Daughter's visit strategy as decisions come in?

beebee3
Mon, 28 Nov 2022 16:49:44 +0000

We did a California college tour last year with D23. Flew into San Francisco, drove to LA area before continuing on to San Diego and flew out from San Diego. We had 10 days to do this.

It was a really good trip, and with 10 days we did manage to do some fun non-college tour activities as well (food tour in San Francisco, shopping/eating in Sawtelle area in LA as well as exploring coast around Malibu, and seal watching in La Jolla).

It is a busy itinerary to go that distance. But worth it, especially if your daughter doesn’t have clear idea of what living in California might be like. As much as D23 loved San Diego…she was really clear she didn’t want to go to school there. And between San Francisco proper and the surrounding area…the surrounding area won hands down for her. LA was the big winner location wise for her.

D23 went into application/decision time with a much better idea of what travel will look like if she ultimately decides west coast. It’s one thing to imagine those travel days, its another to make the flight, and understand what 2-4 trips a year feel like (and cost).

Edited to Add: Fully agree on not flying into SFO unless the cost makes it the most attractive option. We did fly into SFO and took the train to our hotel…picked up a rental car at Oakland Airport actually because the cost differential between SFO and Oakland on a week long car reservation was almost $900. But we were staying in Oakland during that portion of our trip. If you are only visiting Santa Clara, definitely fly into San Jose.