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Winston
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Danmark
Mar 1999
time: 06:35
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For the past week or so I've been thinking about making a return trip to the U.S. which gave me so many thrills and good memories 5 years ago. It's always been in the back of my head that I wanted to go back someday, but then over a family dinner last week the subject came up, and I started to think about it seriously. And just a couple of days ago here in the OT, I got to reminisce a little with pchang and JohnT over my last trip, and now I've practically decided the time has come. 
I have the time, as I'm currently "between jobs", which I don't plan on being for too much longer, I have the financial means I need, and this time of year is to me the best time to go on vacation, before the summer holiday rush becomes too overwhelming. And the exchange rate is favourable. 
I'm going to see my travel agent today, and I've checked out some hotels, but I have to admit it's a bit of a jungle out there to pick a decent place to stay that's convenient and at the same time reasonably affordable for just one person.
Last time I travelled mostly in the Mid- and Southwest, so this time I'd like to visit Washington D.C., Philadelphia (briefly) and New York City. I'm planning on getting a flight to Washington and then go by train to Phil. and N.Y., then fly home from there.
Initial planning is for 10 June - 28 June, with 7 days in Washington (my main interest), 2-3 days in Philadelphia, and the rest in New York.
I have lots of things I want to see in the capital and N.Y., while my schedule is a little thin yet for Philadelphia. I'm planning on renting a car for a few days while in Washington, but I'll get back to the subject of what I plan to see later. Just wanted to get a thread started on it.
Any advice, tips and suggestions are of course most welcome. Especially if you know of any hotels that are conveniently located and not much above $100, in Washington and New York. I don't need anything too fancy.
And good, preferably non-homicidal Poly folk who want to meet and buy me drinks (or get their drinks paid for by a crazy Dane) should make themselves known.  This may be the only chance you'll ever get.
But this is just the initial outline, I'll have more detailed info once I've talked to the travel agent.
USA! 
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Winston
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Danmark
Mar 1999
time: 06:35
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Brilliant, most of you. 
I'm flexible as far as Philadelphia goes, definitely. I don't know too much about the city, but your advice of taking more time there is duely noted.
I've concentrated mostly on must-see's for Washington so far, and they include Capitol, the monuments and memorials, National Air & Space Museum, National Gallery of Art, Arlington cemetary, Natural History Museum, the National Cathedral, Georgetown quarter. I want to drive out and see the Pentagon building, maybe go as far as Fredericksburg. At least see some of the surrounding area on one or two day trips.
If I can catch a football game this time around it will be a plus also, don't even know if they're playing at the moment.
Any thoughts on the total length of the trip? I could add a few days to it, but I don't want to risk getting bored the last couple of days.
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Pekka
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em seu burro dos pais!
Feb 2002
time: 07:35
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Those museums you mentioned in DC are pretty good. YOu should visit them. National Air & Space Museum is especially worth a visit. These are quite big, so you might find yourself spending a whole day, so if you have a schedule, be notified.
I don't know much about Philly. Try Philly Steak or what you call them. YOu put meat in bred. Perverted idea. Rocky was filmed in Philadelphia, so you find those stairs there I'd suppose, so you can run them and feel like a champ, or dork, depends how you look at it.
NY is a place of its own, it's too big to cover in any human time. ALSO some people say just wander around because there's so much things so .. I wouldn't recommend this strategy. Find out what oyu want to see there, at least some things first. Because it could happen that you go and wander around your NY time and later on realize there were tons of stuff you DIDN'T see or experience because you were just wandering. Do not go to NY Hooters it sucks. Strip clubs in Manhattan sucks too, so avoid boob entertainment in Manhattan all together, not worth it.
Consider the subway being your main method of transportation in there if possible. It's cheap, it's fast and it's very convinient. For example with cabs you only get stuck in traffic. With busses, duh, who wants to ride in busses. Subway
There are plenty of places to sleep, you can get rooms for just little over 100 bucks a night in most places. Depends what time of the year it is though.. for example we were in SF when it was graduation from HS time, every place went up up and away, you couldn't get even a motel room under 250. So there are things to consider.
If you want to spice up your trip, look suspicious in the airport when you fly in.
HMm what else. You have to be more spesific. What do you like, what do ou ywant to do etc.
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ColdWizard
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When my sister was here visiting me, some of the monuments and museums were closed for renovation, so you should probably check before you go just in case. The American Art museum is still closed iirc, for example, while the Washington Monument has been reopened since.
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Pekka
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em seu burro dos pais!
Feb 2002
time: 07:35
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Winston, right, right.. so normal stuff basically. Well.. those are not a problem, they are all easy to find etc. But you can definitely waste a lot of time if you like go to the first place, walk there, like 30 blocks can be a long way to walk if you do it to the wrong direction. Fortunately it's not easy to do that in NY, get lost like that, but I'm saying, you can visit few of those places and see the time just flew by when you were walking your ass off and didn't do it smart. I guess there's nothing else to it but common sense, so use that a lot, because you'd rather be there to check out the place than walking to the wrong direction and spend an hour tracking back. It's a big city. So if two spots are close to each other, you might want to check them the same time rather than different days. Because theres' no point going to see Chinatown first, and then back to somewhere else, and then back to right next to Chinatown, because all it does is make your day a lot shorter. It's still amazingly easy in there to find everything so just.. common sense will multiply times 100 in here, you need to use it or regret not using it.
ALSO if you want to see a play on Broadway, you better start looking for them tickets EARLY on. They might be a bit popular, if there's a particular play you want to see. I bet you can do it easily from the internet though.
All I'ms aying is, even those things you just mentioned, just few things, it'll take you more than one day to cover them properly. And if you start running around like a crazy person, you see none of them at all . The distances are not from hell, but.. all I'm saying is don't make schedules that are too tight. In NY of all places it'll bite back. YOu want to have time if you need to have time and feel relaxed, think about it, running and sweating in city that will guarantee you 40C with your luck, people ALL OVER, freaking millions of people, adn you realize you are not even close to the place yet and you're running late.. it'll just kill your joy man.. common sense, have enough time, have fun, relax and check those brodway plays early on.
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Winston
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Danmark
Mar 1999
time: 06:35
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Pekka, again, sound advice there. Once I get to planning in more detail, I have to remember to try to think on a different scale than what I'm used to. I've been to Chicago, which is much the same in terms of planning being required ahead of time if one wants to get a good experience.
I just listed some items I've thought of, more things will pop up and I'll keep ya'll posted. Of course I'd also like to take in the atmosphere of a big city, that's an attraction in itself for a guy like me. So I will be wandering "aimlessly" some of the time, but even then, it's good to have some sense of what to seek out. Central Park is an example, I'd like to go there, but I have to have a rough idea of what parts I want to see, or I'll probably just pass out from exhaustion.
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DanS
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Kickball Capital of the World
Jan 1970
time: 00:35
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I think you can "hit the highlights" on Philadelphia. A day or so is sufficient, IMO.
quote:
I've concentrated mostly on must-see's for Washington so far, and they include Capitol, the monuments and memorials, National Air & Space Museum, National Gallery of Art, Arlington cemetary, Natural History Museum, the National Cathedral, Georgetown quarter. I want to drive out and see the Pentagon building, maybe go as far as Fredericksburg. At least see some of the surrounding area on one or two day trips. |
The capitol grounds and the Washington Monument grounds are currently being rennovated. I'm not sure if you can get easily into the capitol building right now.
Most of what there is to see in Washington involves a lot of walking and short metrorail trips. Not much planning is required hereabouts. The National Mall could fill 2 or 3 days and nights. See the museums during the day, since that's when they're open. Walk around to the monuments mostly in the evening, since that's when the heat is bearable. This has been a very cool Spring, so that may not be a big deal this year, on the other hand.
Spend the time at the Air & Space. The new Air & Space annex is at Dulles Airport, so you may be able to do that as you arrive in town. Spend some time at the modern art museums, if that is your thing. The art museums for the older stuff probably will not impress you. They are strong on impressionist painters, but not much else. The American History Museum may interest you. The Natural History Museum may interest you. The Spy Museum gets good reviews for a fun change of pace and is slightly off the Mall.
Re capitol hill, even if you can't get into the capitol building and grounds, there's some worthwhile stuff there otherwise. Swing by Union Station train station to get a sense of the golden age of passenger rail in the US, if you don't hit it otherwise in your itinerary (I recommend taking the train from Washington to Philadelphia and then to NYC -- even though it's expensive and not very high speed, the train runs at least once an hour during the day). The Library of Congress is also interesting architecture from the time. Look at the Supreme Court, etc.
See Arlington Cemetary during the day, since it is only open during the day (see the changing of the guard). The Pentagon is right over the river and it has a metrorail stop. No car trip is required. Georgetown is an interesting neighborhood you might want to see at least part during the day. See Old Town Alexandria in Virginia too (early evening). That has some character.
You might think about Annapolis for one of your day trips outside Washington.
If you like to eat at nice restaurants, there's lots to say on that subject too.
Last edited by DanS on 23-05-2005 at 10:46
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23-05-2005 08:36
You are in Mississippi?
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