u/Dry_Link3598

Hi everyone,
 
I am going to be in Visalia for a couple days in September for a work trip and looking for some advice and thoughts.
 
I’ll be flying into Fresno Airport, and then picking up a rental car. I’ll drive from Fresno to Visalia, stay the night on a Tuesday, and then working in Visalia on Wednesday. I fly home on Thursday morning.
 
My current options are:

1. Drive after work on Wednesday back to Fresno and stay the night there, for a short drive to the airport the next morning
2. Stay the night in Visalia Wednesday, and then drive early Thursday morning back to Fresno airport.

 
How is the drive from Visalia to Fresno in the mornings in early September? Is there traffic? If I were to drive around 6-7am? My flight would be at 10am (international).
 
I’ll be travelling solo and get nervous travelling alone. I’ve heard Fresno can be quite unsafe in some areas, so wondering if option 2 is better so I can stay in a safer feeling place (Visalia). But not sure if it’s worth the tradeoff of driving to Fresno in the early morning Thursday before my flight.
 
If anyone also has recommendations on where to stay in both Visalia and Fresno (which areas, nice hotels), that would be greatly appreciated. With my work budget, the hotels would have to be ~$250 max per night.
 
Also, just out of curiosity, is there traffic from Fresno to Visalia in the afternoons? 

I live in a large metropolitan city in Canada so I’m used to traffic, not so worried about the driving as I am feeling safe.

Thanks in advance!

Hello! I will be in grand rapids next week for a couple nights, flying in Sunday afternoon and leaving Wednesday morning. I’ll be working Monday and Tuesdays during the day, so I’ll have Sunday - Tuesday evenings to check our GR.

Would like to stay at a marriot so I can build up my membership, so it looks like my options are by the airport or downtown. Wondering what people would recommend based on my concerns below. If by the airport I’ll have to look at the best “rated” options, but if downtown likely the Courtyard due to budget.

I tend to get quite anxious and nervous travelling alone, especially when things don’t “feel” or look safe. Especially at night (sounds silly, I know.. just the way my brain works lol). I find sometimes in the airport area hotels don’t feel as comfortable because they’re a bit more isolated, so downtown is sometimes better if it feels like there are more people around. On the other hand some downtowns might be “busy” but might feel a bit sketchier. Ie I’m in Oregon right now and it’s been recommended not to stay in downtown Portland, but still good to go there to check out restaurants, etc.

Since I’m not familiar with grand rapids at all, wondering what these areas are like? I’m a solo female Asian traveller. Most people on my travels have been lovely so far but always want to put that out there in case it makes a difference where I’m going haha.

If staying downtown it would be nice to walk around (if recommended), but also have a car rental.. so if staying by the airport is better for my concerns, I’m fine to drive downtown to check places out then head back to the airport hotel. Will likely be “exploring” from 5-9pm, back to the hotel by 9pm so wouldn’t be out and about too late into the evening.

I also love trying new restaurants. Only have a couple evenings in GR so also would love any recommendations on things to do and places to go!

Thank you in advance!

Hi all! I am travelling to Oregon next week for a work trip and have the option of staying in either Corvallis or Salem. I'll be flying in Sunday night, then working Mon-Wed before leaving on Thursday.

I'm a 30y/o solo female traveller and am planning to stay at one of the Marriot hotels. Trying to decide which place to stay in that will be the most "fun" for me.

A couple considerations:

I'm a big foodie so would love somewhere that I can find nice restaurants. I'll be working during the day so in the evenings would like to try new places. One thing to note.. for example if I stay in Corvallis, I'll be working one day close to Salem so could always go to a restaurant in Salem one night if there's a must-try restaurant there... to get the best of both worlds.

I generally don't like to travel and stay in hotel rooms alone, get quite anxious at night.. Both seem relatively "safe", but would staying at one make me feel better over the other? Just in terms of optics, surrounding area, etc. Is one better than the other if I decide take a stroll somewhere? From what I'm seeing so far, sounds like Corvallis is more walkable?

I will have a car so can drive around to see places & things. I wouldn't want to do anything where I'm isolated by myself though (like going for a hike or something).

In addition to recommending one or the other, if anyone has any specific recommendations on restaurants, things to do, areas to walk around, etc - would love to hear it! I also play volleyball back at home so might be interested in some drop-in volleyball if there's any.

I know there are quite a few of these posts already but wasn't really able to find what I was looking for with my specific travel plans and considerations. Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Hello all!

I will be travelling to Oregon next week for work and looking to get some guidance on what rush hour is like.

I'm a solo asian female traveller and don't love staying in hotels by myself, so I'm opting to stay in Portland where there are more and larger hotel options (work is paying for accommodations so I want the Marriot loyalty points haha).

I am travelling to Rickreall, Tangent and Salem - each on a different day (Monday to Wednesday).
I need to arrive by 7:30am each day, so was planning to leave Portland by 6am to get there in time.

However I understand by looking online that the rush hour traffic can be bad, especially in the Wilsonville area.

I'm not too fussed about sitting in traffic in the evening, it is what it is and I don't mind the trade off of being able to stay in Portland and having some extra nights there to: (1) get the hotel chain’s points (2) explore the food scene during the evenings and (3) stay in a "bigger city/hotel" to feel a bit safer.

With that being said, how bad would the traffic be at 6am going from Portland heading into those areas? When does traffic start to build and would I need to leave even earlier? 5? 5:30?

If there's a crazy amount of traffic during the morning and I would need to leave by 5am or something, I might be more inclined to just stay closer to or in Salem.

I'll be heading back to Portland Thursday, then flying to another state Sunday - which means I'll have full days Thursday-Saturday in Portland. So open to staying in Salem for the work trip portion Monday-Wednesday if the driving is too crazy.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!