My vacation in California. Review! (San Diego, San Francisco: city hall, how much, hotels)

[Catbelle]

Hello everyone.

As some of you know or remember, I went to California during 10 days and asked you advice about some places I would visit. Well I am back and I am going to tell you about my trip.

I remember that @LuvSouthOC @(901) @saibot etc wanted some updating, here it is!

L.A. We loved it. we rented a car and visited Griffith Ob. Lake Hollywood park, Rodeo Drive, Walk of fame and the beaches of Venice and Santa Monica.
We moved around by car and it was very easy to drive and especiallyt park next to famous places, it would have been impossible here. Very clean, beautiful houses, all perfect.

San Diego We drove to San Diego and went to La Jolla Cove beach, crowded but nice with the seals, I don't really find San Diego so especial but it was interesting to visit. We saw Oldtown and Balboa Park.

Las Vegas (well I know it is Nevada but anyway) Better than expected especially in the night, beautiful resorts and extremely clean, cheap to park or even for free, liked the Flamingo gardens, Bellagio, and all the city in general.

West Rim Grand Canyon Well organised and nice to take photos, quite expensive though.

Sequoia NP beautiful and not crowded at all, I expected bigger trees but still I liked it a lot. Clean.

Fresno Only for sleeping not much to say, good supermarkets there.

San Francisco the most expensive and extremely touristy, nice and beautiful streets, we visited Twin Peaks, Haigh Ashbury, Castro, the Piers, old tram, Union Square, Alcatraz, Alamo Square, City hall etc. We moved around in public transport with MUNI pass.

Overall impressions:

• Nice people, generally so friendly.
  
• No tourist traps, for example we found many vending machines of water next to free water fountains in some hot places, here they would have done bussinness of water.
  
• Few cars on the road, I expected heavy traffic jams of difficulty to park, it was quite easy and people drive very well. You can barely hear claxons.
  
• Restrooms everywhere, and no run out of toilet paper!!
  
• In a chinese restaurant the waitress came to ask for even more tip, we found it rude.
  
• Gas for cars is cheap so you can drive everywhere for a decent fare.
  
• Some basic products are quite expensive while some other considered less necessary are cheap
  

As far as I can remember that is all

[saibot]

Thanks for updating. It sounds like you had a good trip, and so glad to hear that everything went smoothly. Come again any time.

[Mr5150]

Glad you had a good visit. Next time you come, visit Yosemite , Lake Tahoe and the coastal redwoods

[JohnS_15]

Wow you packed a lot in - glad it went so smoothly and I'm amazed you didn't hit too much traffic!

You are the only person I've ever heard that's underwhelmed by the size of Sequoia trees! Where did you visit in the NP?

[Catbelle]

Originally Posted by saibot

Thanks for updating. It sounds like you had a good trip, and so glad to hear that everything went smoothly. Come again any time.

Yeah I want to repeat at any time

Originally Posted by Mr5150

Glad you had a good visit. Next time you come, visit Yosemite , Lake Tahoe and the coastal redwoods

Yeah, next time different NP's and different routes

Originally Posted by JohnS_15

Wow you packed a lot in - glad it went so smoothly and I'm amazed you didn't hit too much traffic!

You are the only person I've ever heard that's underwhelmed by the size of Sequoia trees! Where did you visit in the NP?

I am not sure, we started in King Canyons and we even saw the General Sherman.

[LuvSouthOC]

Originally Posted by Catbelle

Hello everyone.

As some of you know or remember, I went to California during 10 days and asked you advice about some places I would visit. Well I am back and I am going to tell you about my trip.

I remember that @LuvSouthOC @(901) @saibot etc wanted some updating, here it is!

L.A. We loved it. we rented a car and visited Griffith Ob. Lake Hollywood park, Rodeo Drive, Walk of fame and the beaches of Venice and Santa Monica.
We moved around by car and it was very easy to drive and especiallyt park next to famous places, it would have been impossible here. Very clean, beautiful houses, all perfect.

San Diego We drove to San Diego and went to La Jolla Cove beach, crowded but nice with the seals, I don't really find San Diego so especial but it was interesting to visit. We saw Oldtown and Balboa Park.

Las Vegas (well I know it is Nevada but anyway) Better than expected especially in the night, beautiful resorts and extremely clean, cheap to park or even for free, liked the Flamingo gardens, Bellagio, and all the city in general.

West Rim Grand Canyon Well organised and nice to take photos, quite expensive though.

Sequoia NP beautiful and not crowded at all, I expected bigger trees but still I liked it a lot. Clean.

Fresno Only for sleeping not much to say, good supermarkets there.

San Francisco the most expensive and extremely touristy, nice and beautiful streets, we visited Twin Peaks, Haigh Ashbury, Castro, the Piers, old tram, Union Square, Alcatraz, Alamo Square, City hall etc. We moved around in public transport with MUNI pass.

Overall impressions:

• Nice people, generally so friendly.
  
• No tourist traps, for example we found many vending machines of water next to free water fountains in some hot places, here they would have done bussinness of water.
  
• Few cars on the road, I expected heavy traffic jams of difficulty to park, it was quite easy and people drive very well. You can barely hear claxons.
  
• Restrooms everywhere, and no run out of toilet paper!!
  
• In a chinese restaurant the waitress came to ask for even more tip, we found it rude.
  
• Gas for cars is cheap so you can drive everywhere for a decent fare.
  
• Some basic products are quite expensive while some other considered less necessary are cheap
  

As far as I can remember that is all

That was amazing! Thank you for the follow up~!

[ryanst530]

Originally Posted by Mr5150

Glad you had a good visit. Next time you come, visit Yosemite , Lake Tahoe and the coastal redwoods

And a drive up/down the Pacific Coast Highway between Monterey and Morro Bay

[cttransplant85]

Gas is CHEAP!? That's the first time I have ever heard that one. CA has some of the highest gas prices in North America. Also, tipping in the US is typically 18-25% of the bill, the waitresses here make almost all their money on tips. Glad you enjoyed the trip. Next time visit Yosemite, most beautiful place on earth IMO.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Catbelle

Hello everyone.

As some of you know or remember, I went to California during 10 days and asked you advice about some places I would visit. Well I am back and I am going to tell you about my trip.

I remember that @LuvSouthOC @(901) @saibot etc wanted some updating, here it is!

L.A. We loved it. we rented a car and visited Griffith Ob. Lake Hollywood park, Rodeo Drive, Walk of fame and the beaches of Venice and Santa Monica.
We moved around by car and it was very easy to drive and especiallyt park next to famous places, it would have been impossible here. Very clean, beautiful houses, all perfect.

San Diego We drove to San Diego and went to La Jolla Cove beach, crowded but nice with the seals, I don't really find San Diego so especial but it was interesting to visit. We saw Oldtown and Balboa Park.

Las Vegas (well I know it is Nevada but anyway) Better than expected especially in the night, beautiful resorts and extremely clean, cheap to park or even for free, liked the Flamingo gardens, Bellagio, and all the city in general.

West Rim Grand Canyon Well organised and nice to take photos, quite expensive though.

Sequoia NP beautiful and not crowded at all, I expected bigger trees but still I liked it a lot. Clean.

Fresno Only for sleeping not much to say, good supermarkets there.

San Francisco the most expensive and extremely touristy, nice and beautiful streets, we visited Twin Peaks, Haigh Ashbury, Castro, the Piers, old tram, Union Square, Alcatraz, Alamo Square, City hall etc. We moved around in public transport with MUNI pass.

Overall impressions:

• Nice people, generally so friendly.
  
• No tourist traps, for example we found many vending machines of water next to free water fountains in some hot places, here they would have done bussinness of water.
  
• Few cars on the road, I expected heavy traffic jams of difficulty to park, it was quite easy and people drive very well. You can barely hear claxons.
  
• Restrooms everywhere, and no run out of toilet paper!!
  
• In a chinese restaurant the waitress came to ask for even more tip, we found it rude.
  
• Gas for cars is cheap so you can drive everywhere for a decent fare.
  
• Some basic products are quite expensive while some other considered less necessary are cheap
  

As far as I can remember that is all

Don't know where you are from but I can't believe you didn't find the traffic awful and the price of gas over the top? Glad you seem to have had a great trip. CA is a fun place to visit and you managed to add a few other awesome stops into your trip. Thanks for your review. Oh, I now see you are from Europe, no wonder you thought gas was cheap and the traffic wasn't bad.

As for the tipping situation, the waitress should never have commented on how little you left, but in some resort areas and tourist areas, there are mandatory tips added. Miami is one of those places. The reason? Tourists from Europe do not understand our tipping custom thus they do not always tip accordingly . This is also one of the reasons cruise ships have now added a service charge instead of depending on people to tip accordingly. Also the case at many resort hotels or even hotels in resort areas, there is a resort charge added to the bill. We have found, when we travel to countries where larger tips are no the custom food prices are higher in restaurants.

[fumbling]

Originally Posted by Catbelle

[*]In a chinese restaurant the waitress came to ask for even more tip, we found it rude.
[*]Gas for cars is cheap so you can drive everywhere for a decent fare.
[/list]

How much did you tip? I know people typically don't tip in Europe so maybe you did undertip? I remember going to Montreal and ordering to go and the waiter telling me I should tip for take away orders, when it is customary in the US to only tip when eating at a table (or have I been doing it wrong in the US all this time?), so tipping customs can vary unexpectedly.

Also gas in Europe is equivalent to $7 gas here so even CA gas is cheap to Europeans.