musicfan

I have not stayed here, but a Fodor's poster wrote a very entertaining trip report about his New York City visit and this is where they stayed--it might be what you are looking for, and it does sound charming.

http://www.chelseapinesinn.com/

Here is the trip report:

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...way-safari.cfm

I can assure you it is a very entertaining read, well worth the time.

nyer

I can't imagine that tourists could buy a car. You have to get insurance and to get insurance I believe that you have to have residency. Car rentals can be reasonable (and are much cheaper than I've seen in Europe, and gas is about half the price)

Besides, you do not want a car in the major cities. You can do city to city by train or plane, and rent a car for a few days at a time to explore less urban areas.

There are planty of non-chain hotels even in the major cities. Many are high priced, but as noted above some people on this board have stayed at smaller more modest places and were very happy.

B&Bs are not typical in NYC and many are illegal on top of it. Apartment rentals are almost all illegal here unless you're staying 30 days or more in the same place.

In some parts of the country in the rural and some suburban areas there are both chain motels and indepenedent ones, Quality varies dramatically and in some places people are more confident with the safety and type of accomodations that a chain can offer.

RoamsAround

Buying a car is probably not a good idea. You'll need a local address to register the vehicle, you'll have to buy at least liability insurance (for any car) and collision insurance (if it's a new vehicle) and you'll probably lose money when you try sell it when you are ready to leave.

New cars depreciate by 20% when you drive them off the lot. Buying a used car can be problematic - late model cars will still depreciate quickly and older model cars can have mechanical problems which you wouldn't want to deal with while on vacation.

If you think renting a car for 8 weeks is expensive you'll be floored by what your out of pocket costs will be to purchase, insure and resell a car in 8 weeks.

If you want to use a car for your transportation needs renting is the way to go. If I were you I'd check directly with the various US based car rental companies (by calling not by using the internet - they all have "800' numbers) to get quotes as they often will give discounts for long term rentals.

isabel

You start out saying you are going to the "east coast" and then mention New Orleans and Chicago, neither of which is anywhere near the east coast. You are also going in mid summer. Have you looked up what the temperatures are in New Orleans in mid summer?

Why have you chosen the locations you mention? What is it about them that you want to see? And you are talking about traveling by car or train. These are huge distances, and while there are certainly worthwhile things to see just about everywhere, most people coming to the US wanting to see the 'best' would not spend most of their time driving between the cities you list. If you have specific reasons for those places that's one thing. But if not, and given the season you are coming in I would suggest a different itinerary.

North of NYC is a beautiful part of the country, especially in summer. Consider spending at least a couple of your weeks in New England. Good train connections between Boston and NYC, and Boston is 'worth' at least several days. The coast of Maine, and inland New Hampshire, Vermont and Western Massachusetts are also beautiful, although they would be better done by car. You could rent a car just for a week or so to see those areas.

Another thing I suggest, if you want to see places as far as New Orleans or Chicago would be to fly. Look into some of the lower cost air carriers. It won't be cheap, but neither will car rentals or trains. And then if you are going to consider that you might ask yourself if New Orleans and Chicago are really where you want to go or if you might rather see some of the west (rocky Mts, desert southwest, west coast). Don't mean to offend anyone from New Orleans or Chicago, but if I were coming to the US for the summer those are the last two places I would go.

Gretchen

It started out OK but now we are being played. Chicago--NOLA--and buying a car. We are done. Sorry Charley/

montaya

Thank you very much for all your suggestions and advice. My husband and I both read with interest the New York trip report and will surely check The Pines Inn which sounds really good.
The idea of buying a used car to travel around was dead almost as soon as I had written it down.
What we have decided to do, is something like this: fly to Los Angeles, stay there a few days, take a train north to Seattle (maybe stop in San Fracisco), stay there a few days. Then take a train to New York stopping "älong the way" a few days in East Glacier Park, Chicago and Washington DC. From New York we would take a train to Atlanta for a few days and from there to New Orleans and after a few days another train to Los Angeles and then fly home.
As I mentioned we like train travel as that way we will see a lot of the country. I am sure the plan (places) mentioned can be improved on, added/changed/taken out. Like if Chicago and New Orleans are not recommended in summer, maybe we should instead take in some other places (north of New York as suggested by Isabel).
The reason we are doing this "route" is that we wish to see Seattle and New York ("maybe" New Orleans)and we wouldn't mind giving Chicago a miss if we can find a better train route. Starting the train trip from Los Angeles is sensible as that is where we land first.
Any more tips/suggestions/advice ?
I'm truly grateful for your input, we do wish to have a memorable trip

isabel

I don't really know the answer to this but I would certainly start by checking train prices and schedules. For example from NY to Chicago there's an overnight train (but you won't see any scenery, and sleeping on a train is not fun for most people) and if you can't get that then you are talking about 22 hours. New York to Atlanta is like 18 hours. You might see some 'scenery' but mostly you won't. New England is one of the most beautiful areas of the country, but if you go by what you see on the train it is butt ugly and boring as hell. I think there is a scenic route that goes through the rockies, but that's just one little bit. I guess if you really love trains and that's the kind of vacation you want then certainly you should do it. But if you just think it's a good way to get from point A to point B then you need to be aware of the realities.

isabel

I don't really know the answer to this but I would certainly start by checking train prices and schedules. For example from NY to Chicago there's an overnight train (but you won't see any scenery, and sleeping on a train is not fun for most people) and if you can't get that then you are talking about 22 hours. New York to Atlanta is like 18 hours. You might see some 'scenery' but mostly you won't. New England is one of the most beautiful areas of the country, but if you go by what you see on the train it is butt ugly and boring as hell. I think there is a scenic route that goes through the rockies, but that's just one little bit. I guess if you really love trains and that's the kind of vacation you want then certainly you should do it. But if you just think it's a good way to get from point A to point B then you need to be aware of the realities.

doug_stallings

My only suggestion is to cool it quite a bit on the train travel. I know you want to see the "sights", but Amtrak in the U.S. isn't particularly comfortable for long-distance travel and takes forever (it's like going coast to coast in Australia. I hope you realize that in all this train travel you will be spending over 2 of your 8 weeks doing nothing but riding on trains. If you really really like riding on trains, then by all means that's ok, but the U.S. doesn't have as good a train system as Europe.

And unless you pay hundreds of extra dollars per leg (and make your reservations far in advance), you won't have a bedroom or bath. It will mean sitting up in coach seats for days at a time and using a dirty public rest room to wash off the dirt of the day. I'd schedule a few flights in the mix for the longer distances. Do one long train trip and a couple of shorter ones, but that's it. Otherwise, fly.

musicfan

I don't have time for a lengthy reply, but did want to make sure you realize that at least in Los Angeles, it will be hard to sightsee without a car. Even in Glacier National Park it will be a challenge; there is some public transportation, but it will be hard to see the park without a car. Others may have suggestions, but that is what occurred to me.

nytraveler

Before you decide on trains have a look at prices. It is VERY expensive unless you are going to sit up the entire time- 24 hours per day. Renting a car - esp from Oz - where you can get great deals including insurance and tax - would be considerably cheaper.

Really think flying longer distances and car for shorter is a much more comfortable and less expensive way to go.

montaya

Thank you all so much for that valuable infomation.
I think we will look at motorhomes hire or buy, as we have owned one here in Australia

5alive

You are welcome about the Chelsea Pines idea, for which musicfan later posted the link. Hopefully that would work out.

Purchasing a motorhome will also require insurance and proof of residency as buying a car. You would need to rent. If it were me, I would rent a car, and enjoy staying in the beautiful historic lodges that are part of the National Parks experience.

doug_stallings

You can't buy a motorhome in the US (that's as crazy as the idea of buying a used car), but you could certainly rent one. But they are not easy to find in the NYC area. I'm sure you can find one within a relatively short train ride of NYC though. I do think you'd enjoy that more than Amtrak.

I'd recommend a one-way rental if it's not too cost prohibitive. Otherwise, you're better off flying into the middle of the country or the southwest and renting a motor home there, perhaps in Dallas. That would give you a chance to visit parts of the south and the west in 7 weeks, doing a round-trip circuit and flying home from DFW. But with a motorhome, you're going to have to forego big cities like Chicago. You could stay in a motel in the New Orleans suburbs and taking a taxi into town for a day, though.

montaya

Thanks for all the ideas. We now need to do some serious reading and searching
I'll be back

nelsonian

Montaya, on our recent trip to the US, we landed in San Francisco, spent three days there, flew to New Orleans, spent four days there, then flew to New York and stayed there for three weeks. We stayed in Long Island City, close to a subway and honestly it only took about ten minutes to get into Times Square, it was no hassle at all, the hotel was considerably cheaper than in Manhattan.

On a previous trip we flew from San Fransisco to Washington DC, and then took Amtrak to New York. We stayed at Radio City Apartments which is right by Times Square. These get booked up very quickly though so need to be in early.

nelsonian

Forgot to mention that we did a couple of side trips from New York to Cape Cod and Boston. Boston is about four hours away, and you can take the Megabus or Bolt Bus very cheaply if you book early. We actually drove one way and flew back to NYC.