aussie_annie

My husbands, myself and two sons 18 & 16 are travelling to Oshkosh for Air Venture. We will have six days at the airshow and we then have two weeks in which to fulfill several rather large wishes...starting in Chicago then Nashville, Memphis, Washington DC and New York. A huge wish list for such a limited time. We are open to travel ideas-we have considered a motorhome but also willing to look at trains, buses, internal flights etc.

I would appreciate suggestions on how to see and really experience New York as best we can in three days....taking in all the major sites. Also, what would be your choice for things to see and do in Chicago...we would love to see a game at Wrigley Field. We hope to do the Smithsonian Aerospace Museum also as well as see the White House etc.

In appreciation of any assistance.....

Thank you all......Annie

mclaurie

Annie, when are you doing this trip? I don't really think it's possible to do it all in 2 weeks. You will lose a day in traveling between most of these cities. Have you bought plane tickets from Oz yet?

You can see NYC in 3 days by doing some tours, but experiencing NYC in 3 days will be more of a challenge. I do suggest you put in a request for a bigapplegreeter.org for your NYC visit and plan on visiting the Intrepid Air & Space Museum. I don't think non US citizens can go inside the White House. Bus or train are easy between NYC & Washington. To get to NYC from any of the other locations, you should fly. Kayak.com is a good website for checking flights (and hotels).

illnative

I would leave Memphis and Nashville off the list - you could do NYC and Washington DC easily in the time you have left and transportation between all 3 cities is easy.

nytraveler

First, you have way too many places for such a short trip - and haen;t allowed time to get from one place to another. Have no idea what to when Air Venture is - so it's hard to give advice on hotel prices.

A coupleof notes on trael:

Train is not an option except on the NE corridor (Boston down to DC). Other than that it is few and far between, desn;t go a lot of places and freight trains (which own the rails) take precedence over the very few passenger trains. So - getting from Chi to NYC can take 36 hours versus 2.5 by plane.

Also, motorhome is a veyr bad idea except for national parks/rural areas. They are very expensive , it's difficult to find palces to put them and in the easter part of the country they aren't allowed on many major roads (anything called a parkway is for passenger cars only - no buses, trucks, oversize vehicles or anything in tow).

Finally in 3 days you can see a few - but not most by any means - important sights in NYC. (The Statue of Liberty and Elis Island Museum take a full day just for themselves, including ferry travel back and forth.)

I think you need to simplify your itinerary and consider flying to save some of your very preciuos time. (And this is from someone who routinely does road trips both herre and in europe. But way less territory in your limited time.

bspielman

Annie, here's more on visiting the White House, courtesy of the Australian Embassy: http://tr.im/Kim1

They don't seem too optimistic about your chances, but it would seem you have lots of time between now and the beginning of August to get the proper approvals.

Here's some more info: http://tr.im/KiqM

sf7307

I have to agree with the others that it would be hard to do 5 cities justice in 14 days, including travel time. If it were up to me (and knowing it's not LOL!), I'd also leave out Nashville and Memphis, as they're the "X" factor (what causes your plan to go "out of whack"). Instead, I'd spend 3 full days in Chicago (Magnificent Mile, lakefront, Art Institute, Millenium and Grant Parks) (Chicago is one of my favorite cities anywhere!), fly to DC and spend 4-5 full days (it takes that long at least to see the sights -- the mall, the monuments, Air & Space, American History, Newseum, maybe the spy museum, Ford's Theatre, Holocaust Museum, Capitol, Supreme Court, White House, some neighborhoods like DuPont Circle and Adams-Morgan), the train to NY and spend the rest of your time there (5+ days).

illnative

Great plan sf7307! makes me jealous!

longhorn55

I agree that sf7307 has a great plan.
As you have probably seen from the link bspielman provided, it is possible for non-U.S. citizens to tour the White House. But it's a big pain even for U.S. citizens and I don't necessarily think that it's worth the time and effort. Not only do you have to jump through a number of hoops to get tickets, you are not allowed to take anything with you on the self-guided tour (and that includes cellphones, purses, cameras, etc.) Also, they don't have any storage available at the White House, so you either have to leave your things at your hotel, have someone skip the tour to hold them or try to find lockers at Union Station or one of the museums (also not easy or convenient to the White House). So, you might just like to walk by the White House and get some photos there.
One thing that I do highly recommend for families with older teens is the Segway tour of D.C. Even though we are locals, we did a tour with our older teens about a year ago and we all had a blast! (Minimum age is 16). The guide was both fun and informative and I'd recommend doing it on your first day in the city because the guide will give you a lot of good info on what is worth seeing and what is not. It will also give you a good overview of the city. For summer, I would recommend doing the evening tour for 2 reasons: 1) it's a whole lot more pleasant weather-wise and 2) there's fewer pedestrians around so it's easier and more fun to ride the Segways. There are a couple of companies that offer the Segway tours, but we used City Segway Tours.

aussie_annie

Oh my goodness...thank you all. This is our second trip to the USA-we never thought we would get another chance. Last time we did the West Coast -Disneyland and LA, then a motor home through Phoenix & the Nascars, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon and Las Vegas then a flight to San Fran..a hire car back to LA and then a week in Hawaii to end our 4 week dream. Oshkosh is the last week in July and we are booked on a special flight direct to the airshow. Thank you nytraveler for info on motorhome. We loved the one we had last time..a better way to meet people than more impersonal motels, but does not sound like a wise option for the East. Unfortunately all, leaving out Nashville is not really an option..we are country music fans and my 16 year old is a fanatic in a country where we met people at the Brooks and Dunn Sydney concert who had travelled from Perth just for the show! Nashville is a beacon! In Aus distances are nothing so we are not afraid of making a mile but I have taken on board all suggestions and duly noted train info etc..not as easy as I first thought.sf7307 I have taken notes for more research and will also look into the Segway..we saw this in San Fran and thought they looked awesome so a great idea longhorn55. A look at the White House was all I was anticipating..and just as well by the sound of it! New York sounds like it should be a trip all of it's own...but a little time is better than none at all. It is so far to come and you always fell like you had better try and see as much as possible in case there is no next time. Thank you all..a beautiful summer day here today and hoping from the news that you are all not too cold there! Cheers Annie