USA holiday 2020 - where to start?

[ErikaJayne]

Firstly, I know there’s a MN travel section, but I wanted to capture as many opinions as possible.

We’ve decided that we want to visit the US next summer for about 2 weeks to travel around the east coast. We know that we want to fly to Boston and visit New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey.

Where do we begin? We’ve traveled a fair bit, but only really Europe. I’ve looked at BA’s website, but flights next year are currently only available to mid-May.

Questions:

• Would it be much cheaper to go at Spring break in April? Flights in April 2020 currently work out at about £450 return each (very reasonable, I thought). Don’t know what they’d be late July?

• Hotels - which website to use? Any particular brand recommendations?

• Budget - it’s most massive, so we’d like to do a mixture of spending conservatively on some things, and splashing out on some of the ‘must do’ treats. Is America as cheap as people used to say?

Recommendations - fire away, please!

Oh, there’ll be 4 of us - me, DH and 2 teenage DC. We like shopping, eating, sports, site seeing....the usual.

Check out Jacks flight club for starters. We get all our US tickets through the deals there and usually pay £230-250 return per person.

We usually Airbnb so can't help with hotels but flight wise sign up for the free version or JFC and it will let you know when there's a deal on tickets. We have the paid one but you'd still get good amount of deals on the free one too.

Thanks for the recommendation to join Jack’s Flight Club. I hadn’t heard of it, and have just signed up.

Are those prices fly-drive? It can often be cheaper to book with a car. Plus as its classed as a 'package' you only pay a deposit up front.

April in NYC can be freezing. It might not be but it can be. Dress appropriately and you will still have a lovely time. July will be better weather obviously but busier and flights will probably be the same or more if you book in school holidays.

We don't find USA to be particularly cheap. Food and hotels in NYC are very expensive, think London and add a bit. Really not worth crimping though. It's not something you'll do that often so you might as well pend a bit more and really enjoy it.

I usually find booking.com to be the cheapest. They do topcashback/quidco too. Always check the hotels own website as well.

We’re doing this trip this year with 3 teens.

Firstly you need to increase your time there. We’re doing NYC, Cape Cod, Boston, Maine, NH and Vermont over 5 weeks and are struggling to fit everything we want to do in.

Secondly start saving and then save some more. It’s extortionate. The exchange rate is awful. We’re moteling it and staying in cabins plus a cottage nothing over £200 a night for 5 and have struggled to keep to budget and find nice places with rooms that sleep 5. We’ve done it but it took hours of research. NYC is eye watering.

Book early. A lot of the family rooms in the nicer places go quick as they save you money. You’re lucky as only 4 so it will be easier.

Start now with your research and get a paper map and Lonely Planet guide books . It takes a lot of time researching and plotting it all out.

BA have good deals early on if you book hotels and car hire too. Think we saved £1k on our car hire and got a good deal on a nice NYC hotel.

Why New Jersey and Connecticut?They wouldn’t be my top choices.

Allow plenty of cash for NYC. The must dos are staggeringly expensive . We will have an apartment and save by self catering but spent £400 on SofL and Tof theR alone!😱Teens are nearly full price in most places. The Met is no longer free. Try to get kitchenettes in most of the places you stay, we have just about managed it.

Agree with PP. NY is indeed incredibly expensive. Adding tax and tip onto meals out makes it hard to eat out with teens!
2 weeks is not much time- a lot of that you’d be getting from place to place. Thinking of the time it takes to even get out of JFK and to Manhattan sometimes... you could lose most of your afternoon in the immigration queue (yes it has happened to me!!).
Have you thought about 2 weeks round Nee England instead as a fly drive and leave NY/ NJ for a separate trip?
A circle of Boston, NH, Vermont, RI? Maybe a few days on Cape Cod?

We’re spending a week in NYC, a week on Cape Cod to recover 😂 and then a 3 week road trip up from Boston through Maine to Acadia National Park then across to NH and back down through Vermont. Vermont will be rushed and a bit of a scenic 2 day car journey via Stowe, Ben&Jerrys🙄and down the spine route but we’ll go back when it’s just dh and I. We’ve tried to include something for everybody. Cities, outdoors, the beach etc. Hoping to do whale watching, sea kayaking( whilst we still can), cycling and a hike or two.

Could you add a week and do Cape Cod( rentals are mostly by the week), do 4 days in NYC, 3 in Boston and a few in Maine? Or is the coast not really your thing? There is so much to do I’m just thinking NJ and CT might be a bit of a waste.

We’ve saved money in Boston by staying in Cambridge near the train line.When we get back I could let you know the yays and disasters re accommodation.

I'd plan out the routes/sights- that's a lot of fit into 2 weeks and you don't want to feel like you spent your whole time on highways rushing between places. I'd probably cut NJ and CT too... they're not really going to give you more than you get from the other states.

A great tip for NYC if you're on a budget- go to Whole Foods for a more affordable cooked dinner. Many of them have a kitchen where you can order salad bowls, burgers, falafel, pizza etc at about $15/meal. There's also the hot counter.

In the northeast April can be cold and snowy but July can be very expensive. TBH I think the best time to go is the last two weeks of August, when a lot of US schools have gone back but the weather is still glorious.

Thank you for the replies. I’ll read and reply in a few mins.

In the meantime, to the lovely mumsnetter that has taken the time to PM me with lots of recommendations, I’m not ignoring you. I’ve been trying to reply for over an hour, but there seems to be a glitch. I’ve reported to MN, and, hopefully, they’ll be able to sort it soon.

Most of the New England schools don't go back until the end of August. We aren't back until September.

April in New England this year was really snowy and freezing. Lots of ice everywhere. I wouldn't take the chance of visiting them unless you didn't mind that.

Try dial a flight for flights and accommodation. I’ve always found them brilliant. I use Wayne Bailey but I think all the advisers are good

The exchange rate is awful for Brits coming here. Makes a lovely change when I go back to the UK!

You're going to be tipping 20% on all meals out/ services etc too.

We’ve saved money in Boston by staying in Cambridge near the train line.When we get back I could let you know the yays and disasters re accommodation.

We do this a lot. As long as you're near the train station it's a great way to go.

We’re spending a week in NYC, a week on Cape Cod to recover 😂 and then a 3 week road trip up from Boston through Maine to Acadia National Park then across to NH and back down through Vermont

This sounds wonderful. If you drive up the NH/Maine coast I'd recommend stopping in Portsmouth and/or Portland for a day, and Camden/Belfast are worth at least half a day. Some of the long drives along the Downeast peninsulas are also very beautiful eg I love the drive to Boothbay Harbor and also the drive to Popham Beach - although arrive either very early or quite late at Popham for parking. Pemaquid Point is also worth a visit, but again quite a long drive down the headland.

Acadia NP is one of my favourite places. Bar Harbor is a bit manic but the other towns are lovely and the hikes are just amazing.

And honestly, I'd skip New Jersey and Connecticut and head for Mine instead. Much much better.

Maine!!

Most of the New England schools don't go back until the end of August. We aren't back until September.

We aren't either, but a lot of the tourists in New England are from the south where the schools go back 2-3 weeks earlier. I live in a New England tourist area and we get the place to ourselves the last two weeks in August.

Yes Portland is awesome. And Camden (but i live here so I'm biased!!)

Agree I’d skip NJ totally and instead of NH go to Maine.
15% tipping is fine.

@drsausage I live in a New England tourist area and we get the place to ourselves the last two weeks in August.

Lucky bloody you. We're slammed until leaf peeping season is over now.

As soon as the schools go back we get the cruise ships and older crowds and then the leaf peepers.

Although we're even getting really busy at Christmas and February for the toboggan championships, film/media festivals. Pretty soon all we'll have is bloody March with being overrun!!

15% isn't fine.

*without

Thank you so much for the replies - so much to take in!

Yes, I think you’re right - 2 weeks isn’t going to be long enough, we could possibly stretch to 3. It’s more the spending costs involved in a longer stay that I’d be concerned about.

Yes, we will definitely cut out NJ, and I only wanted to go to Connecticut as I have a great aunt there, so was planning a quick visit (just one day, not to stay with her).

I absolutely do want to spend time along the coast, and want to visit Cape Cod and work our way along the coast. NJC is a must for the children, not so much for DH & I.

Thanks for the tip about the weather, think the end of August would be best. I’d be pretty disappointed if it was snowing in April!

I hadn't really thought about fly drives, which sites would you recommend? Thanks again.