Ragani

We have been planning a trip to LA this coming weekend for some time now, but are now realizing our intended plans might now work as, well, intended.

I got tickets for us to fly into Long Beach because we are staying at a hotel in Anaheim (00smittenkitten  pointed out that it makes more sense anyway since it is the closer airport, and that way we can take JetBlue from Oakland). Our flight arrives Friday at 8:30 pm (JetBlue). Only problem is there does not seem to be any easy way to get from the airport to the hotel that is not on the expensive side. It turns out that none of the Anaheim hotels have shuttles to Long Beach Airport. At the moment, the best option seems to be taking a taxi (anyone know how much that is going to cost?). Does anyone know of a better way to make that journey?

Our current plans once we get there are to go to Disneyland on Saturday, including staying late enough for the fireworks. Sunday is more flexible since we were hoping to be available to visit with friends. Of course, in trying to avoid having a rental car, we are at the mercy of what ever transportation is available, and friends who are willing to come meet us where we can get to easily. Also, we will need to return Sunday night for a 8:25 pm flight home (see similar problem above about transportation).

So, are there suggestions for transportation, and interest in seeing us, either at Disneyland on Saturday, or making plans to hang out on Sunday?

So, chaosloom and myself are catching a flight down to SoCal this weekend. Our plans include a visit to Ren Faire on Saturday and Disneyland on Sunday. Anyone going to be around for either? (I already know about waywardbound and I expect to see some of the ren-regulars - just not sure who all that includes at this point.)

We are staying with the lovely00smittenkitten and her puppy at their new home down near Anaheim. Since we are leaving on a very early flight Monday morning, it might make sense to stay at a hotel near LAX on Sunday instead. Any inexpensive suggestions?

There are NO viable transportation options from Union Station in LA to Anaheim after 10 PM tonight.
I hate the idea of taking a cab, which will probably cost about $130.

Arrg!!!

Our original plan involved a friend picking us up, but she backed out after we had already booked the bus, and it was too late to change at that point.

Edit: We HAVE looked into:
- taking the train (10 minutes to catch a train is not enough, especially when you are not sure the bus will arrive on time)
- having a shuttle pick us up (cost $78 a person because it is not a standard route)
- taking the Metro (unless I am wrong, it stops running at 8 PM)
- renting a car (there are no rental places still open that late in that area)

If I get the Southern California discount tickets to Disneyland using a so-cal friend's info, will I have to prove my residency when we enter the park the first time with said tickets?

They look like the best price for what we want, but I worry that I will be asking for trouble since I have no way to prove my residency.

We were actually wavering on if we would be able to afford the trip to Disneyland at the end of this month for chaosloom's birthday, but it is looking like we might make it work. The key now is finding the cheapest lodging option. I don't think I know enough people in the area to put us up (unless there is someone offering), so that leaves cheap hotels.

Priceline, here I come!

After saving so much by taking the Megabus to LA, you would think we could afford the other expenses easily enough, Well, it turns out that January is one of the hardest months for me work-wise, and so the hotel and park tickets are somewhat prohibitive even without the cost of travel. At this point we have a rather pricey hotel booked for Friday and Saturday nights (1/25-26), but we are actually arriving Thursday night. Staying with friends could work, although we are limited in our transportation once we are there, and I want to make sure that at a minimum, chaosloom, his brother, and myself are taken care of for lodging, if not msvwrose and gardengirl_34.

I am thinking that if there was a way to find a cheaper hotel situation or at least offset the cost of the hotel by not having to buy park tickets, it would help make this much more feasible.

Anyone have access to free or deeply discounted Disneyland tickets? I know that chaosloom would like to visit both parks while down there, so some 2-day park-hopper tickets would be ideal.

Can you help me make a birthday wish come true?

Until a week ago I had never been to Portland. It is someplace I have been interested in checking out for some time, especially recently with more friends being connected there. Although egonbrauer moved to Olympia, WA, which is about 2 hours away, it still counted among my reasons to visit, since talking him and his lovely wife to come down for a visit to Portland for the weekend turned out to be easy. Additionally, since Eric has friends there, and did his masters in Portland, he was a good companion to go with. I thank his friend corva for being a great host. Thanks again for putting us up, and showing us around!

The Saturday was spent doing touristy things, most notably, after yummy dim sum, visiting the Chinese Garden which is a city block that, only 6 years ago, used to be a parking lot, and is now a very lovely garden experience. That turned out to be where I took most of my pictures, having forgotten to bring my camera along the next day when we went to the Portland Zoo.



The rest of the day included Powells, after a quick trip to Voodoo Doughnuts, which all out of the legendary maple bacon bars I was supposed to try. The doughnut I got was a butter fingering bar, which was decent, but not something to write home about.

Powells was nifty, although I only ended up getting one book (some might count this as lucky). The Powells Technical store had lots of neat stuff too, and I did end up getting a couple of non-book items. Overall my impression is that Powells is a very busy store, and gave me a serious case of option paralysis, especially since we had too many people to coordinate so I ended up not getting to be very leisurely.

I would love to go back sometime, and the prospect of living in Portland is not an entirely unpleasant one, although I don't see myself moving there any time soon. There is more rain than I enjoy, but I suppose there are trade-offs that go with that, like lots of green year round.

So, after a delayed flight - that ended up having almost no one on it, which meant we got to move our seats to near the front, instead of almost the last row near the playful children - we arrived in Portland last night safe and sound. This morning, late, we went for a walk down to Mississippi St. (Rd.?) to acquire breakfast. The walk there featured some lovely blooming plants, and cute houses along the way.

And a lot of sun.

Nope, not a cloud in the sky, and I was regretting not bringing any shorts. Or, a light weight jacket or shirt to cover my arms (the cardigan was quickly removed to prevent overheating). Our host even noted how odd it was that there was not even a cloud in the sky, and that on Monday she was scraping frost off her car window. We stopped by a fancy botique which had some lovely over priced stuff, so I did not get anything there. A block later we walked past a coop bookstore with a freebe bench out front. After some digging I was able to find a white linen long sleeve button-up hoodie shirt thingy, that although a tad tight in the arms, was the perfect protection for my pale arms.

Seems to me Portland is trying to tempt me. But I suspect it is a bait-and-switch job.

Oh, and the brunch food was fabulous.

I am sitting on an airplane to Puerto Vallarta next to my grandparents; my uncles and their families in the rows behind us. The effort to get this far seems Herculean on my part, so it is with much relief that I finally am almost there. I am not sure when i will be able to post this, but I have time to finally put some of this down.

( On how Ragani finally escaps and the mayem she endured to get there... )
Ahhhhh!

Later I will see if I can get some photos up of this fabulous place we are staying.

Oh, and as you may have guessed, it turns out to have DSL, so send me those photos after all.