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Old 03-01-2014, 01:04 PM
 
28,115 posts, read 63,672,505 times
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Two 18 year old Austrian girls visited for 9 weeks last summer.

They attended a 6 week course in Colorado and had 3 weeks to sightsee.

They really wanted to see California and spent about a week in the Bay Area... SF, Big Basin, Berkeley and wine country...

While in Santa Cruz... they found two bicycles at a garage sale and decided to bicycle down Highway 1 to San Diego where they had a flight back to Austria...

They said it was the absolute best ever... taking their time down the coast... cost almost nothing and everyone they met was super friendly.

Only hitch was one of their bikes was stolen on their second to last day... sold the other one for more than they had paid...
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Old 03-04-2014, 06:37 AM
 
Location: The State Of California
10,400 posts, read 15,583,593 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ultrarunner View Post
Two 18 year old Austrian girls visited for 9 weeks last summer.

They attended a 6 week course in Colorado and had 3 weeks to sightsee.

They really wanted to see California and spent about a week in the Bay Area... SF, Big Basin, Berkeley and wine country...

While in Santa Cruz... they found two bicycles at a garage sale and decided to bicycle down Highway 1 to San Diego where they had a flight back to Austria...

They said it was the absolute best ever... taking their time down the coast... cost almost nothing and everyone they met was super friendly.

Only hitch was one of their bikes was stolen on their second to last day... sold the other one for more than they had paid...
Santa Cruz to San Diego is doable but dangerous to say the least.....
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Old 03-04-2014, 09:46 AM
 
Location: Where they serve real ale.
7,242 posts, read 7,907,352 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BRinSM View Post
I would go with San Diego. Lots to do there and great beaches. Drinking/partying will be difficult since you're under 21, but I'm pretty sure the trolley down there runs to the border where you can hop a cab to the bars/clubs in tijuana. just be safe in mexico, it can get hairy.
This.

Go to San Diego and do the beach scene, take in some of the attractions like Sea World, Legoland, the world famous San Diego Zoo, and if you feel like drinking legally then take the trolley down to Tijuana. Just make sure you take a cab from the border (it will cost ~$5 each way), stick to the main tourist areas which are well policed, follow the local laws (no drinking in public, no urinating in the street, etc...) and when it is time to go back home pay $5 for a cab. Don't try to walk back to the border on your own as it goes through a slum and people get mugged there but if you take a cab and stick to the main tourist areas then you will be safe.

While you're down there try some of the restaurants as many of them are top notch, TJ has become a major food mecca with free and local being all the rage. They have several four and five star restaurants in addition to great hole in the wall or even street cart style places and the quality of the food is normally 1/3 to 1/2 off what you'd pay on the American side of the border. Heck, you can even find beach front hotels in northern Baja going for as little as $50 per night where as on the American side it is hard to find even a cheap motel for that price these days.
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Old 03-04-2014, 10:01 AM
 
Location: Mokelumne Hill, CA & El Pescadero, BCS MX.
6,957 posts, read 22,311,234 times
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You might see if your fly anywhere tickets are valid on AirTran which is slowly being absorbed by SWA. They fly to Cabo and Cancun I believe,and in Mexico, 18 is the age of majority in all things.
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Old 03-04-2014, 12:10 PM
 
28,115 posts, read 63,672,505 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Howest2008 View Post
Santa Cruz to San Diego is doable but dangerous to say the least.....
They were too young to rent a car in California and taking the bus or train would not allow them travel Highway 1.

Bicycling down Highway 1 was the highlight of their trip and they updated their Facebook accounts whenever they could.

Both had graduated from tourism and hospitality and had traveled around Europe together... didn't occur to them car rental would be different than in Europe or that having completed wine Sommelier courses at 16 through their school they would find Napa valley is 21 minimum.

Last edited by Ultrarunner; 10-23-2014 at 01:24 PM..
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Old 03-04-2014, 12:17 PM
 
Location: State of Transition
102,211 posts, read 107,904,670 times
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idk, I was going to suggest Santa Cruz, south of the Bay Area. The boardwalk there is lots of fun, good beach with warmer water than other parts of the coast, great scenery, redwood forests for hiking, college town = lots of people the OP's age. Are you guys going to rent a car? If you decide to check out Santa Cruz, you'd fly into San Jose (that's the closest, or possibly San Fran) and drive south.
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Old 03-04-2014, 01:42 PM
 
Location: The Great West
2,084 posts, read 2,622,289 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth View Post
idk, I was going to suggest Santa Cruz, south of the Bay Area. The boardwalk there is lots of fun, good beach with warmer water than other parts of the coast, great scenery, redwood forests for hiking, college town = lots of people the OP's age. Are you guys going to rent a car? If you decide to check out Santa Cruz, you'd fly into San Jose (that's the closest, or possibly San Fran) and drive south.
Are the Santa Cruz beaches that warm though? I go to Aptos every year and the water is frigid, like Lake Tahoe, lol. But I know Aptos is colder than Santa Cruz.
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Old 03-04-2014, 02:02 PM
 
Location: Mountains of Oregon
17,635 posts, read 22,639,503 times
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The girls went on vacation in 2008......

You can go in the Jacuzzi at "The Dream Inn",in Santa Cruz, on the beach adjacent to the pier & Boardwalk......

The Dream Inn: Your Upscale Beachfront Hotel in Santa Cruz
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Old 03-04-2014, 02:20 PM
 
Location: Mountains of Oregon
17,635 posts, read 22,639,503 times
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Go enjoy the hot springs around Big Sur...

Hot Springs in the Big Sur area :: Sykes, Tassajara, Esalen

The Esalen Hot Springs | Esalen

Esalen Institute - Big Sur, CA | Yelp

https://www.google.com/search?q=Hot+...w=1333&bih=599

Have a Wonderful Adventure......
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