While Chicago is a large city with a lot of bars and beach front - NYC has way more of all of those things (even beaches actually IN NYC - never mind the ones in the suburbs.

But since the OP has never come back - we don;t have a clue why they are thinking about the places they are. Perhaps it's a lot of family visits (can't imagine what else).

<i>We are coming over to the USA to experience the big cities, the bars, the beaches, the culture and hopefully meet lots of new people...</i>

Maybe they forgot to mention "... and discover the American heartland!"?

The family visit is close to Boston--they "say". Insert "eye roll".
Folks, it's a troll.
I am sure when I go to Europe/England I see wonderful "exotic (as in very different) things that people there say--why on earth are you finding us interesting.
But I am absolutely sure that a fortnight in Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio is overkill!! LOL
AND I spent the first 21 years of my life in Ohio and Indiana. I appreciate it much more now than I did then--and still wouldn't spend the time there.

The proper way to report a Troll is as delineated in the "Guidelines for Participation".

"Trolls (or troll feeders) are not allowed.
Trolls are posters who comment or post just to provoke a reaction. If you suspect someone is a troll, alert the moderators by emailing [email protected] or clicking the triangle icon (Alert Flag Icon) on the thread or comment in question rather than commenting on the thread itself."

Have you alerted the moderators?

Are you aware that you have violated the last 7 words in the quoted guidelines?

If brichardson1991 (the OP) is determined by the moderators to be a troll, then you can be judged a troll feeder.

Folks, she's a troll feeder!

I'm SO embarrassed. LOL

Wow was not expecting such an informative, opinionated and heated response.

I worked in New England last summer a soccer coach so have seen a bit of the East Coast already. Whilst I was out there last summer the British lads were always saying stuff like 'You need to go to the mid-west to experience the real America'. Also we really wanted to go Chi-Town as have heard it is sweet there!

We have already booked our flights to Chicago - we fly out there Monday 22nd July. We have also booked our flights back from Las Vegas as well for Monday 26th August (this is a flexi-flight though so we can extend it if our plans change and we want to stay out later - I don't start my teacher training course until September 23rd)

The reason I posted here is to get advice from guys such as yourself who know all about the US.

MID WEST - We think it now may be feasible to get a car for 7 days so this could be a plan (tell me your thoughts).... Spend 3/4 days in Chicago, bus to Milwaukee and spend 2/3 days there. Hire a car and do a route of the mid-west (advice needed on where to go). Drop the car off in Chicago - spend a couple of days there again before flying out to the East Coast.

EAST COAST - The 'family' I have in New Hampshire is a host family from when I working in the states last summer. They will pick us up from Boston and we plan on spending 3/4 days with them. We are open to the possibility of spending some time on the East Coast before flying out to San Fran (but the west coast is our priority). I have somewhere we could stay rent free in Washington so it may be worth looking into flights from Washington to San Fran.

WEST COAST - We plan on booking a flight from the East Coast (our initial thoughts were Boston but again we are open to advice) to San Fran (where Dale may have 'family friends' that we can stay with). We plan on spending a few days in San Fran before getting the bus down to LA. we then are looking at renting a car from LA for a week and travelling Cali (advice needed on where to go) before dropping the car back in LA. Although our flights back from Vegas are booked for the 26tg we would love to stay out for longer if we found somewhere very cheap to stay!

CULTURE - By culture we mean the people, places and customs (The real America not just the tourist hotspots) NOT museums etc (not interested at all).

THANKYOU - In advance if you have anything positive to say - you are the guys who will shape and make our trip so fantastic. Those of you who haven't got anything psositive to say - you need to get out more, you clearly spend to much time behind a computer screen.

As of yet we haven't really done much research (I have now done more than when I posted the original feed) but am starting to get a few ideas of where to go in the mid-west; what are people opinions on the following route

- Chicago
-Milwaukee
- Madison
- Cedar Rapids
- Kansas City
- St Louis
- Chicago


Also another complication iS that we now have another friend flying out to Boston on Friday 9th August. So it makes sense for us to fly out to Boston from Chicago Monday 5th August, spend 4 days with my 'family' and then return to Boston on the Friday.

Also would we be 'foolish' to wait until we are out there to book our internal flights (Chicago to Boston and East Coast to San Fran)?

Also if anyone knows of any forums/ blogs that may be useful for us please let me know :)

Thanks

"<i>. . . the British lads were always saying stuff like 'You need to go to the mid-west to experience the real America'.</i>"

That's fine - but would you tell visitors to England they must visit the East Midlands to see the 'real' England? Wouldn't it be better visit places those who live in the East Midlands would visit. The Lakes, or London, or Cornwall, or heck - Blackpool even (kidding w/ that one)?

Wow first and last time I ever sign up to a forum, full of absolute melts like yourself janisj.

Well done for being brave over the keyboard and posting a useless, sarcastic comment.

As I think was mentioned above, you might check into the Amtrak Southwest Chief, which travels from Chicago, to KC, through Albuquerque/Santa fe (bus), Flagstaff and LA. I don't know how it would work to hop off for a couple days and then get back on.

If you do go to St. Louis, it has a light rail. There is another recent thread about using it/public transport exclusively in STL.

Kansas city can be hard to explore without a car. BUT if you take the train you'll arrived in Union Station, which is basically in the middle of 3 major areas of KC: You'll be across the street from the shopping/hotel district known as Crown Center and within a short cab ride to either the Country Club Plaza (shopping and nightlife) and the Power and Light District/Sprint Center (entertainment/nightlife). Of these, the P&L District is likely more your speed. You might check online to see what concerts are at the Sprint Center.

(not sure how to get from Chicago to St. Louis, but I think there is another Amtrak route (or at least used to be) b/t STL and KC.)

Sorry, but can't help on whether to wait on flights. Costs will go up and availability will decline if you wait, though.

Thankyou Bitter :)We are now looking at getting a car for 7 days in the mid-west so that info. is really good :)

WOW, just WOW! Jeeze Louise!

Enjoy the Midwest . . . My post was not sarcastic BTW. The Midwest isn't more 'real' than any other part of the country. (And - why the attack mode, I didn't call you a troll)

Traveling in July (most of school is out) may complicate this, but two additional college towns (in addition to Madison) may be on your way: Columbia MO (U of Missouri, half way between STL and KC), and Lawrence KS (1 hour west of KC).

Both will have a bar scene with your ages, BUT you'll be socializing with folks in summer school and/or those who just don't go "home." That means finding the happening pubs will be slightly more difficult, and the clientele might be a bit more earthy/granola (at least that was the case in my distant past experience).

We call the midwest the "flyover states", for good reason.

I'd substantially reduce your amount of time in the midwest and put more of it into the areas with more dramatic natural scenery: Wyoming (Grand Teton National Park, Yosemite), Utah (Canyolands, Bryce, Zion, etc National parks, Grand Canyon National Parks,) California.

Look at www.greentortoise.com for some budget travel tours.

"We call the midwest the "flyover states", for good reason."

We? I don't wanted to be included in that pompous remark.

CHI, STL, and KC are all neat cities and offer a lot for their size.

Having grown up in Madison and attended the UW there, I am partial, but you'll like Madison, especially in the summer. Visit State Street for all the bars and culture you could ask for. If you're there on a Saturday morning, head to the top of State Street to the Dane County Farmers' Market on the square, which encircles the State capital building.

At the bottom of State Street and one block over toward the lake is the Memorial Student Union. Here you can spend an evening drinking beer on the outdoor terrace overlooking the lake. You will love the atmosphere there, and it will be thronged with students and locals alike. A live band plays for free on the weekends, too. Enjoy your trip!

http://www.union.wisc.edu/