eBay

eserafini · ‎02-23-2005

Is anyone going?

I booked plane tickets yesterday and will do hotel before the weekend.

Elaine

Elaine
TimelessClassicElegance

jakeeangel · ‎02-24-2005

I'm going to go. Where are you staying Elaine? I haven't book anything yet but we're looking around for stuff. I've got to do Disneyland and would love to tour Alcatraz, see the Golden Gate Bridge and hubby wants to do Vegas. Busy Busy Busy! 🙂

Debbi

shoplineca · ‎02-24-2005

Debbi
The distance between each of the places you want to go to is quite far and not really within a day's drive.

Especially if there is traffic. As an example, it took me 5 hours on a Friday afternoon one time to drive from LAX (LA airport) to Anaheim (Disneyland).

Traffic can really kill your time table.

LA to San Fransico (Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz) is a 6 hour drive without stopping which is impossible to do as it is a beautiful drive with magnifient ocean cliffs and other scenic sites.

LA to Las Vegas is about a 4 1/2 hour drive.

Flying is probably the best way to go when you are there and there are tons of independant airlines (no frills) flying out of the smaller LA airports such as out of Ontario, CA.

If you spend some time searching the web, you can probably get some deals for under $50 for your flights and car rentals are really cheap (relative to Cdn prices).

I used to travel to California on business every 6-8 weeks for a week at a time years ago and I also used to live in Nevada so I am quite familiar with most areas in all the Western US States.

Malcolm

eserafini · ‎02-26-2005

I Debbi, I'm booked at The Fairmont from June 21 to June 26. I really wanted to be close to the Convention Center. In NO I was too far.

I'm flying with jetblue from Burlington, VT.

Elaine

Elaine
TimelessClassicElegance

jakeeangel · ‎02-26-2005

Hi Malcolm! Thanks for the great info. I knew they weren't close but didn't think they were that far. I would so love to do all of those things. 😄 We'll certainly be looking into the local planes to get to where we want to go. They scare me a little though. I don't like small planes.

Hi Elaine! Cool! I don't want to be far from the Convention Center either. Slow moving vehicle over here. lol 😉 We're looking at Jetblue too from Buffalo. I know exactly where the Buffalo airport is now. teeheehee USPS 24/7 around the corner from it. lol

shoplineca · ‎02-26-2005

Debbi, They are not little planes, they are little plane airlines meaning they are local or regional serving only the west coast and having perhaps only 5 to 20 planes at most.

No matter where you will be, there are more than enough great sites to more than occupy your time otherwise it would be like trying to see Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver all in 2 days.

You would pass by the sites but never really see any of them aside from saying "I was there".

Malcolm

eserafini · ‎02-26-2005

I hear that with jetblue you can go from LA (might be Long Beach, not sure) to San Jose for US$39. That might help you spread your wings LOL

Debbi, don't worry about small planes. I've been to central America and back 4 times in Cessnas. We crashed 3 times and I'm still around to tell the stories 🙂

Malcolm are you going?

Elaine

Elaine
TimelessClassicElegance

shoplineca · ‎02-26-2005

Ealine
No. I wish I was as I miss California so much and would love to get back there.

I used to travel throughout Central America as well however in larger planes.

My agent in El Salvador and his partner flew a twin engine from San Salvador to Canada and then to Europe and back again. They were the first in El Salvador to accomplish this.

Not my idea of a Spring vacation.

Malcolm

eserafini · ‎02-26-2005

Malcolm,

We would leave from Montreal, cross the USA, go over the Rockies at Denver and then down the Coast.

Costa Rica was the site of my last crash. We were on our way to Panama. 5 minutes after take-off, the engine stopped and never resumed. We landed in a park where a soccer game was being played. Aside from shaken nerves and a few scratches, we were ok. It took 1 year 1/2 to fix the plane: propeller broken, 1 wing ripped off, wheels detached, seats needed to be reinstalled LOL When we returned to Montreal, we heard that 4 such Lessnas had been delivered to leblanc aviation. 3 planes crashed and everyone died, we had the 4th plane. We were very lucky that day.

Aside from such incidents, we really had fun on these trips landing in fields, beaches, etc. going to areas where tourists didn't get to go at that time. I remember sleeping in a hotel by a beach for $6.00/night. They would cook the fish we brought in. Opening the side window of the plane to take pictures of a volcano in Guatemala. Soldiers with guns pointed at you at the airport in San Salvador. That was in the 1970's. We had lots of excitements.

Elaine

Elaine

Elaine
TimelessClassicElegance

shoplineca · ‎02-26-2005

Elaine
I was travelling through El Salvador, Belize, Guatemala, Cost Rica, Panama, Venezuela and Columbia during the early 1980's(1982-1986).

I remember sitting at my agents house on the mountain overlooking the city of San Slavador listening to bullets going off at night in the streets (my agent was later shot by soldiers there and I lost a few customers to shootings as well).

One time I had to charter a small 2-engine plane to get out of El Salvador and into Costa Rica which was a risky endeavour as you have to fly a minimum of 40 miles off the coast of Nicaragua or be shot down by their military.

Another time, I had a bomb on my flight with Iberia airlines out of Spain. I picked up the flight in Mirabel en route for Mexico city and we were evacuated from the plane in Mexico and 350 of us held in confinement in a room built for about 50 people, nothing to drink or eat until 4:30am when they finally released us (about 5 1/2 hours in total).

I have thought about writing a book about my experiences because I somehow find myself in the middle of events and happenings without really trying.

Such as when my flight out of Guatemala was cancelled just before I boarded the plane. All planes had been taken over by the Guerillas heading into El Salvador for peace talks with President Duarte.

The next morning I am the only non News person flying into El Salvador as I board the plane with CBS, NBC, ABC camera crews and reporters etc.

On several trips, I was being followed by government officials. Of course those were the times I was trading in local currencies to get money owed to the company I worked for out of those countries. I was trading 20-year government stabilization bonds we were given instead of US currency for cash to maximize our return and minimize our losses.

My agent would take my camera and pretend he was taking my picture but was really capturing the guys behind me that were following us.

After loosing my seat on one flight and being told I would have to stay in El Salvador for up to a week I changed how I travelled and always flew in and out of those countries First Class.

On one memorable trip home via a 24 hour layover in Miami, I knocked back a large bottle of Mumms champagne for breakfast on board Pan Am and as I fell to my knees in Miami (from too much champagne), I stayed down and kissed the ground.

I kind of miss all the excitement of those trips and of Latin America.

My 23 year old niece just got back in February from 6-months with Red Cross in Costa Rica.

Malcolm

eserafini2 · ‎02-26-2005

Remind me never to travel with you 🙂

Coasta Rica is very nice indeed.

Elaine

shoplineca · ‎02-26-2005

Are you kidding? Here I am quite alive with a ton of adventures under my belt and I am sure, more to come.

The last time I was in Costa Rica, I stayed at the Playboy Hotel. It was sold the next day as it was when Hugh Hefner had to sell off his Playboy interests due to his connections to the mob.

I was at his hotel in Atlantic City too and I met him there then. I was there with my wife and parents and took pics of Hugh with his arm around my mother while she was sporting a Playboy Sweatshirt.

That was the week he sold his Playboy hotel in Atlantic City and I picked up all sorts of bargains at hotel that they were selling off like Playboy ski bags

You know those ski bags are pretty rare. Maybe I will sell them on eBay as I no longer use them.

If you are nice to me, maybe I will give you some great leads of places to go in California and how to get into things you didnt think you would be able to.

Malcolm

shoplineca · ‎02-26-2005

Debbi
With eBay Live 2005 in San Jose, your best trips would be to San Fransisco and perhaps even Lake Tahoe.

Actually what I would do is probably do a couple of vineyards as well as you are so close to them. Some have really terrific Bed and Breakfasts and the wines are fantastic and few of the smaller vineyards (with the best wines) have their wines available outside of the west coast.

One of the bigger wineries and better known ones is Robert Mondavi and I have been told it is an excellent winery to visit. They have some of their higher priced wines selling for well over $150 per bottle.

If you are going to San Fransisco, let me know and I will tell you about a great little bar where the 1st Irish Coffee in North America was sold (Fisherman's Wharf area).

People are lined up at that bar with the after work crowd and Irish coffees only cost about $2 each and are unbelievably fantastic. They knock them back like beer.

... and Alcatraz is great but see if you can get a night-time cruise around the island too. I had dinner with friends on a private 52' yacht and we motored around Alcatraz at night with spot lights from the boat shining on the island and prison walls and it was one of the most memorable experiences I have ever had, especially after touring during the day and learning about all the history of the prison.

Malcolm