Cillit_Bouma Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 Thinking about travelling around the US of A and Canada within the next year or 2. Just wondered if any of you have done it; what the best places and attractions to visit are; whats required to do it; how long you went for and how much you spent etc... Hoping to go for a few months staying in cheap hostals, hotels and maybe even camping here and there. Wondering what the best option of transport is as well, e.g. cheap flights, trains, renting a car etc... Obviously my main aim is to see as much of the country as I can, and meet as many people / travellers / yankee girls (hoping my English accent might help here) as possible. If anyones been there, done it, living there and has any pointers, stories, advice; it would be much appreciated, as my planning might as well start now. Cheeeeeers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parisvilla Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 Went in the summer of 2008. Flew to LA and went up the coast coast stopping in San Francisco, Seattle and onto Vancouver. Flew over to Buffalo on a cheap internal flight and then travelled north to the Niagra Falls and Toronto before going onto Boston and NYC. Was just over 6 weeks i think and would recommend stopping at all of the above bar Vancouver (boring) and the Niagra Falls (very tacky and depressing). Check out the 'Green Tortoise' hostels in SF and Seattle, both incredibly cool. Next time i head over to the States i wanna check out Chicago, Miami and Texas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usvilla Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 if you are coming for a couple of months you might as well buy a car then sell it before you leave buy a tent when you arive, camp when you can - hostel/motel in cities Chicago for sure ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuart_75 Posted August 15, 2011 Share Posted August 15, 2011 Just got back california. Did pacific coast highway from san francisco to san diego. Fantastic drive, some stunning scenery. Thoroughly recommend to others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted January 4, 2013 Moderator Share Posted January 4, 2013 I'll be doing this very thing in March. Planning on flying into Washington D.C. Possibly spending Paddy's Day in Pittsburgh. The plan is to maybe take in Baltimore too then fly up to Toronto, stay with a mate in Belleville (halfway between Toronto & Montreal) then fly back from there. Splitting 2 weeks between USA & Canada. Joy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted January 4, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted January 4, 2013 You can definitely do New York, Montreal, Disney, Chicago, drive the length of Route 66, Vegas, LA, San Francisco, Vancouver, and Toronto in only a couple of days... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted January 4, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted January 4, 2013 The preceding may have been sarcastic. It's a question of what interests you, as far as where to go is concerned. Partying? Being outdoors soaking up the scenery? People-watching? History (there is some of that, believe it or not)? Getting around: internal flights are generally inexpensive (not Ryanair cheap, but the US airlines, especially Southwest, don't tend to nickel-and-dime you to the extent that Ryanair apparently does*). Rail travel isn't great outside the Northeast Corridor and maybe a few other places (though if it's scenery you're after the Empire Builder is one of the best trains in the world. In the general case, car is probably your best bet. How old are you? How much time do you have to spare? If you're in the right age range, then you could do something like what trekka did a few years back (though I don't recall all the specifics). *: though I suppose that Ryanair doesn't nickel and dime, anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 We went through Baltimore on the train from NY to Washington.... Appreciate we didn't see all of Baltimore but it looked rough and I'd give it a wide berth Washington is interesting so def plan for a few days there As Levi has already said the airlines do like to charge extra for everything , even AA , continental etc ... southwest I think we're the only ones who gave baggage all inclusive , though I think Frontier who we flew Vegas to Denver were also pretty decent ... American airlines do do a pretty decent multi city pass though that can bring the flight prices down , depends where you fly as I tended to find each major airline has its own hubs and route everything through there , rather than direct... Whilst I don't know the states as well as others , I can give some pointers based on what we did NY , Washington , Atalanta , Memphis , New Orleans , Vegas , Denver/Golden (Mt Evans and red rocks .. Well worth it IMO ) Philadelphia ... Think that was about 16 days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NurembergVillan Posted January 5, 2013 Moderator Share Posted January 5, 2013 I was booked on a flight to Baltimore for an interview just before Christmas. I didn't go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tayls Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 Howcome you didn't go? And what on earth do you do?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NurembergVillan Posted January 5, 2013 Moderator Share Posted January 5, 2013 I was going over there for a third interview with Under Armour. I was working for Umbro at the time and we were being bought by new owners - a company called Iconix, who have their head office in New York. Iconix made me a great offer to work for them but remain in Manchester as Creative Director of the Umbro brand, so I accepted that and that's what I do now. I could have gone to live in Baltimore, but instead I'm staying here and hoping to move to New York in the next few years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tayls Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 (edited) Ah that's pretty cool. Good luck to you and hope you get that move to NY! I thought from your initial post you decided not to go because of what Baltimore was like, thought perhaps you were put off or something. I would love to have a job that offers positions to work for them abroad! Unfortunately in recruitment, although the company I work for does have a small international presence, doesn't really allow for much opportunity to go elsewhere! Boo! Edited January 5, 2013 by Tayls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NurembergVillan Posted January 5, 2013 Moderator Share Posted January 5, 2013 What Baltimore's like did put me off a bit. I could've gone there right now, but decided to hedge my bets and hope for NYC. If it'd have been somewhere like Boston it would've been a much tougher choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted January 5, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted January 5, 2013 Baltimore City is mostly gritty (the Simoniverse isn't really whitewashing it) but it does have the Inner Harbor. That said, Boston's waterfront (coincidentally also on its Inner Harbor) is what Baltimore kind of wants to be (and to add insult to injury, the Boston waterfront redevelopment was to some extent modeled on Baltimore's!). But there's plenty of leafy suburbs surrounding (e.g. Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Howard, Harford, Cecil, and Carroll Counties). Out of idle curiosity did you talk with New Balance/Warrior? From what I understand, Reebok's presence in the Boston area has decreased post-Adidas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NurembergVillan Posted January 5, 2013 Moderator Share Posted January 5, 2013 I didn't talk to NB/Warrior, although Warrior have got a football office just down the road here. Don't think I'd have fancied that. Reebok have an amazing office in Canton. I've been there before, and had a chat with them this time, but they didn't have the right role for me. Great office though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seat68 Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 I loved Baltimore, spent a week there and it was great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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