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CALIFORNIA HOLIDAY DONE Easy Itinerary here

Our California holiday was a great success !

California Holiday Done and now London Calling! Just to keep you all updated, here’s the structure of the California Holiday. Our REAL ITINERARY is below; use it to plan your ideal trip.

California Holiday Big Sur Beaches

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California Holiday Places

Santa Monica at Shutters Hotel was a magical experience, wide open beaches at a top class hotel with a real sophisticated feel. LOVED their Coast restaurant! Good areas to explore nearby, don’t miss out on Abbot Kinney road!

Shutters Luxury Hotel Santa Moinica California Holiday

The Montage Hotel now known as The Maybourne in Beverly Hills has to be done once in your life! Fabulous experience and the location is superb! Right on Restaurant Row do get your celeb spotting glasses on..

California Holiday Brunch at the Montage

We loved San Louis Obisbo especially the Paso Robles wine country.

Then we did the long drive down to the Big Sur beaches and FABULOUS ELEPHANT SEALS towardCalifornia Holiday Elephant Seals

Carmel at the Carmel Country Inn and finally via 17 mile drive to stop at

San Francisco at the Zetta.

California Holiday Hotel Zetta

Then a flight to London on Virgin Atlantic, no Dreamliners on this route as yet, but stunning service none the less! Premium Economy was SO WORTH IT!

California Holiday Virgin Atlantic

More info to come in the weeks ahead

Thanks Monica

Happy Eid to all of you who are celebrating and a great summer break to everyone!

Are you in London?

Then pop down to Trafalgar Square on the 23rd of July to join in a Big Eid in London festival with food, music and more!

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VISITING CALIFORNIA – Up Date JUNE 2015

Planning a trip to California via the ATM Dubai

 

Visiting California – Help Us Plan

DoinDubai is visiting California this summer and needs to plan an itinerary. Help us plan, there is nothing better than personal recommendations! All our trip will be shared on the site via posts and on all the social media channels while we’re there.  So where do you think I should go, what are the best places to EAT and SLEEP? So far I’ve heard the following from fellow Dubaians who visit regularly:

BEFORE VISITING THE ATM DUBAI 2015 I THOUGHT:

Recommendations for visiting California so far

That the SLS hotel in Los Angeles is a very happening place and a cool venue to stay, it has some must try restaurants like Tres. I’ve heard Urth cafe is somewhere we must try to eat. A Lebanese friend swears by the Four Seasons, again in Los Angeles but I’ve heard the Sofitel is good too, what do you say? Share your thoughts, I’m visiting the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai next week to get some more ideas. Watch this space!

The Big Sur is somewhere to stop for a night or two, do you agree? Luckily organisations like the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention board and San Francisco Travel will be exhibiting at the ATM so they should be able to provide me with some insights. I highly recommend visiting the ATM Dubai to get some helpful insights into where you’re travelling from people who are based there.

Who would you choose to fly with from Dubai if you were visiting California?

Do you know how much it costs to go Premium Economy on Virgin Atlantic to Los Angeles from Dubai ? Do you think it’s more or less expensive than Emirates normal economy?! Check it out! Oh and don’t forget the FREE stop off in London with Virgin !

UPDATE MAY 2015

AFTER VISITING THE ATM DUBAI 2015 I THOUGHT:

Visiting the ATM was SO worth it! Really helpful staff at the Beverly Hills tourism office, the LA tourism board helped me plan out a whole route and gave me LOTS of helpful suggestions other than the ones I have above!

These links will be really useful if you’re visiting California’s main tourist spots: They are the links to the Tourist Organisations of each place we will visit between Los Angeles and San Francisco, all in ONE PLACE!

SANTA  MONICA  : The Grooviest Place
BEVERLY HILLS : The Hippest Place

VENTURA  : The most Laid Back Place

SAN LOUIS OBISPO : The Happiest Place and home of “Anti Napa!” if you want to incorporate some wine trails without the tourist buses!
CARMEL  : The most Natural Place
SAN FRANCISCO : Where you don’t read from A-Z, you just go straight to Z ! Z for the fabulous Hotel Zetta in SOMA (South of Market) and the rebranded Zephr in Fishermans’s Wharf!

I found hotels in San Francisco the most difficult to find and then organise, so if you like my recommendations for well located, fabulously designed places to stay, look on Hotels.Com for best rates.

Listen to the podcast at the ATM

listen to ‘The Ticket 4, 05.05.2015’ on audioBoom

So our itinerary looks a bit like this:

  • Dubai to London on Virgin Atlantic
  • London to LA on Virgin Atlantic
  • Santa Monica
  • Beverly Hills
  •  Ventura
  • Carmel and Monterey
  • San Francisco

What have we missed?

 

Let me know and SUBSCRIBE  to the blog by email if you want to read about our honest experiences in California and listen to the Ticket on Dubai Eye 103.8 to hear more, I’ll be reporting from along the way, don’t leave your holiday to just happen! Get it Right..! Will tell you about the best places we found to EAT, DRINK, SEE and SLEEP!

Monica

 

 

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