2 Guys, One Car, CA in 2 Weeks

[tk505]

Since we were 15 My mate and me have been planning to road trip america! well now we're 22 and finally doing it. we have a plan and the money but haven't booked yet. the plan is:

- fly to san francisco and rent a car
- drive down west costline to LA
- i have a friend in LA who we can stay with there.
- then off to vegas for a couple of days.
- then back to san fran up route 5.
- we plan to get in some skiing if we have money left after vegas.


As you can see, its a very loose plan and not packed out as we tend to just drive where-ever we fancy and take it easy, but i was wondering if there were a few must see's along this route in the 2 weeks? or if anyone see's a problem with the plan?

We're 22, & we wanted to come out mid-march, in time for spring break, wondering is theres any good events about at this time? concerts/festivals and the like?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

Your plan sounds fine. There are lots of other threads that talk about this area, so you should have no problems getting some other tips and ideas if you look around. As know that being 22, you'll be paying quite a bit for car rental because of the under 25 surcharge.

I'm not sure about any concerts or music festivals, as the festivals tend to be more in the summer and fall, but certainly LA and Vegas both attract lots of great music and have concerts year round. As far as must sees, there are several national parks that you would be very close to and could fit into your itinerary.

[tk505]

thanks for replying, yeah i've been looking round the site for a while, found out alot of interesting things! like california rent-a-car, who are very cheap for young drivers!

alot of the information about things to do are for family trips and such, guess i was more looking for specialist info, the best club/bar towns along the routes, places with friendly student atmospheres. or even if there are hidden secrets along the route, somewhere we can pull up for a few hours and enjoy a beer looking over the west coast :)

i know half the fun of this is finding the places yourself, but i was just looking for a couple of hints to get us started. :D

[PNW Judy]

I'm a bit past the age of clubbing and the bar scene but I would think that any of the areas around universities would be full of good options. I think I would look up where the various UCLA locations are, and USC, and any other major California colleges and visit those places.

[Wayward]

tk505,

I did a 3 week road trip down CA in Sept 2008 (San Fran, Monterey, Santa Barbara, LA, San Diego, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon) .....now for me personally, one of the best nights we had was at a small bar in Monterey - locals were a great laugh! .....but for clubing, i would definately recommend the LAX (In Vegas) which is at the Luxure hotel. (however, going back again this year as there are loads of clubs still on our todo list!)

But if you get chance to go to San Diego (which is a must!!), then we stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel over the weekend, where the bar/club in the hotel itself is simply unnnnnbelievable!! Was like something off MTV!! (Thurs - Sun are best nights)

What you'l probaby find (as i did), that the best nights are those which you dont plan, and end up stumbling on a great place as we did in both Monterey and Santa Barbara.

Travel wise - we flew into San Fran, hired a car (Dollar car rental) and drove down Route 1 to San Diego, then up to Vegas. Flew from Vegas back to London.

CA is a great roadtrip!! .....this year, im planning the East Coast version (Altho flying over to vegas for the last 5 days! :-) )

[glc]

If you are a Star Trek fan or a motorcycle enthusiast, Las Vegas has Quark's Bar and Restaurant in the Hilton, and the Harley Davidson Cafe. They are both off-strip but easily accessible.