Mr N has been invited (well both of us) to visit a friend in NY over the Xmas period. His plan has now expanded to include visiting 2 other friends.

Kansas City 2 nights
Dallas 2 nights
NY - 3 nights.

Right now Im kinda thinking this is a bit nuts...but maybe it is do-able after all.

Any comments? Advice? How would we get from one place to another as quickly as poss? What do you think?

Or would it be more do-able if we treated it as more of a road trip and just stopping one night with each of his friends? Would this be an interesting 'road trip' route?

Ok lets start with this premise... whether you drive or fly traveling is at least taxing if not arduous. Its one thing to make one stop to visit a friend..but three friends?
You both have to be very social people. Personally after a long day of driving the last thing I want to do is spend the night up chit chatting.

Where are you starting, and how are you travelling. If not by air, then, no, it isn't doable. And even by air,it doesn't look like fun to me.

Nona,

This isn't something I would want to do, especially during the Christmas holidays when weather could be a major factor in flying or driving.

I would visit 1 friend, and enjoy another destination nearby for the rest of your week.

NY is the logical choice with the most to offer for a week long visit.

There is no way you can drive that trip - distances are just too far and there is the possibility of running into bad weather (snow/ice) on the roads.

You could do it by air if you really want. but air travel at that time is typically very busy and you also have the problem of potential delays/diversions due to bad weather.

Separately, is there some particular reason for visiting those 2 cities? IMHO, neither is exactly a hotbed of tourism - esp in winter.

With so little time I would stay in NYC. Or - if you really want to see something else just grab an Amtrak to DC for 2 days (not affected by weather unless there is a LOT of snow and takes only about 4 hours).

For some perspective - driving from NYC to Kansas City would take more than 19 hours - without any stops at all - and not allowing for likely bad weather - which could double that time.

Reason for the cities--they are visiting friends.

Driving is not doable. As for flying, by the time you travel to the airport with sufficient time to check in, fly to the new destionation, and get out of the new airport to visit the next friend, you have lost the better part of a day. You are really looking at a day each in KC and Dallas, and 2 days in NYC at best. It would be like trying to visit London, Athens, and St. Petersburg in a week. You could do it, but would you enjoy it?

I thought it was you who posted some time ago about being anti-social if you did not sit on people's sofas and chat instead of seeing NYC.

This trip has disaster written all over it. First you were going to NYC and were concerned about being rude if you actually wanted to see something other than Mr N's friends' living rooms. Now the trip has added Dallas and Kansas City - where you will undoubtedly be expected to do the same.

So let me get this straight, you spend a week in 3 cities visiting people you hardly know from Mr N's past and the whole time you are there you are expected to sit on various sofas and chat about the good old days - after spending hideous amounts of time either in the car or fighting Christmas crowds and inevitable weather delays to get to the 3 cities.

And this would be a good idea why? Even if logistics work perfectly, it sounds like something it might be possible to endure - but not much fun.

Would it be possible for you to stay in NYC alone and see the sights and meet up with Mr N at the airport on the way home. Or come up with a terrible illness or injury so you don't go at all. Since you asked for comments and advise, that is mine.

Did you bother to look at a map?

If the distances alone weren't enough to tell how silly an idea it is, please reread the posts telling you how insane it is to do it over the Christmas holidays. Driving or flying you'll be with ten million of your newest BFFs and you'll likely be travelling in snow, ice or freezing rain.

Stay in the New York the full week or better yet make the trip at another time of year.

Let's do a Europe comparison. If anyone posted here (and some do) that they are thinking of 2 nights in Munich, 2 nights in Barcelona, and 3 nights in London -- they'd be attacked unmercifully!

Gail - yep you got it in a nutshell!

I got told the revised idea last night and now I'm just thinking about what the trip would be like logistics-wise.

Mr N doesn't mind 'cos it's his chance to see friends he hasn't seen in years.

...but I'm starting to think it's a trip he'll be doing on his own! I need a good way out as it's REALLY antisocial to just not even go.

Oh - and I misheard - it is DULLES not DALLAS.

I'm trying to google everything up but if someone happens to know roughly how long flight is from Kansas to Dulles then Dulles to NY I'd appreciate it!

OK, but where do the "friends" live -- surely not AT Dulles Airport? Taking a train from D.C. to NYC is often a FAR better option than flying for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is time -- both check-in time and transportation time to and from the airport.

Cut out Kansas City (although I don't know where you're coming from) and it starts looking a little more doable.

By "Dulles" as in the airport(?) you mean the Washington DC area then? You can take the train from NYC to Wash DC easy enough.

Kansas City is no where near, you'd need to fly that piece.

Nona - Mr Gail and I have been married 28 years. We have learned that if he forces me (or I him) to go on something as one-sided as this, we both regret it.

I suggest you do a search in the Lounge section on various ailments - we have discussed viruses, heart disease, cancer and shingles recently. Pick one. Find a friendly MD to say you have it and are contagious.

Technically doable, yes. Best if you have a private jet at your disposal.

It sounds like a horrible trip to me. 4 or 5 airports in 7 days, yuck. Even flight attendants aren't forced to do that.

Horrible time of year for Kansas City. There is no city called Dulles.

Evidently you haven't looked at a map or googled driving distances.

The only Dulles I know is one of 3 airports that serve Washington DC. If that's the Dulles you mean, then I agree with the above advice to take the train between Washington and NYC.

nona1,

I still don't get where YOU live!

How about this, if these friends are so important to husband.

Fly to NY and visit and SIGHTSEE. Train to DC and visit and SIGHTSEE. That will get you off the couch.

Skip the friends in Kansas City - it's too far. Instead, invite them to travel to visit you next year.

She is looking to go to Dallas, not Dulles. It was someone elses typo that stated Dulles in a subsequent post. Personally, I would just visit NYC and skip the other 2