Relocating to LA from Orlando

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Vaclav

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Unfortunately no. I have always wanted to hit up Zion though.

I'd definitely make sure it's on the bucket list - for me I'm a huge fan of waterscapes and such, but it's one of the few 100% dry spots that is ingrained in my mind even 20+ years later. Simply gorgeous. Almost like a natural cathedral with all the stained glass creating a panoply - but only by the hand of nature, not man. (I believe it was time of day sensitive - but we're talking late teen memories here)
 

Alex

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My brother just got out of the Marines and he was stationed down in Oceanside. He came up here for a few days and now he's hitting up a bunch of NPs on his way back to Ohio. His Utah pics look amazing. I need to make my way to southern UT. I only take ski trips to SLC.
 

ToeMissile

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Zion is pretty bad ass, definitely worth at least an overnight if you have the chance.
 

Brad2770

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If you pass through Albuquerque on the 40, be sure to stop off and pick up some Green Chili burritos. In the peak of chili season right now and the shit is like crack.

Grand Canyon is a bit of a detour but worth it if you spend to time. The rest of that drive is boring as all hell. I do it multiple times a year between LA<->ABQ. You have Flagstaff...Meteor Crater....a bunch of Wampum Shops and a whole lot of fucking desert. The 10 is even worse unless you are going to hit up White Sands for a few hours and feel like having some chats with the Border Patrol

Make sure you have ZERO agricultural goods in your car when entering Cali around Needles on the 40 or they will rape your car. I seriously had a house plant and they tore my car apart. And I'm fucking white.

Bastards.

lol

Doing a road trip instead of just a trip to Colorado. This is helpful because Flagstaff is the first stop of our trip. Los Angeles is the second stop for 2 days. What areas should I avoid there? San Francisco is our third stop, but won’t be staying. Where should I avoid there?
 

Alex

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All the tourist stops in SF are in nice areas. Still, don't park your car on the street with shit visible - basic city parking knowledge really. I would honestly switch time spent in LA vs SF though. Yeah, yeah I'm biased but almost anyone would agree with me. SF is a much more pleasant city. Except for the Tenderloin. Avoid the Tenderloin. There are some really cool cocktail bars and restaurants there, but it's not the area to be strolling around.
 
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a_skeleton_06

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I travel for work quite a bit from LA to SF/Seattle/SD/PHX and SF is the only city I actively try to avoid going to. I don't know what it is but I fucking hate it there.

As for what to avoid in LA, just avoid driving across the city mid-day and you'll be fine.
 
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Brad2770

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I guess I should point out- I am taking my son and one of his friends, both 13 year olds that have played GTA5, so they are looking forward to seeing sites from game in real life. Me too, to a point.

I could extend my stay in SF by a day if it’s worth it. I don’t mind seeing good stuff.
 

Soygen

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I guess I should point out- I am taking my son and one of his friends, both 13 year olds that have played GTA5, so they are looking forward to seeing sites from game in real life. Me too, to a point.

I could extend my stay in SF by a day if it’s worth it. I don’t mind seeing good stuff.
Just FYI, they might be disappointed. You can't run over hookers and they are too young for the strip clubs.
 
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Brad2770

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I’m from Texas. My vehicle is big enough to run over hookers.
 
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Asshat Brando

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SanFran has just changed so much. I used to love it but now I dread going there. Fucking tech companies have ruined it and now everything is stupidly expensive which is saying something for a place that was expensive to begin with. And then all the people think their shit doesn't stink since they have amazingly well paid jobs but don't want to deal with the hyper aggressive homeless people. Even the gays are leaving from what I understand.

I understand if you've never been there going and seeing the sites so you can check it off your list. But after that if it was me I'd be hitting the Sierra's if I'm driving north. The Eastern Sierra's are amazing and the fact that you can drive to it within a day from LA is almost unfair.

As far as LA, the most consistent advice I give to people travelling here is to put some thought into what you want to eat. Outside of their actual countries the greater LA area contains the highest population of almost any type of Asian and Latin people, so you're getting the best version of that food outside of actually travelling to that country. If you like any of that type of food then you should make an effort to get over to K-Town or the SGV in particular.

Aside from that, there's just so much and each area is pretty encapsulated to where you could sit in WeHo and never go to the South Bay and it's not an issue or vice versa that it's easy to get kind of stuck in one place but then you miss so much. When I lived in the Marina I dreaded the thought of trying to get East of Lincoln on the weekend but sometimes you just need some goddamn King Taco and what are you going to do? Tito's Tacos is fucking garbage, argghhhg.....
 
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Brad2770

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You abbreviated a few places in your post. Would you mind giving me the given name? Sorry.
 

a_skeleton_06

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You abbreviated a few places in your post. Would you mind giving me the given name? Sorry.


WeHo is West Hollywood. SGV is the San Gabriel Valley and K-Town is Koreatown, just west of Downtown LA. South Bay is basically any coastal city south of LAX. Lincoln is probably the shittiest road on the entire planet to navigate no matter the time of day.
 
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Asshat Brando

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Nah that's fine.

K-Town - Koreatown - Korean BBQ obviously. Also the high end Karoake bars where you get your private room for your group, they serve even at 4am and they have the hot hostess girls hanging out, yeah.......
SGV - San Gabriel Valley - Chinese food. Not much else to do here that's "touristy" other than just being in fucking LA. Go to the Pomona fairplex? LOL yeah right....
WeHo - West Hollywood - trendy, gay, trendy and gay. You could spend a whole day at the Abbey getting hammered and people watching. Might see some hot lesbo action, might see some dudes fucking. Never know.... The area surrounding here is much of the same and close to K-Town. Melrose, Mid-City, The Grove, etc etc.
South Bay - Group of beach cities that make up the southern portion of the Santa Monica Bay. Redondo, Hermosa, and Manhattan. Completely different vibe from WeHo or KTown. Rich white people that went to USC is what I always think of. Though Redondo can get pretty fucking seedy a couple blocks in.
Marina - Marina Del Rey - where I used to live. Bit of a hidden gem in my mind as there's usually reasonable beach access and now easy biking/scootering into Venice/Abbot Kinney which is pretty cool. For me I'm mainly partial to Hinano's, best fucking dive bar in LA for me.
 

Asshat Brando

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WeHo is West Hollywood. SGV is the San Gabriel Valley and K-Town is Koreatown, just west of Downtown LA. South Bay is basically any coastal city south of LAX. Lincoln is probably the shittiest road on the entire planet to navigate no matter the time of day.

Yeah, it fucking sucks....
 

Brad2770

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One more thing, if you guys will help with: Safer area to stay a couple of nights for less than $100 a night. I have been looking st a lot of motels and hotels, but the reviews are making me more paranoid. I need a safer area to stay in so my out of state vehicle isn’t broken into. This would be for the LA area. Thanks.
 

Asshat Brando

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One more thing, if you guys will help with: Safer area to stay a couple of nights for less than $100 a night. I have been looking st a lot of motels and hotels, but the reviews are making me more paranoid. I need a safer area to stay in so my out of state vehicle isn’t broken into. This would be for the LA area. Thanks.

I travel almost every weekend for my kids club soccer teams and almost never stay overnight as even in the shithole IE there isn't anything decent for that cheap unless it's a rat motel which you are saying you want to avoid. I would look up by Ventura, Camarillo, Westlake Village, Thousand Oaks area. It will mean a bit of a drive back into the main areas but those are nice areas and you should be able to find a decent hotel for about what you're looking for.

Edit: I also wouldn't worry about having out of state plates. When it comes to LA nobody is actually from LA. So out of state plates are pretty common. It's more can you get all your shit out of your car and into your room regardless of the plates. Had a window smashed out in SanFran as I didn't notice my kid left a bag in the back for instance.
 

a_skeleton_06

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I'm trying to wonder to myself where you'd even find a place for < $100 in LA that wasn't used for junkies and banging your mistress. I feel like you'll be camped out in the IE, which as Brando said - I would avoid. Also, since he mentioned Ventura, I would take the time to drive that way otw to SF. PCH heading north is extremely beautiful and you can pop into Santa Barbara for a nice beach lunch or something and soak in the scenery.
 

Alex

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Yeah you literally can't leave a single thing visible in your car in SF. Car break-ins and bike thefts are the top two crimes in SF. Even in my hoity-toity neighborhood I see broken glass on the sidewalk sometimes.

As for things in SF you can't skip if you have only 1-2 days:

1.) Driving across Golden Gate Bridge up to the Marin Headlands. It's beautiful up there and you have an amazing view of the city and GGB. While up there I would also strongly consider Muir Woods - especially if you've never seen redwoods. It feels like you're walking through Jurassic Park

2.) Alcatraz. You need to book early due to popularity. But it's totally worth it. Definitely one of the best tourist attractions in SF. The boat also departs from the Pier 39 area so you can check out the Fisherman's Wharf touristy shit. I personally hate that area, but it's a big tourist attraction. But I do enjoy the sea lions and the really weird coin-operated museum. Some creepy ass games back then.

3.) Given your short time span, I'd probably choose one neighborhood to explore in the actual city. Normally I'd suggest the Mission but it's not quite as kid-friendly (except for maybe Dolores Park) since it's more hipster. North Beach (Little Italy) or The Haight (where Grateful Dead started off and hippies lived) might be better. What are your kids into? Might be able to suggest something better.
 

Asshat Brando

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I'm trying to wonder to myself where you'd even find a place for < $100 in LA that wasn't used for junkies and banging your mistress. I feel like you'll be camped out in the IE, which as Brando said - I would avoid. Also, since he mentioned Ventura, I would take the time to drive that way otw to SF. PCH heading north is extremely beautiful and you can pop into Santa Barbara for a nice beach lunch or something and soak in the scenery.

I've never figured out what people do to make money starting from Santa Barbara all the way through the Central Coast. Such a beautiful area and it's really laid back but how the fuck do you pay the bills? Farm or make booze is all I can figure. My wife would be bored but I'd love it.

Yeah you literally can't leave a single thing visible in your car in SF. Car break-ins and bike thefts are the top two crimes in SF. Even in my hoity-toity neighborhood I see broken glass on the sidewalk sometimes.

As for things in SF you can't skip if you have only 1-2 days:

1.) Driving across Golden Gate Bridge up to the Marin Headlands. It's beautiful up there and you have an amazing view of the city and GGB. While up there I would also strongly consider Muir Woods - especially if you've never seen redwoods. It feels like you're walking through Jurassic Park

2.) Alcatraz. You need to book early due to popularity. But it's totally worth it. Definitely one of the best tourist attractions in SF. The boat also departs from the Pier 39 area so you can check out the Fisherman's Wharf touristy shit. I personally hate that area, but it's a big tourist attraction. But I do enjoy the sea lions and the really weird coin-operated museum. Some creepy ass games back then.

3.) Given your short time span, I'd probably choose one neighborhood to explore in the actual city. Normally I'd suggest the Mission but it's not quite as kid-friendly (except for maybe Dolores Park) since it's more hipster. North Beach (Little Italy) or The Haight (where Grateful Dead started off and hippies lived) might be better. What are your kids into? Might be able to suggest something better.

My sister lives in San Rafael now but before she lived right at Presidio and California streets which I think is Presidio Heights? Stupidly expensive area and yeah my shit got broken into anyway.

Anyway, for kids we'd always go with Crissy Fields and rent bikes from there to then bike across the bridge as driving across it is pretty lame and the parking on the Marin side was always bad. Whereas parking at Crissy Fields was never an issue. The only thing that's tough is the weather, even in the summer it can be shitty and to get caught on the bridge without a jacket can make for a pretty short bike ride.

Their most favorite thing to do though was go to Monterey for the Aquarium which even I thought was badass. It's a drive and expensive but also pretty unique and like most of the California coast stupidly pretty.