Hot answers tagged california
14
I think Death Valley is not more dangerous than other landscapes with some precautions, so some advices with addition from the offical link
Drive carefully. The monotonous landscape can easily lull you into being unresponsive and
the lack of visual cues means that you are in danger to drive much too fast without
recognizing it. This leads to sudden crashes ...
12
You will definitely want to visit Weird Stuff, which is an enormous warehouse of all kinds of discarded technology located in Sunnyvale. It's a bit out there, but very worth it.
If you're interested in doing any archival research, you might also want to schedule an appointment with Stanford's Silicon Valley Archives.
11
You should definitively go to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View and especially check out the Stackoverflow plaque in the Computer History Museum Wall.
See also the Meta SO thread about it.
10
I am not sure of that comment on air-conditioning, as when i have been in Vegas looking at trips like this all the rental companies said i would need to use air-conditioning in and around Death Valley!
You definitely want a well maintained car, so use a reputable hire company, and you should let your contacts know your route and expected time of arrival at ...
8
(Sorry for the late answer)
I've spent about 3 months over the course of a few trips (2 months on my first trip), and I had a list of places I wanted to see. Not all of them are 'attractions' or the usual, but nevertheless something as a geek that's been looking at the things going on in Silicon Valley from a far most of my life I wanted to see:
Computer ...
7
The two main ways to get there via boat are via Island Packers who leave out of Ventura, or Truth Aquatics who leave out of Santa Barbara. If you're scuba diving, Truth is great, but for most trips, Island Packers is cheaper and has a better schedule. You can also fly to Santa Rosa island, which has a small dirt runway, accessible from the Camarillo airport.
...
7
It all depends on the weight of your baggage and its size.
Luggage Forward quotes about $1300-$1500 for the standard size bags (50lb).
Luggage Free offers $7.75/lb so to get to $2000 you will need to ship about 260lbs.
Discount Shipping charges $560/150lb for the door-to-door service.
So depending on how much stuff you ship it could come out more ...
7
Death Valley is one of my favorite National Parks, but I always take a few extra precautions when driving through there.
Stop at the first Target or supermarket you see and buy a case (24 bottles) of water for each person. It only costs a few dollars and may save your life. You'll end up drinking it once you've left the park anyway.
If you have a choice ...
6
I'm not going to try and answer this any better then FoxNews Article did.
The gist of the story is basically that car rental companies are getting at least some money from their fleet even if you cancel or don't show up. From what I just gathered on Avis the cancellation fees are $25.00 if you do it more then 6 hours before or $100 if you are a No Show or ...
6
Just on a side note, California is on the west coast ;-)
Most places aren't overly busy during the summer, but in SF and Napa the hotels book up quickly, so I would reserve.
Booking hotels in California isn't necessary, but you'll pay the rack rate which is significantly higher then booking ahead. Also, the drive isn't that long from SF to LA, about 6-7 ...
6
There are a few private shuttle services serving the Eastern Sierras listed here that might be able to get you to Mammoth Lakes from Reno. They may be pretty expensive. The Eastern Sierras are sparsely populated and there is not much in the way of public transportation.
Note that flying to RNO in many cases would require a connection at a hub anyway, and ...
6
As @KateGregory mentioned you could fly to Buffalo for around 400 USD (roundtrip price, 7 nights). The cheapest prices you will find in the first day of October at the moment:
To get from Buffalo to Toronto you can use Megabus. I did the same journey 3 weeks ago and it is quite convenient and it costs at the moment only 12.50 CAD (one-way price). It will ...
6
If you are not planning to stay in California permanently, you can continue to use your New Jersey license.
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/dl/dl_info.htm#two500
If you are a visitor in California over 18 and have a valid driver license from your home state or country, you may drive in this state without getting a California driver license as long as your home ...
6
I'm surprised noone mentioned the book Geek Silicon Valley
It's been a long while since I read it, and it's 5 years out of date (which is a pretty long time in valley terms), but it has a lot of the sort of thing you're looking for.
I agree with other answers, by the way - the Musee Mecanique, the Computer History Museum, and Weird Stuff are all good ...
5
They have a tech museum in San Jose that may be quite savvy, atleast to your tastes.
Of course, you should also visit Palo Alto, not just restricted to Stanford University; it is place known for youthful energy and budding entrepreneurship that is characteristic of the Silicon Valley.
5
If you want to go shopping for memorabilia, the Seaport Village and the Horton Plaza (prepare to not easily find your way out) are pretty good bets, as well as the Gaslamp Quarter, where you'll find plenty of dining opportunities (as a meat-eater, I cannot help you with vegan options).
For museums, I very much recommend you take the bus to Balboa Park, ...
5
As has been extensively reported elsewhere, Canadian taxes and fees are considerably higher for air travel than American taxes and fees. On the one hand, the U.S. subsidizes its airports (for example, supplying TSA agents and FAA air traffic controllers) allowing them to charge lower rents and passenger facility charges than their Canadian counterparts; ...
5
Like anywhere you travel, it pays to be prepared. When in an area with extreme temperatures, this is even more important.
Travelling in any desert, you want to check some things on the car:
make sure you have enough gas to get to where you want to go. Confirm where the next gas station is.
check the tyre pressure and make sure the spare is in good ...
5
I've been to Bishop many times and don't recall ever seeing a taxi there. It's a small town (pop 4000).
The whole town is only about a mile from edge to edge, so presumably people who don't have cars walk. It's hard to imagine that any significant market would exist for taxi service inside the town. Where are you trying to go?
This is the western desert ...
4
(1) Container: Freight forwarders will send cargo by sea by container at rates far far far below those being quoted. Rates are usually by the cubic meter and weight is usually irrelevant as long as you are not shipping pig iron or similarly dense material. There may be a 1 cubic metre minimum size. Pack it all in :-).
You will have to get somebody who will ...
4
I was a night auditor (see a night in the life of a night auditor) at two different hotels on the Central Coast of California (specifically, San Luis Obispo and Pismo Beach) in the mid-1990s. While some things (mostly the technology) has changed, most things are about the same.
It would really help to know where you will be traveling, because California is ...
4
There is the Bay Model Visitor Center. It is a huge warehouse with a model of the bay and all water. Although the model is quite old and inaccurate by today's standards, it shows the efforts required to study the water movements prior to computer simulations.
It is controversial - I liked it, my colleague didn't.
Don't expect much interaction there.
...
4
It depends on if you are a visitor or if you are a Californian resident. Visitors are allowed to use their foreign driver's licence without limitation. If you become a resident of California, you must obtain a Californa driver's license within 10 days.
Source: California DMV
4
I live in Venezuela, and there's always direct flights from Miami to Maiquetia. 1500USD is expensive but that's the price. Use this site, it's like Expedia.com but in Latin America and works in USA too.
http://www.despegar.com/
To Maracaibo 934 USD. To Maiquetia (Caracas) 600 USD.
4
It's extremely difficult to give one-size-fits-all advice about this sort of thing, because it depends on your personal level of experience, skill, judgment, confidence, and physical fitness. These personal attributes are all things you can improve over time; they're not immutable.
Not only do you not need to be afraid to drive a car in Death Valley, but ...
3
If you don't mind ship travel then check out this website: http://www.flightlesstravel.com
But from my research and depending from where in California and when you want to travel I have found plane tickets advertising round trip for ~$970
3
BART does not have luggage areas/racks as such, however all cars do have a large open area intended for bicycles and wheelchairs. Depending on how busy the train it at the time you get on you may be able to get the seat directly next to this area which will allow you to sit down and still control your luggage, or you may need to stand if that seat is taken ...
3
Some car rental companies allow renting with debit cards, provided you have a return ticket and sufficient amount on your bank account for a deposit. I know for a fact that major car rental companies in California (Hertz, National) allow this.
Not having a credit card and being under 25 may be a bad combination though....
3
Lots of good advice here from others.
I like Ben's 'don't be too scared' advice.
Being sensibly cautious is wise.
Question: Furthermore, he said that it is dangerous because you can't use the air condition in your car because it is too hot
We used air conditioning for several hours on as hot a Death Valley day as you are likely to ever get. It worked ...
3
There's a lot of street meter parking in San Jose, CA, and a couple of garage structures with entrance tickets.
Parking in the garage could be expensive, but many businesses do validation of certain garage parking, and thus you can often park for free if you're willing to purchase something in a participating nearby business:
Safeway in downtown has an ...
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