Cute Hotels req ;) (previouspost cancelled)

Hi, I'm in the middle of trip planning right now, and feeling overloaded =
by too much information!!!!

I managed to get 2 tickets (by being bumped last year) from the UK to LA =
March 26 and returning 2 weeks later on April 9 from SF.

No hotel bookings made yet as I still have a trip to Barcelona - next =
week and Paris - end of August to enjoy so don't want my brain cluttered =
too much.

My itenary reads like this so far:
Day 1 -March 26 - Flight - LHR - LA land at 13.15 - Hotel?
Day 2- -March 27 -LA - Disney - sorry but I love it here!
Day 3 - March 28 - LA
Day 4 - March 29 - Catch Coast Starlight (Amtrak) up to San Luis Obispo =
and stay at Madonna Inn for 2 nights
Day 5 - March 30 - SLO
Day 6 - March 31 - Catch CS for Salem overnighting on the train and =
arriving mid afternoon.=20
Day 7 -April 1- Stay overnight in Salem
Day 8 - April 2 - Catch CS up to Seattle - arriving in the evening
Day 9 - April 3 -all day in Seattle
Day 10- April 4 - Leave Seattle via CS and travel down to San Jose - =
overnighting and arriving at 10 in the am. - Day 11 - April 5 - Stay in =
San Jose overnight
Day 12 -April 6 - Leave San Jose and catch train to Emeryville then =
transfer onto Bus for San Francisco, arriving at 5ish pm.
Day 13 - April 7 - My Birthday - 40 years Old - OMG!!!!!!!! Have to do =
something really special!!!
Day 14 - April 8 - ???? Recover from hangover - visit Ghiradellis? - =
lol
Day 15 - April 9 - Fly out of SF at 18.55, getting to London 10th April =
13.30ish.

I love hotels like the Madonna Inn. Can anyone suggest any similar at =
the stops I'm making. Itenary isn't fixed in stone as I will be getting =
rail passes from Amtrak - just have to reserve the overnights as we want =
sleepers but I will do that about Xmas time.
TIA
--
Elise
http://uk.photos.yahoo.com/elisebutt


--=20
Elise
http://uk.photos.yahoo.com/elisebutt

Elise
http://uk.photos.yahoo.com/elisebutt

I have several recommendations, but I require more photos of your bum to
divulge them.

In article , elise wrote:

Day 10- April 4 - Leave Seattle via CS and travel down to San Jose - =
overnighting and arriving at 10 in the am. - Day 11 - April 5 - Stay in =
San Jose overnight

I love hotels like the Madonna Inn. Can anyone suggest any similar at =
the stops I'm making.

Wow, that's a toughie. I can't think of anything in San Jose with
even a fraction of the character of the Madonna Inn. :-) You're
doing the whole trip by train so you want hotels that are within
easy public (bus, light rail, taxi, etc.) transportation of the
train station, right?

Are B&Bs a possibility? Or are they outside your budget? If there
are even any in the downtown SJ area...

Too bad the Winchester Mystery House doesn't take overnight guests. :-)


Patty

In article , elise wrote:

Day 10- April 4 - Leave Seattle via CS and travel down to San Jose - =
overnighting and arriving at 10 in the am. - Day 11 - April 5 - Stay in =
San Jose overnight

I love hotels like the Madonna Inn. Can anyone suggest any similar at =
the stops I'm making.

Wow, that's a toughie. I can't think of anything in San Jose with
even a fraction of the character of the Madonna Inn. :-) You're
doing the whole trip by train so you want hotels that are within
easy public (bus, light rail, taxi, etc.) transportation of the
train station, right?

Are B&Bs a possibility? Or are they outside your budget? If there
are even any in the downtown SJ area...

Too bad the Winchester Mystery House doesn't take overnight guests. :-)


Patty

In article , elise wrote:

I just don't want to stay in the normal characterless big concrete =
chain.

Amen! I'm with you on that. The problem is, the train is going to
put you near downtown San Jose, which is not known for its charming
architecture. Places like Los Gatos would be more promising, but
would be much harder to get to with public transporation. There
are buses to the coast (e.g. Santa Cruz), but that would take a
fair bit of your scarce time in travel.

I did find a couple of SJ B&Bs listed at this site:

http://www.innaccess.com/

You might want to take a peek there. Otherwise, I just hope that
someone else has some ideas.


Patty

"elise" wrote in message
...
Hi, I'm in the middle of trip planning right now, and feeling overloaded
by too much information!!!!

I managed to get 2 tickets (by being bumped last year) from the UK to LA
March 26 and returning 2 weeks later on April 9 from SF.



My itenary reads like this so far:
Day 1 -March 26 - Flight - LHR - LA land at 13.15 - Hotel?
Day 2- -March 27 -LA - Disney - sorry but I love it here!

Go straight to a hotel in Annaheim from LAX, dont bother staying locally

Day 3 - March 28 - LA
Day 4 - March 29 - Catch Coast Starlight (Amtrak) up to San Luis Obispo
and stay at Madonna Inn for 2 nights
Day 5 - March 30 - SLO
Day 6 - March 31 - Catch CS for Salem overnighting on the train and
arriving mid afternoon.
Day 7 -April 1- Stay overnight in Salem
Day 8 - April 2 - Catch CS up to Seattle - arriving in the evening

Be aware that the climate in Seatlle in March will be rather more like
Manchester than LA. Expect rain and cold weather

Day 9 - April 3 -all day in Seattle
Day 10- April 4 - Leave Seattle via CS and travel down to San Jose -
overnighting and arriving at 10 in the am. - Day 11 - April 5 - Stay in
San Jose overnight
Day 12 -April 6 - Leave San Jose and catch train to Emeryville then
transfer onto
Bus for San Francisco, arriving at 5ish pm.

Personally I'd skip San Jose unless you have a special reason for the trip
its not a great tourist attraction IMHO

Keith

"elise" wrote in message
...
They don't have to be quite like that - LOL - I can't see may hotels like
that around actually but I am staying at this gorgeous place in Paris -
www.hotel0grandes-ecoles.com that comes a little close .

I just don't want to stay in the normal characterless big concrete chain.
B/friend is mostly funding this as I arranged the air tickets (by agreeing
to get bumped last year )and he has nice deep pockets so budget isn't too
much of a problem (don't want to presume too much tho').

Just somewhere different - hence the train journey rather than hiring a car
and driving down endless interstates to little boxes(motel/hotels).
Thanks

If budget is no problem and you love Disney stay at the Grand Californian at
Disneyland instead of staying in LA. The hotel is built to look like a
national park lodge. Very Craftsman. (And not too many Mickey Mouse
mentions.)

The DeAnza hotel near the San Jose train station is art deco style. But San
Jose right there resembles a real city, so it's pretty urban, not near as
cutsy as the Madonna Inn. The San Jose Fairmont is in the grand hotel
style, but pretty upscale, and you can find more history in that style up in
SF. Some like the historical Sainte Claire Hilton, comparing it to European
hotels. Others find it just old. There are other chrome and glass hotels
in the area too, but I don't think that's what you are looking for.

Out of curiosity, how did you pick your destination cities? San Luis
Obispo, Salem, and San Jose don't usually show up on the top 10 destinations
on the west coast list.

Having listened to all the advice , I have decided to cut out San Jose =
and spend an extra night in San Francisco - saves a couple of bucks on =
the train too Wondering about the stop in Salem as well now, whether =
we should head straight through to Seattle for an extra day there. Don't =
know where my brain was but I thought it was the other notorious Salem - =
d'uh!!!

My itenary reads like this so far:

Day 1 -March 26 - Flight - LHR - LA land at 13.15 - Hotel? - Possibly =
Radisson Maingate

Day 2- -March 27 -LA - Disney - sorry but I love it here!

Day 3 - March 28 - LA

Day 4 - March 29 - Catch Coast Starlight (Amtrak) up to San Luis Obispo =
and stay at Madonna Inn for 2 nights

Day 5 - March 30 - SLO

Day 6 - March 31 - Catch CS for Salem overnighting on the train and =
arriving mid afternoon.=20

Day 7 -April 1- Stay overnight in Salem

Day 8 - April 2 - Catch CS up to Seattle - arriving in the evening - =
Either Gaslight Inn or Salisbury House

Day 9 - April 3 -all day in Seattle

Day 10- April 4 - Leave Seattle via CS and travel down to Emeryville- =
overnighting and arriving at 8.25 in the am.=20

Day 11 - April 5 - Arrive in Emeryville and catch bust to San Francisco =
at 09.30

Day 12 -April 6 - Do something - More trip planning req. here

Day 13 - April 7 - My Birthday - 40 years Old - OMG!!!!!!!! Have to do =
something really special!!! - Possibly a train tour out to the Napa =
Valley with lots of wine!!!!

Day 14 - April 8 - ???? Recover from hangover - visit Ghiradellis? - =
lol

Day 15 - April 9 - Fly out of SF at 18.55, getting to London 10th April =
13.30ish.

--=20
Elise
http://uk.photos.yahoo.com/elisebutt

Out of curiosity, how did you pick your
destination cities? San Luis Obispo, Salem,
and San Jose don't usually show up on the
top 10 destinations on the west coast list

I was thinking the same thing. Is there a special reason why
you picked those cities? We could suggest some alternatives
that you might find more interesting. For example, south
of San Francisco are the coastal areas of Big Sur and
the Carmel/Monterey area which have spectacular ocean
views, lighthouses, charming places to eat and stay, etc.
(although you'd probably need to rent a car for a day or two
as I'm not sure if passenger trains stop there). And north
of San Franciso is a forest of giant redwoods at Muir Woods,
the beautiful wine-growing area of Napa Valley, etc.

James

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Remove "NOSPAM" from my address when sending me e-mail.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-

Another option in Seattle, if you really want to have a special hotel
experience, is the tugboat MV Challenger. I can't find a web site for it,
but it's reviewed in www.tripadvisor.com with contact information.

Marianne


"elise" wrote in message
...
Having listened to all the advice , I have decided to cut out San Jose and
spend an extra night in San Francisco - saves a couple of bucks on the train
too Wondering about the stop in Salem as well now, whether we should head
straight through to Seattle for an extra day there. Don't know where my
brain was but I thought it was the other notorious Salem - d'uh!!!

My itenary reads like this so far:

Day 1 -March 26 - Flight - LHR - LA land at 13.15 - Hotel? - Possibly
Radisson Maingate

Day 2- -March 27 -LA - Disney - sorry but I love it here!

Day 3 - March 28 - LA

Day 4 - March 29 - Catch Coast Starlight (Amtrak) up to San Luis Obispo and
stay at Madonna Inn for 2 nights

Day 5 - March 30 - SLO

Day 6 - March 31 - Catch CS for Salem overnighting on the train and arriving
mid afternoon.

Day 7 -April 1- Stay overnight in Salem

Day 8 - April 2 - Catch CS up to Seattle - arriving in the evening - Either
Gaslight Inn or Salisbury House



Day 9 - April 3 -all day in Seattle

Day 10- April 4 - Leave Seattle via CS and travel down to Emeryville-
overnighting and arriving at 8.25 in the am.

Day 11 - April 5 - Arrive in Emeryville and catch bust to San Francisco at
09.30

Day 12 -April 6 - Do something - More trip planning req. here

Day 13 - April 7 - My Birthday - 40 years Old - OMG!!!!!!!! Have to do
something really special!!! - Possibly a train tour out to the Napa Valley
with lots of wine!!!!

Day 14 - April 8 - ???? Recover from hangover - visit Ghiradellis? - lol

Day 15 - April 9 - Fly out of SF at 18.55, getting to London 10th April
13.30ish.

--
Elise
http://uk.photos.yahoo.com/elisebutt