California Here We Come Trip
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2008
Programs: SQ KF *S, TG ROP *P
Posts: 178
California Here We Come Trip
Planning a trip with family - short 7 days, itinerary as follow:
Day 1 Arrive LAX, pick up car, drive to San Diego 1 night
Day 2 Day tour San Diego, late afternoon drive to Santa Clarita
Day 3 Six Flag Amusement Park
Day 4 Morning Check out, drive towards Monteray, via Ventura
Day 5 Morning drive towards San Jose, outlet mall
Day 6 Morning towards San Francisco, city tour, Golden Gate Bridge, Muir Forest another Mall in evening, stay another night San Jose
Day 7 Drive towards LA via inland highway
Day 8 Free day in LA, check out outlet mall, evening drive to airport and check in - 0125 flight takes off for BKK
Experts of the area, is this workable?
Advice and tips welcome, thank you.
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Day 1 Arrive LAX, pick up car, drive to San Diego 1 night
Day 2 Day tour San Diego, late afternoon drive to Santa Clarita
Day 3 Six Flag Amusement Park
Day 4 Morning Check out, drive towards Monteray, via Ventura
Day 5 Morning drive towards San Jose, outlet mall
Day 6 Morning towards San Francisco, city tour, Golden Gate Bridge, Muir Forest another Mall in evening, stay another night San Jose
Day 7 Drive towards LA via inland highway
Day 8 Free day in LA, check out outlet mall, evening drive to airport and check in - 0125 flight takes off for BKK
Experts of the area, is this workable?
Advice and tips welcome, thank you.
__________________
#2
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Central California
Programs: Former UA Premex, now dirt
Posts: 6,531
What time of year will this be? It can make a difference.
What are ages of kids?
Some of your driving days seem pretty ambitious. The drive from Santa Clarita to Monterey on the Pacific Coast Highway will be pretty much all day in the car. Some of the finest coastal scenery in the world and little time to stop off occasionally along the way and enjoy it.
Would it be possible to rearrange your flights to arrive at LAX or SAN (San Diego) and depart for home from SFO (San Francisco) or SJC (San Jose)? Eliminating that long backtrack to LA would make for a more relaxed and enjoyable visit.
What are ages of kids?
Some of your driving days seem pretty ambitious. The drive from Santa Clarita to Monterey on the Pacific Coast Highway will be pretty much all day in the car. Some of the finest coastal scenery in the world and little time to stop off occasionally along the way and enjoy it.
Would it be possible to rearrange your flights to arrive at LAX or SAN (San Diego) and depart for home from SFO (San Francisco) or SJC (San Jose)? Eliminating that long backtrack to LA would make for a more relaxed and enjoyable visit.
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2008
Programs: SQ KF *S, TG ROP *P
Posts: 178
What time of year will this be? It can make a difference.
What are ages of kids?
Some of your driving days seem pretty ambitious. The drive from Santa Clarita to Monterey on the Pacific Coast Highway will be pretty much all day in the car. Some of the finest coastal scenery in the world and little time to stop off occasionally along the way and enjoy it.
Would it be possible to rearrange your flights to arrive at LAX or SAN (San Diego) and depart for home from SFO (San Francisco) or SJC (San Jose)? Eliminating that long backtrack to LA would make for a more relaxed and enjoyable visit.
What are ages of kids?
Some of your driving days seem pretty ambitious. The drive from Santa Clarita to Monterey on the Pacific Coast Highway will be pretty much all day in the car. Some of the finest coastal scenery in the world and little time to stop off occasionally along the way and enjoy it.
Would it be possible to rearrange your flights to arrive at LAX or SAN (San Diego) and depart for home from SFO (San Francisco) or SJC (San Jose)? Eliminating that long backtrack to LA would make for a more relaxed and enjoyable visit.
I know Santa Clarita to Monterrey can be long, so no hotel bookings, if need be just stop and stay a night somewhere, then next day to San José.
Will arrive LAX and not possible to depart from SFO as THAI don't fly from there. The backtrack is planned as it would be cheaper then flying SFO - LAX. Gave myself 1 day of driving with plenty of stop. Then I will have a free day shopping before heading to LAX for return to BKK.
#5
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: PHX
Programs: UA *Alliance
Posts: 5,612
I would skip San Diego. If you're only going for a day and then trying to drive to Santa Clarita in the "late afternoon", you're setting yourself up for a miserable drive. You will have traffic leaving San Diego, all through Orange County, all through Los Angeles County, etc. Spend the first night getting accommodated in LA and spend the next day touring LA before driving up to Santa Clarita. If you want another outlet mall to explore check out the Citadel Outlets on the 5 Freeway around City of Commerce.
And Six Flags is likely to be brutally hot in the middle of July.
And Six Flags is likely to be brutally hot in the middle of July.
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Jul 2008
Programs: SQ KF *S, TG ROP *P
Posts: 178
I would skip San Diego. If you're only going for a day and then trying to drive to Santa Clarita in the "late afternoon", you're setting yourself up for a miserable drive. You will have traffic leaving San Diego, all through Orange County, all through Los Angeles County, etc. Spend the first night getting accommodated in LA and spend the next day touring LA before driving up to Santa Clarita. If you want another outlet mall to explore check out the Citadel Outlets on the 5 Freeway around City of Commerce.
And Six Flags is likely to be brutally hot in the middle of July.
And Six Flags is likely to be brutally hot in the middle of July.
#8
Moderator: Travel Safety/Security, Travel Tools, California, Los Angeles; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: LAX
Programs: oneword Emerald
Posts: 20,634
Buy her an Amtrak ticket and meet her in LA. The drive from San Diego to Santa Clarita can easily take 4-5 hours on a midweek afternoon.
If interested in stopping at an outlet mall, the Camarillo Premium Outlet mall, on the way to Ventura and Monterey, is infinitely superior to the Citadel.
If interested in stopping at an outlet mall, the Camarillo Premium Outlet mall, on the way to Ventura and Monterey, is infinitely superior to the Citadel.
#9
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,785
It is only a 2 to 3 hours drive without traffic, I would just have dinner at San Diego and leave in the evening around 7pm and you will probably get to your hotel before 10pm.
#10
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: PHX
Programs: AA Aluminum, WN B+
Posts: 929
I'd seriously recommend getting a one way flight from BUR to SFO, OAK, or SJC after Magic Mountain, then another from the bay area to LAX mid day on day 8. This'll save you quite a bit of driving considering you don't have very much time.
I also second Need's advice about leaving San Diego later. Leave at the wrong time and you could turn a 2-3 hour drive into 5-6 hours. LA traffic is something you don't want to mess with.
BTW if you're not familiar with them Southwest Airlines doesn't publish their fares outside of their website, and they are the major carrier BUR-bay area, and one of the main players bay area-LAX.
I also second Need's advice about leaving San Diego later. Leave at the wrong time and you could turn a 2-3 hour drive into 5-6 hours. LA traffic is something you don't want to mess with.
BTW if you're not familiar with them Southwest Airlines doesn't publish their fares outside of their website, and they are the major carrier BUR-bay area, and one of the main players bay area-LAX.
Last edited by Lost; Jun 18, 2015 at 9:40 am
#11
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Santa Cruz, CA USA
Programs: AA, UA, WN, HH, Marriott
Posts: 7,290
Obviously these are just a personal opinions --
1) Unless amusement parks are a major attraction for your family, I would skip Six Flags? My son's family - wife and 2 teenage sons - went there last year and wondered why they wasted the time.
2) As others have said, the one day drive up the coast will be tiring and you will be most tired for the most scenic (and stressful driving) part of it. I would encourage you to plan an overnight in either Morro Bay or Cambria.
3) You mentioned Ventura but I'm not sure why. If you split the drive north with an overnight, I would encourage you to spend a little time in Santa Barbara instead.
1) Unless amusement parks are a major attraction for your family, I would skip Six Flags? My son's family - wife and 2 teenage sons - went there last year and wondered why they wasted the time.
2) As others have said, the one day drive up the coast will be tiring and you will be most tired for the most scenic (and stressful driving) part of it. I would encourage you to plan an overnight in either Morro Bay or Cambria.
3) You mentioned Ventura but I'm not sure why. If you split the drive north with an overnight, I would encourage you to spend a little time in Santa Barbara instead.
#14
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Left Coast
Posts: 862
You can buy the ticket for her online, and it isn't hard to get to the Amtrak station in San Diego.
If you insist on traveling to San Diego yourself, take the train. You can come back the same day, and if you're jet lagging at all, you get somewhere between four to six hours to nap on the train (two or three hours going down, two or three hours coming back). Go for business class, bring some ear plugs, and have a nice sleep. You can even get a coupla beers on the train, if that seems good to you. Or you could have a nice relaxing evening in San Diego-- many nice hotels are more or less close to the train station-- and come back the next day.
Be advised, since you wrote that you were traveling in July: they will have Comic Con down in San Diego from July 8 to July 12, and it will probably be more crowded than usual on the train and in the hotels close to the convention center during that time.
#15
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: Santa Cruz, CA USA
Programs: AA, UA, WN, HH, Marriott
Posts: 7,290