Southwest tour with the....IN LAWS!!!

[Proisrael]

It all started with a small trip I arranged for my wife and her sisters to Cyprus for 4 days....one of my Brothers-in-law said "hey we should get away too" I could not agree more though was not sure he was the exact person I was looking to get away with....soon enough the trip went from me and him to include my wife's Father-Brother-Sister-Her Husband-Her Uncle and Aunt (No the wife did not come). Given my travels in the past I was voted to be the tour guide and arrange this trip for them. After much deliberation my final trip was going to be as follows for them:

11/5-TLV-CDG-LAX Air France $690
11/6 LAX-SJC Southwest $55
11/7 OAK-PHX Southwest $48
11/15 LAS-LAX Southwest $40
11/15 LAX-FCO-TLV Alitalia (Included in the 690)

For my ticket it was more interesting. I had bought a United flight round trip on 12/16 I flew one way and then cancelled the return to earn credit for half the flight as I decided to book LX Business for the return. When I checked my credit to see what I had to go to LAX I found they had credit me the full flight back so right away I booked a round trip non-stop into Newark. After that I booked an economy award (12.5k) into SFO and for the return I booked a flight with Spirit LAS-EWR (paid to upgrade to the Big Seat $70) and then the United flight back. However I decided to spend some time in my old stomping grounds of Jersey and just booked a return with LX again in business back to TLV.

Thank God my in-laws managed well into Los Angeles without issues. I had them booked in the Hyatt Regency at the airport for I believe 190 per room. I had told them to rent a car for a couple of hours to check out the city but they decided on crashing in the hotel and walking to Starbucks (or Coffee Bean).

The next morning at around 4 they got up to go to the airport for the SouthWest flight into San Jose. I had arrived in San Francisco the night before and stayed at the Courtyard Marriott at the Airport. They were "officially fully booked" for any upgrades.  The hotel was very nice and definitely comfortable for a nights sleep. The one thing to note is there is no shuttle late night.

In the early morning around 715 I got picked up by Extranomical tours for my tour to Yosemite, we left to San Jose airport to go pick up the In-Laws in our private 15 passenger coach bus. After picking them up we left to Pars Kosher Market to pick up some Bread/Dips/Cold Cuts and the like for Lunch/Breakfast. The trip to Yosemite took around 3.5 hours from the Market in San Jose.

20171106_154250 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr

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Below you can see the waterfall flowing even though the winter rains have not started yet:

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This is a small picture of the comfortable coach bus with excellent drivers!!

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There was a little mix up at the end of the trip as we had booked a night at the Crowne Plaza in Concord, however there is no kosher food in that area. Extranomical worked with us and hired an extra driver to drive us back to the hotel after supper at Sabra Grill in Downtown. Drivers can only drive for 10 hours, they have a timer attached to the car and he cannot legally go one minute past that time. Here is a really bad picture of the outside of Sabra

20171106_200942 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr

Some pics of the Crowne Plaza hotel room:

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We had paid USD $2,200 for the tour for 8 people. It also included a guided tour of San Francisco the next day.

[TimT]

Really nice scenery pics. Thanks for the writeup

[davidmal]

Wow. Blown away

Surprised you didn’t book everyone else one way tickets

[Proisrael]

Day 2: San Fran city Tour

The started with some of the men in the pool:

IMG-20171107-WA0017 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr

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After swimming the tour met us at around 9 to leave to the kosher bakery/breakfast place Frena Bakery. This place was absolutely AMAZING!!! The bakery items though steep in price were absolutely delicious!! Their Paninis were a huge hit for all of us as well as the pre packaged salads.

20171107_112211 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr

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Once we finished eating the tour guide took us to all the famous spots. We did not have a full day as our flight to Phoenix was at 545 in the evening. We went to all the main locations to see including the City Hall/Golden Gate/Twin Peaks/Observation tower/Trolleys....Here are some of the pictures from the days adventures:

20171107_102802 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr

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Not me but you can get a nice shot here:

20171107_122612 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr

Alcatraz:

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More famous then the Brooklyn Bridge?

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Buildings left from the world fair:

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Hilly San Fran:

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After finishing the tour we got dropped at the BART given that they are not allowed into Oaklands Airport for dropoffs:

20171107_154701 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr

We took Southwest into Phoenix where I rented a car from Thrifty and Dollar from Tuesday night into Wednesday night, a week later. We went to check in at the Town Place Suites which was a very nice place with a nice breakfast in the morning as well for around 160 a night.

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[Proisrael]

Wow. Blown away

Surprised you didn’t book everyone else one way tickets

Trust me when I say that at the end of the trip I was ready to cancel the return tickets.

[davidmal]

Trust me when I say that at the end of the trip I was ready to cancel the return tickets.

haha.

[ludmila]

Nice ,thanks for posting.

[Proisrael]

Day 3: Phoenix Sedona and Grand Canyon village

After waking up davening at Chabad, I went to the hotel to check what we can eat from the nice breakfast spread they had, all bread/bagels/dips were kosher, interestingly the eggs were all kosher as well but they warmed them together with bacon. After breakfast we headed to Jerome for some beautiful views and a nice scenic road (Jerome is around 40 minutes round trip off the way to Sedona from Phoenix. I enjoyed it and so did the rest of the family). We then headed to Sedona for our sunset Jeeping tours with Pink Jeep Tours (cost was around 80 per person) we tipped before and the guide really gave us a great time!!  We lucked out with a witty/adventurous guide. After that we headed to the Holiday Inn at the Grand Canyon with a pittstop at Flagstaffs WalMart for supplies.

Townplace Suites Breakfast:

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Jerome:

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8 Seater Pink Jeep:

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[Proisrael]

Day 4: Grand Canyon

Day started off normal, after waking up and Davening we headed down to breakfast and man what a breakfast it was, Pancakes/waffles/eggs/bacon/bagels/Cereals/Oatmeals etc....Most of the cold items were all Kosher and we all ate our fill (Big negative the coffee was horrible). After breakfast we finished packing and headed to the cars. My FIL tried starting his car but to no avail. I asked the hotel for a jump and they quickly obliged sending their maintenance guy to jump the car successfully. We got the cars packed and headed to the Grand Canyon. After driving for a while to get the battery's charged sufficiently, after parking and shutting the car we decided to try it again but to no avail. Apparently we had an issue with the alternator. I told the family to go enjoy the canyon while I went to the Info Center to place a call to Thrifty. They told me that I can wait 4 hours until someone from Vegas comes to get me, then take me back to Vegas ALONE, pick up a new car and drive it back to the GC to get the rest of the party. I told them they were nuts to propose that but they would not give me another option. I decided we would jump the car and drive straight back without shutting the engine. We did the tram tours (Yellow I think) to a few locations. Hiked down a little and then headed back to the car to jump it and head to Vegas to the AirBnb. With a massive amount of Siyata Dishmya within 5 minutes I found a guy in an RV who had a portable jumper to give us a jump and get us started. As we were pulling out he came running back and gave us his older portable jumper and told us to pass on the favor to another person in need. I had wanted to stop at the GC Caverns but the last tour was at 4 and we were passing it at 4:15...we drove to the Hoover Dam around sunset for a few pics and then got into Vegas to our AirBnb.

We got the absolute jackpot when it came to AirBnb, When I booked I had searched specifically in the area of Chabad so we can walk to shul on shabbos. The place I found had 4 bedrooms with a pool I booked immediately. After I booked I looked closer at the picture of the owner and she was definitely wearing a Sheitl! I reached out to her and she was from Chabad. She gave us her daughters number who lives 3 doors down for any help we would need. They brought us over a grill so we can have a BBQ Thursday night....they brought us pans so we can cook for shabbos and they invited us for the meal Friday night!! It was awesome. The AirBnb cost $180 a night which was a no-brainer as it was split between everybody ($35 a night per person). We went to Smiths to pick up the meat for the BBQ as well as meat for the Cholent and the rest of the shopping for shabbos. Seems to be Sushi and a take out at the Smiths for those who are interested. At night I took the crew to see the Belaggio fountains and a little shopping in the hotels.

20171109_094143_HDR by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr

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This Picture is taken from the hike down looking up.

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These Elk are everywhere:

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The AirBnB house:
Bedroom 1:
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Bathroom 1
20171109_183911 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr
Bedroom 2 (With Connecting Bathroom)
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Connected bathroom:
20171109_183922 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr
Bedroom 3:
20171109_183931 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr
Living room:
20171109_183940 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr
Dining Room
20171109_184002 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr
Bedroom 4 with connecting Bathroom+Jacuzzi:
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[a good yeshiva bachur]

😎

[Ergel]

Details on the AirBnb? Seems like a steal...

[Proisrael]

Details on the AirBnb? Seems like a steal...

Sorry meant to post it above...It really is a steal and the hosts could not be more accommodating.

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/16425739

[Proisrael]

Day 5: Lake Mead

Started the day with a nice breakfast and quickly left to the lake. We had called ahead to make sure there were Jet Skis available as it is a nice trip to get there (45-60 minutes). After we pulled into the parking lot and went to check in, the lady told us they had to pull the jet skis due to a Fire Extinguisher recall.....We ended up renting a Jet Boat that fit 8 people for $95 for an hour (split 8 ways $15 a steal!) There is a $500 deposit as well. We had a blast heading to the Hoover Dam for some pictures. It was really windy and the waters were rough!! We got back to the house with only a couple of hours to shabbos so finished what needed to be done.

Day 6:
Shabbos night we ate by the hosts daughter who lives a couple of doors down the block. Food was excellent as was the company!  Shabbos day we davened before the Zman then headed to shul at 10 to get Kaddish and Borichu plus Kriat Hatorah...
On Moitzei Shabbos they wanted to go shopping so we headed to the Vegas North Premium Outlets they were in 7th heaven....

20171110_134756 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr

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[Proisrael]

Day 7: Bryce and Zion National Park

We woke at around 7 quickly ate breakfast and we were on the road by 9 heading to Bryce. The drive was around 4.5 hours to get there we did it pretty much straight without any side stops.  Difference between Bryce and Grand Canyon is The Grand Canyon is Grand it is too big to take all in at one time. On the other hand Bryce is smaller and you can appreciate the beauty standing from the top looking down. There is also a huge height difference. The Grand canyon main area is around 6500 feet as opposed to Bryce which gets up to over 9000 Feet. We drove to a couple of the scenic outlooks did a short hike (very hard with the thin air and it was freezing!!). After finishing there we headed to Zion around 1.5-2 hours for the scenic drive down and through the tunnels. At the end of the day they all said Zion was the nicest of the entire trip! I highly recommend doing this in 2 days as opposed to the round trip we did it in.


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ZION:

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[Proisrael]

Day 8: Shopping A WHOLE DAY

Nothing to be said but wow they just went on and on all day long at the malls/marshalls/walmart.....For Supper we ate at Ace of Steaks which was very decent food though I did feel it was way too expensive for the portions. They have some claims to being 1 of 2 kosher restaurants that serve some type of USDA grade beef but still pricing was expensive.

Day 9: Vegas Hotel walk around and shopping

We started the day with 2 of the group heading to more shopping and the rest of us walking to the Linq for a ride on the "Big Wheel" ($25 per person) Supposedly bigger then the any other in the world. You can fit over 40 people in each Caboose...once we finished that we headed to the Gondolas at the Venetian. The Gondolas are expensive!!! $30 per person for 13 minutes we decided on the indoor tour as the outdoor looked lame. The gondola was nice and then became epic as my FIL and Uncle broke out in song in middle of the mall. People were loving it!!

After that 3 more of the group left to shop and I took the remaining 2 for a walk through the Caesars Forum shops and then the NY NY for the Roller Coaster ride. Overall it was a great day finished with supper at Jerusalem Grill.

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[Proisrael]

Link for my FIL and Uncle singing through the Gondola:

https://youtu.be/jLgK0_2LtWo

[zow]

Link for my FIL and Uncle singing through the Gondola:

https://youtu.be/jLgK0_2LtWo

Yedid nefesh!
That's awesome.
I want to vacation with your fam.

[ludmila]

Link for my FIL and Uncle singing through the Gondola:

https://youtu.be/jLgK0_2LtWo

Very nice, loved it.

[Proisrael]

Yedid nefesh!
That's awesome.
I want to vacation with your fam.

I will definitely give them your number next time they ask.... No Backsies

[zow]

I will definitely give them your number next time they ask.... No Backsies

Deal.  As long as you take mine on yours.