ghymn

Hi there,

I really appreciate all of your advice and recommendations. I'm kinda overwhelmed with too many suggestions. So googled and checked Tripadvisors and these are the things my family might be doing and interested in.

High Line Park.
Apple Store, SoHo.
FAO Schwarz toy store.
Statue of Liberty.
Empire State Building.
'Top Of The Rock' observation deck, Rockerfeller Plaza.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Central Park
Brooklyn Bridge
American Museum of Natural History
The High Line
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Corning Museum of Glass
Rockefeller Center
Empire State Building
Times Square
Bronx Zoo
Statue of Liberty
Guggenheim Museum
New York University
Chrysler Building
Grand Central Terminal
Top of the Rock
Chelsea Market
Columbia University
Liberty Bell Center
New York Stock Exchange
Brookly Bridge Park
Chinatown
National September 11 Memorial & Museum
Central Park Zoo
Independence Hall
U Penn
Cliff Walk
Rough Point
New England Aquarium
White House
Capitol
Breakers
Ground Zero
Bryant Park
Staten Island Ferry
SoHo
Battery Park
Ocean Drive, RI(Pictures of RI touristy spots are kinda similar to the images I have for Maine so if I'm not driving too far to north, I might be interested in checking out RI for sightseeing instead)
Rhode Island Bay Cruises
National Mall, DC
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Tidal Basin
Washington Mounument
National Zoo
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

And we also wanna visit one national park or something similar to take in beautiful sights in addition to visit to RI if time allows but we won't do much of walking with two little kids. Just driving along and taking photos at view points.

Outlet mall and famous mall shopping, eating delicious food from time to time.

These are pretty much what my family wants to do on our trip this time.

I have already paid for a rental car, SUV and I have to drive wherever I go. Sometimes I might leave my SUV at a hotel but even in New York, walking with 2 little kids might be exhausting with carrying strollers up and down so on. So I'm planning to drive unless it's the stupidiest thing in the world. And since everybody says it's difficult to drive because of parking in New York and DC, I might finish cities sooner like instead of 4 days in New York, I might spend 3 days in New York and spend spare time in checking out National Parks or beautiful places like cliff walks and so on.

Am I thinking okay? And I don't want to start from DC and go farther away, I'd rather start from farthest point and get closer to DC where I need to catch a flight.

I really appreciate all your inputs and recommendations.

Thank you again. = ]

LarryBee

Did I miss something? How long do you have? You paid for the SUV..where do you pick it up? When Are you planning on going? This Fall? Dead of Winter? Please, a little help.........

seetheworld

This is your 3rd thread on the same topic. It's not helpful to those who are trying to be helpful to you.

tenthumbs

Also, this is tagged as a trip report, which means you've already been on a trip and are sharing your experiences with others. You might ask the moderators to remove this thread.......

clarkgriswold

He has 11 days from Oct 1 to Oct 13. Oct 1 he will start out from Dulles around 6pm and wants to drive about 4 hours north that evening. Needs to be back at Dulles for departure on Oct 13th. So basically has 11 days starting October 2nd, for New York, Philadelphia and DC.

With that wishlist I don't think they have time for a beach trip to Rhode Island but maybe up to Westport Connecticut for night.

tenthumbs

I think that was the basic consensus on the other threads, clark. I was exhausted just reading this ambitious itinerary!

Sassafrass

ghymn,
I feel so bad for you. It seems you are coming a long way and it will cost a lot, but you are not getting the kind of trip you really wanted. Of course the first issue is arriving at Dulles and you can't fix that.

After 15 - 20 hours of travel time, it might be best to just get a room at a hotel near the airport, have dinner, let the kids play a bit, get a decent night's rest and head out very early before traffic hour the next morning.

You said the car rental could not be changed, but almost every rental company in the US allows cancellation with no fee or a very small fee. They also allow changes to picking up the car at a different location. Have you checked that possibility? If you could find cheap lights to Portland and pick up the car there, you might get more of what you want.

I have another off the wall idea, but only if you could cancel the car. If that becomes possible, I will write the ideas. Otherwise, they wouldn't work.

NewbE

OK, first of all, for good advice, you have GOT to divide that list up by city for us.

Second, focus on DC, NYC and ONE countryside/beach/ocean views location. Skip Philly. Your lists for DC and NYC will keep you occupied for 3-4 days each, with a couple of days for that other, non-city spot. Rhode Island is too far. Once you get there, the views will be pretty, but the drive is NOT worth it. Please reconsider New England--leave it off!

That's for starts. Reorganize your list. Use a mapping site to see how long it will take to drive from DC to Annapolis or Baltimore. Plug in Rhode Island and see that it will take twice that long. Then come back.

Trip planning IS overwhelming, so don't feel bad! People here will continue to help. Take it step by step.

NewbE

Btw, there are beautiful parks in both DC and NYC. You and your kids will be able to decompress there, instead of spending hours in the car to look at the ocean through the windows.

Sassafrass

Here are two places to look at that might give you more of what you want.
Great Falls on the Potomac river is only about 15 miles out of DC (half hour drive). It is rocky and wild water with multiple falls. Beautiful and impressive. Look at images and you will see how gorgeous it is. Just be careful with the little ones. I suggest the two year old have a harness for walking around anyway.

Another is the C & O Canal that runs from DC to Cumberland. You can hike along or even take a boat pulled by horses. Your eight year old might find that exciting. The landscape along the Canal is pretty and interesting. Look at images of this also.

For unique shopping, your wife might enjoy the old Town area of Alexandria. There are several blocks of interesting shops and a place called The Torpedo Factory. It is one of the largest artist co-ops in the world and you can see artists working right in their studios. Work is for sale in the studios and also in several galleries. You will find everything from jewelry and clothing to paintings, sculpture, drawings, etc. there are also some nice rstaurants.
>>

One more thing you might like is a bit further out, but manageable for a day trip. That is the beautiful Luray Caverns.

NewbE

Those are great suggestions, Sassafrass.

nytraveler

Driving a car in either NYC or DC is close to madness. Street parking is not an option - which means finding a garage and putting the car in it - at $20 plus a pop - every time you stop.

You see these cities ON FOOT - or stroller for toddlers. You can use the subway or take cabs - even the latter would be MUCH cheaper than paying for a car and $80 or $100 per day to put it in and out of multiple garages.

Plus this will be a huge waste of time - sitting in traffic, figuring out where to go, waiting to park and then for the attendant to retrieve the car (and you have to tip them as well). Suggest you check out google earth to see the street view of some of the main places you want to go - Empire Ste, Top of the Rock, Chyrsler building etc.

As for your list of things to see and do - that is for a trip of at least 4 or 5 weeks - there is no way you will get to even one third of the places you want in the time you have. (Now you want to see National Parks - which we actually don't have a whole lot of - mostly State Parks - except Statue of Liberty).

I started off thinking you were just sort of naive and not a very good planner - but have now come to the conclusion that this is a troll. How the hell do you think you can see 28 places in NYC in 3 days???????

The Statue of Liberty is at least 5 hours - even with advance ferry tickets - at least an hour longer if you have to stand on line for tickets. The Bronx zoo takes most of a day. And while you may want to "drive past" places - there is no point with museums, some places are NOT accessible at all by car (SoL) and for some you will see nothing from the street (Empire State, Top of the Rock etc). And don;t think you can pull up in front of buildings and park. In most places you can stop only for long enough to let a passenger out. This is a city not a giant mall - cars go in garages except for residential areas not near the sights you want to see.

And you're trying to do this with 2 little kids. Either you are insane or you are a troll. I don't know which.

But, if by an chance you are real - kill the car rental, do some research on your must sees and make a doable plan - figuring out how long it will actually take to get from one place to another and how long it will take to see the most important sights. For NYC pick 5 (FIVE) major sights - and you'll see a couple of others as you go from one place to another. With two little kids you won;t get farther than that.

Sassafrass

Problem one is the OP has three threads going, so unless one has read all of them, you do not have all the info and know what the OP has done before and the whole dilemma.

The OP's real problem is not booking flights into and out of places he really wanted to go, and then, not having a good grasp of distances and traffic, thinking he could still make it work by renting a car for his very short time frame.

His only choices are to rebook or quickly create a new itinerary to areas with which he is not familiar.

We see people do this all the time on the Europe Forum. They get a cheap RT flight to a country in which they have no interest (or knowledge) then waste vacation time and money getting other places. Americans seem to think Europe is small and people from smaller countries that have good train service do not always grasp the great distances here.

So, it is easy to be impatient, but understandable. It is hard when the OPs can't accept the reality of their situation.

clarkgriswold

Probably easiest to help him day by day. He arrives Dulles 4:30pm Oct 1 and wants to drive 4 hours to the Commons for shopping on Oct 2. Afternoon of October 2...driving from here into New York City for a 3 night stay...any suggestions or traffic-hour cautions? Are we suggesting the Long-Island-City option for lodging with easy transport into NYC every day...leaving the car parked at the hotel?

nytraveler

But the OP wants to drive around in the cities - looking at things from the car. He has read a bunch of posts saying don't drive in these cities - use public transit - and then says he still wants to drive.

I'm sorry - I can;t encourage that.

I have provided several answers on the OPs previous posts but he seems determined to avoid the advice people (not just me, many people) are giving him about being realistic on driving times and what you can actually do in a limited amount of time. (He says 11 days - but that includes the day he lands and the day he leaves.)

How can anyone see 28 places in NYC in 3 days - when traveling with an 8 year old and a toddler - when they refuse to walk or use public transit - and insist on driving their own car instead. That's what he said he wants to do - NOT use public transit because it's too much trouble - just drive.

The truth is the only way to tour NYC by car is to have a hired car and a driver that will follow you around and wait for you all day. Doing it with your own car makes no sense at all. "So I'm planning to drive unless it's the stupidest thing in the world" he says. YES, it is the stupidest thing in the world given the list of places he wants to go.

And the whole trip is littered with incorrect assumptions on driving times and distances. For a start - the drive from Dulles to the Commons is more like 5.5 or 6 hours. And driving from Woodbury to Maine is 8 hours - not 4. (Although perhaps he has dropped Maine - I can't tell.)

And if he is shopping there half the day, then driving to NYC - he really only has a dinner and 2 days in NYC - to see 28 places.

If he just wants to see the outside of places better to take the HoHo bus - so someone will at least tell them what they are looking at.

Sorry - if I an irritated - but when someone is determined they know better and will not listen - it sometimes takes a little emphasis (or a flounder in the face) to get them to pay attention.

janisj

nytraveler: ignore NewBe -- s/he get all indignant when we don't post to his/her standards - and then turns around and attacks those trying to help.


ghymn: You are still all over the place. The flights are a given -- but you need to sit down, take a deep breath and start over with a clean slate. Some of what you want to do is impossible -- and with all your threads you are getting information/advice overload.

gail

This is the last time I will say the same thing on your 3 threads. Since, as I recall, you are traveling from South Korea, I understand your wanting to see as much as possible since you are coming from such a distance. I have not seen a thread that divides this trip up by days, since the first one indicated adding Niagara Falls and Acadia, which it seems you have dropped.

So I will assume you are going Dulles-Boston-NYC-(?Philadelphia?)-DC-Dulles in 11 days. Again, I strongly urge you to leave it at that - dividing the trip into roughly thirds for 3 cities (Boston getting a full third because of travel time from Dulles-Boston after a flight).

Since you asked and declared you would drive around each city unless it is the "stupidest thing in the world" - I am sorry to say it would be the stupidest thing in the world. I do understand the logistical annoyance of carting 2 small kids and strollers around each city - at that is exactly why every single comment has said you are packing too much into this trip. Driving around each city is not going to fix that - there just is not enough time.

Much of Boston is walkable if you stay in a central downtown area. I might suggest in NYC you look into 1 or 2 days on an organized bus sightseeing tour. You will stop at many of the top tourist sites, driving by others like Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center. No parking hassles and walking distances are limited since buses get to drop you off right at an attraction. Less control over exactly what you see, but least annoyance for the most sites in your case.

The DC Metro is easy to navigate with kids - escalators at every stop and usually they are working. Walking along the Mall you can see a number of monuments and Museums of the Smithsonian. Or you could consider a hop on-hop off trolley tour there as well. (And forget getting into the White House - even US citizens can rarely get in these days).

Please consider this as a plan. If you continue in posting long lists and hopes of what you expect to accomplish in 11 days you will continue to get lots of comments, some nasty, about how this is not going to work. On your 3 posts, NOT ONE PERSON has said they think you have a workable plan. Imagine if I posted that I wanted to see all of Asia in 2 weeks - that is similar to what you are hoping to do in the US

We all wish you a good trip, and are really trying to save you from yourself here.

NewbE

<but my advice is absolutely correct.>
It is not. You conflate driving in NYC with driving in DC, when they are not one and the same.

nytraveler

Conflate?

Sightseeing in ether city by assuming you can drive up to every sight and park your car on the spot is not realistic. Of course one can put the car in a garage and take public transit. That is not what the OP wants to do.

And of course one can see something of many of the monuments in DC just be driving by - but not a whole lot - and nothing of any of the museums or other sights.

Being deliberately obtuse is not helping the OP.