Mr. O and I are planning to come over last week of June to beginning of July.

The plan is to spend a week in D.C. (staying with relatives).
Then NYC a couple of days (is there a coach connection or should we rent a car?)
Then fly to Chicago (chiefly to meet Royko, Nel and Mr. & Ms. Lan and see the Bean)

- Who's up for meeting?
- Any organising advice welcome, as we're still in the amorphous planning stage. Particularly interested in any advice to do with how to get to places and where to stay once we're there. (I'm thinking B&B, not too expensive. )


All right, I'll be posting updates on the first post, too:

quote:

The dates are:
19th-25th June NYC
25th-2nd July DC
2nd-6th July Chicago

Looks like most folks are going to be congregating in Chicago, the plan is fireworks on the 3rd and a visit to the Taste of Chicago food fair.

I haven't got any particular itinerary yet on in DC and NYC, but would like to meet up in DC on the weekend (round the 28th).

This message has been edited. Last edited by: His Noodle Girl,

If I could get cash I'd love to...flying from NY to Chicago should be expensive...

Costs between 100 and 120 Dollars per person. Which is not dirt cheap, but given the exchange rate it's manageable.

The alternative is a, what, 13 hour road trip along a not very exciting road. Not sure if Mr. O. fancies that, will have to ask him.

What airline will you be flying with to get to Washington and flying home?

Haven't decided yet! Any advice?

Well I looked at Virgin and it's about £500 one way, which frightens me off...

quote:

Originally posted by Babylon the Bride:
Mr. O and I are planning to come over last week of June to beginning of July.

The plan is to spend a week in D.C. (staying with relatives).
Then NYC a couple of days (is there a coach connection or should we rent a car?)
Then fly to Chicago (chiefly to meet Royko, Nel and Mr. & Ms. Lan and see the Bean)

- Who's up for meeting?
- Any organising advice welcome, as we're still in the amorphous planning stage. Particularly interested in any advice to do with how to get to places and where to stay once we're there. (I'm thinking B&B, not too expensive. )

There should be a Greyhound Bus connection from D.C-NYC, and also an Amtrak train connection. It's your choice, both will probably be kinda stuffy, but the train will be stuff and be ridiculously overpriced, (the Amtrak system is the only train system that go between major cities, basically, and they are notorious for their prices). You could rent a car, but not sure how all of the different companies deal with returning them at a different location from where you rent them... I know with one such company I used in 2005 when I rented from one airport and wanted to see about switching my return flight to another and leaving the car there, they wanted a ridiculous increase in price.

You can probably also arrange a bus or train trip from NY-Chicago, but the ride will be much longer, and the train will still have the problem of being ridiculously expensive.

The flights shouldn't be too bad, or at least I know multiple short flights like that have been done by folks on a budget before. (A very quick look shows flights starting at about $120 per person DC-NY and around $180 NY-Chicago). Maybe doing one stretch one way and the other via flight or something.

And of course, I'd be more than happy to see you in NY and show you a few things. (Although, fair warning, I can be a bit sketchy on stuff in Manhattan since that wasn't my old stomping grounds and it's been a long time since I lived in the City).

quote:

Originally posted by Dark Mark:
Well I looked at Virgin and it's about £500 one way, which frightens me off...

Mark...telling me how ridiculously expensive everything is going to be is not exactly encouraging.

And yay! looking forward to seeing you, James.

Just checked out flights from here to Washington...return ticket costs from 800 €, haven't worked out how to make it give me a one way ticket.

Btb

You can get much cheaper deals than that!

And don't fly Virgin Atlantic they are crapper than crap! - seriously for a major player their economy long distance were more uncomfortable than ryanair/easyjet!

Who would you recommend for transatlantic then hal?

cheap flights

Is a good website, thoguh it doesn't have flights from Austria.

You could get a regular cheap flight to london then keep an eye out for deals from london . states

For canada its about 300pounds return, so I would presume similar to the states, keep an eye out for deals, do you get travelzoo emails? I've seen fares return to the states from london for under 200pounds

anyone really, depends who is doing it cheap.

Best I've flown was emirates, but its hard to find deals with them.

Thai, Singapore and Lan Chile all have nice planes and fantastic service, for better prices than the standard good service of Air NZ, Quantas, BA,

The US airlines are okay they have the worst service but better seating than virgin.

*eeekk* I just realised I've actually flown round the world 4 times now! Yikes thats alot especially as each time is two 2 day trips in the air/airports!

The train between Washington DC and Manhattan is expensive, but I'd take Amtrak over a Greyhound bus any day, for comfort and restroom reasons.

When Blueshift came up to meet us for the day in Manhattan during our Gibson Board meat a couple of weeks ago, he took that train.

ooo! go to the smithsonian! and the natural history in NYC because i want to live vicariously through your museum strolls!

You know the smithsonian consists of about 7 different meuseums eh?

All the mueseums in Washington are free,

and if you go early in the morning you can get free tickets for a tour of the capital building (I did this but then didn't go on the tour bad me! I was too busy having fun with Chomji)

quote:

Originally posted by Mean Old Man:
The train between Washington DC and Manhattan is expensive, but I'd take Amtrak over a Greyhound bus any day, for comfort and restroom reasons.

When Blueshift came up to meet us for the day in Manhattan during our Gibson Board meat a couple of weeks ago, he took that train.

It's not that bad - if I recall correctly I got a day return for about $100. Much nicer being able to hop on the train in DC, arrive in Manhattan than driving the entire length of the Jersey Turnpike.

Best thing about taking the train is that it drops you off right in the middle of both cities - you don't have to worry about taking a taxi in from the airports...

taxi from airports?

Why? there are buses and public transit :P

And transfering from the metro to bus in Harlem at 4am is a great experience

You know in the last 5 years I have caught a taxi once and it was because we missed the bus to the airport in Stockholm, though the cost of that one taxi was double what we paid for the flights!

Depending on Stuff, The Boy™ and I may be able to meet you in NYC. In theory, there is a (campus) bus that goes to NYC for the weekend. We'll see when it gets closer.


Or, if you decide not to fly and end up driving through PA, we could possibly see you that way as well.

i feel better now i realise that somoene has a massively bigger carbon footprint than i do.

i flew with american airlines, who were at the time the cheapest, but who have the oldest fleet. but they were ok. nothing exceptionally good, nothing exceptionally bad.

i'm flying with them again for no better reason than that they gave me a travel voucher when i gave up my seat on the last overbooked flight.