were in san fran a year ago, first time in 50 years. we had a lot of fun and did a ton (too much ) of walking. great city! all the best on the rest of your vacation!
Normally I only bring rain (Like in Vegas two days ago...) The wife tried the chowder, I had some fish&chips, but the seagulls stole half my fish We also went to the ships: they are free with the national parks pass. While waiting in line for the twisty part of Lombard, I got a nice look at the underside of a Model S (the advantage of the steep SF roads, a big disadvantage being that half the time your mirrors are useless). Looks damn neat, but not having an exhaust makes that a lot easier I guess... Also saw a Volt, on a rotating table at Circus Circus, to be won by some lucky person. 14 hours later, back in the Netherlands, I saw one stranded by the side of the road "What do you mean did I put in some gas? I thought it was electric???" Had a blast of a time and so did the wife and kids.As usual we drove too much and did too little... We had some issues finding wireless in smaller towns, so sometimes ended up searching too long for a place to sleep. But all in all, it was GREAT!!!
I actually rode on the ferry boat displayed there. Maybe I should be on display too There is a Tesla dealership in San Jose that's an interesting visit. You could purchase a Prius for the cost of the options they can add to that car . You apparently drove right past one Tesla icon. There is a Tesla supercharging station (currently for 7 cars) at Harris Ranch. That's about halfway from SF to LA on I5. It takes about 30 minutes for a full charge there. If that's too long, there are plans to swap the batteries (about 2 minutes). Anyway, the Tesla can travel from SF to LA, with a recharge at Harris Ranch. Glad you enjoyed the trip. Wireless in small towns? Just drive the main street looking for motels.
Many if not most we encountered are encrypted/WPA protected/whatchamacallit. Going to a meeting this afternoon from the wife's company on an electric-car-plan (I think Renaults). The two owners bought Tesla's a while back (haven't seen them yet) and supposedly want to promote electric cars. For a private car, there are little incentives (apart from no roadtax and no extra added vehicle tax (up to ~50% for poluting cars)), but company cars have quite some incentives (I think you only pay 1/3rd of a Volt, the rest is reclaimable in tax-deductions). So if a leasecompany can reap the benefits, and (partly) pass them on to the enduser, it might be worthwhile
My take on all the encryption is that the vendors want to be sure that everybody has to purchase their own web access. Without the encryption, there would be a lot more wifi sharing between neighbors.
BTW: I managed to get the mpg of the GMC Terrain up to EPA (22mpg) and even did a 50 mile stretch with 37mpg So I am only crap at getting EPA with hybrids, both petrols/gasolines (the GMC Terrain, my old Ford Mondeo) and diesels (my Volvo V70), I can hit combined EPA without much effort... The meeting about the electric cars was a total bust. They had investigated the subject and concluded it would be too expensive, so the only thing offered was a Volkswagen Up! with a regular gasoline engine on an all-in lease construction* And this after repeatedly checking if the meeting was about decent size electric cars (3 kids, so even a Volt would be too small)... Waste of time unfortunately. They might be adding electric mopeds, but it's a 25km drive for the wife and that's about the range on the mopeds, so she's still interested, but I already shot it down as an option. (*If I wanted an Up! I would go to the dealer and buy one, I don't need some stupid lease plan for this)
