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Im coming to the US - what should I see?
- Thread starter joefinan
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The trains on the Boston - Washington corridor are actually pretty well run and are usually on time. Taking Amtrak anywhere else is another story though, as outside of the east coast Amtrak just "borrows" the tracks from freight lines and trains are frequently delayed so freight trains can have the right of way.
joefinan said:
Cleveland by car is about 8 hours from new york and 6.5 from washington, assuming traffic is good. Another option is to spend 12 hours on Amtrak from Washington, but none of these seem like particularly good options unless you're dead set on going to Cedar Point and Riding an American train.
joefinan said:
The most popular national park on the east coast is Acadia, which is in Maine, about a 5 hour drive from Boston. I've been there, and while beautiful, I found it to be horribly crowded.
joefinan said:
There are quite a few talk shows that tape in new york (David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, etc.) that give out free tickets for taping.
You could come to NYC, and then take a hour and half drive to Six Flags Great Adventure. They have the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world, not to mention many other coasters including this really awesome wooden one that I rode last summer.
You should come and see our London Bridge - we bought it and moved it to Arizona!!! 
http://www.roadtripamerica.com/places/havasu.htm
http://www.roadtripamerica.com/places/havasu.htm
i'll have to agree with some of the others, september isn't really a good time to visit florida. way too hot and hurricane season is at it's peak (we got whacked twice in three weeks around these parts in september of 2004), so not a good time to be there. imo, november-april is probably the prime time to visit florida, rest of the year, it's way too muggy and you have a higher chance of running into storms and hurricane season. also, i think the theme parks in florida have too much of a kiddie flavor to them as well as a tourist trap center.
i would stick to the west coast in september, weather's great (santa ana winds don't come until october), lots of natural places to visit, etc. i would spend at least 3 days in san diego as well and if you are into gambling, at least two in vegas (4 hours from la).
here are some san diego attractions.
beaches (esp. for surfers)
roller coaster at mission beach
sea world
babola park w/ plenty of museums (including the san diego zoo). i would suggest you go on a tuesday, since some of the museums are free each tuesday (the ones that are free are based on a rotation)
old town san diego
scenic areas all over the city
if you go to vegas, go to lake mead/hoover dam, which is less than an hour away, and maybe transition to the grand canyon.
if you want to spend less than a week in la, you can head over to sequoia national forest or yellowstone for a couple of days.
based on that, he's a good plan.
london to la, then drive to sd, spend 4-5 days in sd
rent a car, drive from sd to las vegas/grand canyon 3-4 days
drive back to la (1 week)
drive us 101 to bay area (5-6 days)
head back to la (via national parks?), fly back to london
that's just my plan.
i would stick to the west coast in september, weather's great (santa ana winds don't come until october), lots of natural places to visit, etc. i would spend at least 3 days in san diego as well and if you are into gambling, at least two in vegas (4 hours from la).
here are some san diego attractions.
beaches (esp. for surfers)
roller coaster at mission beach
sea world
babola park w/ plenty of museums (including the san diego zoo). i would suggest you go on a tuesday, since some of the museums are free each tuesday (the ones that are free are based on a rotation)
old town san diego
scenic areas all over the city
if you go to vegas, go to lake mead/hoover dam, which is less than an hour away, and maybe transition to the grand canyon.
if you want to spend less than a week in la, you can head over to sequoia national forest or yellowstone for a couple of days.
based on that, he's a good plan.
london to la, then drive to sd, spend 4-5 days in sd
rent a car, drive from sd to las vegas/grand canyon 3-4 days
drive back to la (1 week)
drive us 101 to bay area (5-6 days)
head back to la (via national parks?), fly back to london
that's just my plan.
You should see either New York or Chicago! Chicago has a brand new park called "Millennium Park"; It's beautiful.
In D.C., the Capital, Washington monument, Lincoln memorial, Vietnam Memorial (The Mall) and the Smithsonian institution.
(Forget the White House - don't give them the satisfaction.)
In W. Virginia, Arlington National Cemetery. If you get that far, as stated above, check out Colonial Williamsburg.
(Forget the White House - don't give them the satisfaction.)
In W. Virginia, Arlington National Cemetery. If you get that far, as stated above, check out Colonial Williamsburg.
Not to be nitpicky, but Arlington is in Virginia, about five minutes outside of DC - definitely include it if you go to DC. Williamsburg is a couple hours' drive from DC, and when I went I found it to be a tourist trap of sorts.
If you have the money, I would go with jplan's itinerary, maybe adding a day in DC if possible.
Thanks all for your help.
For anyone that's interested, as we were in the final throes of planning and about to start booking flights, I realised that our mortgage deal ends in October so, thanks to the sub-prime credit crunch, we've decided to put the holiday on hold for this year.
But it will happen in 2009 and I'll make sure I save all your comments!
For anyone that's interested, as we were in the final throes of planning and about to start booking flights, I realised that our mortgage deal ends in October so, thanks to the sub-prime credit crunch, we've decided to put the holiday on hold for this year.
But it will happen in 2009 and I'll make sure I save all your comments!