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Old 9th January 2020, 14:06   #16
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re: Once upon a time in California | San Francisco, Yosemite, & the Pacific Coast Highway | Winter 2019

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Originally Posted by vb-san View Post
DAYS 3 & 4 - San Francisco

Despite all the steeply inclined roads, SF is best explored by foot. Decided to walk down to the Ferry building, and there on to Pier 39, Fisherman’s Wharf and there on. Though Google said 6 miles in 2+ hours, it took much more than that due to photo/food stops and a few detours. Started around 9:30am and got back to the hotel by around 3:00pm. This also helped to get adjusted to the SF weather, which stayed below 10C and below through out our stay. The second day in SF were spent on going around the SF in Cable Cars, and also some shopping around Union Square
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Very steep inclines in the roads and "STOP" signboard at every intersection. So whether one is driving uphill or downhill, the Car must come to a standstill, be it for a moment only. Imagine how hard it is to start moving uphill without rolling back

Last edited by vb-saan : 9th January 2020 at 14:15. Reason: Mod Note: Please quote ONLY the relevant bits of a post. Quoting a full, long post inconveniences our mobile readers. Thanks
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Old 9th January 2020, 14:47   #17
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re: Once upon a time in California | San Francisco, Yosemite, & the Pacific Coast Highway | Winter 2019

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Originally Posted by WhiteKnight View Post
Hey, you did something that I always wanted to do. Very nice travelogue. Fusion looks very good. How was the car to drive?
Thank you! The Fusion was great. Though quite a large car, it felt very compact to drive, with nice little steering and taut handling. And all the safety nannies (including lane-change warning, blind spot monitor, and many others) along with all the comfort features, memory seats etc. made the whole drive pretty relaxing.

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Originally Posted by Amrik Singh View Post
Very steep inclines in the roads and "STOP" signboard at every intersection. So whether one is driving uphill or downhill, the Car must come to a standstill, be it for a moment only. Imagine how hard it is to start moving uphill without rolling back
True, but the hill-hold function made it easier in our case. The auto start-stop was a slight concern in the beginning but easily got used to it. The interesting bit was in some intersections with stop and go, you literally cannot see the other side due to the steep inclines

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Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom View Post
Thanks for your excellent pics and succinct but evocative descriptions. What about the legendary American food quantities? Did they over-feed you at every meal? The cake looks good!
Thank you for the kind words. The food quantities were massive, and most places we were ordering two dishes for 3 of us to share. The cake was awesome, but we packed half of both slices for post dinner dessert

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Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom
I'm unlikely to see USA, now... But I'd still really like to!
You should! It is a great place to visit and California landscape especially is quite amazing!
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Old 9th January 2020, 16:21   #18
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re: Once upon a time in California | San Francisco, Yosemite, & the Pacific Coast Highway | Winter 2019

Beautiful Pics and write-up!!

I was at the west coast last November @ LA, LV and SFO.

And, this is my whatsapp wall paper, I took a long walk on this old pier and loved it. Close your eyes and you can still feel the chill sea breeze
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Once upon a time in California | San Francisco, Yosemite, & the Pacific Coast Highway | Winter 2019-whatsapp-image-20200109-16.17.32.jpeg  

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Old 10th January 2020, 06:36   #19
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re: Once upon a time in California | San Francisco, Yosemite, & the Pacific Coast Highway | Winter 2019

Awesome pics and ride report VB. PCH always brings a smile to my face. Some 21 years back I told my father I will ride a motorcycle on Hwy 1 and return to India next year. I am still riding on Hwy 1. The below pic was from a trip last year. I rode up to San Jose for work from San Diego.
Once upon a time in California | San Francisco, Yosemite, & the Pacific Coast Highway | Winter 2019-pch.jpg

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom View Post
I'm unlikely to see USA, now... But I'd still really like to! What about the legendary American food quantities? Did they over-feed you at every meal? The cake looks good!
Do it Thad! Not sure if this will tip the scale to make you visit - there are lots of wineries and award winning craft breweries that have comeup in coastal So.Cal. We get copious amounts of craft beer to go with legendary quantities of food. I would be happy to show you around

Last edited by GutsyGibbon : 10th January 2020 at 06:39.
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Old 10th January 2020, 08:38   #20
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re: Once upon a time in California | San Francisco, Yosemite, & the Pacific Coast Highway | Winter 2019

Quote:
Originally Posted by .HEM View Post
Beautiful Pics and write-up!!

Close your eyes and you can still feel the chill sea breeze
Thank you! Yes, the weather indeed was wonderful – bright and sunny, yet cold.

Quote:
Originally Posted by GutsyGibbon View Post
Awesome pics and ride report VB. PCH always brings a smile to my face. Some 21 years back I told my father I will ride a motorcycle on Hwy 1 and return to India next year. I am still riding on Hwy 1. The below pic was from a trip last year. I rode up to San Jose for work from San Diego.
Thank you. Yes, PCH is so wonderful that I am already thinking of my next trip

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Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom View Post
What about the legendary American food quantities? Did they over-feed you at every meal? The cake looks good!
I did not click many pictures of food; a few below

Small breakfast!
Once upon a time in California | San Francisco, Yosemite, & the Pacific Coast Highway | Winter 2019-01-pancakes.jpg

Carmel Bakery – the Cannoli was wonderful
Once upon a time in California | San Francisco, Yosemite, & the Pacific Coast Highway | Winter 2019-03-carmel-bakery.jpg

Nepenthe's famous Ambrosia Burger was great, done medium-rare
Once upon a time in California | San Francisco, Yosemite, & the Pacific Coast Highway | Winter 2019-04-ambrosia-burger.jpg

And their Caprese was probably the best I had in recent times
Once upon a time in California | San Francisco, Yosemite, & the Pacific Coast Highway | Winter 2019-05-caprese.jpg

Cioppino at Dutchman’s Seafood Morro Bay – I am allergic to shell fish but the girls absolutely loved it.
Once upon a time in California | San Francisco, Yosemite, & the Pacific Coast Highway | Winter 2019-06-cioppino.jpg

Calamari and Lobsters at Mobydick, Santa Barbara. The chunky strips of Calamari was so nicely done!
Once upon a time in California | San Francisco, Yosemite, & the Pacific Coast Highway | Winter 2019-07-calamari.jpg

Once upon a time in California | San Francisco, Yosemite, & the Pacific Coast Highway | Winter 2019-08-lobsters.jpg

And some Ice cream of course
Once upon a time in California | San Francisco, Yosemite, & the Pacific Coast Highway | Winter 2019-09-icecream.jpg
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Old 10th January 2020, 15:08   #21
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re: Once upon a time in California | San Francisco, Yosemite, & the Pacific Coast Highway | Winter 2019

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Originally Posted by GutsyGibbon View Post
Do it Thad! Not sure if this will tip the scale to make you visit - there are lots of wineries and award winning craft breweries that have comeup in coastal So.Cal. We get copious amounts of craft beer to go with legendary quantities of food. I would be happy to show you around
Haha! A few weeks ago, I was stopped by a policeman in Chennai, who asked, "Any alcohol?" I replied, "Not for fifteen years!" He laughed and waved me on.

Nonetheless, thank you for your invitation. I'd love to accept it one day, although I fear it might prove to be a little "dry" for you!
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Old 10th January 2020, 16:36   #22
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re: Once upon a time in California | San Francisco, Yosemite, & the Pacific Coast Highway | Winter 2019

Thanks for the awesome travelogue.
I will bookmark this trip as I also have plan to drive along the pacific coast highway.

One question I had in my mind is why didn't you fly out of LA back to Singapore?
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Old 11th January 2020, 07:09   #23
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re: Once upon a time in California | San Francisco, Yosemite, & the Pacific Coast Highway | Winter 2019

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Originally Posted by rst89 View Post
Thanks for the awesome travelogue.
I will bookmark this trip as I also have plan to drive along the pacific coast highway.
Thank you!

Quote:
Originally Posted by rst89
One question I had in my mind is why didn't you fly out of LA back to Singapore?
Well, I should have actually done that especially considering that SIN-SFO-SIN and SIN-SFO + LAX-SIN flight costs almost the same. But as I mentioned in the opening post, (when I booked tickets) my initial plan was to do a full-on road trip, starting from SF, drive to LA via PCH, and then on to Las Vegas, Death Valley, Yosemite and back at SFO - way too ambitious plan, attributed to my lack of knowledge about the US terrain and all the winter road closures. And when I realigned the plans, changing the flights were turning out to be very expensive. That said, the return drive from LA to SF was not bad. Even though it was close to 400 miles, driving via 101 was quite nice. We did not rush and did not feel any fatigue; slept well in the 15 hour long flight (to HK) after that

Last edited by vb-saan : 11th January 2020 at 07:12.
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Old 2nd February 2023, 20:07   #24
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Road Trip in the USA. Need advice and tips

Hi All,

I am supposed to take a roadtrip across california with my wife in 2 weeks.

We will be driving from San Diego to San Francisco with stops along the way in Santa Barbara, Solvang, Monterey Park, Big Sur etc..

Since this is the first time I will be driving outside India, I was looking for some tips or things to look out for.

For reference, I will be renting the car from Avis.

I would also like to know about Rental Car Insurance, but from what i read online, it is better to just take the same from Avis instead of 3rd party.

Anybody have any inputs, they would be welcome.
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