Luv2travel15 you are hands down the most helpful person i think i have ever come across! thank you so much for more fantastic information!

Thats great to know the driving distances from a person rather than a site, i know the distances calculators do not rell take into consideration the traffic etc.

Ive had a look and am thinking we hope to stay in the Howard Johnston at Mystic- ( can i just say apologies to everyone else, i know im talking about CT on a RI thread) it seems to get good reviews and is a quite good location- do you know anything about it?

As for Dennis, we are staying at the Sesuit Harbour Motel- after ALOT of reseacrh into different areas on the cape, i just fell in love with the photos of it and the area....i hope if you know much about it, its not all bad!

thanks again, Sarah x

Your welcome, Sarah. People tell me I should be a travel agent & I am not. I just love doing travel stuff and helping others as well.

Distances are approx. and all depend upon the traffic situation. Driving from New York can be frazzling to say the least. Most of the places you will be heading will be on the highways and pretty much straight runs til you get to your destination. However, New York will be the only place you should encounter much traffic. I would suggest that you do a map quest search and get directions to Mystic. I would definitely suggest that you do NOT go via the George Washington Bridge. Others will say the same. It can be a nightmare w/ traffic, etc. We made the mistake of missing our exit last year and ended up going over the GW bridge. Never again! I can help you w/ directions if you like. We live about an hour from Mystic Ct. and Newport so we travel that route when we head to Florida or other southern destination. Just let me know. I have routes mapped out by our AAA travel agency that I can share w/ you.

I think that you would be fine booking the Howard Johnson's motel, it looks nice on their website. Besides, it will only be for one night so you can survive. I would say that most of the motels in the Mystic area would be pretty decent as that is a very high tourist area and also a very nice area to visit. I did see that there is no breakfast included but if that is not of concern to you, then I would go ahead and book it. My daughter had breakfast at a cute little place in Mystic when they were there in February. I will ask her when I see her later today as we are heading there for Mother's Day.

Dennis is a lovely area to visit. I am not familiar w/ the Sesuit Harbor Hotel but it does look lovely and I would definitely not hesitate to stay there. Rte. 6A is a historic route w/ lots of lovely homes on it. You can find so many things to do on the Cape. Don't worry you will fall in love w/ Cape Cod. If you are looking for specific things to do, I can ask my sister what to suggest, depending upon how many days you are staying there. There is so much to see and do on the Cape.

I think that all in all you have done a fabulous job planning your trip. You really will have some fantastic memories to take back home. Again, I love doing this so it's so much fun helping you plan your trip. Ask away if you need anything else.

Hi Luv2travel15- i should have asked before now- what is your name?

Thats good advice about GW bridge- something us foreigners would never know! I would very much appreciate route suggestions if you had them? We pick up our car at Newark as mentioned, so wont be driving in downtown NYC, phew!

I posted on the Ct forum and am a little disheartened that the Howard Johnson is not getting great reviews as a chain, although im not sure they are being specific to the actual one in Mystic- it did get many glowing reviews on tripadvisor, but like you say, its only a place for 1 night to lay our heads!

If your sister had any ideas about cape cod, id love to hear them- as mentioned ive done alot of reseacrh and the things to do seems endless!!lol the seashore is a definate though, and we'd like to take the Cape Cod tour trip one of the days. If she had any other suggestions to help me narrow stuff down that would be fab!

Thanks again x

JFYI, there is no need to repost questions on Connecticut forum, etc as all questions come to the USA forum and are just tagged that way for research . Be sure to read all the suggestions on your numerous threads.

Your really should study up on Hotwire or Priceline if you want to save money on this long trip.

www.betterbidding.com

You can see what hotels are usually won in what category or decipher opaque purchases by studying the amenities at the Hotwire lists there. MAny times it is foolproof on Hotwire as you get the amenities PLUS customer satisfaction rating!.

There are also willing to help you identify hotels there, especially if you are kind enough to do your purchases through their links.

Alos, you DO know about online coupons for hotels.com, expedia.com ,etc? You can many times receive 10-15% off using those coupons.

Lincasanova- thanks for pointing my repitition out - yet again. I have said on another thread that i apologise for repeating but did not realise the questions could be seen by all- i thought they were specific to each state and therefore that is why i posted several times for each states thread. As i mentioned on the PA thread to you and doug_stallings it is not terribley clear.

thanks for the information however we have almost everything booked now. Many thanks

Hi again, Sarah,

When I do research for a hotel stay, I usually check Trip Advisor as they get a lot more reviews than other sites I have used. I have also learned that you take those reviews w/ a grain of salt as everyone has different tastes and wants in a hotel. As an example, we just returned from a cruise to Hawaii and I was looking for 2 nights post-cruise stay in San Diego. I was going crazy trying to find a hotel for my very picky taste. Reviews on a lot of the hotels were only so so. I finally narrowed the area we would like to stay in San Diego, looked at the hotels in that area, and narrowed it down to the amenities offered, free shuttles, breakfasts, etc. We ended up staying at the Holiday Inn Express and we found it to be a great value for the 2 nights we were there. Reviews were coming in mixed on the hotel but I took a gamble because we usually stay at HI Express when we are on the road. Everything worked out great.

Howard Johnson hotels have been around for many years and are probably not as updated as the newer chains out there - Hampton Inns, Holiday Inns, etc. However, given the price you have indicated, I believe this hotel would be ok for one night. Reviews were good on Hotels.com for recent guests who stayed there (within the last 2 weeks). Also check out Priceline,com as they are offering 20% off ($111. per night for 6/24) and that is not a bad rate. You will be tired from your NYC sightseeing and the drive from the city so think you will not care where you put your head. LOL You will only be sleeping at the hotel then off to Newport. I think I would book HoJo's b4 I booked a Days Inn or Ramada, but then I am verrrry picky.

I just checked Priceline again, here is the link:

http://travelb.priceline.com/hotel/s...OPRedirNI=null

If you can't open it, go to priceline.com then put in Mystic, Ct., date of stay. The Howard Johnson's is listed for $111. and if you scroll down a couple of hotels beyond that you will see the Comfort Inn Mystic listed for $129. This is where my daughter stayed in February and this a decent price. You also get breakfast in the price. My daughter is as picky as I am! They said it was fine for one night.

Lincasonova, I believe that Sarah is only looking for the one night's lodging in Mystic at this point. They have their NYC and Cape Cod hotels already booked.

Sarah, my name is Mary, sorry I forgot to mention this. If you would like to send me your email address, then I can forward the map/routes that I have. My email: [email protected]

Put NOT SPAM in subject line so it doesn't go to my junk box.

Cheers,
Mary

If some of your reservations were cancelable you can still go back and save some money with the coupons by re-booking, assuming the same rate is available.

I didn't realize you had already answered on the other thread about the repetition as I didn't read them all today. Sorry.

I do hope you find the accommodations you are hoping for. Have a nice trip.