Interesting idea. But would spend my time in the mountains and parks in between! Mojave Desert , several wilderness areas. Even three restricted military bases where I could get in real trouble.
So Rose Bowl 🌹 anyone?
- Thread starter Richie O
- Start date
I am an outdoor type who doesn't care to fight the stress of cities, so I would consider Red Rock Canyon and the Hoover Dam.
You can take 15/210 to go straight into Pasadena and avoid the mess that is LA, or go through the mountains if you have a place to stay in the area.
Driving LA -- yes, sucks the life out of you. At least a part of the reason, I've started to look at positions elsewhere. But a big determinant of it is day/time and direction. I drive from Pasadena to Whittier for work and its all against traffic so pretty easy drive for me.
Driving in/out of LAX is a pain but really only around the airport, once you get on the 105/110, traffic is fine (except for morning/evening rush hour).
I've lived in Pasadena for past 12 years. Been to a few Rose Bowls. Happy to answer any questions. Feel free to shoot me an email: djmccaslin@gmail.com
Long Beach and/or Burbank are options as well. Obviously, depends where you are flying from but both could be decent options.
The short answer is no but there are some qualifiers:
- Are you planning to just take an Uber? Maybe, by the time you get out of the airport, you might get to Pasadena by 8a but for the parade:
- If you have parade bleachers seats, they want people to get seated way before 8am
- If you plan to just walk up and stand along the parade route, it is possible but key is to watch further down the parade route. Getting to a good spot will be tough mainly because of street closures.
- If you plan to rent a car, it is a no because:
- Getting out of the airport then to rental car place will eat up 30-45 mins easy.
- Then driving to Pasadena and finding a parking spot will pretty difficult.
- We live a few blocks away from the parade route and our quiet street fills up with cars early morning.
I just checked and the best prices for nonstop/roundtrip traveling 12/29 - 1/4 I could find are:
BWI (Baltimore) to LAS (Las Vegas) $170.
Phl (Philadelphia) to LAS (Las Vegas) $207
PIT (Pittsburgh) to LAS (Las Vegas) $322
EWR (Newark) to LAS (Las Vegas) $362
SCE (State College) to LAS (Las Vegas) $544 this is United and has 1-stop each way.
LA airports were generally about $150+ more than Las Vegas. Most of the flights are Frontier or Spirit. United out of Newark for 12/28 - 1/3 is priced at $428, which isn't bad.
Remember, don't purchase a specific seat. They'll give you a seat and I've never been separated from my travel partner and if I ever am I'm sure to survive a few hours sitting apart. A backpack, the college book type not the hiking type, is good for a free carryon and if packed full can handle a bunch. Do not purchase a "Carryon" bag as the allowable dimenions are very small, they charge more than the large checked bag, and if you violate the size they'll make you check it anyway. If you need to purchase luggage keep the weight below 40 pounds (yes, the discount airlines consider anything over 40 pounds to be heavy and charge more) so make sure the suitcase doesn't weigh much empty. Tell the wife she gets one backpack and a portion of the suitcase so she should choose wisely. One suitcase will cost about $100 roundtrip. You can always stop at a Walmart and grab a few items that didn't fit or you forgot.
Remember, the purpose of the flight is to get you to your destination and isn't part of the vacation...unless your flying first class.
BWI (Baltimore) to LAS (Las Vegas) $170.
Phl (Philadelphia) to LAS (Las Vegas) $207
PIT (Pittsburgh) to LAS (Las Vegas) $322
EWR (Newark) to LAS (Las Vegas) $362
SCE (State College) to LAS (Las Vegas) $544 this is United and has 1-stop each way.
LA airports were generally about $150+ more than Las Vegas. Most of the flights are Frontier or Spirit. United out of Newark for 12/28 - 1/3 is priced at $428, which isn't bad.
Remember, don't purchase a specific seat. They'll give you a seat and I've never been separated from my travel partner and if I ever am I'm sure to survive a few hours sitting apart. A backpack, the college book type not the hiking type, is good for a free carryon and if packed full can handle a bunch. Do not purchase a "Carryon" bag as the allowable dimenions are very small, they charge more than the large checked bag, and if you violate the size they'll make you check it anyway. If you need to purchase luggage keep the weight below 40 pounds (yes, the discount airlines consider anything over 40 pounds to be heavy and charge more) so make sure the suitcase doesn't weigh much empty. Tell the wife she gets one backpack and a portion of the suitcase so she should choose wisely. One suitcase will cost about $100 roundtrip. You can always stop at a Walmart and grab a few items that didn't fit or you forgot.
Remember, the purpose of the flight is to get you to your destination and isn't part of the vacation...unless your flying first class.
50 + years of watching CFB , greatest individual run from scrimmage i've ever seen by anyone from any team.
Staying in Vegas around NYE is not great because some hotels require 2 or 3 nights stay around New Year's Eve and the hotel rates are $500+ a night around then driving to LA on New Year's Day would be nightmarish unless you did it at the crack of dawn.
But if you fly in around 29th, drive from Vegas on the 30th, it would work fine.
Thanks! Will not be renting a car. Just getting an Uber. Trying to figure out if it is worth buying the grandstand seats. We had them for the 2017 game and it was great. Don't want to buy the tickets if we are not going to be able to make it there but the lady really wants to do the parade.
Second question, can I make the 9PM out of Burbank or should we take the 10:40PM out of LAX?
Appreciate the local knowledge. Will return the favor when we make it back to the Fiesta Bowl.
No problem. Rose Parade website says it is imperative to be in your seat at/around 6:30am so that answers that. Personally, I think the cost of those tickets is a bit too high. I might be able to get my hands on some but wont know until late next week.
Because the game is on Jan 2nd not the 1st, could you fly in Jan 1st to do the parade on the 2nd? I assume hotels wont be as bad on Jan 1st compared to New Year's Eve but of course, you'd have to stay someplace other than Pasadena.
As for same-day flight, yes 9pm out of Burbank would work. Game should end around 6pm and if you uber straight to Burbank, it should work.
It took us hours and miles to get an uber out of the rose bowl in 2017.
My parents will be here from Lancaster and have a 9AM flight from PHX the morning of the 3rd which is causing the issues. Without staying the night of the game, we will have nowhere to put our stuff during the game. Because of that we are just in for the day.
I'm thinking we just fly to LAX and then find somewhere to stand along the parade route. I assume that would work?
Once again, appreciate all of your help.
I'm thinking we just fly to LAX and then find somewhere to stand along the parade route. I assume that would work?
Once again, appreciate all of your help.
Any event we've gone to the Rose Bowl for, we walk from the Rose Bowl to either Old Town, have a few beers and wait for things to calm down or walk up Rosemont Ave (away from the Rose Bowl) up to Orange Grove, make a left and then call an Uber at the Vallarta supermarket (Rose Garden Plaza).
Understood. Something to consider, you'll want to get dropped off somewhere further down on the parade route but some blocks away from Colorado Blvd. You could get dropped off at Caltech (California Institute of Technology) on California Blvd and then walk up to the parade from there.
At that location, you'd be well positioned to walk to catch an Uber to near the stadium, walk to Old Town and catch a shuttle from Parsons, or just walk to the stadium (we did that in 2017--parked at Caltech and walked to the stadium). Its about a 3.3 mile walk so takes about an hour.
Phillipe near Union Station, good eats. Go to Labrea Tar Pits, crazy that's in the middle of LA.
The new Academy Museum is right there too. If you are a movie buff, I highly recommend it.
Just booked a flight for 2 from Allentown on New Years Eve, 4 nights at Tropicana, full-size car for the drive to the game for $2600. Successfully avoided Philly airport.
Fly in to Ontario or Burbank (Bob Hope). Burbank is a bit closer to the Rose Bowl than Ontario is.
No chance...that is if you plan to view the parade at the start of the parade route. You might be able to get to the end of the parade route in time but then you may be hard pressed to get to the stadium in time for the game.
Parking around the Rose Parade is insane that morning. Need to get to the parade route earlier.
Be prepared to drive fast (80-90 MPH )if you are driving from 'Vegas to Los Angeles (on Highway 15, I believe). Otherwise, you could get run over.
Classic Test Board Pennsyltuckian. Enjoy the snow and your view of the woods.
I'll take a so-called pennsyltuckian over the maniac, socialist, liberal trash in LA.
And LA is a shit hole, and a dangerous one at that.
I went to the Rose Bowl in 2016 and wasn't impressed then.
That said I hope Penn State fans do show up in large numbers and support the bowl game and the team.
Haven't decided yet. I live out west and have watched what's happening to our cities first hand. It's very sad.
Drive that 2x a year and I dont drive crazy. Key is to avoid the LA traffic coming back from Vegas. That can turn a 4 hour drive into 7+ hours.
I was at that as well, it was a lot of fun. It was at Universal Studios though, not Disney.
