Hayward . . . and the Bay Area.

comanchepilot

comanchepilot

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Joe Farrell, yeah, him
Hey all, my wife is all hot to trot to go visit a friend of hers who will be in SFO this weekend.

Hotels in the 'City' are outrageously expensive for some reason [Spring Break for the kids from back east?] closing in on $400 a night for a simple room at a mainstream and decent hotel [I know SFO is expensive but thats insanity - I've never paid that much there] so I started looking outside the city on a BART line near an airport. . . .

I know several here are based in the Bay Area - I am rejecting OAK simply because there are no hotels near the BART station from what I can see - and one stop down in Hayward I can find a Courtyard for under $100 a night - 2 blocks from the Station.

Anyone have recommendations for lodging and whats the story with Hayward airport parking?

I see $7 on the 100LL side I'll probably top the aux tanks in the Comanche and tanker fuel up - topping the inboards only for the trip home - should be able to get by with only about 4-5 gallons of $7 100LL in the mains for take off and landing.

Comments, thoughts - pans, plusses?
 
If you are going to make the trip, suck it up and stay down at the Wharf area. You will enjoy it a lot more than trying to catch the BART back to your room at the end of the night. I have stayed at the Argonaut and it is nice and also convenient. I think they are under $300, which is about what I paid in Sunnyvale last night.
 
John221us said:
If you are going to make the trip, suck it up and stay down at the Wharf area. You will enjoy it a lot more than trying to catch the BART back to your room at the end of the night. I have stayed at the Argonaut and it is nice and also convenient. I think they are under $300, which is about what I paid in Sunnyvale last night.
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Argonaut is asking over $400 for a room - I've stayed there too. And enjoyed it - and would rather stay near Union Square - and the hotels there are usually less than $200 a night on weekends - since they are business hotels - I like eating in Chinatown when there -

Sorry $1000 for a room for two nights with tax is NOT in the budget right now.
 
I have a friend who was able to snag a good last minute deal on hotels.com for a nice place in San Fran, but it depends how far out you want to plan your trip. He logged on a day or two before I believe.

I've flown into HWD a few times but only day trips, no overnights. Nice airport, only 1 real FBO though. Try to negotiate parking... they may be able to work something out with you.
 
Can you Priceline it? How about burning hotel points?
 
I don't do opaque travel sites - yeah, its only Tuesday - I can wait til Fri am for that matter. And will. To see if we can snag a room -

The problem with the opaque sites like Hotwire, Priceline and Hotels.com is that you have no idea where the room is going to be and more seriously their idea of 4 star is more like a 2 star - and I'd NEVER stay in a two star hotel except off an interstate n Kansas or Nebraska.
 
Here's another thing you can do - fly to Napa, and get an inexpensive hotel in V-town (Vallejo) which is fairly close to the airport. There is a ferry terminal there that makes runs to the City and dumps you right there in the wharf area. People use it for commuting back and forth between the City and Napa and Solano county.
 
There is also KCCR.

Or you could Priceline a 5 star hotel in Oakland. There is only one -- the Claremont. Not too close to the airport or a BART station though.

The problem with an "inexpensive" hotel in Vallejo is the hourly rates.....though I guess it's probably gotten better since Mare Island closed.

FYI, downtown Oakland isn't bad, at least around Lake Merritt, and there are multiple BART stations nearby. It's quite far from the airport, though.
 
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You could try some of the hotels out by San Francisco Airport. Many of them have free shuttles to the BART station at the airport.
 
Everskyward said:
You could try some of the hotels out by San Francisco Airport. Many of them have free shuttles to the BART station at the airport.
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I rejected that idea since I'm not flying into SFO . . . or PAO or any other west bay airports . . . .
 
MAKG1 said:
The problem with an "inexpensive" hotel in Vallejo is the hourly rates.....though I guess it's probably gotten better since Mare Island closed.
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Well, you -are- putting Oakland on the table, so.....

In all seriousness Vallejo isn't that bad anymore, and there are a few nicer but not break the bank hotels near the ferry terminal.
 
Something really important to understand about Oakland (and San Francisco) is that there is everything from terrible to fantastic neighborhoods in the city, and the transition zone can be a few blocks. Hegenberger Rd. is where almost all the airport hotels are around KOAK. It's not East 14th St. (that's "terrible"), and it's not upper Claremont (that's "amazing"). It's somewhere in between. I wouldn't leave valuables in the car, and keep an eye out after dark, especially away from the hotel. The BART station it would serve qualifies as "terrible" after dark, unless they are taking you to downtown. You don't want to be walking alone around the Coliseum after dark. Not good.
 
Take a look at Concord (KCCR) and the Crowne Plaza Concord, which is one block from the airport and a short distance from BART. Rooms can be had below $150. I've not stayed there but I've hung out in their bar while waiting for my ride to come get me at the airport and it looked pretty decent to me.
 
colojo said:
Take a look at Concord (KCCR) and the Crowne Plaza Concord, which is one block from the airport and a short distance from BART. Rooms can be had below $150. I've not stayed there but I've hung out in their bar while waiting for my ride to come get me at the airport and it looked pretty decent to me.
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Right now the Hilton Concord is $92 on Priceline. We did Name your own price on Priceline and got it for $63 per night in March. Priceline calls it 3.5 stars, and, I would tend to agree, maybe even 4 stars. The property is pretty nice.

(Crowne Plaza is $109 on Priceline).
 
MAKG1 said:
Something really important to understand about Oakland (and San Francisco) is that there is everything from terrible to fantastic neighborhoods in the city, and the transition zone can be a few blocks. Hegenberger Rd. is where almost all the airport hotels are around KOAK. It's not East 14th St. (that's "terrible"), and it's not upper Claremont (that's "amazing"). It's somewhere in between. I wouldn't leave valuables in the car, and keep an eye out after dark, especially away from the hotel. The BART station it would serve qualifies as "terrible" after dark, unless they are taking you to downtown. You don't want to be walking alone around the Coliseum after dark. Not good.
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How's Alameda? (I've been thinking of flying across the bay with my folding bike.)
 
I lived in Alameda in the 70's and 80's. Back then the Naval Air Station kept all the motels busy with hookers. The NAS has been closed for several years and Alameda is now more of a residential community than anything else. It should be quite safe to the point of being dull.
 
It's been a while since I've been there, but I used to bike through there and Bay Farm Island quite a bit while I was at Cal. Didn't bother me at all -- 25 years ago. West Oakland and, to a lesser extent, West Berkeley were a bit more concerning.
 
Hayward could work. If you can find something around San Mateo or Burlingame it will be a lot more convenient / pleasant / safe. San Carlos airport should be near by. Then the next choice would be Palo Alto and lodging in Palo Alto / Mountain View. Livermore is another excellent choice, but I am biased as I fly off KLVK. San Francisco is within an hour from Livermore / Pleasanton BART station. Downtown Livermore and Pleasanton is a lot more pleasant compared to Hayward.
 
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