A Californian Summer

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Road trips are my thing. I like listening to music, fresh air and long periods of inactivity in my legs. I’m pretty good at holding the urge to pee but mostly I just like the feeling of going back in time, doing things the old school way and living life on the fly. I get planes, I do. I need them to get from A to B, but if there’s ever a reason I don’t really need one, i’ll take the other option. Environmentally they are poison, I once had a panic attack on one, thanks to my mate claustrophobia and whilst grabbing a long haul business class bargain may be a experience worth the pain, a short economy class convenience trip is just a means to an end, and if i have the time and the option, I’m happy to trade.

You know that feeling you get when you press your head to the side of a window whilst listening to your favourite tunes and imagine yourself in a scene from a film? Well if you do, that’s me on a road trip. Shut your eyes with the wind in your face and I feel as close to satisfying my inner adventurer as i get. You don’t need to go to California to get this, so if it’s not in your budget, try anywhere you can drive to with some open roads that aren’t purely motorways. Scotland, The New Forest, Wales, Cornawall. There’s always somewhere to explore.

Road tripping with kids isn’t as painful as you think. For a start, it’s really important that they learn the ‘art of boredom’. Of doing nothing, entertaining themselves whatever you want to call it, but in our busy worlds I think sometimes they need to learn that waiting in queues and not being entertained constantly, are real life things people just need to deal with. You are literally giving them a life skill. Small children might cause you the need to stop a bit more frequently for toilet stops but there’s audio books, music, family car games and movies if you have a screen to download any onto! As i said its hardly an endurance test for them.

California was made for the road trip. It’s sunny disposition, raw natural beauty and diverse landscape with long stretches of open road, make for easy driving with an almost filmlike type of experience.

I’ve broken this trip down to 12 parts working through each stop on our route. There are so many different ways to make this trip work but i always start with the same planning formula on any trip in this order:

  • How many days I have in total

  • Where do I want to go/ how long do I need in each place? / what do I want to do in each destination?

  • Distance or time it takes to travel between the destinations and allowance for dead time like parking the car and checking in/familiarisation of a new room/hotel.

  • Cost on accomodation and travel for the whole trip split into an average cost per day/night. Remebering that in the US, they add taxes on when you check out!

This generally dictates how far you can go, for how long and how much you can spend. I then jiggle around days and things i want to do to make it more cost effective and allow for down time and i try and make sure some of the accomodation is moveable just in case we want to spend longer in any one place. I spend a great deal of time researching and finding accomodation that serves my design fetish. I refuse to waste money on average, ‘meh’ type hotels and houses and prefer to split my cash by staying in some really dream like often pricey places, balanced off with some much cheaper basic accomodation, still hopefully with some features i find aesthetically pleasing.

Starting off for us in San Francisco was dictated mainly by cost. Book flights early as possible and worry about your accomodation afterwards. Just make sure you have travel insurance from the start of your booking in case of any eventualities or worldwide pandemics! Flying in and out of LAX actually cost us more and we managed to blag business class seats for a relatively small increase becauase of the time, day and airports we were happy to travel from, also using some Virgin miles. To give you an idea about the price difference. The same seats and trip would have cost over £40,000 more for our family on a different day, time and airport destination. It’s wild.

  1. SAN FRANCISCO

  2. LAKE TAHOE via SONOMA

  3. YOSEMITE including BASS LAKE.

  4. MONTEREY AND CARMEL - CAMBRIA

  5. OJAI

  6. SANTA BARBARA

  7. LOS ANGELES

  8. PALM SPRINGS

  9. JOSHUA TREE/ YUCCA VALLEY

  10. SAN DIEGO

  11. DISNEYLAND CALIFORNIA AND UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

  12. MALIBU

USA BASICS
Right now to enter the US you need an ESTA visa and have to apply online at least 72 hours before departure. It’s takes a while to submit these and they basically want to know everything bar the state of your left kidney and the colour of your bra. Don’t leave it til the last minute to fill this in. The queue for passport control here was very long also, which is not ideal after a long flight but it is what it is. It could have just been a bad day but in my experience, it’s not the friendliest of countries to arrive in. You might feel you are being treated as if you are a criminal, but I like to consider it as part of the travelling experience. Character building.

FAMILY ROOM HOTEL ALLOCATIONS
We like to stay in the same room as the kids on holidays because

a) it’s cheaper than paying for two rooms and

b) I sleep better knowing exactly where they are.

On this trip my kids were 10,12 and 8 so still small enough to top and tail in a bed together. Some hotels if booking through a computer don’t accept a family of 5 in one room and often automatically want to book you two rooms. Top tip: If you contact the hotel direct, they are often happy for you to cheat the system and allow you to alter the number of kids in your group to fit in a room, as long as they don’t have to provide an extra bed. It saves big families BIG money. If you are road tripping around it might even be worth buying a small roll up bed to put in the car in case they get fed up all the places they’ll be sharing!

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First stop San Francisco!

San Francisco - A Californian Summer - Part One

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San Francisco is undoubtedly what you’d class as an attractive City. The pretty painted lady coloured houses, the striking red bridge of dreams, bikes, hills, trams and piers. Tony Bennett wrote a song about how he left his heart there and more than a few well-known films have displayed the iconic landscape from Mrs Doubtfire to Bullitt. Let’s be honest here who even remembers what that film was about? All people visualise now is the car chase, Steve McQueen and the City itself.

The start of our Summer in California meant flying into San Francisco and after enduring the US entry system and a long wait for our beast truck of a hire car to be ready we headed out to Japanese district where I found the coolest hotel my dollars would buy in a major City. It’s worth pointing out that everywhere in California adds on a tax to each night of your stay and sometimes a charge for parking your car, so make sure you include this into your calculations.

Whilst on the subject of parking let’s just discuss the sheer unadulterated beauty that is VALET PARKING. In California it was everywhere. You basically rock up right outside wherever you want to go, jump out and someone goes and parks your ridiculously large beast of a truck for you and then brings it back at the end. This literally saved us hours of finding car parks, then the actual spaces, and often the cost was ridiculously reasonable for such a great service. Especially in the heart of a busy City like LA. Imagine just dropping your car off in the middle of Oxford Street and having someone park it for you and bring it back for just £10-£20. Insanely good. Moving on.

Hotel Kabuki.
A boutique hotel in the Japanapese quarter of San Fran. We got this for a great price on booking.com. It’s not easy to find anything cheap in a City but this was a fair £350 a night for the 5 of us. It’s in a really laid back area away from the busy tourist areas and a short Uber wherever you want to go. There’s a really big problem with homelessness in the City but this area seemed to be far enough out to be removed from the worst of it. The hotel welcomes kids but it’s got a really hip vibe, not unlike a Shoreditch hangout. You could get a black and white Photo Booth selfie, sit back and peruse the coffee table books, or order artisan Pizzas and beer for a cheeky supper with tunes plus they served free coffee and a huge gym. I’d definitely recommend staying here if you don’t mind being a bit out of the centre of the City, but want to still be within the City. This was our second trip to the SF and if i was to come back i’d stay over the bridge nearer to Stinson Beach and Marin County or in Oakland/Berkley areas and just travel into the city for the day to do the sightseeing.


Experiences in the City

Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf reminded me of a glorified Seaside town. Something a little OTT and unsettling about the whole place. Maybe it’s the hoards of people or the homeless everywhere but the cars are bumping! Come early before the crowds and walk from Fisherman’s Wharf to Pier 33 where you can catch the boat to Alcatraz and you’ll have seen everything you need to see. It’s good for a stroll, an ice cream, buy some ridiculously overpriced fruit, or saltwater taffy but most people come here for the ferry to Alcatraz.

Alcatraz. One of the most famous prisons in the world. Take a jumper and a raincoat. It might be 80 degrees on land but on that boat it feels like the Arctic-winds are blowing in.
I didn’t think I’d like Alcatraz, just something to do to tick off the list, but I actually loved the experience. Without a doubt make sure to walk up the hill to start off with the audio tour. The narrators of your tour are former prisoners and guards. They tell you what to look at, where to walk and stories and tales along the way. Your group can all listen at the same time. It’s a fascinating experience. I’d heard that evening tours were the ones to get, but I think if the prison was dark it would have been a bit much for the little ones. In the gift shop there was a former resident of the Island, a former guards daughter. She showed us some pictures from her time there with the other 80 or so kids who also lived on the island! You have the opportunity to tour the whole island for as long as you want although I think after the 45 minute audio tour the kids were ready to stroll back and catch the ferry back. Bizarrely a visit to this former prison was definitely a highlight of the City for us all. I’d say from waiting for the ferry to getting back on land at Pier 33 allow around 3 hours. We even managed to spot some seals and rays from the waters below. Education and nature!

Golden Gate Bridge
We were lucky to get there while the skies were clear. As we walked back the mist rolled in and you couldn’t even make out the lines of the bridge. You need to plan your journey. We couldn’t find bikes to rent because you have to pick them up further out and cycle uphill to get here. We got an Uber in and took some advice from the welcome centre to walk across instead. A little easier with all the kids and if you are short on time you can just walk to the first tower and back to get the views, the feeling, and the 360 degree view of San Fran. To walk the entire bridge and into Sausalito takes around 1 hr 30 minimum so we took the first tower option then caught the local 28 bus from right outside the welcome centre back to the City. If you decide to cycle across you’ll be treated to the Sausalito experience. You can cycle, drive or a ferry ride across the bay, offering boutique shops, hotels, art galleries, and cafes. Stop for an ice cream or stay for a day. Oh and I did I tell you already to carry a jumper and a coat whatever the weather in San Fran? The winds mean it can change in a heartbeat.

Lombard Street. Walk the zillion tiny steps up to the top of Lombard Street, the crookedest street in the world. Totally manageable though, because the tiny steps make it feel easy breezy. Reach the top and be treated to an amazing view of the city. Take a selfie of the view after the climb for a cracking background view. They actually have people controlling the traffic and groups of people to stop people getting run over whilst you stand in the road for a photo! Failing this you can drive down it, though i don’t think it’s quite the same. Just a warning though. Walking up to the bottom of Lombard Street also involves a radiant climb!

Cable Cars. You can’t leave the city without at least one ride on a cable car. Sit down and enjoy riding the hills or hang off the side if you think you’re cool enough.

Union Square. The main shopping square if that’s what you’re looking for. You know with Macy’s and an Apple Store, Tiffany & Co and The Cheesecake Factory. Which heads up…book or be prepared to wait awhile!

The Museum of Ice Cream. Probably one of the funniest ways to spend $35 in San Francisco. Two hours of crazy ice cream madness, with a maze of fun experience rooms leading to the Sprinkles pool fun slide! Definitely for adults and kids alike. We walked past the giant pink hued building one day and knew we had to come back for the experience ourselves.

Muir Woods. We drove to Muir Woods on the way out of San Francisco to check out the Redwoods. It’s the closest place to see them on our route and a short drive from the City. Google maps might say 30 mins but it’s actually more like 1 hour because of the windy road to get there. You need to prebook your tickets and parking in advance - in a bid to control the amount of visitors and traffic but it’s the best place to see the redwoods so close to San Fran. If you visit find the guide Linda. She is a font of all information 🖤 Thanks Linda! You don’t need long here but its worth a stop and a great morning detour if you are driving North out of the City to your next destination.

A more serious side of the City. The current state of San Francisco is City of darkness and light. The homeless situation must be at an all time high. Nowhere compared to what we experienced here. They are everywhere, every street, every bus, everywhere you look. We saw them so high it looked like the videos you’ve seen online, we saw them walking round like zombies, crazy people, near death. A local told us they hand out millions of needles every year to stop the spread of disease yet don’t require them to return their box of sharps? Families are moving out as their City playgrounds become homes for the hoards of homeless and drug addicts pouring in for free needles and cooler temperatures. Sand playgrounds are being taken out to stop dirty needles hiding in the children’s play areas. She even advised us not to wear sandals around the city because the needles are everywhere. We never actually felt unsafe although we were happy to have used taxis when we realised the amount of cars that are broke into every hour in tourist areas, though we saw no police. It’s a fabulous City bathed in shade. We hope it manages to turn itself around again.

If you are just here for the basics, 2-3 days is plenty. Just remember if its your first stop, your jetlag game will be strong for the first couple of days. Don’t expect to book things all day and all night!

Would I come back one day? Sure, if the opportunity arose. I’d happily stay in the Japanese area at Hotel Kabuki or I’d stay outside of the City and just travel in for the tourist stuff. Berkley to the East across the bridge or across the bridge in the Northern areas near Stinson Beach would be a great shout.

From Muir Woods we headed East to our next stop, Lake Tahoe (via Sonoma and the Californian Vineyards).

Lake Tahoe - A Californian Summer - Part Two

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Zephyr Cove

Zephyr Cove

SONOMA
On the way to Lake Tahoe we took a detour via Sonoma near Napa Valley to see the wine Country. All the advice online will tell you it’s not worth the detour, but I’d disagree. You only add about an hour in total to your journey and you get to experience a whole different landscape. We lucked out finding Cornerstone Sonoma, an information, lunch and gardens delight. It gave the kids a chance to run around, have a mooch around the boutique shops and antiques and a perfect stop for a really great lunch too. It’s a destination on its own and the gardens are worthy of RHS Chelsea flower show. Bookmark this place if you are doing the same trip as its a real gem.

Tahoe is another world. There’s definitely two sides to this place. We happen to be staying in what one of the locals referred to as the ‘Blackpool’ of Tahoe but a 10 minute drive takes you not just to another place but to another world. This reminds me of the beginning scenes in Dirty Dancing. You just couldn’t imagine this place any better than it is in real life.

Ski Heavenly Village Summer Time Undoubtedly the best part about the South side for families is a morning at Heavenly Village. You catch a ski gondola up to the top to ride the mountain coaster, donut down the hills, rock climb, cross high ropes and I even did my first 40mph zip line. Added bonus was the resort is on the stateline so it’s possible to be in Nevada and California at the same time. Although it’s a ski resort, in the Summer they open up for all new activities. Pretty cool.

It was the perfect location for Ski Heavenly Village but a little drive to get out of the Casinos and pizza bars. Summer is a busy time so we worked out the best time to move around was first thing in the morning or just before sunset. Zephyr Cove was a little sweet spot we found along the drive for a quick dip and it was so peaceful and stunning. I think theres accomodation here too that could be worth checking out. There’s so much space around the Lake in general however, that if you drive long enough you’ll always find somewhere amazing.

Another favourite spot here was Sand Harbour. If you are coming here, come early before 10am or late. We arrived around 7pm for a sunset swim and got into the car park no problem. The $10 car park fee applies at any hour. It is possibly my favourite spot in Tahoe.

A drive right up to the North takes you to the Incline Village which is where we’d base ourselves if we came back again. We spent a day kayaking on Kings Beach, eating ice cream and then stopped in at the rather lovely Sierra restaurant at The Hyatt Regency over looking their pool. Magic.

Hotel We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino at South Lake Tahoe

We paid around £200 for 3 nights in a double room with 5 of us. A total bargain and one of our costcutting options, although warning! - It reeked of smoke and cannabis (now legal in California) as you are allowed to smoke in the Casino downstairs. It’s pretty standard, not glamourous at all but with everything you’d need including an outdoor pool, a well stocked shop and snack bar AND a tattoo shop on site! For the price it was acceptable. The boys in our group had a quick gamble downstairs (whilst the rest of us adjusted our body clocks slowly by falling asleep by 9pm!) and even managed to win the whole cost of our stay at the tables so win win! We like to balance our budget on a long trip like this by staying in really cheap, midway and this allows for some real luxury stays, even if its one night at somewhere on your bucket list (like ‘The Parker’ at Palm Springs we stayed at later in the trip.)

Things to do If you visit the South make sure you check our Sand Harbour and Heavenly Village. We loved stopping by Zephr Cove too.

You can rent Kayaks all over and some companies even offer the crystal see through ones! We missed out on white water rafting but that’s an option you might want to book before you come too.

For families i’d recommend the Northern areas near Incline Village. If your budget stretches, which is more like the traditional Tahoe you will have seen in photos.

Next stop - Yosemite baby! Let’s go on a bear hunt…