First USA Trip - 4 Weeks

Melbournian on 16/02/2013 - 23:11

My Friend and I are planning our first USA trip early September this year.

Cities we are planning to visit:

New York - 14 Days
Boston - 3 to 4 Days
Rhode Island - 1 Day
Philadelphia - 1 to 2 Days
Washington - 3 to 4 Days
San Francisco - 3 to 4 Days

New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont worth visiting?

Our interests are sightseeing, musicals, food, shopping, museums and historical buildings.

Please provide feedback on the suggested itinerary.
Is 14 days in New York excessive?

How far ahead do we need to book flights and accommodation?

Travel

Comments

  • voteoften on 16/02/2013 - 23:17

    Less in NY, More in Boston, 1 day in philly, skip RI, More time in DC.

  • gmask1 on 16/02/2013 - 23:24
    +1

    I think you could easily spend 14 days in NYC, but 8-10 days might be all you need on your first trip. Accommodation in NYC is expensive, and that money might go further in another place, perhaps New Orleans (Food), Chicago (Architecture) or Savannah (History). Try New Orleans :)

    For booking flights and accommodation, the two schools of thought that I listen to suggest to either book as soon as possible, or book 12 weeks out. I tend to book about 3 months out, but YMMV.

    There are a tonne of recommendations that you'll get for where to go/what to do, the best option I can give is Scott's Pizza Tours in New York (http://www.scottspizzatours.com/).

  • bdl on 16/02/2013 - 23:26

    NYC Hotel - http://www.hotel17ny.com/

  • hello007 on 16/02/2013 - 23:41
    +2

    Add an extra week if you can and do a seven night cruise of the Caribbean.

    You can do this for about $500 - see about five countries/islands in seven days.

    Go on a mega liner with Royal Caribbean.

    It's the most competitive cruise market in the world.

    See deals on:

    Www.vacationstogo.com
    Www.avoyatravel.com
    Www.cruisecritic.com
    Www.bestcruises.com
    Www.priceline.com

    You can unpack once - enjoy food and entertainment - visit new places each day - and all for less per day than living ashore.

    We went for seven nights on The Mariner of the Seas - 140,000 tonnes - from Port Canaveral for $USD 550.

    The trick is to book between about 60 days and about 53 days before departure date. Because many early bookers can cancel 60 days out without penalty. So sometimes the cruise company releases a batch of discount fares at that time.

    Worth trying.

    You can also pick up last minute deals if you are lucky.

  • TheAviator on 17/02/2013 - 00:19

    You don't need any more than a week in NY.

    Unless you're taking a guided tour (which I highly recommend if your budget can afford it), probably not much use in visiting Maine etc. Perhaps taking a trip to Chicago, Toronto or Niagara Falls might be an idea?

    The time you're spending in other places looks alright. Only other suggestions I might make is have you considered visiting Las Vegas for a few days, or perhaps Orlando for the theme parks? Vegas accomodation is pretty cheap and most attractions are free or heavily subsidised by the gambling earnings of the casinos.

    For musicals, visit the TKTS booth in Times Sq for discount same-day theatre tickets. Plenty of museums around Central Park area for you to visit. Nice buildings everywhere :)

    With accomodation, if you were looking for basic hotels I highly recommend Holiday Inn Express or its Hilton equivalent, the Hampton Inn. Both do the basics well, plus include free daily hot buffet brekkies. If your budget can afford a little more try Staybridge Suites or Embassy Suites, both include the free breakfast but also include free alcohol and snacks in the evenings. We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express in NY, it was right on 5th Avenue, about ten mins from Times Sq and the rate was super cheap by NY standards.

    • saine on 17/02/2013 - 18:17

      It's a bit out of the way, but the TKTs South Street Seaport opens earlier and (though you'll still want to get there an hour before it opens) has a smaller queue. Means you can make the most of the rest of your day.

  • maximum on 17/02/2013 - 00:53
    +1

    I am looking at new York accommodation at the moment for the four of us (2 adults and two kids) and have found some good apartments on airbnb.com for around $90 - $100 per night. I think it's worth having a look at.much cheaper than hotels and usually bigger too. You can choose neighbourhood ,amenities etc. We are looking at 6 weeks LA, las vegas, Florida , cruise, new York , niagra falls and then Hawaii and home.

    • Librarier on 23/02/2013 - 13:19

      I can confirm this. Two of us stayed in a studio apartment right off Penn Station, a short walk from Times Square (in Chelsea) for $150 a night (https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/87764) and it was cleaner than any hotel I've ever stayed in, and half the price of the shittiest hotels.. Had free cable TV, wifi, and Doron gave us a $50 card to do our laundry with in the apartment's facilities.

      You definitely want to spend that much time in New York, especially if you like museums/art. We spent 18 days there & there were still things we didn't get to. I never even made it beyond the first floor of the Met, and we were there for at least four hours. The place is huge.

      ALSO! You should really try Shake Shack. Go to the one near the Flatiron building within your first couple of days of being there, because it's in a nice park and you can kind of soak in that whole "holy crap, I'm in NEW YORK" feeling. And go to the Highline Park. Actually, there's a lot of really cool stuff you can/should do.

  • c64 on 17/02/2013 - 10:41
    -5

    My Friend and I are planning our first USA trip early September this year.

    have you experienced a cavity search before?

  • Benicio on 17/02/2013 - 17:45

    14 days in the most expensive city in north America - ouch. Personally I was ready to leave NY after 3 days. San Fran on the other hand I could easily stay for 2 weeks. But that kind of thing is always a personal preference.

    "Our interests are sightseeing, musicals, food, shopping, museums and historical buildings." Sounds like Washington DC will be one of your favourite places then, you may want a couple extra days there to get around to everything comfortably otherwise it can be quite rushed and tiring.

    My second favourite city after San Fran is Chicago, I know it's not on your list but seeing as you love history and architecture, that is a must-see city. So spectacular and welcoming. The kids will love all the bike paths/beaches/outdoors too.

  • grasstown on 19/02/2013 - 23:32

    I spent 8 days in NYC and there was heaps to do, we didnt make it out of manhatten. I think with 14 days you can do jersey, Brooklyn, maybe queens on top. Maybe 10 days is plenty so youre left wanting more. Depends what you want to do there. We bought this pass http://www.citypass.com/new-york/guggenheim-museum?mv_source… , it was excellent for us. Valid 9 days for 6 top attractions. Then we did a few other attractions not on pass. Just noticed That pass is increasing from $90 to $105 on 1March ( from memory we upsize it to include transport) . If u buy today it's valid til 2014. In the evenings, one night went to west village, another east village, found nice jazz bars, another night broadway show, another a comedy club, another 42nd street, another 106 street (106 was random but nice)

    We also went to Washington. We did Only 2 days there, but theres good science museum and the president monuments.

    Been to few of others but can't really say much.

    Overall, you will find heaps to do in the US. The museums are amazing.

  • VeganJerky on 22/02/2013 - 13:00

    14 days is a little over kill for New York, 8 days would be good.

    airBnB is great for accommodation https://www.airbnb.com/
    New York will be the hardest place to find good accommodation and it'll be the most expensive.

    Food you must check out in San Fran:

    Ike's Place - http://www.yelp.com/biz/ikes-place-san-francisco
    4505 meats - http://www.yelp.com/biz/4505-meats-san-francisco (best cheeseburgers ever)

  • Smulder on 11/03/2013 - 16:28

    If sightseeing is on the top of your list then I would spend some more time on the West Coast:
    - Yosemite National Park is incredible.
    - Grand Canyon is spectacular
    - Las Vegas is awesome fun
    - San Francisco is great… book early for your Alcatraz tour though, can sell out weeks in advance in peak time(if you find it is sold out, check out the "Alcatraz & Angel Island Tour" tour instead… it doesn't sell out so often)
    - LA, San Diego, Phoenix, Sedona, Mexico… all worth a stop if you can fit them in.

    Some other places I would get too if possible:
    - New Orleans is very cool (though I haven't been post-Katrina
    - Texas is an experience
    - Yellowstone National Park is amazing
    - Memphis is worth a look (especially if you are a fellow Elvis fan)

    Just my personal opinion, but I think 14 days in NYC is over-doing it… I have never spent more than 7 days there and I rekon you get enough of a taste in that amount of time… nothing worse than booking 14 days in one spot and finding out you don't love it as much as you thought you would.

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