New York, Boston, Washington DC, Niagara falls - the transportation

[ip84]

Hi,

After the Eurobasket I'm going to New York and will stay around for almost a month.

I'll be without a car (I have a driving licence, but I afraid to drive alone in another country and it is probably expensive for one person alone), so I'm trying to plan the trip according to the public transportation.

I think that most likely I'll visit Boston (and Cambridge next to it) and Washington DC.

I would also like to see the Niagara falls (U.S and Canada), and regarding this I'm uncertain about several things:
1. Is it conveniently reachable from Boston and Washington, so that I could do NY->Boston->Niagara->Washington instead of going to all the other 3 destinations from NY and back.
2. are the organized tours there advisable if you are without a car.
3. Should I maybe visit some cities in Canada on the way or not far from there. I don't know also how much time I'll have, but I would like to know if something is highly recommended.

Any other advices are appreciated as well

Thanks.

[JGX]

Not sure of your schedule or budget, but you should look into flying from Boston to Buffalo on Southwest Airlines--the prices are reasonable if you book early enough--and I'm sure there are shuttle services from Buffalo to Niagara Falls. You could also do that from Washington (on Southwest or JetBlue) but the airports you would have to fly from are less convenient.

By ground transport it's a very long way from Boston, NYC, or Washington. Probably not a significant price difference versus flying either. Here are a bunch of tours from Boston:
http://search.taketours.com/tourserv...agara&days=2-4

[usausa]

I go to school in New York City, and I take the bus home to Boston, costs $15 one-way, sometimes if you look early enough, you can get a $1 ticket...thats the cheapest bus and I use it because I am a college student looking to save every last dollar Lucky Star Bus . It goes from Chinatown in New York to South Station in Boston. Only a New York-Boston line...bus even has wifi! There are many other buses too, but this works for me.

As for tours in Boston, the most well-known and the tour everyone does is called the Duck Tour...you go on a 'duck boat' (an amphibious vehicle, can do both land and water). They take you around the city driving by lots of historic places. They talk about Boston, revolution history, almost everything. That is probably the easiest tour and after doing that you could see if there was anything more that you want to see.
http://www.bostonducktours.com/

Lastly there is the Sports Museum inside the TD Garden, home of the Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins. Open 10-4 everyday except days where there are events at the Garden. It's an American sports museum, so there is baseball, basketball, hockey, football exhibits. Great place if you want to see Boston's great sport tradition and maybe learn something about other sports. They have lots of neat artificats and exhibits, one including Larry Bird's locker.
http://www.sportsmuseum.org/

Hope this helps. Any questions feel free to PM me.

[Phantim3dx]

dude as an upstate new yorker, i just want to say the american side of the niagara falls is shitty as hell, the nice views and areas of interest are all on the canadian side for niagara falls.

i know when u cross the border u can actually just cross by walking the bridge
the canuck customs agents are also more friendly than the american ones, there dicks. but since u are from israel i guess youll think american customs are friendly and canadian border customs are angels.

if u want cheap food (m not so sure if its kosher) just eat in chinatown, thats where most of those people in wall street go to eat anyways.


also if you do rent a car, i guess visit the finger lakes in new york, they have many vineyards there for u to try (NY is famous for its white wine varieties with reisling being top...weimer vineyards is one of the best knowns)

toronto is only a 100 minute drive from the border, and in toronto u can crash in "AJAXBALLER" (tyler) apartment somewhere in uni of toronto, maybe partake in gangbangs with him and try out some of these Canadian only sex acts (http://www.canadiansexacts.org/canadian_statement.htm)

other stuff sorry couldnt be of much help

OH food
buffalo wings are a must since u are going to be near niagara falls.
i dont know how u are getting from nYC to niagara area but if for some reason u stop by in rochester (my hometown) go to nick tahou's (some greek immigrant started it back in the 70s) for my city's famous "garbage plate"

[ip84]

@JGX

Thanks. Flight is an option. I just saw that most of the tours to Niagara, including the one you linked, include the 1000 islands, so I thought maybe it would be better to stop somewhere on the way....

I thought more about taking organised tour at the place already because several days tours unsuitable for me for several reasons
1. They return from the same city they start from, but I would like to move to the next destination.
2. It's not that I'm trying to save every dollar, but I don't see a reason to pay for hostels and with addition price to the tour for being a single person (the printed prices are usually for a person in double room), when I even enjoy more to stay in hostels.
The main reason for me to take a tour is for be able go get to nature places with bad transportation. But for this reason I'll also try maybe to find a company thought couch-surfing, for renting a car and making a tour...

@usausa
Thank you for the useful information.
I haven't read about Boston yet but I've never heard about such vehicles.

@Phantim3dx
First lol about the link... but I think you guessed wrong my gender :d

finger lakes > 1000 islands ?

At wikitravel they recommend to be at both sides of Niagara - U.S and Canadian. They say that the Canadian is "better" but american is different and less commercialized. If I'm already there, isn't the U.S side worth at all?
One more question - are the both sides are in walking distance?
Can I take for example a list of the attractions there and move from one to another by foot?

[JGX]

@JGX

Thanks. Flight is an option. I just saw that most of the tours to Niagara, including the one you linked, include the 1000 islands, so I thought maybe it would be better to stop somewhere on the way....

IMO there isn't anything that exciting to see on the way there. If you were driving you could stop at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield. Thousand Islands are pretty far out of the way.

I thought more about taking organised tour at the place already because several days tours unsuitable for me for several reasons
1. They return from the same city they start from, but I would like to move to the next destination.

I agree.

finger lakes > 1000 islands ?

They're much closer to Niagara Falls.

At wikitravel they recommend to be at both sides of Niagara - U.S and Canadian. They say that the Canadian is "better" but american is different and less commercialized.

I've only ever been to the Canadian side, but that seems to be the consensus...the view from the Canadian side is nicer because you don't have to look at the Canadian side There is more stuff to do in the city on the Canadian side, although a lot of it is pretty tacky.

My recollection is that you can get around the sights pretty well on foot and by bus but you will want to look into this...the wikitravel pages for Niagara Falls have lots of information. You an walk across the Rainbow Bridge between the US and Canada.

[JGX]

I go to school in New York City, and I take the bus home to Boston, costs $15 one-way, sometimes if you look early enough, you can get a $1 ticket...thats the cheapest bus and I use it because I am a college student looking to save every last dollar Lucky Star Bus . It goes from Chinatown in New York to South Station in Boston. Only a New York-Boston line...bus even has wifi! There are many other buses too, but this works for me.

Good tip on the "Chinatown" buses...try Bolt Bus or Megabus between NYC and DC.

[usausa]

Good tip on the "Chinatown" buses...try Bolt Bus or Megabus between NYC and DC.

Forgot to add that the Lucky Star bus line to Boston takes about 4 hrs 15 minutes to 4 hrs 30 minutes. Little longer than usual because they make a stop in Connecticut for food/restrooms.

Also if in Boston good place to visit is the Pridential Center...can travel to top Boston's tallest building and do some shopping and eating.
Great food places include Quincy Market, Mike's Pastry, and pretty much any Italian place in the North End.
Boston is a realtively small city and population 500,000 (maybe a tad more). You can get anywhere by subway in pretty much short time (although waiting for a subway can be long). Or if you are feeling like you want to walk, you can walk around too. One subway ride (with transfers to other subway lines) cost $2.00....forget the price for a bus, I stopped taking it once I got to high school but shouldn't be more than 1.00 or 1.50.

[ip84]

Hi from Boston.

I'm looking for a flight from Buffalo to Washington DC, and the only direct flights I find are to Baltimore airport.
Am I missing something?

Thanks!

[JGX]

I'm looking for a flight from Buffalo to Washington DC, and the only direct flights I find are to Baltimore airport.
Am I missing something?

US Airways flies nonstop from Buffalo to National Airport but I think they only let you do that if you're flying round-trip, for one way you probably have to make a connection. It's probably cheaper (maybe significantly so) to fly from Buffalo to BWI on Southwest.

Why day are you planning to fly? It's not hard to get from BWI to DC unless you are arriving late at night, there are lots of trains and it's only 30-45 minutes.

[ip84]

US Airways flies nonstop from Buffalo to National Airport but I think they only let you do that if you're flying round-trip, for one way you probably have to make a connection. It's probably cheaper (maybe significantly so) to fly from Buffalo to BWI on Southwest.

Why day are you planning to fly? It's not hard to get from BWI to DC unless you are arriving late at night, there are lots of trains and it's only 30-45 minutes.

I think I'll fly at 4 or 5 of October.
If I decide to see Toronto that later. Should I?

Yeah, I saw that there is transportation from BWI if you are not arrive after midnight or so.
I hate the fact that I have to order already if I don't want the price to rise :/

[JGX]

How's the trip going? Back home yet?

[ip84]

How's the trip going? Back home yet?

Thanks for asking. I haven't logged to this forum for a while...

I've been in all of the cities I've mentioned and now I'm in my last week in NY.
It's hart to tell about all the places I've been and saw, thought I can send you on private an album.

My major complains would be:
1. The hostel in Boston. I paid 40$+tax for place that have nothing of what I used to get in Europe and it wasn't in a good location (thought by chance they had the annual celebration of the main street nearby so it was nice), and when I needed to print a page they had the "hutzpa" first to tell me to come again in the next morning, and than to ask for a "small fee" of 2 dollars.
I had read that in U.S. most of the people stay in motels, but most of them are outside the towns and I was without a car.
So for Buffalo and Washington I found in coushsurfing 2 Israeli guys that hosted me (by chance or not...).
2. The addresses at DC are horrible. After building number 715 can go building number 800 or whatever.
When I wanted to go to NY I checked the schedule of a bus company and arrived there more or less. After going back and forward (now I think maybe I also had to look at the other side of the street) and any person I asks know just another company also nearby, I saw that I have a bus of the other company 30 minutes later (even 2 dollars less), so 5 minutes before the bus I wanted to catch I gave up and bought a ticket of the other company.
MISTAKE.
This bus went to NYC thought Philadelphia, it didn't go to the Penn Station (the other company had Penn Station and China Town as its stops) even that the Chinese girl that sold me the ticket told me it does, and the driver didn't feel obligated to announce the stations (I also was asking people around me "what town is it" and nobody knew), so I went down in the less comfortable station for me in NY, in the China town, waiting for arriving to the Penn Station. Not only me was surprised when he said "last stop" to people who remained sitting.
A guy that helped me by taking me to the next metro station told me about Chinese services : "They expect you to know everything. They don't speak. It's just something they don't do". Lol.
3. The local flights are in small airplanes. This makes me sick on the landing... of course I cannot blame them for that.

[JGX]

Well if you are posting at 2:42 AM you must be having fun