Well... This will be a first for me. I leave early tomorrow morning on a flight to California, where I will hang out for five days shopping. It looks like I will have enough good jobs to cover expenses and turn a tidy profit - while seeing a different part of the country. I'm looking forward to the adventure.

Oh how fun! Safe travels!

Hope you can fit some R&R into that schedule!

What part of Cali you visiting? Bay Area is SO awesome!

Amusement Advantage has SO MANY shops at attractions I would love to visit!

My sister lives in Palo Alto and the last time I went to visit her we went down the coast and back up, 12 day trip, it was great...I really loved the Redwood Forest in particular, though Chinatown and the whole coast were great. My cousin is the Harbor Master in San Mateo. I have a really good friend who lives in San Diego that I have visited as well. I honestly like Northern Cali better (sorry So Cal people).

I would like to take a train from So Cal all the way up to Vancouver and stop for a day or two at many places along the way, then take the train across Canada as far as it goes (I think Montreal?) and again, making lots of stops to see the sights. I love trips!

Enjoy your trip, so much to see, hope you get to the Carmel /Big Sur area, go across the Golden Gate Bridge if your in No. CA, take a cable car, but oh yes, your working. I was born in San Francisco,with my cousin having been the Major, know it well, my cousins are now in Hillsbourgh and San Mateo with my sister in Palo Alto, not that that matters. SO. CA has a different flavor, like comparing apples to oranges, but many fabulous places like our ocean towns, Laguna Beach, Newport, Santa Monica...I'd be a great tour guide..driving is difficult in both places, but taking a tour bus helps, take time and smell the daisy's... If your in the my area PM me......



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/2018 07:53PM by Irene_L.A..

MF watch out for the fires. They are in some beautiful places but also places that might have bonused shops if you are looking for them. You would want to stay far away. The smoke will be awful and you don't want to get stuck on rural roads even within 15 miles that you are unfamiliar with. It is so sad.

Sandy, you are right, we just had a large one 5 miles from me, but it's been put out.....I guess he can track it on his phone. CA has been consumed with fires this year, one after another, and some roads closed. I couldn't get to my dentist due to fire, thank G__ for those firemen, still there's open spaces that go untouched.

MF, how awesome! I used to live in Los Angeles and I traveled all over the state. No matter where you will be, it is truly beautiful: wine country up north; the ski areas all over; Hollywood; the Gas Lamp District; the Pacific ocean. You will have a great time!

Jas...nothing to be sorry about, very different places, San Francisco compares to the beauty of Paris and sophisticated whereas L.A/So.CA is casual with many fabulous beach area's...couldn't be more different
each having it's own charm. Just spoke with someone living in S.F. online, very much attached to the city.
Overcrowded now due to Condo's going up where older homes have been sold (like my Mother's), they tear them down and put in Condo's which is making the city crowded and difficult...wasn't like that when I was growing up, I had the best of it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2018 01:56AM by Irene_L.A..

Good for you! Enjoy!

I will be driving Everywhere between about San Jose and Sacramento... I'm centered in Oakland.... Downtime? Maybe on Sunday.... My schedule is getting booked.... Heck, if I have "down time" on Sunday, I could go to the Oakland A's game - as a shop.....

Congrats! Hope it's the first of many more to come.

MF...be sure when in San Jose to visit Santana, it's a great area of shopping, maybe pickup a couple shops there, very interesting and in San Jose. You'll enjoy it and no fires there...

Jas, I am so ready to take that trip you describe. If you are looking for a shopping or just driving/trains/traveling partner let me know. But perhaps a few less weeks!? on the train.

@OP: Better you than me. But I wish you a great trip, much profit, and whatever adventures you would like to have there.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I would like to take a train from So Cal all the way up to Vancouver and stop for a day or two at many places along the way

The menu on Amtrak gets a bit tedious after a few days, but I have done quite a few train trips with MSing along the way. It's easy to set up trip trips with stops in San Diego, LA, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. They are short trips and I do those hotel shops via train regularly. The train timing and available shops make it more difficult to set up stuff between Sacramento and Portland, but I've done ht Portland -> Seattle combo before add timed it right to do the Seattle -> Vancouver portion with a 1-day cruise.

One of the best train MS train trips I've done was Denver -> SF -> LA. There was enough time on the train to gets my shops submitted between the destinations and I arrived at home finished with the work. Having the view coming down the Sierras and then the coast while I was working made the work much more enjoyable.

Well congrats on your new adventure. Sounds awesome. Let us know how it goes.

On my flight back home... Out of five days in the Bay Area, four were long days of shopping. I took that personal time Sunday evening to visit the Golden Gate Bridge.... I have five reports to write tomorrow and then I get to rest... I did 29 shops, which included 22 apartments, 2 new homes, 2 airline flights and three gyms... I drove about 1000 miles in my rental. Needless to say, I am now familiar with all the freeways from within about 100 miles of San Francisco.

My trip did get off to a rather dubious start.... Literally one hour after getting off my plane, I found myself calling 911.... I had been in my rental care for five minutes when a guy started running after a woman who was attempting to drive away in traffic. He through his body at her car and sat on her hood, preventing her from driving. He was irate and spewing all sorts of colorful language at her. While I was on the phone wtih the 911 operator, he threw his body at her windshield so hard he smashed it. ... She ended up driving off when he got off the hood once and getting away. I looked up the neighborhood at lunch that day and learned that "Fruitvale" is a neighborhood with some issues.....

It was a great trip... I'm exhausted, but made a good profit while helping a couple of MSC's get some shops done that they were desperate to have completed. (Yes, these MSC's recognize that money talks did not expect me to shop for them for several days and only break even.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/2018 04:03AM by MFJohnston.

Wow. Well what happens in Fruitcake...I mean Fruitvale...LOL

You have to love Oakland... I'm headed to the Bay Area next week. Will be checking the poop map before heading into the city: [mochimachine.org]. I'm thinking I should've stayed closer to the 680 side, but I need to hit Milpitas.

(Now I'm looking for those "desperate" MSCs ;-))

If you do video, Business Observations has a couple shops that I was not able to get to while I was there and Grace Hill has additional targets at locations I was not able to visit... Automotive Insights has several I was not able to pick up. Service Check had quite a few.... Info Research had non-video new home inquiries available... EPMS has several decently bonused audio recorded apartment shops....

@iShop123 wrote:

You have to love Oakland... I'm headed to the Bay Area next week. Will be checking the poop map before heading into the city: [mochimachine.org]. I'm thinking I should've stayed closer to the 680 side, but I need to hit Milpitas.

(Now I'm looking for those "desperate" MSCs ;-))

This scheduler has a bunch of shops in the Bay Area that I would have picked up had I time... (And, yes, I am picky).... I've never worked for the MSC, but I took the pay to be generous for the work required. Email her if you want - she asked that I pass this along: slevy@inforesearch.net

Wonderful idea! Enjoy!

ishop123 : Looking for a shopper in the Bay Area to do quick new home visits, no recording, 20 mins $35 each. We have 5. Are you interested?? Company: InfoResearch new to this forum but in business since 1987 shopping the new home builders. email: slevy@inforesearch.net

@MFJohnston which msc did you do your airline shop with?

@MFJohnston wrote: