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      04-02-2007, 03:09 PM   #1
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Planning a trip to Cali... HELP ME OUT!

I was thinking of planning a trip to cali for the summer with a few friends, none of us have ever been to cali so we gonna try too see/do as much as possible.

What we were thinking was either a flight to vegas, stay a few nights, and then drive out to cali, or fly to cali and drive to vegas and then flay back home.

We are thinking of it to be a 10 day vacation, but we can all extend our vacation time for the maxium of 2 weeks (not really wanting to take this option because we will have no more vacation days for the rest of the year)

What are some MUST SEE spots in cali?
We all agreed we would like to go to Hollywood and Beverly Hills...
After that we are pretty much have no idea, and would love some feed back from you guys.

A little about us, we are in our late 20's, I will be traveling with my friend, his wife, and another good friend of ours. We would love to try to end up everynight somewhere with a great night life, and during the day we would like to hit some of cali's famous beaches and sight seeing.

Any idea's?
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      04-02-2007, 03:26 PM   #2
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Ahhh my friend I'll help you out with that. You must come here to Orange County cali if you want to see and experience the most beautiful beaches on the west coast. Some of the aboslute best dinning experiences in some of the worlds most ritzest places. I'm nothing but a 19 year old college student with nothing better to do then to pursue pleasure and happiness with his friends and girl friends so I wouldnt mind meeting up with you guys and showing you around for a bit. There are so many little selcluded beaches here that no ones been to, resturants with food and veiws to die for such as resurant 162 at the Ritz Carlton, Mosabic on PCH in laguna, HUSH in laguna, SAGE in newport beach, Mosaic at The Montage, or The St.Regis. All with the best ocean views. There are bars, clubs, 5-star golf, 5-star beaches, GORGOUES girls and a lot more. San Deigo is another must see place!! It is has more night life then here, especially down town. Also another must do thing while your hear is go SKY DIVING, $179 is all and its one of the best experiences in the world (or i should say above the world) period. Beverly and LA are nice and great for night life but at the end of the day their just a bunch of pulluted, crowded, hot and humid cities. OC is one of the cleanst cut areas (the laguna, newport, dana point areas). Great weather and perfect mix between paradise like secluded beaches and clean populated cities. We also have some of the best malls too...if your into that (im personally not unless im with a girl or something). Theres the famous South Coast Plaza mall, Fashion Island, and Irvine Spectrum. We have every type of car showroom as well ranging from Ferrari and Lamborghini to Aston Martin and Lotus...so if you want to go on some test drives....anyway I think you wont be dissappointed. You'll have a ton of fun in vegas too beacuase of the great night life, bar/clubs, and gambling experiences. Heres a few links of places in laguna (where im at), and newport.
http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Proper...el/Default.htm

http://www.montagelagunabeach.com/index.html

http://www.stregismb.com/
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      04-02-2007, 03:37 PM   #3
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more personal pics from my experiences
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      04-02-2007, 03:44 PM   #4
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Oh man, you just sold me on coming up to OC...
And I def will take you up on the offer, we are def a bit of a party crew ourselfs so im sure we all have a blast!

How far of a drive would it be from vegas?

I guess I need to start making a rough outline on the map to get a little bit more organized.
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      04-02-2007, 03:47 PM   #5
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Disney Land- LOL

UNiversal Studios
Hollywood
Beverly HIlls
San Diego's beaches
San Francisco
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      04-02-2007, 03:49 PM   #6
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from vegas i'd say around 3-4 hours
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      04-02-2007, 03:53 PM   #7
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There's really two main areas to hit up in Cali... northern california and southern california. Here's my suggestion:

Fly into San Francisco first. Enjoy all the famous sights including biking across the Golden Gate Bridge, taking a ferry off to Alcatraz, taking in the scenes of Chinatown, window shopping at Haight-Ashberry or castro. If you're a wine coinosseur, take a trip out to Napa Valley and go wine tasting, and dine at some of the best restraunts in the country. If you're more of the partying type, check out SFs red light district. All that I have listed is just a few of the options to do up north. But I would definitely say that this would probably be the "relaxing" part of your trip.

From here LA is a 6 hour drive (depending how fast you drive) down south. My point of view is that LA has less in terms of sightseeing, but for someone in their twenties, you'll probalby get enough of that in SF. In my experience, LA is known for their woman, parties, nice cars, beaches, and shopping. I think //M_owns_you has it down with his guide.

Finally Vegas is just a 3 hour drive from LA, and that's where you'll end your trip and fly back. Not much to be said about vegas, as I'm sure you already know what's there.

You could do the trip either starting at vegas and ending in sf, or the way I recommended it. It's just a matter of whether or not you like to end the trip with a hang-over, or in a more relaxed fashion. Hope this helps!
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      04-02-2007, 04:12 PM   #8
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Great ideas guys, keep them coming!

LA to vegas in 3 hours sounds great, I had no idea it was that close.

From all the great things you guys are saying im really starting to get excited about the trip. Its diffrent if you just fly somewhere without any local input on where to go and what to do, you guys rock! On the same token, anyone wanting to fly out to NYC, I can be your personal tour guide. NYC isnt like cali tho, there seems to be a million more things to see and do. Tho there are tons of things to do in manhattan, its all basiclly within a 20 mile radius of each other.
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      04-02-2007, 04:38 PM   #9
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While it can be done in 3 hours, book on 4-5 depending on traffic. I personally like the Nor Cal to So Cal drive. Both ends of our state have so much to offer. Pebble Beach/Carmel is a very nice, but quiet area.
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      04-02-2007, 04:51 PM   #10
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to add to what dejav0o said, if you decide to go to SF, after SF, you might just want to drive down hwy 1. some of the best scenery imho is california's beautiful coast line. from there you can go on 17 mile drive and check out pebble beach and carmel. monterey is nice, but a bit boring imho. from there you can also head to hearst castle for more sight seeing before heading down to socal and vegas.

http://www.pebblebeach.com/page.asp?id=1373

http://www.hearstcastle.org

btw, sf has a ton of clubs spread throughout the city. there's something for every one. however, because of cali's last call for alcohol law, people begin partying a lot earlier than in ny.
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      04-02-2007, 04:54 PM   #11
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Dude, depends on what day you want to travel to or from Vegas. LA traffic going to Vegas is worst on Fridays, and leaving Vegas is ugly on Sundays. As for 3 hours, it's going to take you longer, more like 4.5-5 hrs if you're planning to eat or pee, Mapquest it and you'll know. OC is not in LA County, nor is San Francisco. If you want LA Beaches, there are Malibu and Zuma. Nightlife on Sunset Blvd., Melrose area, and Pasadena area. There are lots of clubs to check out. You can also check out Westwood (by UCLA), Universal City Walk or Downtown Disney. Warning, not many people walk around at night except for some of these places. Definitly, not like NYC. There is top notch art, if you're into that. I recommend the Getty Center, by the 405 Fwy, for something relaxing and great views. More view areas at the newly upgraded Griffith Park Observatory, by the Hollywood sign. Magic Mountain theme park is cool for rides. All depends on what you guys want to do, strip clubs, dance clubs, music clubs, etc...Oh, and food, well there's everything. Since there is a lot of the spanish influences here, go for a good Mexican hangout. Titos (sp?) Tacos comes to mind in Culver City, on Sepulveda Blvd. Others may have some more suggestions.


///M owns you....great promo...I gotta head down there man. Name off some places you've been.
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      04-02-2007, 05:28 PM   #12
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thanks for all the ideas guys, here somewhat of a rough outline I came up with:

Day 1: Fly into San Fransisco, spend the day sight seeing, Alcatrez tour and golden gate bridge is def one of the first stops. Look for some nightlife(?)

Day 2 : Leave SF and head south, stoping in San Jose for lunch/dinner
(Dont know if there is much to do in San Jose, would consider spending the day/night if its worth it, maybe even going back to SF and spend the night there again) chime in with some suggestions please...

Day 3: Highway 1 drive!! I cant wait and will be disapointed I cant share the experience in my bimmer but the views and sights will be worth it I think. Where would be some good places to stop along the way? Any suggestions on where to end up and spend the night?

Again all a rough outline but im trying to organize it a bit.

Another idea for the last part of the trip after spending a few days in the LA area would be to drive into mexico to Tijuana, what do you guys think? I guess I would have to find out from the rental agency if its ok to cross the border with the car first. Any must see's in this area?
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      04-02-2007, 05:40 PM   #13
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I'd suggest you to fly to San Francisco and spend 2 days, drive down to L.A. and stay for 2 days and spend a day at the O.C. and go to Vegas from OC (it's closer to go from OC than LA) for 2 days and fly back in NY for a perfect week vacation!

I just came back from a NY and Boston last week and NY is definitely a city that offers a lot more fun. But driving there was a pain in the butt! And Boston was just rich in history but kind of small If you have any question ask away!
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      04-02-2007, 05:58 PM   #14
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Dleo, you probably won't find much to do in San Jose that you can't find in SF. I think one day is probably too short of a time to see everything you want to see in SF, but I guess it depends on what time your flight lands. As for nightlife, like what Shragon said, there's clubs scattered throughout the city. But I found that if you wander around the Italian district (near Broadway and Colombus), the area is pretty active at night with lots of people wandering around for strip clubs and dance clubs, as well as those looking to grab a bite to eat in the various italian restraunts that litter the street. I would suggest going to go the Stinking Rose if you love garlic foods, and to just take a break in the Steps of Rome for a slice of tiramisu while watching the passing crowds.

17 mile drive over in Monterey is worth checking out, esp if you love golf. Beautiful views of the ocean, and it passes through Pebble Beach. I'm not sure if you want to drive hwy 1 all the way down to LA... although it's a scenic drive, I've heard it might take up to 10-12 hours to complete the entire route.
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      04-02-2007, 06:01 PM   #15
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wow im in comp lab and like everyone saw the pictures and looked at me weird lol
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      04-02-2007, 06:02 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dleo View Post
thanks for all the ideas guys, here somewhat of a rough outline I came up with:

Day 1: Fly into San Fransisco, spend the day sight seeing, Alcatrez tour and golden gate bridge is def one of the first stops. Look for some nightlife(?)

Day 2 : Leave SF and head south, stoping in San Jose for lunch/dinner
(Dont know if there is much to do in San Jose, would consider spending the day/night if its worth it, maybe even going back to SF and spend the night there again) chime in with some suggestions please...

Day 3: Highway 1 drive!! I cant wait and will be disapointed I cant share the experience in my bimmer but the views and sights will be worth it I think. Where would be some good places to stop along the way? Any suggestions on where to end up and spend the night?

Again all a rough outline but im trying to organize it a bit.

Another idea for the last part of the trip after spending a few days in the LA area would be to drive into mexico to Tijuana, what do you guys think? I guess I would have to find out from the rental agency if its ok to cross the border with the car first. Any must see's in this area?

Definitely do the highway 1 drive from SF to Socal. Stop by Monterey Bay and 17 Mile Drive. Hearst Castle is pretty amazing if your into that kind of stuff. I did this drive last month and it was incredible.

Here are a few pics.
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      04-02-2007, 06:05 PM   #17
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those pictures are amazing, just added another stop along the route, keep them coming guys!
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      04-02-2007, 06:31 PM   #18
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skip san jose. there's really nothing to do in sj. spend the extra day in sf.
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      04-03-2007, 12:51 AM   #19
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Seeing all of these pictures and ideas reminds me why I love Cali so much. You kind of take it for granted sometimes living here.
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      04-03-2007, 12:58 AM   #20
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I did the 1 highway from Carmel to San Francisco today. Beautiful scenic drive!!
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      04-03-2007, 04:58 AM   #21
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whoa... are those sea lions dead?
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      04-03-2007, 09:16 AM   #22
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Quote:
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whoa... are those sea lions dead?
Nope, they're just getting some sun.
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