19 year old English girl doing some solo travelling to include Niagara Falls - early June
 

I am taking a gap year before going to University in October. At the moment I am working but am planning a 4-6 week holiday from late May. I will be travelling with some school friends for much of the trip. They travelled out yesterday, one of them has family in New York and Miami and we will be staying with them. My friends have already been to Niagara Falls so I am on my own if I go. <BR><BR>I am thinking of booking a tour with Trek America which looks good but quite pricey. That would take me to Niagara as well as Montreal, Quebec, Toronto, Boston and Cape Cod. <BR><BR>Is anyone aware of other organised tours I could look into? <BR>Alternatively how practical and safe would it be to travel solo? If I were to do so what are the other must sees within striking distance of this area? (Without bankrupting me even before I become a penniless student) <BR><BR>A bit later on I intend opening other threads on the subjects below but if anyone has any great ideas now I would love to hear them: <BR>- Cheap transatlantic airfares (I do not have to keep to particular dates)<BR>- Ways to get from NYC to Miami and from there to and from the Keys<BR>- How easy it would be to get from Miami to Mexico and where you can stay safely in the Yucatan, possibly spending some time in Cancun if that would not blow my budget <BR><BR>Many thanks in advance<BR>Lazza <BR>

Miami to Cancun is cheap and easy - the Sunday Miami Herald travel section features specials.<BR> <BR>NYC to Miami is a long haul unless you take a flight, however there are long-distance buses that make the trip - Greyhound, Peter Pan and La Cubana. You can go Amtrak too, but I think a flight is probably the same price.<BR> <BR>From Miami to the Keys, a car is your best bet, but Greyhound makes the trip too.

Lazza,<BR><BR>Contiki is another tour company aimed at the 18-35 age group, They also accommodate a tour similar to the trekamerica one you mentioned(although I couldn't find the specific tour you mentioned on their site and therefore could not compare prices). If your main interest is to see Niagara Falls, I'm pretty sure you can do a return day trip via aircraft from NYC, although for a one day trip, I think they are quite pricey.<BR>I hope this is of assistance

Thank you so much for the information. I have been on the Contiki website and the tours they in the Eastern USA and Canada look fantastic (only about �150 more and you get to stay in a proper bed!) Any more information would be appreciated...<BR>Lazza

FLY from NYC to Miami. Look at Jet Blue airline (www.jetblue.com) good prices &amp; nice airline. Driving is the best way to see the Keys. It's a 3 hour drive between Miami and Key West (the last Key)although traffic can get bad because there's only one road to travel.<BR><BR>I am not a fan of Cancun. Commercial &amp; overbuilt but for more information try the Caribbean board here. Also, for more Canada info go to Canada board.

Look into websites that specialize in student travel like www.sta.travel.com for best transatlantic fares. You might also look into a multi destination ticket. If your itinerary is flexible you might also check flying into Boston or Toronto which would save transport from NYC to Niagara.<BR><BR>Otherwise, Air India usually has cheapest fares between London &amp; NY. Icelandair also has good deals but they are not non-stop.

Hello Lazza,<BR>I have been on both Contiki and trekamerica tours in the past and if you would like to any specific info about differences in style of the tours you can email me at [email protected] if you like.<BR>Either way, good luck with your planning.

Wow, thanks for all the great advice! I went to the jetblue website they did a great deal - flying from New York to Ft. Lauderdale for $64. However it did not fly directly to Miami, does anyone know of any cheap airlines that do this? Cheers, Lazza

AirTran flies from LaGuardia to Miami. They are usually pretty cheap.

You can also fly JetBlue from NYC to Buffalo, if you wish to see the Niagara Falls area. It's less than a half hr. by car from the airport. JetBlue has great fares to Buffalo from NYC, and you could fly directly from Buffalo to Florida, if you didn't need to return to NYC. With JetBlue, you can book segments and prices this way are cheaper by far than most other airlines.

I've just done a Trek America trip. They are pricey and many hidden costs. Such as the foodkitty, 7 dollars per day and hotelnights. Another drawback was the chores that you had to do. Such as cooking food, doing the dishes and cleaning the bus. Then there is always the hassle of group-travel. You can't always do what you want and hardly have any personal space.

Also our tourleader had a tendency to gossip about other fellow trekkers. Apart from that the tourleader was good. Showed us many sites and attractions that you otherwise might not see.

If you like doing chores on holiday, then this the trip for you.