Albany to Quebec City

Old Nov 27th, 2007, 08:32 AM
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Albany to Quebec City

wish to fly into Albany, and drive to Quebec city in January. Are there any flat routes? Between my lack of experience in driving in snow, and driving in a rental, I'd like to keep the trip as safe as possible. Thanks for any suggestions or advice

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Old Nov 27th, 2007, 08:43 AM
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Whether you're driving from Albany or Manchester, you want to stay on the interstates. That's the safest way, where the roads are treated and plowed first.

But neither I-87 through upstate NY, nor I-93 through New Hampshire are flat. It's flat once you get into Quebec.

Best advice is to stay off the road when there's heavy snow. Wait until the road is cleared and continue.
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Old Nov 27th, 2007, 09:19 AM
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Driving from Albany to Quebec can be a long trek - esp in the winter if the roads aren't in the best condition (and you do have to drive through the Adirondacks).

Assume you plan on renting a car. Have you checked out the rules and costs for taking a US car into Canada and what the drop off charge would be?

Separately, you don;t say why you're driving rather than flying, but if there's some reason not to fly into Quebec - what about flying into Montreal - or even Toronto - and you can easily take the train as well as drive.
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Old Nov 27th, 2007, 12:32 PM
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NYTraveler, my screen name says it all, "cheap alice." I thought that I'd fly Southwest into either Manchester, or Albany, rent a car, and drive to Quebec and back. Since I'll be travelling with others, I decided that a short flight, and then a six-hour drive would be doable. Certainly, it would be cheaper than if we all flew or took a train to Quebec. The hills on 87 make me a bit nervous. I remember taking the train along the Hudson and Lake Champlain years ago. Is there a road along that route? If so, how much longer would it take compared to 87? Thanks.
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Old Nov 27th, 2007, 12:49 PM
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If there's major snowfall, there will be snow on the interstate and on the backroads. The interstate will be sanded, with good traffic, and will be plowed soon. If you get stuck, the state police and rescue worker will come to you first.

It's not going to be fun on the smaller highways either because the condition won't be as good.

This area gets quite a bit of snowfall, so you should really reconsider your plan; especially since you said you lack experience in driving in snow.
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Old Nov 27th, 2007, 01:16 PM
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rkkwan, thanks for the good advice. I'm used to the wet snow around Washington, D.C., and the snow removal plan used here. (It's called, "spring.") I figure places that get regular snow will take good care of the roads. I'm not nervous about driving on snow. It's just the combination of snow and hills that are off-putting for me. Does State Route 9 go along the Hudson River up to or near Canada? Is it one stop light after another, or can one make relatively good time on it. If it goes along the river, I figure that it's pretty flat.
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Old Nov 27th, 2007, 01:31 PM
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Neither I87 or Route 9 are especially flat, but neither is like driving in the Rocky Mountains either. I87 is your best bet for a quick trip north, and is well maintained.

Your cell phone will probably not work well in the adirondacks, since cell towers are few and far between. There are emergency call boxes along I87 every mile or so.

If you choose to take Route 9, plan on spending quite a bit of extra time on the trip north.

If the weather turns bad, you may have to wait a day or two until the roads are properly cleared.
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Old Nov 27th, 2007, 01:33 PM
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IAD/DCA to BLR (Burlington, Vermont) is under $300 on Jetblue on various airlines with a connection for most days in January.

Save you some driving.

NY State 9N and 22 do hug the lakes. I've always taken I-87, so can't tell you how slow they may be.
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Old Nov 27th, 2007, 04:41 PM
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And you still haven;t dealt with taking a rental car into Canada. You need to be sure the rental company allows it - and will give you the correct paperwork to get across the border and back. (If you don;t tell them you're doing it and take it into Canada you can be picked up for theft.)

And in January there WILL be snow in that area. The question is how much and how freshly fallen and plowed. You can't assume highway speeds for the trip - but probably about 40 max and less if you catch a storm.
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Old Nov 27th, 2007, 05:10 PM
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Just as an fyi, the airport code for Burlington is BTV. Both United & USair have non-stops to DC area airports. JetBlue (great airline) goes thru JFK.
Have you looked into airfare to Montreal or QC itself?
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Old Nov 27th, 2007, 05:12 PM
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Thanks bm for correcting the airport code. I have India on my mind...
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Old Nov 28th, 2007, 04:20 AM
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As to rental cars in Quebec, I did it once before when I went from Buffalo to Niagara Falls. The company knew that I was taking it over, and it wasn't an issue. I had the appropriate paperwork from my insurance company. The only problem came when a 20-something Canadian male rear-ended me at a stoplight. I don't know how the Canadians do it, but he even sounded polite while dropping the "f-bomb" every other word. (Seems he'd just gotten licnese, insurance,etc. reinstated.) The only problem was when I finished with my rental. I'd exchanged my American Hertz car for a Canadian Hertz car. Some days after my trip ended, I got a polite letter asking if I'd forgotten to turn in my car. Like, 'yeah, it's right there on my bookshelf next to the library book I forgot to return." Seems that there computers didn't talk to each other, and it was a bit of a pain getting it resolved.
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Old Nov 28th, 2007, 03:38 PM
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There is NO cell phone coverage on much of Rt 9 and a long stretch of Rt 87.

This trip DOES NOT sound like a good idea. It's a long drive in the best of circumstances, and even if there isn't a ton of snow the extreme cold may frighten you (lots of car problems).

When you are in Quebec City in January, you will see many (most?) cars plugged into engine block heaters. There's a reason for that -- and I doubt your rental car will have that...

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Old Nov 28th, 2007, 03:41 PM
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Cell phone coverage:
http://www.adirondackcouncil.org/Alt...%20service.pdf
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Old Nov 28th, 2007, 03:51 PM
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You might post on the Canadian forum about conditions on the Tran-Canada.
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Old Jan 13th, 2008, 07:28 PM
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You have probably already left for Quebec, but for what it is worth. We are from California and flew into Detroit to fly into Quebec City. The flight was cancelled due to fog - so we flew into Burlington that evening(only flight within a couple of hours an not wanting to wait an additional day to fly into Montreal) and rented a car the following morning and drove to Quebec City through Montreal. Lost a day in Quebec City, but the drive was very beautiful. Took only 3.5 hours and there was not any problem driving into Canada with a rental car. Had a fabulous time even without our luggage (it got lost) but we were reunited with it on our flight home. Didn't get to ski since our clothes were not with us. The city was so beautiful with all the holiday lights and decorations - and it was the middle of January - we just returned home. It snowed the day we left! Enjoy - we did!
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