LA,San Fran,San Diego,Vegas Accomadation and travel

tipp86

Anyone got any ideas what the best way to go about accomadation would be in these places?There is 3 to 5 of us planning on travelling between 4 to 8 weeks around these general areas,Vegas been the main attraction hoping to spend 3-4 weeks there.Also whats the best method of travel bus,train rent car.Not on a massive budget either!help appreciated

shoutman

Hey this thread I started might help you

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055165815

CountryWise

Excalibur hotel in Vegas is very reasonable for a very good hotel with great pool facilities, stayed there in the summer and really enjoyed it.

Price of rooms double on Fri and Sat nights so be careful the days you arrive and leave, you could do it so you arrive just after a weekend and leave just before another! although 3 - 4 weeks there seems alot, i was happy with 4 days!


Oh and best method of travel is probably rent a car!

Neamhshuntasach

for san diego i'd recommend USA hostels. the best craic i have ever had in any hostel the world over. 8 of us stayed there for 3 weeks and it we were able to stay up all night blaring music in the common room. they had a sign up telling guests to get ear plugs if the music was bothering them.

The Failed God

Was on J1 last summer in san diego and spent the last few weeks travelling around with about 10 others; up the Pacific Coast Highway stopping in Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, San Fran, Yosemite, Las Vegas, Gran Canyon LAand a few others in between. Like you I thought Vegas was going to be the highlight but to be honest after a couple of days you tire of it(especially if you're on a tight budget or broke as I was). First thing I'll say is renting a car is by far the best option, it doesnt have to be as expensive as you think and there's no beating the freedom it gives you.

For all the beach side areas id def agree with the last poster and stay in hostels, they are where the craic is, motels are good and cheap but you dont exactly meet too many people. In San diego the Bananna Bungalow is an unreal location but it is almost purely Irish. Santa Barbara(Isla Vista) is another town overrun with irish but its always good for a house party. As for Vegas most hotels are dirt cheap midweek I think I paid 12$ a night with half a double bed to myself in Circus Circus Casino

If I could give you 2 bits of advice they would be dont plan anything too rigidly allow yourself to pull in and just stop for the night if you see somewhere interesting or what not and the second bit would be definitely spend at least 3 or 4 days in yosemite the highlight of California for me with out doubt, just pulling the car into the side of the road and swimming in ice cold waterfalls in the absoloute middle of nowhere was pretty cool. Anyway enjoy it, great experience

pow wow

Circus Circus is about the cheapest on-strip hotel.

In San Fran if you want a hotel that's seriously cheap try the Renoir Hotel. It is marketed as a gay friendly hotel (we found out once we arrived...might bother you, might not) and it's cheap, clean and pretty central.

Player_86

Agree with The_Failed_God with regard to Las Vegas.

I was on J1 last year also, 2 months in New York, 4 days in Vegas and a month in San Diego. Vegas is good banter for a few nights, but I was glad to be leaving the place to be honest, despite being there with a bunch of lads who are up for the craic in a big way. We all felt the same.

Vegas is (obviously) designed solely to take your money. It's well worth seeing, but if you plan to spend weeks there, brings LOADS of money. There is literally nothing to do there but gamble, and let's be honest, very few people beat the system.

Another thing about Las Vegas is this - it's a sh1thole. Don't get me wrong, the Strip is fantastic (especially the Fountains of Bellagio, absolutely spectacular), but if you're planning to spend a good bit of time there, you'll notice that downtown Vegas is a kip. I felt more unsafe there than anywhere in New York, including tough places like Harlem.

My advice? Hit San Diego a couple of days earlier than most groups go over, get a good solid job, work for 2 months (hitting Tijuana every Wednesday night, and going out on the beer most nights in general) and then hit places like San Fran, Vegas etc for a couple of nights each towards the end. Then do New York on your way home - make sure you stay for at least 4 nights, it's an amazing city.

Heard from mates that Chicago was unbelievable craic, look into that too I'd advise.

Best of luck, enjoy the summer whatever you do.

Ted_Bundy

Planning on going to San Diego for the summer as well...however I won't be able to get a working visa as I'm finished college.
Is there much Illegal work available in San Diego??
I was thinking there would be a fair bit as it is on the mexican border...

Is San Diego a good place to spend a Summer??

Blut

It being on the Mexican border wont work in your favour, any illegal work will be done by Mexicans willing to do it for far less than youll want to since they just return home every night and come back into the US every morning.

Vegas is absolutely amazing, great fun...for about 72 hours. I cant recommend seeing it enough but any longer than 3-4 days and youll probably go insane, its just so fake, everyone and everything just wants your money.

In San Diego Bannana Bungalows is a good hostel right on the beach in PB where loads of Irish generally stay.

LA is an absolute kip, we stayed in a hostel on Hollywood Blvd and it was terrible too - no aircon in the middle of August is not fun. Cant remember the name of it but I'd recommend you just stay clear of LA in general, its a horrible city.

tipp86

Thanks for the replys v helpful.My reasons for visiting vegas are poker reasons i can understand how people might consider it a long time to spend there but i have my reasons!

Can anyone give me an idea what car rental works out at for about 2 weeks?

Im looking for accomadation at the moment im not worried about vegas i know how that works.Its jus san fran, la and that area that im pretty clueless about.

What are the hostels like?will they allow you share with he people your travelling with?

coolmodee

Hi guys im 19 and with a group of my friends we are thinking of going to america for 3 months of the summer perhaps san Diego/Miami/South Carolina.Im nervous though as we are not 21 to drink,not 25 to drive and have heard bad rumours about lack of work and accommodation. Is it easy to use fake ids?Get into clubs etc?PS where would the best places be to go for 3 months working holiday?

tipp86

San diego i reckon could be a good bet,as far as i know its strict on id but there is a social scene there for the underage

The Failed God

Dont worry about being underage just as long as some in your ground is 21.
Last summer san diego was unreal maybe a lil too much irish but hey that had its positives.
My only real gripe about the place was the cops. They are clearly anti irish, far too many people ended up spending nights in jail or the drunk tank. I know we drink illegally but unlike at home I really saw little or no trouble caused by irish, maybe we were loud and drunk but it was harmless. Any beach party/singsong/campfire ends up being broken up. From what i gather its different to most other areas where there is a large irish contingent in the cops and there aren't as strick. Il put it this way if you were caught drinking in public in Santa Barbra you got a spot fine of between 20 & 50 $ and your drink poured out, where as san diego they threw in lock up and bail was a min of $235 if you were lucky you got drunk tank(get craic actually).

One of the guys living with me arrived 2 days before us, he got mugged and hit over the head,the ambulance was called. He was concust and needed stitches, the cops mistook this for being drunk tried to arrest him and he got locked up for drunk and disorderly and obstructing an officer. When we arrived he was in jail and we all needed to chip in to make the $4200 bail, plus our first months rent was the next day.
Bad start to a great summer.

Blut

Yeah, the cops in San Diego really dont like the Irish. We're basically worse than Mexicans in their eyes. Its fair enough though really, imagine if there were 5000 drunken American students running around one suburb in Dublin drinking 7 nights a week, 100s of them drinking in public parks every night, noise complaints being made by angry Irish neighbours every night etc...cant really blame them to be honest.

You'll be grand if you show a bit of common sense tho, always keep an eye out for their search lights if youre on the beach and just drop your booze and walk away slowly whenever they appear. They tend to go for the easy (ie drunkest, loudest) targets, when theres usually 50-100 Irish in the one spot its not hard to avoid being one of the unlucky 3-4 people arrested on an average bust.

student07

in san fran a good place to stay is adelhaide hostel..loads of irish stay here and it is centrally located, not too far away from union sq.

mgm is a good place in vegas it is really resonable i paid approx $120/nite for a room, may seem expensive but when divided amoung ppl is totally grand.

yosemite is a great place to visit while in california. i would definitely recommonend 'green tortoise' tours. basicly you travel around with a group of about 30 ppl on a converted greyhound bus, while traveling at nite you sleep on the bus and the days that you are within the park you sleep out under the stars.during the days they take you to various places of interest and you can choose to go on hikes etc, or take it more leisurely!...definitely a brilliant trip, totally worthwhile and inexpensive, about $200 for 3 nites including all food.

coolmodee

The Failed God wrote: »

Dont worry about being underage just as long as some in your ground is 21.
Last summer san diego was unreal maybe a lil too much irish but hey that had its positives.
My only real gripe about the place was the cops. They are clearly anti irish, far too many people ended up spending nights in jail or the drunk tank. I know we drink illegally but unlike at home I really saw little or no trouble caused by irish, maybe we were loud and drunk but it was harmless. Any beach party/singsong/campfire ends up being broken up. From what i gather its different to most other areas where there is a large irish contingent in the cops and there aren't as strick. Il put it this way if you were caught drinking in public in Santa Barbra you got a spot fine of between 20 & 50 $ and your drink poured out, where as san diego they threw in lock up and bail was a min of $235 if you were lucky you got drunk tank(get craic actually).

One of the guys living with me arrived 2 days before us, he got mugged and hit over the head,the ambulance was called. He was concust and needed stitches, the cops mistook this for being drunk tried to arrest him and he got locked up for drunk and disorderly and obstructing an officer. When we arrived he was in jail and we all needed to chip in to make the $4200 bail, plus our first months rent was the next day.
Bad start to a great summer.

I know that if one of my friends had to post bail of 4200 it would pretty much ruin our holiday.Is it def worth goin over or should we wait till we are 21.Ps from what I hear san diego is very hard to get jobs and accommodation??Much truth?PS what about Miami or a place called murtal beach in south carolina which I heard is unreal and not too many irish??

neacy69

Just back from san diego and vegas in november and both are very strict in regards to ID and will only accept passports from Irish tourists as proof of age. I'm 24 and so is my girlfriend and we got asked for ID in 95% of the pubs we went to and all of the supermarkets when we bought beer.
I really reccomend the HI hostel in San Diego excellent location, free pancake breakfast (you make it yourself) and really nice people. We stayed in a double private room for 5 nights and the total cos was approx $250.
Vegas is great the cheapest hotels on strip are the excaliber,circus circus and sometimes the luxor if you get a good deal. The hooters hotel looks cheap and is prob cheap to stay in. If dont mind staying off strip there are loads of motels very cheap and too be honest in vegas you will spend very very little time in your room

coolmodee

Thanks alot.Ya im still not sure cz goin usa is obviously gonna be expensive and maybe once in a life time(cz plannin on goin wit friend who may not be able to do somethin like this down the line) so im wonderin would it be better to leave it till we are 21 cz we wanna drink nd have a good time ie make it the best holiday ever!Keep the advice comin thanks!

neacy69

I would say do something else cos if you wanna drink the US is not the easiest place to do so when you are underage

tipp86

coolmodee wrote: »

Thanks alot.Ya im still not sure cz goin usa is obviously gonna be expensive and maybe once in a life time(cz plannin on goin wit friend who may not be able to do somethin like this down the line) so im wonderin would it be better to leave it till we are 21 cz we wanna drink nd have a good time ie make it the best holiday ever!Keep the advice comin thanks!

if your after drink as well like new york could be a good spot if ya stay in woodside in queens or woodlawn in the bronx it doesnt matter what age you are once you have the accent