FishProfiles.com Message Forums

My partner and I are in the process of planning a trip to the US next year, leaving in March and returning in April. We plan to be there for a month, two weeks of which will be spent cruising the Caribbean on a Carnival liner...for free ...so that leaves us two weeks to spend either on the US mainland or possibly in Central America...options are fairly open at the moment. My only 'must-do', besides the cruise, is visiting New York - we will probably fly into New York from Australia in fact, and probably out of there as well. We have to get to Port Canaveral to board the ship. I'm looking for recommendations as to other places we might consider visiting in the two-week period, keeping in mind we probably want at least a few days in NYC. I think we will probably have to stay on the Eastern coast because it would take too much time to fly anywhere else (incidentally, how much do domestic flights generally cost in the US? That will weigh in pretty heavily as to where we go as well).

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. - Oscar Wilde

Well, you are always welcome to come and visit Texas, though we aren't on the East Coast, so I guess we are out

It really depends on where you are flying to and from and how much advanced notice you want and can give to buy the tickets to how much you are going to pay Here are a couple of places to check for ticket prices, if you go online to get them, you can get some really good deals

[link=united airlines]http://www.unitedairlines.com" style="COLOR: #FF1493[/link]
[link=southwest airlines, not sure how much they fly on the East Coast though, but they are great prices usually]http://www.southwest.com" style="COLOR: #FF1493[/link] Float around there often enough and you can get some really good deals on flights

heidi

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

New York State Capital, Albany is just a few hours north

:%)

2006 must be the year to visit North America.

Being a representative of Canada, I have to suggest a trip North a bit. Montreal and Ottawa are both great cities not far from NYC. I have to warn you though, they will both be pretty cold still, that time of year (you may very well see some remaining snow in either of them). Ottawa is Canada's capital city, (I lived there for a year) so there are lots of touristy things to do. You can visit the parliament buildings, museums, art galleries, lots of clubs, there's really a ton of things to do there. Montreal is a really great city too, if you like shopping it's probably the best in Canada. Also has kind of a different feel from most other NA cities because ther are a lot of French-speaking people and a really different culture from most places I have visited here (you get around just fine speaking only English though ).

Toronto is a cool place to go as well if you want to travel a bit farther. There's a ton of things to do there since it's the largest city in Canada, plus Niagara Falls isn't far if you wanted to see that too.

(had to suggest Canada, sorry )

I'd say come a little north of Tim to the Adirondack Mountains but its not the nicest time of year here then. That time of year is called [font color="#008000"]MUD SEASON[/font] for a reason.





Last edited by doedogg at 28-Oct-2005 14:07[/font]

---

I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.
~ Mae West

You might look into Amtrack. I think they have a kind of pass where you can ride the train and get off here and there. Spend a day or two in one place then move on.

If you make it to Grand Junction, Colorado I'd come pick you up and put you up for a couple days. If you don't mind taking over a twelve year old boys room. We'd get it cleaned up though, and put him in with his brother.

Mike

My e-mail is in my profile if you want to take me up on the offer.

u can drop by my house, i am only around 30 mins from the city.

what ship is it, can't say that i like carinval too much, went on my first one almost a year ago, and it was one of there newst ships "mirical" or something. anyway i like royal carribean better, n.e way have fun, and hopefully it still wont be cold. umm, say in the city and watch the plays, always fun. or u can get a car and go down to atlantic city NJ for a fun few days. hope u have fun.

i second the trip to texas. it might not be *the* east coast, but we have *an* east coast

---

"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

I'm in dc, feel free to swing by we've got....umm well we've got the nationa capital, and the baltimore aquarium is only an hour or so away....

Master Adam should be gone by then



maybe

[hr width='40%']"in any case, chocolate is hardly a rare comodity." said Chaos. "There are planets covered in the stuff"
REALLY?
"Indeed."
IT MIGHT BE BEST, said Death, IF NEWS LIKE THAT DID NOT GET ABOUT. ~ Theif of Time [link=Terry Pratchett]http://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/" style="COLOR: #EB4288[/link]

I am on the way to Florida from New York

Always welcome to stop by. Domestic flights range normally from 180-500 or so and if you plan well ahead and catch flight sales you can nab round trip flights in the 120-240 range. All in US Dollars so have to do your conversions. I fly pretty darn frequently so pretty representative of what I have paid within the last year. Now of course there is that last minute tier of flight prices. If you buy while you are already here you will be looking at 250-2000 usd for a ticket with less than 7 days notification. Any cheaper and you have a rare find. Those months are harsh for getting good tickets because that is "spring break" here and airlines know it good and darn well. Just plan ahead as much as possible and have a heck of a good itme while here!

Koi

Empty chairs at empty tables, the room silent, forlorn.

I am up near Tim too!

I think we should all meet up in the Capital Region.. Tryst can come down while you are here and Doedogg, and Dodgedart. . . And whoever else can get here and we can be like one big happy FP family!!

I know the city pretty well.. I can't garauntee that I will be able to get down there, but I can at leat attempt to answer some questions if you want.

Have a great trip!!

---

"it's the neck, it creaks under the weight of too much heavy thinking."

Thanks everyone! I have been looking at some 'round the world' tickets in an attempt to see some other places, like getting a ticket from Brisbane to New York, then from New York to Orlando, Orlando to LA and LA to Brisbane. It would cost around $3000 though, which is rather annoying because a simple return ticket to New York is around $1600, and goes to LA anyway, but you can't stop in LA long enough to see anything.

I looked around on the United website and found some return tickets from New York to Orlando for about $130 US there and $170 US back. Seems a pretty good price to me and with the $1600 Brisbane-New York ticket I found, would bring the total cost to something like AU$2000. Definitely more affordable!

So I guess the plan is to fly into NYC, spend a couple of days, fly to Orlando, spend two weeks on the ship, spend a few more days in Florida, then fly to NYC again to spend the rest of the time there before flying home. I don't think I'll be able to come to DC in that case - unless it's pretty easy/cheap to get a train there or something? But I would be keen for an FP meet-up with anyone who lives close enough to come to NYC!

What should I see and do while in Florida? My BF is thoroughly unenthused about the idea of going to Disneyworld, whereas I'm rather keen to see what all the fuss is about! I suppose it would be fairly expensive though (speaking of which, are Orlando and NYC generally expensive places in regards to eating and entertainment? We'll be on a fairly tight budget, it's backpackers' hostels all the way, which we're used to from our travels within Australia).

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. - Oscar Wilde

Bettachris - the ship we're going on is the Glory. This ship does an Eastern Caribbean cruise and a Western Caribbean cruise - we're going on both, one after the other, so two weeks altogether. The Eastern one goes to Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Maarten, and the Western one goes to Key West, Belize and Cozumel Mexico - I'm most excited about this one as I've always wanted to visit Central America. Although I don't like these organised kinds of travel - I'd prefer to spend a lot longer in Mexico and Belize and do it on my own terms - it's free so I'm definitely not complaining! But, out of curiosity, what was it exactly about the Carnival cruise that you didn't like? Just so I know what to expect!

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. - Oscar Wilde

Just Beginning...

They have trains that travel up and down the east coast of the US and are very reasonably priced. Great way to see the country too.

Washington, DC would be beautiful in April with the Cherry trees in blossom. If you aren't interested in seeing our national monuments, there is always the Smithsonian Institute.

While in Orlando, I would definitely consider traveling to Cape Canaveral, NASA's Kennedy Space Center. It is where the Space Shuttles are housed. Hop skip and a jump away from DisneyWorld. Reasonably priced, great tours and artifacts from space. I checked and they are launching a rocket on April 11th. Someone mentioned "spring break". Daytona Beach would probably be hoppin. Daytona, Kennedy Space Center and Disneyworld are all in the same general location.

While in NYC perhaps you could catch a baseball game. Either the Yankees or the Mets. Not expensive. Empire State Building. Ground Zero, where the World Trade Center once stood. Australia lost folks there as well. Take a momento to leave in honor of your countrymen.

*If* you and your partner are into car racing at all the NASCAR season will be in full swing and there are a few different races that take place between March and April on the East Coast. Nextel Cup Racing is one of the big phenomenons in the US right now. (My favorite viewer sport) Even if you aren't into racing I bet you would enjoy it.

Just a few ideas if you want to see how the other half lives....

One other thing you could do is sign-up for the newsletter from the Australian Embassy in Washington. This way you can find out specific events that may interest you while in the United States. They also give out great advise about precautions you should consider while traveling abroad. Maybe stop in there for a visit.


Last edited by Tammy at 31-Oct-2005 06:38