Topic awaiting preservation: Questions for Westcoasters. (Page 1 of 1)

My fellow americans,

in about two weeks i'll travel to the US-westcoast, mainly LA and SF, which to me seem as infinitely huge cities in comparison to european cities, so i hope i wont get lost.
since this is my first journey to the US, i have a couple of questions and would be glad if anyone could answer them.

1. what about public transport tickets? are there tourist tickets for a week? how much are they?
2. how about food? is it true that there is a McDiddy, BurgerKing, KFC around every corner? am i gettin' super-sized?
3. i plan to travel from LA to SF by greyhound bus. is it recommended to buy the ticket in advance to be sure to get a seat in the bus?
4. in LA, how much would a taxi cost from the airport LAX to the LA convention center?
5. in SF i plan to visit either Stanford or Berkeley university. what's the best way to go there from the SF bay area?
6. any recommendations on what other sights i should visit in SF?
7. i plan to bring my laptop and hook it up to the web. what options do i have and how pricey are they? (internet-cafes, WLANs, ...)

hope the questions are not too concrete.
i would be very grateful if anyone could answer some of them or give any additional information what i should look for.
thanks.

if anyone is interested, in LA i'll be attending this years SIGGRAPH. weeeeee....

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GRUMBLE said:

1. what about public transport tickets? are there tourist tickets for a week? how much are they?

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http://socaltransport.org/tm_pub_start.php
http://sfmuni.com/cms/mms/routes/tripplan.htm

San Fran's will probably be much nicer than LA's.

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GRUMBLE said:

2. how about food? is it true that there is a McDiddy, BurgerKing, KFC around every corner? am i gettin' super-sized?

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Pretty much.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=mcdonalds%20los%20angeles
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=burger%20king%20los%20angeles
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=kfc%20los%20angeles

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=mcdonald's%20san%20francisco
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=burger%20king%20san%20francisco
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=kfc%20san%20francisco

Realize that Google is probably only including actual city limits, not the entire urban center (and that you'll probably want to look out for places that serve REAL food ).

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GRUMBLE said:

3. i plan to travel from LA to SF by greyhound bus. is it recommendedto buy the ticket in advance to be sure to get a seat in the bus?

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Why not? - http://greyhound.com/ is pretty useful.

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GRUMBLE said:

4. in LA, how much would a taxi cost from the airport LAX to the LA convention center?

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http://www.taxicabsla.org/
http://www.taxicabsla.org/fares.html
LAX to Staples Center

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GRUMBLE said:

5. in SF i plan to visit either Stanford or Berkeley university. what's the best way to go there from the SF bay area?

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http://www.stanford.edu/dept/visitorinfo/resources/index.html
http://www.berkeley.edu/about/index.html#visiting

quote:

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GRUMBLE said:

6. any recommendations on what other sights i should visit in SF?

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http://www.ci.sf.ca.us/site/visitor_index.asp

quote:

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GRUMBLE said:

7. i plan to bring my laptop and hook it up to the web. what options do i have and how pricey are they? (internet-cafes, WLANs, ...)

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Where are you staying? Lots of hotels have internet options.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=internet%20cafes%20san%20francisco

(Edited by reisio on 07-07-2005 17:59)

Well I live in SF so here's what I can say. Unfortunately I'm not too up on the public transport but there's actually a bunch of different methods to getting around. Inside SF it's pretty much the MUNI bus and light rail system. The N & J light rails can get you all over the city pretty well.

To get to Stanford from SF you're going to want to take caltrain down. It goes from SF right to Stanford/ downtown Palo Alto (very cool area). For Berkeley you're going to need to take BART I can't speak as much about berkeley but I spent some time living in the Palo Alto area and loved it. If you're down there grab a drink or some New Orleans style grub at Nola's in downtown PA, a short walk from the train station. It's a very cool restaurant and bar.

SF is really a fairly small city. You'd be suprised how much you can walk it with small bus trips.

As to food, in SF if you're going to any fast food restaurants (outside of In & Out burgers in LA and SF) you're going to miss some of the best SF has to offer. Virtually every corner has a good burritto place.
And there's awesome restaurants both expensive and cheap all over the city. Ask around where you're staying to find out what's good.

Places to check out, well there's Haight Street & the Bridges, and Alcatraz is actually pretty damn cool.. If you make it to Haight on a Sunday if you cruise down to the west end and over into the park, they close down the street that runs through it for roller blading biking and skating. Listen for the sound of the massive drum circle at Hippie Hill for an interesting time also not far from the Flower coservatory. If you're in town when the Giants are around I'd pick up some bleacher seats (only $11, and the bleachers are a heck of a lot better than view section for cheap seats, you can also sometimes get 5$ SRO tix and just find an empty space in the bleachers to park your butt) and check out a game, you don't even have to like baseball to have a good time at that ball park. Union Square is good for the shopping and I'd check out North Beach if you're into Italian food. If you're goint to hit the beaches, do it in LA. Up here there tends to be more fog out by the beach and it's not usually as nice of an experience.

What are you into and maybe I can be more specific. But pick up an issue of the Bay Guardian free newspaper (stands all over the place) it will have a bunch of listings of clubs and events, restaurants etc all over the city.

Oh there's free wifi all over SF check out bayfreefi for spots.



.:[ Never resist a perfect moment ]:.

(Edited by bitdamaged on 07-07-2005 18:29)

(Edited by bitdamaged on 07-07-2005 19:36)

bitd: Just pick him up at the airport. =)

At the very least you two should try and hook up. Recently hooked up with an imate and it was just great. And who knows maybe Krets will be in that neck of woods at the same time. And maybe someone can put a firecracker under the Doc's butt. =) OZCONWEST!

(Edited by NoJive on 07-07-2005 20:19)

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SF is really a fairly small city.

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Compared to....?

I've never been there, but I've never heard SF called a "small city."

SF is only about 45 square miles (about 7 miles across) with a population of less than a million compared to LA of almost 4 million and 450 square miles or Philly which is 1.4 million and 146 square miles (Houston 1.8 million and 570 square miles more here. Population wise we're decent but geographically suprisingly small. That being said the SF Bay area including Oakland, and going down to San Jose is pretty massive.



.:[ Never resist a perfect moment ]:.

Rather than McD's, I highly recommend hitting In-N-Out Burger. Be sure to top yours with grilled onions.

reisio, bitd, thank you so much for your informations, tips and all those links. this really helps a lot! thanks!

free wifi in SF? wow, impressive!

one more question about payment:
i hope i can pay most of my expenses by creditcard. are creditcards accepted by restaurants, bars and museums? i heard that in the US tip is sometimes already included in the bill, right? so when i pay by creditcard i dont have to give additional tip?

thank!

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GRUMBLE said:

i heard that in the US tip is sometimes already included in the bill, right?

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I don't live in SF so I'll just go on what I know. Some "more high-quality" restaurants do include the tip, most don't. It's pretty standard for a tip to be around 15% of the bill maybe a little more if they were really good or really good looking

Be sure to check out Haight Ashbury while you're in SF. Might not really be into the "hippie" thing but as far as music historical sites I'm sure it's worth the trip. Could be very wrong though, ask Bit

Again, not sure about SF but here there are McDonald's and BK's on every freakin corner. I perfer the mom and pop shops rather than the franchised eateries

I take it that this is your first trip to the states? Enjoy.

Later,

C:\

Most restaurants, even many of the fast-food places (McDonald's, Burger King, etc.) do take credit cards. If they do, they will display the cards they accept somewhere near the entrace to the place and/or near the register.

You don't need to tip at the fast food places.

Very few restaurants include the tip in the bill unless it is a large group of people, like sometimes six or more, or eight or more, etc.

Just check the bill before you pay it. If the tip is included it will show up there.

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SF is only about 45 square miles (about 7 miles across) with a population of less than a million

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Wow, I never woulda guessed it. I've only been in San Antonio for a few months now, and already it doesn't seem too big (even though it covers a bigger area than Houston even).

Anyways, enough thread-highjacking... have fun on your trip Grumble.

Whereve you go...don't eat at McPukes and I heartily encourage to aply the same admonition to Burger? King.

Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right.
Isaac Asimov
US science fiction novelist & scholar (1920 - 1992)

in my experience in the south, greyhound usually isn't that full... and the stupid website requires you to have a US credit card to reserve a ticktet (no such requirement at the counter).

oh, and don't travel to the us without a credit card ;-)

enjoy your trip!

and for the tip: usually you have a little field on the credit card form you have to sign - either enter a tip there, or strike the field.

guys, thank you again very much for your help. nothing can go wrong now.

of course, if anyone has more infos or recommendations, they are certainly appreciated!

TP, have you been traveling by greyhound during your trip last year? how is it? comfortable seating?

yeah, I travelled by greyhound.
The seating is pretty good for a bus trip, and you'll see a lot of scenery.
And in my experience the people abord where doing ok.

In SF, If you ever get a chance grumble, check out Pier 39. They have some good places to eat along the pier. There are also some packaged bus tours there.... I know that there is one that includes a trip out to alcatraz, the redwoods, and a few other places. For the life of me I cannot remember the name of the company though. Go over the Golden Gate if you can, it is a neat site to see!

(Edited by Wolfen on 07-09-2005 07:49)

I visited SF just a couple months ago and had a great time. One place no one has meantioned yet that I think is an absolute must visit is Muir Woods. I don't think any buses run out to the woods so you'll have to take a cab or rent a car. I rented a car for a day for less than $50 and visited Muir Woods and Napa Valley which was also very nice. Here is the Muir Woods website: http://www.nps.gov/muwo/

If you happen to stay at a hotel on the Fishermans Warf as I did then you will find yourself only a short bus, bike, cable car ride (you can't go to SF and not ride a cable car!) or even walk to China Town, The Golden Gate Bridge, Telegraph Hill, Pier 39, Alcatraz and several other "must see" destinations. If you are into baseball then be sure to go watch the Giants play at SBC Park, and eat a Cha Cha Bowl while you are there. Oh, if you do get to go to Napa Valley then make sure you take a tour of one of the many wineries. I toured the Beringer Brothers winery, very beautiful and interesting.

SF has an excellent bus/train system. I bought passes daily for only a few dollars but I am pretty sure week long passes are available.

Have fun.

I can't add anything; I've only been to SF and LA once, but...if it's anything like Portland:

You mentioned McDonald's and Taco Bell around every corner. Admittedly, in Portland it's someone selling Edamame, Tofu, or some other Peta-friendly food. Not burgers. But it's the Starbucks that get to you. Every. Damn. Block. You think: "I will not buy a vanilla latte." But eventually, after having to think "I will not buy a vanilla latte" every block, you think: "well, it's only $3.50. Maybe I'll buy a vanilla latte. They sure are tasty." And before you know it, you've bought a vanilla latte every day and wasted $3.50 every day. On espresso.

well I live in LA .. and that convention sounds interesting

Grumble .. as for transportation .. I wouldn't take the grey hound to SF .. I would take Amtrak .. train ride all the way up the coast .. it's great .. but for around down well bus/subway taxi .. the cost to go from LAX to convention center .. most likely 30-35 bucks .. couldn't be more but atleast $30 .. if you can any questions hit me up .. or I'll try to hit you up on Q .. my email is RammStein0071@gmail.com


.::. cEll .::. 513

thanks again everybody!
there really seems a lot to visit, especially in SF. hope i have enough time to check out all those places.

RammStein, thanks for the tip with the train. i see the time of the ride is much shorter than by greyhound and about the same price.

The Toronado, 547 Haight, San Francisco

46 taps and an "endless variety" of bottled brews.

Grumble .. what type of music do you like .. I've got hookups to many clubs and I can surely inform you of the hot spots at night .. and LA has much more then SF to check out .. its just LA is very vast and well WELL OVER POPULATED .. the 405 fwy is HELL from 6am in the morning to atleast 9pm at night (sometimes there is still heavy traffic til 11pm at night during week days) .. as for weekends the only low volume traffic on fwys are between the hrs of 1am to 9am in the morning .. any time between that traffic VARIES VASTLY .. a good website to check out up-to-date traffic in California is www.sigalert.com

must see sites:
Venice Beach(or just hit as many beaches as you can)
3rd Street Promenade(Santa Monica)
Downtown LA(during day and then during night)
The Pike/Queen Mary/Pine Street(Long Beach0[you can take the blue line metro down to LB I believe the ride is $1.75, but don't quote me]
Westwood(near UCLA .. this spot is mostly for theatre experience)
The Getty Center(also near UCLA)
Hollywood/Sunset Blvd(night time only .. we be clubbin')
West Hollywood(if you want to experience the very colorful world these locals live in)
Universal City Walk(Universal Studios)
The Hollywood Bowl
[and much much more .. I could go on but I'm doing this post from work .. tsk tsk]



as for restarants what do you like .. what would you be interested in experiencing


.::. cEll .::. 513

Pebble beach is nice to see for a small side trip.

Thank you guys.

RammStein, i've put those spots on my "to-visit" list now. Hope i can get to them all, cause my time in LA is pretty limited due to that conference.

Another vote for Amtrack as mode of transportation.
As soon as you board immediately head for the Bar-Car. I mean it. Don't go looking for a 'seat' right away you can do that later but you do want to grab a seat on the observation deck no matter what time you board... morning or nite...and do it first thing. You don't have to drink.

A very good time can be had on those rails but those are stories for another day. Her name was Bambie as I recall and all I have to say is 'god bless america.' =)

thank you all who provided me with helpful information.

so tomorrow morning i'm off to LA and for those who are interested, i will post pictures and updates here:

www.embege.com/westcoast2005/