Author Topic: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?  (Read 9755 times)

Offline mark

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How far away from SDCC have you stayed?
« on: March 15, 2017, 06:12:46 PM »
Last year I chatted with a guy who lived near San Francisco and had just decided to fly back and forth each day. I'm guessing that's on the extreme side. I've stayed as far away as Encinitas, but only for 2 days.

Offline TheNeck

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Re: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?
« Reply #1 on: March 15, 2017, 06:24:29 PM »
flying each day back and forth, that is crazy.

in 2014 & 2015 we stayed at the Harrah's in Valley Center. About an hour drive, never ran into traffic, because i always left early enough to get to the bayfront parking garage at 5am when they opened.
« Last Edit: March 15, 2017, 06:26:39 PM by TheNeck »
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Re: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?
« Reply #2 on: Today at 09:43:30 AM »

Offline Mel

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Re: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?
« Reply #2 on: March 15, 2017, 07:40:09 PM »
Flying is NUTS, but if you could get some of those really low Southwest airfares between here and SF it would be cheaper than any downtown hotel and many Mission Valley hotels too I guess.
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Offline Vapors

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Re: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?
« Reply #3 on: March 16, 2017, 12:54:51 AM »
Couple of years ago, a couple of friends got married during the Con back in the Bay Area on Saturday.  That morning I drove to the airport, flew out around 9 am, landed in San Jose, drove to Gilroy (about an hour south), had a blast at the wedding, got up at 5 in the morn, drove back to San Jose to catch the first flight out around 7:30, landed in SD, picked up the car and drove straight to the con in time for them to open the doors.  Paid for it later in the day, but it was worth it for those 48 hours.

Offline karl clement

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Re: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?
« Reply #4 on: March 16, 2017, 07:16:58 AM »
in 2015 I stayed far out Beyer bld, the 2nd last stop on the blue line trolley,  the hotel was cheap, #330 for 6 nigtht stay, part of the hotel was under renovation , nice big room , very clean, nice pool,  there was a food store 100 feet from hotel, on bus route, there was a walmart right near by,
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Offline Mel

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Re: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?
« Reply #5 on: March 16, 2017, 09:01:25 AM »
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in 2015 I stayed far out Beyer bld, the 2nd last stop on the blue line trolley,  the hotel was cheap, #330 for 6 nigtht stay, part of the hotel was under renovation , nice big room , very clean, nice pool,  there was a food store 100 feet from hotel, on bus route, there was a walmart right near by,

You are certainly right, Karl, that's practically in Mexico! But you know, that was smart.....$330 the whole stay. Depending on what people are doing at Con, and if they don't need to be there in the middle of the night, staying that far out is certainly good for the budget and quite convenient when right by a trolley stop.
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Offline karl clement

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Re: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?
« Reply #6 on: March 16, 2017, 09:13:58 AM »
mel the food store near by and the walmart  really made a difference, the trolley trip gave time in to organize
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Offline perc2100

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Re: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?
« Reply #7 on: March 16, 2017, 09:49:08 AM »
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Last year I chatted with a guy who lived near San Francisco and had just decided to fly back and forth each day. I'm guessing that's on the extreme side. I've stayed as far away as Encinitas, but only for 2 days.

According to iMap I live roughly 30 min. from the Convention Center.  I've done it in 20ish (leaving earlier in the morning).
IMO, if you can get a hotel close to a trolley stop or transit center, it doesn't matter too much where you stay.  I've never stayed in a downtown place/walkable distance to the Convention Center and I've never run into major problems with anything (this is year #18 for me so I've been doing my same routine now for almost 2 decades).  The trolley didn't use to run 24/7 during Convention Center so now you can go back/forth anytime day/night with relative ease.

Offline Mel

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Re: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?
« Reply #8 on: March 16, 2017, 09:57:22 AM »
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The trolley didn't use to run 24/7 during Convention Center so now you can go back/forth anytime day/night with relative ease.

The trolley is not 24/7 during Comic-Con or any other time. The only thing that's 24/7 are the hotel shuttles.
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Offline perc2100

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Re: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?
« Reply #9 on: March 16, 2017, 09:57:33 AM »
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flying each day back and forth, that is crazy.

in 2014 & 2015 we stayed at the Harrah's in Valley Center. About an hour drive, never ran into traffic, because i always left early enough to get to the bayfront parking garage at 5am when they opened.
Definitely: it's a 90 minute flight one-way, so we're talking 3 hours daily commute both ways, and it's not uncommon to have a stop at LAX as well.  Add airport waiting, potential flight delays, etc. and I can't compute in my brain how this is anything but ludicrous (even before thinking money).

Cheaper than hotel?  Maybe.  I see now for SDCCI week you can get airfare for starting at $240 round trip, though that doesn't include tax/chargers/luggage.  You can book a hotel outside of the SDCCI zone, drive to a transit center, hop the trolley, w/total cost probably less than 2 days of roundtrip flights.

Flying back/forth from San Francisco makes no sense to me

Offline mark

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Re: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?
« Reply #10 on: March 16, 2017, 12:50:11 PM »
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Definitely: it's a 90 minute flight one-way, so we're talking 3 hours daily commute both ways, and it's not uncommon to have a stop at LAX as well.  Add airport waiting, potential flight delays, etc. and I can't compute in my brain how this is anything but ludicrous (even before thinking money).

Cheaper than hotel?  Maybe.  I see now for SDCCI week you can get airfare for starting at $240 round trip, though that doesn't include tax/chargers/luggage.  You can book a hotel outside of the SDCCI zone, drive to a transit center, hop the trolley, w/total cost probably less than 2 days of roundtrip flights.

Flying back/forth from San Francisco makes no sense to me

Yeah, it was a bit crazy. Though I know a number of people that still commute from SF to LA regularly for work. Part of the rational was he was buying a lot of stuff and would have his suitcases at bag check to fill up and take back each day. 

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in 2015 I stayed far out Beyer bld, the 2nd last stop on the blue line trolley,  the hotel was cheap, #330 for 6 nigtht stay, part of the hotel was under renovation , nice big room , very clean, nice pool,  there was a food store 100 feet from hotel, on bus route, there was a walmart right near by,

Thanks for posting, I had thought about something similar one year, following the trolley lines out and looking at hotels and rentals. Think we ended up on Coronado that year instead.

Offline Berts

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Re: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?
« Reply #11 on: March 16, 2017, 04:05:06 PM »
I live in Huntington Beach which is about an hour and a half drive to San Diego (with minimal traffic). One year my wife and I just drove there and back each day. It wasn't ideal but it wasn't horrible by any stretch. In fact in amplified the daily experience because you're forced to build your anticipation but temper your excitement for the day on the drive down there and then you get to discuss and wallow in reflection on the drive back home instead of it being a non-stop activity.

Offline vegasndn

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Re: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?
« Reply #12 on: March 17, 2017, 04:09:23 AM »
One year we stayed at Courtyard in Rancho Bernardo it was maybe about 30 minute drive, it wasn't that bad you go down 15 then 163 and you're downtown.


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Offline tsnyder

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Re: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?
« Reply #13 on: March 17, 2017, 12:05:41 PM »
First year we stayed in Chula Vista and took the direct MTS line each day.  It wasn't too bad and it was a early enough stop we were always able to get on, there were people closer that tried to get on but couldn't because it was too packed.  It did add quite a bit of time and effort walking and had to consider what I could purchase and carry back with me and to consider the hours it was running.  The cost was awesome though and really wasn't bad at all.

Second year we stayed out in Hotel Circle and took the shuttle every day.  Shuttle was super convenient but again added about 30 minutes each way and it dropped us off at PETCO so had to walk across the bridge still.  Plus had to consider what I was carrying/buying. Again I think the cost was almost half of a downtown room and they do an amazing job with the shuttle service.

Last year stayed at Hilton Bayfront, I cannot imagine doing either of those previous stays again  ;D  For me specifically I'm eclectic for what I am at SDCC to do so in my eyes when I go my most valuable thing is time, every moment of every day there are panels I want to see, offsites I want to check out, the convention floor, and lines I should be in  ???  Being able to jump at out bed and walk right across was awesome.  Made it so easy to swap out for Hall H lines and go back to the room really quick to drop stuff off or simply take a breath from it all.  Of course the drawback is the cost can be quite exorbitant and chances of me getting back there even if I wanted to aren't great.

Offline jamiesugah

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Re: How far away from SDCC have you stayed?
« Reply #14 on: March 18, 2017, 09:45:15 AM »
I've always been within walking distance of the convention center. I live in NYC and commuting to NYCC from my apartment is a pain in the ass (it's about an hour on the subway), so when I go to SDCC I like the freedom of being able to walk. It's wonderful to be able to pop back to the room if I need to.
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