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My company will send me to WWDC in San Jose this year, and it is gonna be awesome! However this post is not about me but my wife and 2 years old daughter who will tag along. They will travel with me to San Jose, stay at my hotel from Saturday (June 1) until Tuesday. Then they will take a plane to San Diego and meet some friends of hers and return on Friday. On Sunday, we will return to Germany together. Anyway, since I will be attending WWDC all day during the week, my wife and daughter will go explore San Jose / San Diego and the surroundings. How can they get from A to B (and return to A again)? Are taxis with kid's car seats readily available? I checked Uber and Lyft and they don't seem to offer transportation with car seats. Just getting around by light rail and bus seems very tedious too if google routing is to be trusted. Should my wife lug a kid's car seat around? The obvious option seems to be renting a car, but my wife is not a very confident driver yet and she'd prefer using taxis / Uber / whatever. So, any ideas? And thanks in advance 
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May 21, 2019 20:17
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| # ? May 3, 2024 15:02 |
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If a rental car isn't an option, you're probably gonna have to rent a stroller that has a detachable car seat portion. It's possible that taxi companies MIGHT be able to provide a car seat upon request, but there's pretty much no way you're hailing a cab on the street that will be able to accommodate that. There is zero chance of Uber/Lyft drivers having a car seat installed because they're required to seat at least three adult passengers. Even then, she's going to have to deal with buckling and unbuckling the seat base every time they go somewhere, so a rental car is still probably the best route. e: and you are correct that it's going to be a huge headache trying to use public transit, this is America. Coasterphreak fucked around with this message at 01:37 on May 22, 2019 |
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May 22, 2019 01:30
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That’s pretty much what we got from other sources too. She‘s gonna rent a car to get around, then. Thanks a lot for the input!
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May 22, 2019 17:53
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Keep in mind that drivers in the US are awful. Especially in the cities. And even more so in California. The San Jose area has bad traffic which leads to angry drivers and, well, what I'm trying to say is that if your wife isn't comfortable driving, it may not be a good experience for her.
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May 24, 2019 08:16
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Most rental car companies have car seats, least the ones I’ve used infrequently. Just call and ask...
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May 28, 2019 05:17
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If your small kid is kinda big, you may be able to get away with using a booster seat instead of a full-size child seat. (My last visit to the Bay Area, I mostly rode a borrowed bike with a borrowed child trailer.) Get travel insurance!
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May 28, 2019 05:26
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LA traffic is pretty scary for a driver without much confidence, not sure if San Jose is similar. Everyone drives very fast and has no mercy for mistakes, and the roads are 19-lane monstrosities continually splitting off into random directions, so you can find yourself in entirely the wrong city if you haven't memorized the route. While Uber and Lyft do not provide car seats, local taxi companies sometimes specialize in this service (the type that you have to phone for, like a cave man.) You usually need to request the car seat well in advance.
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Jun 10, 2019 01:23
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It is incredibly easy to get stuck in traffic in the Bay Area for insane amounts of time (an hour and a half the last time it happened to me) because you failed to cut across five lanes of crowded freeway to make an exit that's half a mile from the entrance you had to get on from another freeway to get to a third freeway.
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Jun 10, 2019 07:46
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^^^^ yes
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Jun 18, 2019 13:20
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California traffic is not some unique hellscape. If you have driven in a big city before you will be fine. Depending on where they want to go public transit might be better than you think. SD has a light rail that’s decent if you’re going to touristy places. Check out the zoo while you’re there.
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Jul 6, 2019 10:05
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Parking is more of a pain in the rear end than traffic imo. You'll probably have to pay $15-25 to park anywhere close to popular destinations, and if you're not super vigilant it's easy to get $80+ parking tickets for parking in street sweeping zones, permitted areas, or too far from the curb. Traffic is most miserable during busy times, obviously. Avoid morning and evening rush hour and popular weekend routes, for example Friday afternoon and evening there are tons of people heading from LA to San Diego or Vegas. In my experience, CA drivers aren't generally super-aggressive. If you signal to merge and start turning into a slot, drivers will usually let you in. Similarly it's good driving karma to allow drivers in other lanes to sneak in gaps in front of you. They're probably trying to cross five lanes of heavy traffic to get to an offramp or something, be chill but decisive. It is very helpful to plan out your routes and have someone in the passenger seat use their phone to help navigate so you don't miss turns. Oh, and California allows motorcycles to split lanes so don't be startled if a bike gets really up close and personal with you in traffic.
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Jul 6, 2019 13:27
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| # ? May 3, 2024 15:02 |
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The conference finished over 2 months ago. The OP is either safely back home or a skeleton that is still stuck in traffic.
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Aug 12, 2019 09:52
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