Road Trip Observations
Usually Twitter afterthought material, I compiled some random observations on a Southern California trip I just returned from:
Hotels - conclusion: corporate chains have really become consistent
For road trips, Priceline and Hotwire offer the best deals for chain hotels. In late 2006, I wrote a post about how to book cheap, excellent SoCal hotels with Priceline using Hotwire and Orbitz as benchmarks. It still works. Using Priceline and Hotwire, depending upon the season, the corporate full service hotels (Marriott, Westin, Hilton) are generally the same price as their value brands Courtyard and Hilton Gardens, etc.
Online travel review sites like TripAdvisor seem to have forced all hotel chains to upgrade their services and product to be competitive. Every hotel met our expectations - fluffy pillows, quality linens, spotless rugs, thick towels and those arched out shower curtains - and were great values:
Ventura Crowne Plaza - They provide earplugs and a relaxation CD as door gifts due to the noisy train that chugs by throughout the night, the main reason for its poorer reviews. Great hotel restaurant with a $19 full course before 7pm. Advice - get a corner room to hear the ocean not the highway. And free wifi.
Westin LAX - Priceline always has it as the only 4 star hotel at LAX airport, so you know exactly what you're getting when you bid between $51-$69 / night (depending upon the day and season). For the price, it's worth staying at the airport as a central base of ops for LA's west side.
Marriott Riverside - Riverside is a no-fun town, we had to stay here for my son's concerts. Strange, we were forced to upgrade our room to accomodate my two kids in the room, adding $30, but getting free breakfast buffet for the family of four. The buffet wasn't just the standard too-yellow scrambled eggs and DIY toaster; an omelette bar and a variety of fresh summer fruits rival the buffets you often get at good hotels in Europe and Asia. Good deal.
Glendale Hilton - Same thing happened, forced to upgrade for $30 because Priceline didn't cover a two double bed room, and received free family breakfast buffet, just as good as the Marriott. Hiltons used to be the dive corporate hotel chain, and now they're the same as the others.
Food
Our motto: when in LA, eat in Koreatown. It is just like Seoul, the SF Bay Area (or anywhere in the US) has nothing like it. I just love to walk into an authentic restaurant where you're the only "foreigner", I'm always surprised others don't do this. They are cheap and good. Here are two favorites we discovered - click on their names and order what the Yelp reviewers recommend.
Ham Ji Park
3407 W 6th St
Los Angeles, CA
Suhrabal
100 S Western Ave
Los Angeles, CA
Even one in the OC (not as good as LA, but on par with SF) - the sign in front says "Korean Restaurant", a subtle message that reflects the society it's catering to.
Dae Myoung Ok
14250 Culver Dr
Irvine, CA 92604
Only two American cities have restaurants that cater to real Japanese clientele - NYC and LA (we know, my wife is from Tokyo). In LA - more specifically Torrance/Gardena where all the Japanese auto company HQs are located, we like the simple hole in the wall Ichimian in Torrance, a soba shop where the menus are in Japanese so you have to ask for an English one. In NYC, there are Japanese restaurants that try to discourage non-Japanese from entering in order to keep a pure Japanese vibe...
Ichimian
1618 Cravens Ave.
Torrance, CA
Best bagel in California
Broadway Deli (but the restaurant gets poor reviews, so just buy the bagels)
1457 3rd Street Promenade, Santa Monica
Random cultural notes
- Flying to LA door to door from SF usually takes 4 1/2 hours: 30 minute drive to SFO, 1 1/2 hour off lot parking shuttle and wait time, 1 hour flight time, 15 minute luggage pickup, 30 minute car rental, 30 minutes to destination. Driving 370 miles takes 6 hours, but it's a road trip!
- Brightkite is ridiculous until it can automatically GPS locate you on an hourly basis. I spent five days in four different places and never thought to update Brightkite. This post compiles my geographic review anyway.
- Although I hate theme parks (and Las Vegas by extension), I enjoy watching my kids have a total blast in them.
- The first theme park that can change their attractions on a yearly/monthly basis will have a killer product. Wouldn't it be easy to reprogram those simulators to develop a portfolio of rides each season?
- I had the chance to visit for the first time one of
the kid arcades attached to mini-golf courses that are simply juvenile
gambling parlors. Kids put tokens into slot machine surrogates and
receive loads of tickets redeemable for trinkets. Kids become hooked on
the occasional big win, and it's unnerving
- The SF Bay Area have horrible mini-golf courses, the ones in LA have fantastic architecture and each hole has unique strategies.
- Every city should be so lucky to have a Getty.
- Average speed on I-5 today was about 77, down from the usual 80-85. The driving masses are unconsciously trying to save money.
- Every car should have a AC plug adapter for the laptop - they are $10 at hardware stores, and believe it or not, I couldn't find a simple adapter like this a couple of years ago.
- Enjoying listening to Mexican radio while driving I-5
through the Valley. I often wonder how they make their music sound out
of tune? Oompah.
- I'm awaiting the day when broadcast radio becomes obsolete as pervasive internet connectivity (now available through cellular carriers) pushes custom online programming like Pandora (a favorite I listen to all the time now) or Last.fm to the car like satellite radio is doing. I like custom radio much more than listening to the same things over and over on an ipod (the reason I don't own an ipod).
http://www.ichimiann.com/ is just down the way from me. thanks for the tip. Will have to check it out.Old Historical is full of little gems like this.
You are right Torrance and Gardena is full of phenomenal Asian delights because of the local Asian Companys.
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Sounds like you had fun!
Last year I took a roadtrip from Seattle to NYC and it was amazing. Most beautiful states on our route: Montana and Idaho. Aboslutely gorgeous scenery.
We tried to stick to chain hotels, mostly to the Holiday Inn Express. I think we stayed there 3 of the 5 nights we were on the road and nothing but great things to say about them.
BTW: Your comment about listening to the same thing over and over again on your ipod is hilarious. I think anybody who has taken a long road trip can relate to that!
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I will be traveling to LA after summer. Being from Hawaii, it obviously won't be a road trip, but you have me really interested in the Korean food. I'll be sure to make my way over to Koreatown!
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Thanks.
Keahi
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Hi
These notes are very informatic for us and I really impressed to it.
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Pat - I used your hotwire/priceline combo trick to get a sweet deal in Midtown Manhattan last month. Worked like a charm there too.
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