Vancouver and L.A., where to go and what to do?

[Tweek]

Hi guys, due to the last minute cancellation of my europe tour by my stupid tour agent, I have turned to visiting the states. Because of the last minute booking and the high demand for air tickets, I landed myself in a 8 day West Coast tour, and a 9-Day free-and-easy in Vancouver, and 3-Day free-and-easy in L.A.

Is anyone able to suggest the things to do, places to visit in Vancouver? And where are the places/cities where I can proceed from there, the transportation+prices and all that? I need to last 9 days there, and must be in Vancouver at the end of the 9 days to fly to Hong Kong, before going back to Singapore.

How bout L.A., any good places to go? Issit possible to go from L.A. to SanFran and back in 3 days? How about the transport costs? I will be already visiting Disney and Universal Studios and possibly Hollywood in my original 8-day tour, so anywhere else in L.A. worth visiting too?

Thanks a lot for any info provided.

 

[wmelon]

That's a long break. Try borrowing guidebooks like Let's Go USA from library for some ideas. Here's some of my suggestions (but it really depends on what you like to do, time and your budget):

Vancouver - Stanley Park, Granville Island, Capilano Suspension Bridge, Grouse Mountain. These are easy to get to by local buses from downtown Vancouver. Lots of other places outside Vancouver, but I haven't gone that far :bsmilie:

If you like Sleepless in Seattle, you can take a bus from Vancouver to Seattle, which should be about 3 hours journey. You'll find lots of Starbucks Cafe.

As for LA, I personnally don't like it. Prefer SF. You can take a plane from LA to SF in about an hour. I don't know the cost but it's not too expensive. You might also want to consider visiting Las Vegas and Grand Canyon from LA.

Happy travelling! :bsmilie:

 

[chaotic]

that's a nice and long tour you have in the US and Canada. Take your time and stay at the places longer. Explore non-touristy stuff too. Don't spend all your time travelling! ;-) Have fun.

 

[kssim]

Hi,

There's a lot of nice places around the south western states in US. Depending on your interest, there's various places that you can go to. List your preferences (eg, that you'll prefer theme parks, or you'll prefer seeing cities, nightscenes, or that you'll prefer natures) and I might be able to help with some better suggestions. In any case, if your interest are in nature/landscape, there are a number of great parks that all lies in the south western states (eg, Grand Canyon, Yosemities, Bryce Canyon, Zion Natl Park, etc etc) You might also like to take a look at my site at http://5art.tripod.com under the places/USA section where there are some info and photos on a number of the western states/cities that I have been to while on my 2 years stay in the states. Have a great trip there! And while you're there, you might not want to miss 'Desert Hill' factory outlet (located near LA) where you can find some great bargains on branded clothings/footwears/etc (not fake!)

Rgds,
KS

Originally posted by Tweek
Hi guys, due to the last minute cancellation of my europe tour by my stupid tour agent, I have turned to visiting the states. Because of the last minute booking and the high demand for air tickets, I landed myself in a 8 day West Coast tour, and a 9-Day free-and-easy in Vancouver, and 3-Day free-and-easy in L.A.

Is anyone able to suggest the things to do, places to visit in Vancouver? And where are the places/cities where I can proceed from there, the transportation+prices and all that? I need to last 9 days there, and must be in Vancouver at the end of the 9 days to fly to Hong Kong, before going back to Singapore.

How bout L.A., any good places to go? Issit possible to go from L.A. to SanFran and back in 3 days? How about the transport costs? I will be already visiting Disney and Universal Studios and possibly Hollywood in my original 8-day tour, so anywhere else in L.A. worth visiting too?

Thanks a lot for any info provided.

 

[roygoh]

If you have a chance to drop by Seattle let me know. I can bring you around.

By the way Seattle is about 2.5 hours drive from Vancouver.

 

[chaotic]

what's there to see in seattle?

 

[roygoh]

Los Angeles:

- Disneyland
- Chinatown
- Beverly Hills
- Universal Studios
- Knotts Berry Farm
- Hollywood

If you can drive, it makes it much easier to get around.

San Diego is about 3 hours drive from LA, if I remember correctly. Lot's of nice places to visit there, like Sea World.

Also, Las Vegas is within a few hours drive from LA.

San Francisco:
Setting aside 3 days for SF should be enough. The air tickets in Jun might be pricey due to the travel seaon. Check out on UA's website (www.ual.com). Better decide fast and book early!

The flight should be less than an hour one way. In SF, dont miss the following:

- Golden Gate Bridge
- Fisherman's Wharf
- Palace of Fine Arts (where Sean Connery meets his daughter in "The Rock"). See picture below:

- Also, if you drive, follow the 49-mile scenic drive. That should be covered in a day or 2 and brings you to the majour attractions.

Vancouver:

Only been there once. The chinatown is quite interesting. Try to visit Victoria on Vancouver island. Nice city. Also, lot's of good Chinese restaurants in Richmond. But that might not interest you as much. If you have watched the animation "Cats and Dogs" you might have noticed the gloomy castle where the evil cat stayed in. That's the Craigdarroch castle in Victoria. An interesting place!

Seattle:

- Pikes Place Market (flying fish!)

- Seattle Centre (Space Needle)

- Downtown, and international district
- Snoquamie Falls

That's all I can think of for now. Are you totally confused?

 

[Tweek]

thanks to wmelon, chaotic, kssim and roygoh for the very very helpful tips. With your recommendations and my own reading up, I have decided to plan my itinerary as such:

6 days tour in West Coast: package tour, will visit Anaheim (Disney), Universal Studios, Las Vegas, Hollywood Street, Grand Canyon etc.

Return to LA, stay 1 day: will probably prowl the streets of LA, visit Beverly Hills, or some of the nice beaches there

Day in LA, take Greyhound to SF overnight: continue to look through the stuffs in LA in the day, at night board the Greyhound overnight to reach SF the next day.

In SF, stay there overnight: visit the nice places in SF, put up in motel/hostel there overnight.

Day in SF, take Greyhound back to LA overnight: continue to tour SF in the day, take the night Greyhound back to LA overnight.

4 days in Vancouver: Reach LA early in the morning, catch the morning flight to Vancouver. Venture around that area.

3 days in Seattle: Take coach/train to Seattle, spend about 3 days there. Roy! Need your tips here on accomodation! Hehe any cheap and good ones to recommend?

1 day in Vancouver and fly to HK: Return to Vancouver by coach/train and catch the flight to HK. Be in HK for 3 days, and it's home sweet home to Singapore!

Is this itinerary sound, or do you have any suggestions or recommendations for changes? I'm just worried about accomodation, gotta try to book them soon since it's peak season during summer.

Oh yah about greyhound, I find that if I book 3 days in advanced, the companion charge is waived. Means if I book for 1 person, the other person travels free. Is this reliable? If it is, it's damn cheap, just USD77 for a return trip to SF from LA for 2 pple! But the problem is, to book online, I require an US credit card with an US billing address. Sheesh...why can't they open to non-US residents too?

 

[chaotic]

the companion fare for greyhound does not apply to all routes.. check carefully before buying, you can actually do it online but if it applies to your route you are going, it's a good deal. It's just that greyhound is not very fun for long hours, but hey, it's cheap. ;-)

you can also check out amtrak. they were having 30% off fares. I am not sure whether they still have it. Only problem is that I heard sometimes they are not on time. I doing amtrak in a few days time... I can update you about them.

 

[chaotic]

oh yes, you can priceline.com your hotel... it's kinda cheap. just do some research at biddingfortravel.com before bidding at priceline.com

it's possible to get good hotels at seattle for $40-$60 a night.. it's really cheap compared to buying straight from hotel.

 

[Tweek]

Hi chaotic, thanks for the tips and recommendations. I just tried priceline.com, but seems that they do not allow outside-US credit cards and addresses? I can't do any bidding.

 

[kssim]

Hi,

I'm sure there are a lot others that does accept cards issued outside of US. The only problem might be the billing address. But even that could probably easily be solved through a mail/call to their customer service. I've been charging online to my Singapore issued cards in my two years there and there haven't been any problems.

The other thing is about the itinerary. You have a total of seven days in Seattle/Vancouver. In my personal opinion, there is much more to see and do down south in LA/SF/LV/SD/etc than in Seattle/Vancouver and you might thus want to spend more time there. Then again, US is a big country and a lot of time is spend travelling from point to point. Besides, if you're not driving over there, then it would be hard to visit a lot of the places.

As to accomodation, most motels have quite resonable prices. In my case, I don't usually book the the accomodations in advance unless it's a popular location or that it's around the peak holiday sessions. Most often than not, I'll drive to my destination and stop by at any motels that looks nice enough. If it's at a less popular location (esp. on weekdays), they'll often give pretty good offers. A few of the more common ones include Days Inn, Comfort Inn, Best Western, La Quinta, Travelodge, etc

Hope the above helps..

Rgds,
KS

Originally posted by Tweek
Hi chaotic, thanks for the tips and recommendations. I just tried priceline.com, but seems that they do not allow outside-US credit cards and addresses? I can't do any bidding.

 

[roygoh]

Originally posted by Tweek
3 days in Seattle: Take coach/train to Seattle, spend about 3 days there. Roy! Need your tips here on accomodation! Hehe any cheap and good ones to recommend?
[/B]

You are coming to Seattle! Welcome!

Let me know the exact dates you will be here. I can then make plans to meet up with you and bring you around.

Accomodation should be easy to find. I will send some reccomendations to you separately by email. Do you drive? kssim's recommendations are good.

Though I can find enough places to visit in Seattle to fill up your 3 days here, I also agree with kssim that you might want to consider adding more days in your LA/SF tours. Especially your 6-day West Coast tour. The places you listed can easily take up 1 day each, not including the travelling. Remember it is Summer holidays here, every ride in Disney land will most likely have a 1 ~ 1.5 hour wait time! You should put at least 2 days for Las Vegas. From Las Vegas, you can take a 1-day tour to the Grand Canyon.

Also, I suggest that you streamline your travels a little to save time. For example, why return to LA after your 1 day tour in SF? Also, if you visit Seattle before Vancouver, you will cut down on some travelling time also. Since Vancouver is your last stop, why do you need to fly to Vancouver first then take train/coach down to Seattle? You can save croosing the border 1 time if you come to Seattle first.

If I were you, I would streamline my itinerary this way:

- 6-day Packaged tour
- 1-day LA roaming
- Travel from LA to SF
- SF tour
- Travel from SF to Seattle
- Seattle tour
- Travel to Vancouver
- Vancouver tour
- continue to HK....

 

[Tweek]

Originally posted by kssim
Hi,

I'm sure there are a lot others that does accept cards issued outside of US. The only problem might be the billing address. But even that could probably easily be solved through a mail/call to their customer service. I've been charging online to my Singapore issued cards in my two years there and there haven't been any problems.

The other thing is about the itinerary. You have a total of seven days in Seattle/Vancouver. In my personal opinion, there is much more to see and do down south in LA/SF/LV/SD/etc than in Seattle/Vancouver and you might thus want to spend more time there. Then again, US is a big country and a lot of time is spend travelling from point to point. Besides, if you're not driving over there, then it would be hard to visit a lot of the places.

As to accomodation, most motels have quite resonable prices. In my case, I don't usually book the the accomodations in advance unless it's a popular location or that it's around the peak holiday sessions. Most often than not, I'll drive to my destination and stop by at any motels that looks nice enough. If it's at a less popular location (esp. on weekdays), they'll often give pretty good offers. A few of the more common ones include Days Inn, Comfort Inn, Best Western, La Quinta, Travelodge, etc

Hope the above helps..

Thanks kssim. The credit card thing is taken care of, my friend has an uncle who has an US cc, can help us with that. As for accomodation, I guess I really have to book in advanced because I'm not driving, and tis the summer season, a lot of the places will be highly booked. Don't want to be stranded on the streets, hehheh. Thanks for your recommendation, have tried Days Inn and Comfort Inn and also Travelodge, but they are still too ex for my comfort, most of them are above US$100 for a doubles room. I have landed myself in US Hostels, and the YHA Hostels. Oh yah, just read that it is unsafe to be in Downtown LA after office hours and on weekends, the guidebk made it sound like a crime haven. So I'm shifting my camp from LA to Hollywood! Hope it's a much nicer place.

 

[Tweek]

Hi Roy, the itinerary looks silly because it is all a part of the travel agency's package. The flight from L.A. to Vancouver required a small top up amount to the original tour package, and somehow it's quite strict on the departure location, either they don't want to change for me or they really can't change cause it's a policy thing. So I have no choice but to fly to Vancouver from LA, then move down to Seattle for a few days. As for spending too little days in LA area, it's also because of the day of flight from LA to Vancouver, which leaves me only a few days in between. But anyway, of my 6D tour, I guess I'd have seen much of LA already, maybe not everything, but enough of it. And I'll be staying in Hollywood so I'll be visiting Beverly Hills and Santa Monica. In San Francisco, I have planned that I need only about 2 days to go to the major attractions, so I guess it is enough. Only regret is that I'm not going San Diego, I'd love to see the zoo!

Roy, thanks for offering to bring me around in Seattle! Hey do that only when you are very free ok? Don't make me paiseh. :embrass: I have booked my accomodation, at Commodore Motor Hotel off 2nd Avenue, near Pikes Place. Not too ulu right? The below is my itinerary for the Seattle part, please give me any comment yar? Thanks!

Day 15 16 June 2002 Sunday
VANCOUVER – SEATTLE
Check out of YWCA, leave main luggage there. Take coachline to Seattle, expect to arrive at 1pm. Check into Commodore Motor Hotel, 2013 Second Avenue Seattle WA US, Tel: 1-206-448-8868. Visit the nearby Pioneer Square/International District, with places like Pioneer Building, Smith Tower, Maynard Building, Grand Central Arcade, and a whole lot of very boring-sounding buildings. Overnight: Commodore Motor Hotel

Day 16 17 June 2002 Monday
SEATTLE
Visit the Pike Place Market/Waterfront, should be happening enough to last a day. If not, can proceed on to Business District.
Overnight: Commodore Motor Hotel

Day 17 18 June 2002 Tuesday
SEATTLE
Go to Belltown/Seattle Center, for the Space Needle, Fun Forest Amusement Park, Opera House and theaters. If not enough to last a day, can move up to Queen Anne or Magnolia, though I think things there are pretty boring too. Overnight: Commodore Motor Hotel

Day 18 19 June 2002 Wednesday
SEATTLE - VANCOUVER
Check out of Commodore Motor Hotel, take coachline back to Vancouver. Check into YWCA, finish last minute shoppings and visits in Vancouver. Overnight: YWCA

 

[kssim]

Originally posted by Tweek
..... have tried Days Inn and Comfort Inn and also Travelodge, but they are still too ex for my comfort, most of them are above US$100 for a doubles room.

Wow! No kidding? I've never paid more than US$100 for a room for days inn and comfort inn (peak or non-peak period alike).
The price ranges from the cheapest of around $30+ (for less popular location or during lull period) to at most around $70+ (for more popular location or during peak season). The rates of $100+ for a doubles room at days inn and comfort inn are really quite unbelievable. Are business really that good? Anyway, since that you've already booked your other accomodation, then that's not really an issue to be concerned with now. Main thing is to just enjoy your trip!

Rgds,
KS

 

[roygoh]

Hi Tweek,

I think I have seen the hotel before but never entered it. Not sure about the renovation, as the building is quite old. However, for 2-night stay, it should be good enough.

Coincidentally, my parents who are visiting me will arrive on 15 Jun, so I will be quite occupied during that few days.

Hope you have a enjoyable trip!

Roy

 

[tomshen]

Hi Tweek, you may consider visiting Yosemities if you can squeeze some time. It's a few hundred miles north to SF if I am not wrong. My American hosts strongly recommended to me last time but I didnt go due to time issue. Later see pix by my friends, wow, big pity. But the problem is that if you dont drive then it will significantly limit your mobility. Dont take normal coach, it's very very slow. From LA to SF takes 7~8 hours so a whole day is gone;(

 

[mpenza]

Just side-track a bit..... which of the following cities do you think are worth a few days visit?

1. Los Angeles
2. San Francisco
3. New York
4. Chicago

Due to time and monetary constraints, only one of the cities could be visited.....

 

[tomshen]

Originally posted by mpenza
Just side-track a bit..... which of the following cities do you think are worth a few days visit?

1. Los Angeles
2. San Francisco
3. New York
4. Chicago

Due to time and monetary constraints, only one of the cities could be visited.....

NY, WTC site:bsmilie: