Comments on: Travel plans – version 1 – I need your help!

By: SavannahSam

SavannahSam — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 04:17:40 +0000

San Francisco is a pretty cool place to visit. I would definitely hit up the pier while there. On your east coast trip, I would recommend checking out the city of Savannah, Georgia. There are some really beautiful Savannah condos to stay at during your visit, and the city is a great place to stop while en route from Florida up the coast. Also, I agree that Niagara is a must-see, and the Canadian side is definitely the better side.

By: thegirlinthecafe

thegirlinthecafe — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 08:52:56 +0000

Wow, thanks so much to all of you for the comments! They are all really useful and I am more and more convinced that I should split the trip in two, doing the westcoast in one and the eastern part include Niagara in another trip.

By: Annerie

Annerie — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 22:23:26 +0000

Lake Michigan has beautiful lighthouses !!!
My best friend used to live on the West coast and San Francisco is fantastic.

By: spincks

spincks — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 21:59:15 +0000

1-Niagara Falls: I agree with daithaic that you should definitely see them from the Canadian side. They are beautifully lit by night, by the way.

2-San Francisco: you can visit Alcatraz from here. Highway 101, along the coast, is a highway with a good view.

3-LA and Hollywood: I found both to be a tad disappointing, but as an aspiring film maker you should definitely see the walk of fame, the Chinese theatre, the Hollywood sign, and Universal Studios.

By: Tabula

Tabula — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 09:58:39 +0000

Chicago is probably the most beautiful city in USA. It’s completely different from the rest of the country. Well worth the visit. You can swim in the lake, visit either Sears Tower or Hancock building, Buckingham Fountain, the Indians that Mestrovic made (impressive), Navy Pier, maybe a boat ride down the Chicago River…nice to see the city from the river. The Art Institute of Chicago, and so on. Architecture is wonderful.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 02:42:33 +0000

This is too much of a trip for 2 weeks. Save some for another time.

1. Boston — Downtown? Follow the Freedom Trail http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/ Whales? August is the time to see them here. Lighthouses? I live 45 minutes north of Portland Head Light and assure you it and others nearby are beautiful.

2. Niagara Falls — to me, not worth the trouble of getting there. Interesting for 1 hr, then boring.

3. Chicago — would love to go sometime

4. San Francisco — fabulous place, so much to see and do. Consider a train tour of Napa Wine Country http://www.napawinetours.net

5. Los Angeles — interesting from a film biz perspective, but I think a better option is the Pacific Coast Highway from San Francisco up to Oregon / Washington http://www.travelsense.org/destinations/pacificcoasthighway.cfm

All depends on what you want to do!

By: thegirlinthecafe

thegirlinthecafe — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 20:27:49 +0000

@daithaic and @joachim: thanks for all your tips and info on Chicago! Sounds like a good place to go too!

@marieke: that train trip looks amazing!! Thanks for that tip, that might be the way to do it for sure!

OK I am going to work on plan v2 now :)

By: Joachim

Joachim — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 19:06:05 +0000

Just visit Chicago and SF. Both cities are well worth spending a week.
Chcago has great outdoor sculptures, it has an elevated train (the El), which loops downtown (guess what: the Loop).
Chicago is the city of the blues, lots of live music.
It has a lake so big you can’t see accross the lake. You are surprised these are fresh water waves, Chicago has ART.
Visit the Bahai temple north of Chicago.
SF:
The Legion of Honor has a fine exhibition of sculptures of Rodin http://www.famsf.org/legion/about/subpage.asp?subpagekey=65
Just do the cable car thing and walk Lombard street. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lombard_Street_%28San_Francisco%29

By: Marieke

Marieke — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 18:02:13 +0000

I was just browsing around for our own trip when I came across this: http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/am2Route/Vertical_Route_Page&cid=1081256321841&c=am2Route&ssid=135. A train from Seattle via Oakland/San Francisco to Los Angeles! Via the coast!

I think it would make a great adventure. :-)

By: daithaic

daithaic — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:59:28 +0000

Ingrid,

Like most Girls you like your shopping lists! – let me help you with the first three as I haven’t been to the west coast.

Boston is wonderful, the harbour is on 3 sides and gives the whole set up great athmospherics. The Common is great with redcoats and bluecoats roaming around as if it’s the most natural thing in the world and Beacon Hill above it is like an Olde English town only nicer. Real sense of history here and lively bars on the waterfront as well as the wonderful Aquarium of New England. If you have the time a trip down to New Bedford opposite Nantucket is worth it but plenty to do in Boston including a quick metro trip across the river to Harvard. It is the most European of American towns.

Niagara is far better from the Canadian side but the Maid of the Mist operates from both the US and Canada. If you go up the Niagara George to Lake Ontario, Niagara-on-the Lake is just chocolate box lovely with a six month George Bernard Shaw festival every year and loads of antique shops.

Chicago is (to european’s) America’s hidden secret where the Great Lakes connect to the Missisippi, Ohio and Red Rivers and every railway line went into (including the one which carried “The Spirit of New Orleans”). It is where America did real business and is well worth catching with a superb lakefront setting. This is an important place and do see the Art Institute, the “Golden Mile” of Madison Avenue, the entertainment district around Rush and Division streets and the Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in Oakpark not to mention the downtown shopping around the Watertower Centre.

Hope I’ve confused you enough but I agree with Marieke that you shouldn’t try to do to much – This is what American tourists do with photo op Europe in ten days!!