Reply To: West Coast US road trip – Aug 2022

[Guernsey Globetrotter]

@Scottpat78 That’s a great demonstration of what can be achieved in our hobby with a bit of dedication – it is an example and inspiration to us all!

We are planning a mini version of this in November : 9 nights between SFO and LA. A four day slow meandering drive down the Pacific coast highway book-ended between two 2 night stays at Fisherman’s Wharf (Kimpton) and Santa Monica (Oceana Hilton LXR resort). Returning to our SFO flight back via the Amtrak Starlight coastal train service from LA. Flights are with VS on a 2-4-1 in UC. This is all on points too except for the Kimpton (using Ambassador free night certificate) and of course the Amtrak.

The hotels I’ve booked for the road-trip part are HIX (Monterey x2 nights, Pismo Beach & Carpinteria so far) as I figured we wouldn’t be in each for long and they were only 20k points each in the recent IHG ‘flash’ sale (can’t argue with 4 nights including brekkie for 80k points). However, one of the other main reasons was to avoid the ridiculous valet parking charges (plus tax) levied at nearly all other US chain hotels. What was your experience with this?

Also, how did you find the drive down that part of the coast – any tips to offer a fellow Brit who is used to driving on the left in an island where the max speed limit is 35 mph?!