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Travel Forum / Destinations / USA and Canada / August 2006East Coast Trip recommendations?
Dear TravelBanter members: I am planning visit east coast area in August. The Places I want to se are Chicago, IL New York, Washington D.C, Philadelphia Niagara Falls I made a route plan as follows Chicago - Niagara Falls 555 mi (about 10 hours 23 mins) Niagara Falls – New York 410 mi (about 7 hours 53 mins) New York - Philadelphia 101 mi (about 1 hour 52 mins) Philadelphia - Washington DC 143 mi (about 2 hours 52 mins) Washington DC - Chicago 697 mi (about 12 hours 51 mins) I have rent a car for 12 days for this trip. This is my first time driving trip, I want some advises and suggestio on a) maps /Atlas for east cost region, Canada border(Niagara area) b) stopping point where I can stay for the night before nex destination for example from Chicago to Niagara Fall (Canada side) Niagara fall to N.Y Washington DC - Chicago c) Preparation for the trip, staff I need to bring food, first aid medicine etc d) Hotel/Motel selection, I want to stay a safe and clean hotel wit reasonable price (my budget is between $50 - $80 for two person o hotel stay) e) New York hotels recommendations. I know N.Y. Is expensive to stay. Could you list some hotels that are in safe area, relatively close t major attractions, public transit is convenient. Please share your insights, experiences and resources (like car rental hotel, hostel etc). You suggestions and recommendation will b appreciated! Jeff 7-30-0 -- travel006 Comment inline below > Dear TravelBanter members: > [quoted text clipped - 30 lines] > reasonable price (my budget is between $50 - $80 for two person on > hotel stay) I can't speak for that part of the country, but I can say that in Texas (and a few other areas) you will be lucky to find a clean, safe room for Less than about $80 unless you are getting a AAA or some other type of a discount. From what I understand, that part of the country will be more expensive than Texas. I would suggest that you get on the net and check out LaQuinta, Best Western, Super 8 and maybe Motel 6 in the areas you plan on staying. Personally, I never even look at Days Inn or Holiday Inn. As an example of discounts, we recently stayed at LaQuinta in around Austin, TX and the room was normally just under $100 per night. My wife works for the county college and got a discount for being a state employee. We ended up paying $63 per night. Not a bad deal! As far as car rental, I have used Enterprise more than anyone else. Only one time I was dissapointed. The van I rented had a bad front end shake so I returned it. All that they had was some sort of a Suzuki SUV thing. We had to drive it out of town. Hertz has always done me right, but is more expensive. Good luck and hope that you have fun! > e) New York hotels recommendations. I know N.Y. Is expensive to stay. > Could you list some hotels that are in safe area, relatively close to [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > Jeff > 7-30-06 --- avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean. Virus Database (VPS): 0630-4, 07/29/2006 Tested on: 7/30/2006 8:03:25 PM avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2006 ALWIL Software. http://www.avast.com >Dear TravelBanter members: > [quoted text clipped - 40 lines] >Jeff >7-30-06 You would do well to leave out Chicago. It is not in the East, by the way, but in the Midwest. You will spend too much of your trip on long drives. As for food, you can buy it anywhere and unless you are on a special diet can find food in any price range either in supermarkets or restaurants. I don't know what you mean by "first aid". What kinds of injuries do you forsee? New York, Philadelphia and Washington all have hostels where beds are cheap and you can book in advance. See the website at: http://www.hiusa.org/usa-hostels/index.shtml You should know that parking a car will be difficult and costly in Washington and New York unless you stay well out of the city and take public transportation in. I would use trains or buses instead. Other than Niagara Falls, the cities you have chosen have good public transportation within the city and a car will be more of a hindrance than a help. I would use Trip Advisor to locate hotels/motels. www.tripadvisor.com Finding a hotel in your price range in New York will be quite a challenge and I would choose a YMCA or hostel there. $80 a night is far too low. > Dear TravelBanter members: > [quoted text clipped - 42 lines] > > You have the equivalent of two and a half trips here. You will spend way too much time driving. I know it means making some choices...but if you want a more leisurely experience you may want to drop some destinations. As I see it Philadelphia and Washington DC is one trip. New York City and Niagara Falls is another trip. Chicago I would combine with some other Midwest destination. BTW you don't mention where you will be starting from? Nor, did you mention when you plan to travel. Hotel rates change in some locations with seasonal tourism. In most of the cities you mentioned, a hotel/motel located in a safe neighborhood in the center of all the action will probably run you $99 - $100 per night. In New York City, $125 per night would be considered cheap for a midtown location. As someone else suggested check out hostels. To that I'd also add that hotels located away from the center of town are often less expensive. After all, you'll have a car. In some places like Manhattan you can use public transportation. For that trip to Niagara Falls, if you plan to go to the Canadian side you might want to check out http://travel.state.gov for the new Passport requirements. I'm not sure if it's just limited to air and cruise travel to the Caribbean and Mexico. Canada may be included along with automobile travel. It doesn't hurt to check things out.  Signature________ To email me, Edit "blog" from my email address. Brian M. Kochera "Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!" View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951 >I am planning visit east coast area in August. The Places I want to see >are [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >Philadelphia >Niagara Falls I agree with others that Chicago is far from your other destinations and probably should be cut from this trip. >I have rent a car for 12 days for this trip. >This is my first time driving trip, I want some advises and suggestion >b) stopping point where I can stay for the night before next >destination >Niagara fall to N.Y I have several times driven from Niagara Falls to NYC in one day. Since your trip is pretty busy, I would advise against stopping overnight along the way. >d) Hotel/Motel selection, I want to stay a safe and clean hotel with >reasonable price (my budget is between $50 - $80 for two person on >hotel stay) >e) New York hotels recommendations. I know N.Y. Is expensive to stay. A clean, safe, centrally located place to stay in New York is the YMCA. There are three in Manhattan, but two are very well located for tourists. They are the West Side Y and the Vanderbilt Y. I have stayed several times in the Vanderbilt Y. Here is their web page: http://www.ymcanyc.org/sub.php?p=services&sp=guest/guestmanhattan The Harlem Y is not very conveniently located and my daughter, who lives in Harlem, says it's also not very nice. >Could you list some hotels that are in safe area, relatively close to >major attractions, public transit is convenient. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >Jeff >7-30-06 SignatureBarbara Vaughan My email address is my first initial followed by my last name at libero dot it. > Dear TravelBanter members: Hello from USENET, which you're merely accessing via a web-based gateway service. Comments are in-line: > I am planning visit east coast area in August. The Places I want to see > are [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Philadelphia > Niagara Falls As has already been mentioned, Chicago's not "East Coast". Either drop it, plan the whole trip around it, or figure out how to fly there instead of driving...to leave it in, you'll basically lose 3 days (25%) of your 12 day trip just getting there & back. > I made a route plan as follows > Chicago - Niagara Falls 555 mi (about 10 hours 23 mins) > Niagara Falls - New York 410 mi (about 7 hours 53 mins) > New York - Philadelphia 101 mi (about 1 hour 52 mins) > Philadelphia - Washington DC 143 mi (about 2 hours 52 mins) > Washington DC - Chicago 697 mi (about 12 hours 51 mins) Flying into Chicago? What concerns me is that all of these time/distances are assuming an average speed of around 50-55mph. I'd not be too terribly concerned about some of them, but the NYC-Philly-DC corridor times are IMO optimistic. They're not impossible times, but the catch is that daily commuting rush hours, summer shore traffic, and construction work all put a big crimp into these likelihood of success; I'd increase these estimates by at least 25%, especially if you're not planning on cruising at 15-20mph above the posted speed limit whever traffic allows. > I have rent a car for 12 days for this trip. Don't forget to budget for parking expenses when you start hitting these cities. > This is my first time driving trip, I want some advises and suggestion > on > a) maps /Atlas for east cost region, Canada border(Niagara area) If you're a Member, AAA. Otherwise, Amazon.com > b) stopping point where I can stay for the night before next > destination > for example from > Chicago to Niagara Fall (Canada side) > Niagara fall to N.Y > Washington DC - Chicago Specifics are premature at this point; you need to decide how you're going to handle Chicago. > c) Preparation for the trip, staff I need to bring food, first aid, > medicine etc Suitcase, clothing, toiletry kit, comfortable shoes...the USA is mostly a 1st World Country, so those things you forgot you can safely buy. > d) Hotel/Motel selection, I want to stay a safe and clean hotel with > reasonable price (my budget is between $50 - $80 for two person on > hotel stay) Under $100 near a major East Coast City generally won't be pretty. Might want to try Rough Guide or similar for Youth-Hostile types of alternatives, or raise your budget to $150 per night. > e) New York hotels recommendations. I know N.Y. Is expensive to stay. > Could you list some hotels that are in safe area, relatively close to > major attractions, public transit is convenient. I think you need to decide if you're going to be a "daytriper" visitor to the city and willing to commute in each day, or if your intent includes nightlife, etc. This will dictate your accomodations. > Please share your insights, experiences and resources (like car rental, > hotel, hostel etc). You suggestions and recommendation will be > appreciated! One-way drop-off charges are ususally a killer, but I'd consider looking into if it would be feasible to get rid of the rental car upon hitting NYC for a couple of days where you'll be leaving the car parked and using mass transit. You might be able to talk a rental car place into waiving the fee if you are going to be driving a big loop, but simply don't need the car for a couple of days along the way. -hh > Dear TravelBanter members: > [quoted text clipped - 40 lines] > Jeff > 7-30-06 starting from where (You live where?) how long do you have? what do you want to see in each city I have been to all Chicago - start early drive to Detroit see the Ford museum enter Canada to see falls its quicker Niagara Falls see the falls under the lights at sundown http://discoverniagara.com/attractions/main/ http://www.ontariotravel.net/TcisCtrl?site=consumers&key1=destinations&key2=GTA& language=EN http://www.torontotourism.com/visitor http://www.accessniagara.com/blog/index.php http://www.niagara.edu/library/nfguides/rand.html http://www.fallsviewwaterpark.com/ leave Niagara Fall and visit Corning see http://www.cmog.org/ I would skit NYC Philadelphia - Baltimore good for one day Washington DC good for 2 weeks if you are flying in try landing Boston and do the loop from there How was the trip ? > Dear TravelBanter members: > [quoted text clipped - 43 lines] > Jeff > 7-30-06 |
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