USA Mini-Roadtrip Advice

[Doug86]

Hi,

I am planning on flying over to see my grandparents in June and staying at theirs in Ohio. When I get over there I want to take their car and drive up to Niagara Falls and possibly visit NY on the way back in a sort of road trip loop!



Now I am planning on going over for 10 days breaking it down like so:

2 Days - Spend time in Ohio

2 Days - Driving up to Niagara

1 Day - Niagara

1 Day - (Please see Below)

Now here is my problem....
I would love to involve New York in the trip as I have never been and would love to spend a few days but I really do not want to drive into New York with the car! Mental drivers and the fact that it will be my grandparents car put me off the idea! How would you recommend I get into New York? Leave the car in the suburbs and get a greyhound or train into the city for a couple days then the same to get out?

Along with my original questions regarding NY can you also recommend and 'must see' areas of interest in and around the rough route? Obviously deviations would be fine as the timing for driving the distances is fairly staggered.

I appreciate any tips and advice!

Regards,

Doug

Edited by Doug86 on Friday 1st January 22:28

[Blue Meanie]

Well, I'd highly recommend driving in new York... It;s great fun, just don' plan on being anywhere at a certain time! By the way, you diagram goes nowhere near new York... That's over near the coast where it says new York, as opposed to the New York State name you seem to have the loop at! In fact, that's pretty much where I am at the moment! Take a trip to the Adirondacks, and Long island if you can too. Very nice drive up to Montauk.

[Spudler]

A must: http://www.rense.com/general69/cedar.htm

You may have to add a few extra days if you want to include NYC, tis a fair old way round.

[Doug86]

Blue Meanie said:

Well, I'd highly recommend driving in new York... It;s great fun, just don' plan on being anywhere at a certain time! By the way, you diagram goes nowhere near new York... That's over near the coast where it says new York, as opposed to the New York State name you seem to have the loop at! In fact, that's pretty much where I am at the moment! Take a trip to the Adirondacks, and Long island if you can too. Very nice drive up to Montauk.

Jesus I hadn't even noticed that! I was too focused with the idea of creating a nice paint diagram

I am starting to feel that I am being optimistic about the timing for NY. It is a city that I really want to visit so maybe I should do it justice and actually head over there when I can spend some time there. Will give it a bit of thought though.

[Doug86]

Looking at it makes it seem very do-able distance wise.

Tempting to do this now as realistically we could do leg A and leg B drives in a single day leaving more time to spend in NY. Leg C would require a stop over at some point to keep things at a relaxed pace.

[Blue Meanie]

Your timings are about right. takes me about 4-5 hours to get to NY from Syracuse. However, if you take the 86 to New York when you get just past Binghamton, it's a much nicer drive, (actually, I did a time lapse of that very trip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mizqmHR9Yu4)

Enjoy the trip. Nigara is OK, but make sure you go to the Canadian side, as the US side is crap, not to mention Buffalo could be used in a remake of Mad Max. There is a bunch of stuff I could recommend. Thousand Islands up to the North is very nice, and there is a ferry ride around all the Islands, and you should see some of the houses! Fook me. Adirondacks is always worth a look, as is the Finger Lakes if you like wine. If you want to stop in Syracuse, try Empire Brewery in the city centre. It's a micro brewery, and the brewery is right behind the bar. Very nice food, and beer.

[Hammerwerfer]

Easy enough trip. You can get upt to Niagara quicker than you think. Driving in NYC isn't all that stressful. Take a tourbus around. Do not buy a ticket for the Statue of Liberty until you see the size of the queue. We made tthe mistake of buying tickets from the tour guides that meet the bus only to find that we would have to wait for several hours in the queue. No crown tickets were available either.

[Doug86]

When it comes to 'going to the Canadian side' how easy is that to do on UK passports? Just pop through the border no problems?

[Blue Meanie]

Doug86 said:

When it comes to 'going to the Canadian side' how easy is that to do on UK passports? Just pop through the border no problems?

Yeah, no issues at all. Just drive over the bridge... Job done.

[V8TVR1978]

Doug: This summer my family and I went to the TVRCCNA Gathering in Bucks County Pennsylvania and wanted the New York experience also. It was easy for us as we drove to a secure parking area in Trenton New Jersey (last stop for the train in N.J. from Grand Central Station.) From there you can go in any direction you want. Cost of the 4 return train fares was cheaper than 1 parking garage in New York if you can find one. We then used trains and cabs to get around and those prices were reasonable. If you are planning on taking somebody elses car across the border you had better have a letter with you stating that you are allowed to do that. I would have it notarized to be on the safe side or have someone check out what is needed ahead of time. Don't want to be refused entry at the border or be refused re entry on the return trip. A GOOD GPS would also be wise for the driving part as it can keep you on non toll/toll/fastest etc. roads. But most important have fun on whatever areas you want to explore.

[Doug86]

V8TVR1978 said:

Doug: This summer my family and I went to the TVRCCNA Gathering in Bucks County Pennsylvania and wanted the New York experience also. It was easy for us as we drove to a secure parking area in Trenton New Jersey (last stop for the train in N.J. from Grand Central Station.) From there you can go in any direction you want. Cost of the 4 return train fares was cheaper than 1 parking garage in New York if you can find one. We then used trains and cabs to get around and those prices were reasonable. If you are planning on taking somebody elses car across the border you had better have a letter with you stating that you are allowed to do that. I would have it notarized to be on the safe side or have someone check out what is needed ahead of time. Don't want to be refused entry at the border or be refused re entry on the return trip. A GOOD GPS would also be wise for the driving part as it can keep you on non toll/toll/fastest etc. roads. But most important have fun on whatever areas you want to explore.

Two very good points there! I shall get a notarized 'lease' letter from the owner of the car. Also the train idea from NJ sounds like a great idea! I am going to have to do some planning to work out costs etc for everything as I can see it starting to get out of hand quickly at-least I am not going to Vegas, then it really would get daft!

[V8TVR1978]

Doug86 said:

V8TVR1978 said:

Doug: This summer my family and I went to the TVRCCNA Gathering in Bucks County Pennsylvania and wanted the New York experience also. It was easy for us as we drove to a secure parking area in Trenton New Jersey (last stop for the train in N.J. from Grand Central Station.) From there you can go in any direction you want. Cost of the 4 return train fares was cheaper than 1 parking garage in New York if you can find one. We then used trains and cabs to get around and those prices were reasonable. If you are planning on taking somebody elses car across the border you had better have a letter with you stating that you are allowed to do that. I would have it notarized to be on the safe side or have someone check out what is needed ahead of time. Don't want to be refused entry at the border or be refused re entry on the return trip. A GOOD GPS would also be wise for the driving part as it can keep you on non toll/toll/fastest etc. roads. But most important have fun on whatever areas you want to explore.

Two very good points there! I shall get a notarized 'lease' letter from the owner of the car. Also the train idea from NJ sounds like a great idea! I am going to have to do some planning to work out costs etc for everything as I can see it starting to get out of hand quickly at-least I am not going to Vegas, then it really would get daft!

Doug: Costs were not as bad as I was prepared for on my trip because I always found things to do or see that had no cost at all. We walked from the train station (Statue of Liberty views) to the SoHo district and found lots of interesting small stores. Took a taxi to Times Square and it was only about $10.00. Had a great walk through and then took a car service back to catch our train back to Trenton N.J. Car service guys have no meter and can charge what they think a tourist will pay. Roughly the same distance was $25.00. Reguarding Vegas, it was a real disappointment but then the only place that I could find with parking for my truck and 26 foot trailer was in North Vegas by the Air Force base and that in my opinion is a bad area. In Atlantic City I was allowed to park with the motor homes at a major casino for a cost and I unloaded my car and had a blast driving around and in the casinos. In Vegas I went to the old strip and got my pictures and didn't step into 1 casino.

In your trip just try to prepare what you will need for what you want to do and see and you will have lots of fun. Prepare is the key word as security is now stepped up more since our trip and as a Canadian I think my crossing the border into the U.S. would be easier than somebody from other countries. Do think about visiting Atlantic City on your trip as in my opinion it is better than the old or new Vegas and not that far from New York. (Trenton train station) If you have any other questions just e-mail me and I will answer anything that I can without getting long winded here.
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