Germans plans travelling to California soon - searching for contacts

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Martina

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Hi there,

I am new at the alldeaf.com community here. Trusting that I´ll get some answers to my following questions, I start my first posting now. :)
Well, I´m from Germany and I am searching for some nice deaf people from California. My husband (deaf) and I (hoh) come over to CA in the middle of august 2007 to make holidays for three weeks. We have the intention to make a round trip from L.A. over San Francisco, Yosemite, Grand Canyon etc.
So it would be great to meet other deaf people during our trip. Maybe someone can give us straight tips to meet deaf people or give sightseeing tips? I would be happy to meet other deaf people from different country. :)
We are divers. Is there anybody who dives, too?

Hope to hear from someone!
Greetings from Germany,
Martina
 
Hi Martina,
I come from Germany so i live in little town Neckarsulm. It is near in Heilbronn. Maybe Do you know, where? I am glad, that you join here too. welcome!!! :applause:
You will with ur Hubby go to CA in August 2007. In LA would be hot weather. :)
anyway where you will arrive at airport LAX or SFO?
If you will get in LAX. I recommended you, get rent a car in LA, then you can what you do want drive to SFO and SD? Enterprise Rent-A-Car: Rental Cars at Everyday Low Rates you can say them, pls with insurance, but without miles. they would say okay, but maybe you need have a international licence. to me luck, when I was visiting in SF and get a rental car. I still have EU licence and showed to them. they said nothing to me.

so I still have some friends from LA. If you do want that I tell him. maybe he can with you and ur hubby around trip in LA so you will with ur hubby visit to SF. I can tell Carrie or Steven about you. they will take you with ur hubby in SF. Let me know, if you do want. okay?

I suggest you, you can go at Starbucks coffee and enjoy chat with all deafs there.
Deaf Chat Coffee: California
 
Psst! Kennen wir uns? Wir waren einmals Brieffreunde, und jetzt nicht mehr haufig bei Briefe... Ich lebe jetzt in Utah, nicht so weit aus Kalifornien. Übringens, wenn du in Grand Canyon oder in Las Vegas bist, können wir vielleicht ein Tag treffen. Ich wöhne 5 Std von Las Vegas.
 
Hi,

thanks for the feedback. :))

To sunshinelady:
Of course, I know the region where you live. Although I was never been in Neckarsulm or Heilbronn before, I know where it is. :)
I live in the Ruhrgebiet, this big region which countains a lot of cities...
According to your questions, we already hired a car in LAX, where we will arrive. I think this is the best thing to do.
Yeah, I am happy to meet deaf people. If it is not to much effort you can ask your friends if it is no bother for them.
But they should know our ASL signs are counting to ten. But where there´s a will there´s a way ;-) But I guess ASL is similar to the german sign language.

To K.:
I don´t believe that we know us. Indeed, I had a deaf penpal from California approximately 10 years ago, but nobody from Utah. But even so, we would be pleased to meet you. :) If you want you can send me a private message.

To all:
In Germany there are allowances for disabled people. Is it the same in US (national parks, entrances e.g) ? If yes what should foreigners observe?

Look forward to hear from you,
Martina
 
Herzlich Willkommen in AD...

I live in Ansbach which is not far from Sunshinelady's... It's great to know that Sunshine give you her feedback... :thumb:

To all:
In Germany there are allowances for disabled people. Is it the same in US (national parks, entrances e.g) ? If yes what should foreigners observe?
Click to expand...

I remember from some posts, that they don't have special allowance for disabled people like what we have here in Germany. They do have special for wheelchairs and severe handicapped...

Please correct if I am mistakes or what, dear ADers.
 
Kuifje75 said:
Psst! Kennen wir uns? Wir waren einmals Brieffreunde, und jetzt nicht mehr haufig bei Briefe... Ich lebe jetzt in Utah, nicht so weit aus Kalifornien. Übringens, wenn du in Grand Canyon oder in Las Vegas bist, können wir vielleicht ein Tag treffen. Ich wöhne 5 Std von Las Vegas.
Click to expand...

Can someone translate this, if you don't mind?
 
Don't forget go to NAPA too !!! :):):)

Beautiful Places! ;):)
 
Psst! Do we know each other? We were ineinmals pen pals, and now no longer haufig with letter... I live now in Utah, not so far from California. Perhaps practicing struggle, if you in Grand Canyon or in read Vegas are, we can meet one day. I woehne 5 Std of read Vegas.

I got this information from Translate website.

AltaVista - Babel Fish Translation

jclarke said:
Can someone translate this, if you don't mind?
Click to expand...
 
Martina said:
Hi,

thanks for the feedback. :))

To sunshinelady:
Of course, I know the region where you live. Although I was never been in Neckarsulm or Heilbronn before, I know where it is. :)
I live in the Ruhrgebiet, this big region which countains a lot of cities...
According to your questions, we already hired a car in LAX, where we will arrive. I think this is the best thing to do.
Yeah, I am happy to meet deaf people. If it is not to much effort you can ask your friends if it is no bother for them.
But they should know our ASL signs are counting to ten. But where there´s a will there´s a way ;-) But I guess ASL is similar to the german sign language.

To K.:
I don´t believe that we know us. Indeed, I had a deaf penpal from California approximately 10 years ago, but nobody from Utah. But even so, we would be pleased to meet you. :) If you want you can send me a private message.

To all:
In Germany there are allowances for disabled people. Is it the same in US (national parks, entrances e.g) ? If yes what should foreigners observe?

Look forward to hear from you,
Martina
Click to expand...

Hi Martina,

Thanks :) I do like help you.
I get idea. I take you to contact under PM here so we could write in German language. ADers dont like about that, if we will write in German Language here. They would be angry. okay?

Hi Liebling,

yeaaah we lives not so far lol. see you in next 2 weekend *jump* :hug:
 
Martina said:
Hi,

thanks for the feedback. :))

To all:
In Germany there are allowances for disabled people. Is it the same in US (national parks, entrances e.g) ? If yes what should foreigners observe?

Look forward to hear from you,
Martina
Click to expand...

Hello, I have a penfriend who lives in Osnabrueck who is named Martina, but I guess you two are different people. ::Lach::

Yes, Deaf people can get into National Parks for free, if they request for Golden Access Passport. Sometimes it can save a lot of money, since it can cost about 20$ for a few days. When you go to a National Park, ask if you can go to the office to sign up for Golden Access Passport and they should let you go to the visitor's centre to get one. I have one myself.

As for State Parks, it depends on the states. In Utah, they do not give deaf people any special passes. So we have to pay the full admission into State Parks. I know in some states, they do give special passes for Deaf people, giving them about 50% discount.

There are some places which will offer you discounts due to your deafness, but the list is getting smaller and smaller nowadays, I think. If you are a student, then you can ask for student admissions to museums and theatres. I usually do that myself.

If you go to California, you should definitely not miss the Redwoods National Forest and Redwood State Park in northwestern California. It is about 3 hours? from San Francisco, but the trees there are really something to see too. Redwoods are different from sequoia trees. At Yosemite NP and Sequoia NP, it can be crazy, so you should go in the morning to "catch" your campsites. Some campsites are on a "first-come, first-serve" basis. Otherwise, the other campsites that are reserved through the online reservation service are probably already full. If you are out of luck, you can try some hotels or motels in Sonora, a city not far from the entrance of Yosemite NP.

What do you plan to do in Grand Canyon? Are you going to South Rim, or the North Rim, or both? Are you going to hike down the canyon from one rim to other? Usually, the South Rim are more popular for visitors because it is easier to get there than the North Rim. Keep in mind that not all of Grand Canyon is under the National Park System. Some of it is under the Indian reservations, and if you go to the western part of Grand Canyon, you may need an Indian guide. The Skywalk is in the Indian reservation, and you will have to drive about 20 km of sand road to there, pay 85 dollars and cannot take pictures. I went to South Rim, and it was a big area to visit.

When you visit National Parks, you can buy a passport book and have special stamps for each national park you have visited. They usually are found in the visitors centres.

any more questions, feel free to ask!
 
Kuifje75 said:
Psst! Kennen wir uns? Wir waren einmals Brieffreunde, und jetzt nicht mehr haufig bei Briefe... Ich lebe jetzt in Utah, nicht so weit aus Kalifornien. Übringens, wenn du in Grand Canyon oder in Las Vegas bist, können wir vielleicht ein Tag treffen. Ich wöhne 5 Std von Las Vegas.
Click to expand...

Babelfish is not the best translator:

Psst! Do we know each other? We were once penpals and now not so much more with letters. I live now in Utah, not so far from California. In any case, when you are at Las Vegas or Grand Canyon, we can maybe meet one day. I live five hours from Las Vegas.
 
I heard about the Golden Access Passport for the disabled or elderly people, but I also read that this passport is only for the us-residents, not for foreigners. Unfortunately we aren´t students anymore. But I will ask for special prices for deaf people.

At the moment I can´t say more precisely what we will do because we are at an early stage of preparations. In any case we´ll start our tour in L.A. and on the way to San Francisco we drive along the highway no. 1 over Big Sur, Santa Cruz for e.g. Visiting the redwood forest sounds good, thanks. I saw some impressing pictures from the redwoods in google. After SF we want to sally out to Yosemite NP, Death Valley, Las Vegas, Bryce Canyon and Grand Canyon and than back to the coast. Maybe San Diego, if there is still enough time. I think it´s the typical well-worn tourists path. :)) How many days should we plan for each NP?

My once concern is that the motels and ho(s)tels are crowded. We don´t want to plan our route down to the last detail, so we can´t reserve rooms. Do you know some good and cheap accomodations, where we don´t have to reserve? Presumably we take a tent with us for camping as an alternative.

Would you recommend a side-trip to Tijuana/ Mexico? I don´t know how far it is from the border. Would be great to get a stamp from Mexico in my passport. :) And at last another question: Could you recommend some good view points to take good pictures? I love photography...
 
Martina said:
I heard about the Golden Access Passport for the disabled or elderly people, but I also read that this passport is only for the us-residents, not for foreigners. Unfortunately we aren´t students anymore. But I will ask for special prices for deaf people.

At the moment I can´t say more precisely what we will do because we are at an early stage of preparations. In any case we´ll start our tour in L.A. and on the way to San Francisco we drive along the highway no. 1 over Big Sur, Santa Cruz for e.g. Visiting the redwood forest sounds good, thanks. I saw some impressing pictures from the redwoods in google. After SF we want to sally out to Yosemite NP, Death Valley, Las Vegas, Bryce Canyon and Grand Canyon and than back to the coast. Maybe San Diego, if there is still enough time. I think it´s the typical well-worn tourists path. :)) How many days should we plan for each NP?

My once concern is that the motels and ho(s)tels are crowded. We don´t want to plan our route down to the last detail, so we can´t reserve rooms. Do you know some good and cheap accomodations, where we don´t have to reserve? Presumably we take a tent with us for camping as an alternative.

Would you recommend a side-trip to Tijuana/ Mexico? I don´t know how far it is from the border. Would be great to get a stamp from Mexico in my passport. :) And at last another question: Could you recommend some good view points to take good pictures? I love photography...
Click to expand...

Hi Martina,
I will let you know, better if you will leave from LA to Las Vegas, cuz Its not far about 4 hrs. If you will to be get in SF and visit to Las Vegas, so far. okay! :)
 
hi martina i used to live in california, and highway 1 is the best way to get alot of historical veiws, I recommend u stopping at the hearst castle ( thier on the market for 1billion if i remember correctly) anyway when you drive thru highway 1 watch for curvy roads cuz the roads can catch you off guard. Best place to stay is camp sites just enjoy your views, Big sur, Santa Cruz Boardwalk is one of the best place to take pics there. and if u do stop in San Franscisco, Stay in the warf area you'll see the golden gate bridge from there, if you drive thru the city, be prepare to be speedy cuz we do rush similar to LA,

LA drive like a manic ok? just look everywhere do not let yourself get caught in the veiwing the surroundings the speed limit's 75 but they go 80 90 miles per hour and have no regards for drivers ok?

Lastly since you're coming in AUG its HOT and muggy down there in LA but when you get up to SF its cool like 70s in SF but if you decide to travel futher up i suggest you make a stop over in the wine country, napa valley and sonoma county. theres deaf gatherings there too,Starbucks and Deaf Dog Coffee tend to get together. So thought u might want to know about this :-D

hope this is detailed info you need and most of all be safe keep your wallet and internet stuff in your sights don't want you to lose precious stuff on your trip! and use travelers check this way it will help you not lose your money :-D

Enjoy california! and don't forget to go to disneyland! :-D
 
My friend from Canada asked if she could have the Golden Access Passport, and they gave her one without any problem. She even made it clear that she was a Canadian citizen, but they still gave her one. It won't hurt to ask at the national park anyway.

Highway Nr. 1 is very beautiful, but a lot of people get carsick from driving there because the road is like serpentine roads (like the mountain roads in the German Alps.) My friend liked Rt. 1 at daytime, but at night, he got sick because he could not see where we were driving to. The speed limit along Rt. 1 is usually about 80 kph, but it is impossible to keep to 80 kph all the time because of the curving roads.

It depends on what you want to do at the national parks. Do you like to hike? Or just drive around and see some sights? If you hike, then you will need more time to visit each park. If you just drive around, then of course, it is short visit for each park. Bryce Canyon is in Utah, and I have never been there! Maybe we can meet at Bryce Canyon as it is about 3 hours from me, I think. Another national park between Bryce and Grand Canyon is Zion National Park, which is also worthy of a visit, if you have time. From Zion NP you can drive to village of Kanab, on the way to North Rim of Grand Canyon, then drive back and around to South Rim, if you like.

From San Diego to Tijuana, you can easily take the trolley (Strassenbahn on Blue Line southbound) to the border at San Ysidro, then change onto a Mexican bus to go across the border. It takes about 20 minutes on the trolley, I think. I went there in 2002, so it has been a while and I can't remember all of the details. I don't recommend to drive into Tijuana... you will need special insurance which you will need to buy at the border, if you drive into Mexico. Sometimes your car rental company will not permit it. Tijuana is not a very exciting place to visit because you will see a lot of poor people living in small houses, trying to sell things to you. I think it is better to visit some cities deep into Mexico on a different vacation. When I visited Mexico this year by going to Puerto Vallarta, I never got a stamp on my passport. Apparently, it is similar to visiting in Europe... once you land in an European country, you get one stamp for all the EU countries you visit. Same here for Canada, USA and Mexico.

I definitely like San Diego a lot, and I think you will too. The Old Town is a nice place to visit in San Diego, as well as the beaches, Hillcrest district, Balboa Park (awesome!) and the Gaslamp Quarter.

If you have more questions, feel free to email me and I'll be more than happy to answer. I wish you a fun trip in the USA!
 
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