BackGround:
I am visiting the west coast for the first time in my life with my GF. I been up and down the east coast by car/plane from prince Edward island in CAN to the southern most point in Keywest.

Details:
Trip Date: 8/17-8/22

NY->Las Vegas(Flying)-8/17-8/18
Las Vegas->Los Angeles area(Driving)-8/18-8/20
Los Angeles area->Oakland area(Driving)-8/20-8/22
Oakland->NY(Flying)-8/22

I have a couple of questions for your guys to help me with the planning of the trip with some of your knowledge out there.

1. Are NY to Las Vegas(one way) for around the 150$ decent price or can I do better? Also from Oakland back to NY around 150$ as well per ticket?
ANSWER[JFK-LAS, SFO-JFK, 305 RT THROUGH EXPEDIA]

2. What are some things to do in Las Angeles i.e(tours, bars,sites, great restaurants like in&out or jack in the box )
ANSWER[WB TOURS, VENICE BEACH]

3. When driving to Oakland should I take 15 or another route
ANSWER[POSSIBLY TAKE THE 101 ROUTE]

4. Anything I missed that I should know or input from what you seen above?
--------------------------UPDATE---------------------

5. Can someone recommend a great buffet in Las Vegas to try? I heard the rio hotel has a great international one if anyone could recommend any more

6. Recommend a hotel to stay near west Hollywood area?nothing too fancy 2-3 stars is fine

7. San Fransisco I have lined up is seeing Alcatraz and fisherman's wharf. Anything else up there to check out?

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Thanks if anyone can help with these 4 questions of mine

All I know about the west coast is I watched 90210 back in the day, your governor is the terminator, and movies are made there

___________________
ATB -Let u go
Iio - Rapture(riva edit)
Dj Encore - I see right through you
Lasgo - something

The best vocal tunes on LI RIP(2001-2002)

Last edited by Trancealot on Jul-29-2009 at 15:04

For LA to Oakland you are going to take the 5. 15 is used for LA to Las Vegas.

Look into jetblue.com for flights from JFK to LAS to see what they offer.

While in LA, check out tourisy cities like Hollywood, Santa Monica and Venice Beach. You may consider a tour bus from Hollywood (I'm pretty sure it goes to cities like Beverly Hills)

What weekday or weeknights are you in LA? Check out the lineups at Vanguard, Avalon and Circus for Saturday nights. But it looks like you are in LA Tuesday to Thursday, there may be some nightclubs that play house music.

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www.rabbanlaw.com

any chance you can fly from NYC-LV-LAX on 1 ticket with a layover in vegas and just making the layover overnight? That could be some savings in flight cost.

Virgin america flies from NY,LV,LAX and SFO. so i would recommend checking them out.

oh and if youre in SOCAL there is always the happiest place on Earth, DISNEYLAND since you are coming with your GF.

quote:

Originally posted by Trancealot 3. When driving to Oakland should I take 15 or another route

15? there's 3 routes up north: hwy-1, 101, hwy-5

1 is the longest and most scenic, it follows the coastline all the way up

101 is the middle route, it skims the coast a couple times and runs through sf

5 is the quickest, b-lines through the central valley, but is quite boring (read farmland)

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Oh man! I just thought of that one part on the 5 that smells really bad due to all of the cows.

___________________
www.rabbanlaw.com

go up the 5, cut accross on the 126 to the 101
stop off in santa barbara and enjoy the day scenery, then continue north on 101 all the way up to sf, enjoy the night scenery then head over the bay bridge into oakland.

If this is your first time and you're not in a rush. Definitely take 1 all the way up. It's a beautiful drive and there are a lot of wonderful coastal towns up the way.

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quote:

Originally posted by bigperf go up the 5, cut accross on the 126 to the 101 stop off in santa barbara and enjoy the day scenery, then continue north on 101 all the way up to sf, enjoy the night scenery then head over the bay bridge into oakland.

There is no 5 involved with your scenario. He can just get on the 101 from Hollywood or take the 405 to the 101 from West LA.

___________________
www.rabbanlaw.com

yeah I f'd that. I should of said route 5 for 293 miles as google said.

quote:

Originally posted by bigperf Virgin america flies from NY,LV,LAX and SFO. so i would recommend checking them out. oh and if youre in SOCAL there is always the happiest place on Earth, DISNEYLAND since you are coming with your GF.

Yeah I got around the 150 range from them for Virgin American when i was doing some research before. Is flying across county for 150 sound reasonable. I did from NY to Ft Lauderdale for around 100 but that is half the distance so it seems reasonable...?

I knew someone would say that. Funny thing my GF has a friend who lives in OC and said its in that area so that might be one of the things we do. I would not mind Great Adventure/edit*six flags magic mountain though

quote:

Originally posted by mar46017 There is no 5 involved with your scenario. He can just get on the 101 from Hollywood or take the 405 to the 101 from West LA.

yeah when I meant should I take the 5 i was thinking some people would say that side road on the ocean so I might do that to avoid that smell you guys are telling me about

from the look of things from the ocean to the east I have route 1,101,5

___________________
ATB -Let u go
Iio - Rapture(riva edit)
Dj Encore - I see right through you
Lasgo - something

The best vocal tunes on LI RIP(2001-2002)

Last edited by Trancealot on Jun-24-2009 at 21:09

quote:

Originally posted by Trancealot yeah I f'd that. I should of said route 5 for 293 miles as google said. Yeah I got around the 150 range from them for Virgin American when i was doing some research before. Is flying across county for 150 sound reasonable. I did from NY to Ft Lauderdale for around 100 but that is half the distance so it seems reasonable...? I knew someone would say that. Funny thing my GF has a friend who lives in OC and said its in that area so that might be one of the things we do. I would not mind Great Adventure though yeah when I meant should I take the 5 i was thinking some people would say that side road on the ocean so I might do that to avoid that smell you guys are telling me about

ive seen NYC to LA for $109 earlier this year. but since it's summer thats probably not going to be possible.
$150 sounds reasonable for summer. If you do the disneyland thing, have your friend get you guys the $99 tickets for 3 days.
A hopper ticket(entrance to both parks) for 1 day is $94 i think, so what you can do is use the tickets for 1 day and then your friends can have a couple of days to use them at a later time. you guys can split the cost :-)

quote:

Originally posted by Trancealot jack in the box

Unless you enjoy trans fats, I'd stay far away from that crap. You can do much better than fast food when visiting LA. Though, yes, you should try In N Out.

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quote:

And your face is handicapped btw!!

quote:

Originally posted by skell Unless you enjoy trans fats, I'd stay far away from that crap. You can do much better than fast food when visiting LA. Though, yes, you should try In N Out.

yeah I was being sarcastic so I meant nicer restaurants but in & out could be for late night after the bar snack if they are 24 hours??

___________________
ATB -Let u go
Iio - Rapture(riva edit)
Dj Encore - I see right through you
Lasgo - something

The best vocal tunes on LI RIP(2001-2002)