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If you are planning your first trip to USA, you are probably thinking of going to a few of the major cities. Which ones to include? There are endless guidebooks which will feed you a lot more of the facts about the various cities than we can, but here are our impressions of what they felt like to visit. Hope it helps you to decide.
Everyone seems to say that you either love it or hate it. That's too simple. Some of my friends love it with a passion. Trev has absolutely no desire to see it again, and while I couldn't say I "love" it, I would certainly consider going back. When we went in 92, it was cold and rainy (which is never the best weather to see any city in), the place looked dirty (especially around Times Square, where our motel was), and to be honest, I found it a bit scary walking around. This was all long before they cleaned it up (both physically and in terms of crime) - and long, long before September 11. That event made it very clear just how much its citizens love their city. My bet is that New York has a very special feel about it these days.
We both love this city. We use it as our "gateway" if we are arriving on the west coast - beats Los Angeles hands down in our view. Maybe it is because it is a harbour-and-hills city like Sydney. It looks good and it has a warm, homely - and yet exciting - feel to it. If you are going to stay there a few days, pick a motel near Union Square or the convention centre, rather than at Fisherman's Wharf. The Wharf is ok - certainly take the cable car and have a look, but the downtown area is more interesting to walk around - we like the bookshops particularly. Also, it's a quick walk down to the Ferry and the BART to go day-tripping. By the way, if you are going there in their summer, take a jumper. There can be a surprisingly cool breeze at that time of year.
This is our favourite city on the East Coast. Boston looks classy, and seems to ooze brain-power! We've visited it many times, it's an easy gateway flight from Europe.
Boston Common looks wonderful in all weathers, Copley Square is great for window shopping, not to mention thawing out if you are visiting in Winter - the arcades are nice and warm! Make sure you go up to the viewing deck in the John Hancock tower, the Charles River looks great from there, with the city sprawled out along it. You can also watch the planes take off and land at the airport. Use the "T" line (underground trams) and take yourself out to Harvard - although sadly, the bookshops are thinning out there. Boston is constantly changing, but we were startled to find that in the Downtown shopping area, Filene's Basement, an institution in Boston, is no longer in a basement but in a flashy new above-ground shop. Oh dear, it has lost all it's grungy charm. Actually the city centre block seemed to have been abandonned - I wonder what we will find there next time we visit? Anyway, there are heaps of things to do after you have finished with the traditional Quincy Markets and Boston Tea Party bits!
Accommodation right in the downtown part of the city or at Copley is pretty expensive, and we tend to stay just a little way out. On earlier visits, we stayed near Fenway (baseball) Park, home of the Red Sox (this is close to Kenmore Square T station). You can still walk into the city from here - either by way of the Fens, or along Commonwealth Avenue, past some great-looking brownstones (also past lots of coffee shops and restaurants!).
On our most recent trip we stayed at an airport hotel, the Embassy Suites. The advantage of this one is that you could almost walk to it from the airport (but it provides a free shuttle bus, so you don't have to) and it is very close to a T station to get around the rest of Boston.
I've tried driving in Boston a few times, but it is really not worth the hassle. Bostonians have a reputation for being crazy drivers and it is well-deserved. They have to be, to cope with their impossible road system (which is constantly undergoing major re-contruction, from what we have seen over 20 years of visits!)
Las Vegas, built in the middle of a desert, chews up heaps of electricity and precious water and no doubt speeds a lot of people to misery and bankruptcy. You could think of a million reasons why it doesn't "deserve" a visit, but if you can put all that sort of thinking aside, it really is an amazing place. Go have a look, it is more over-the-top in real life than anything you have imagined or have seen of it on TV. It's an experience.
The other good thing about Las Vegas is that it is very nicely located if you are planning to do road trips around the eastern or central states. We fly in and use it as our car hire point. Don't forget to plan your arrival for mid-week - the motel rates are about half at that time, compared to Fri-Mon rates.
The main thing that strikes us about Washington is how spread-out it is - possibly because on both occasions we have visited it, the weather has been bitterly cold, and you do tend to notice how far you are walking, when there are icicles dripping off your nose. On the second trip we discovered the train - that helped a bit!
We've really only touched the surface here and there is lots more to see, but some of our favourite haunts are the Smithsonian museums. Not into museums? Yep, I remember being pretty bored during school excursions too, but these will get you hopping. Try the Space one for starters. A friend who visited recently says the new Spy museum is worth a visit. The zoo is also pretty good - the animals look amazingly happy and seem to breed well too, even though some of the enclosures are pretty old-fashioned.
Can anyone tell us where there are some cheap eateries here? We haven't been able to find many so far.
Rumour has it that it rains a lot in Seattle. We must be very lucky, because we've only copped a couple of light showers, and we've visited there heaps of times. It's another harbour-with-hills city, so we find it pretty nice to look at, and there are some great bookshops in the city and out at the University.
One thing you might want to consider is where you are going to stay. Many of the motels are located at the top of the fairly steep hill which lies behind the main shopping district. Good views, but it does make for a tiring walk at the end of the day if you have spent it down by the harbourside!
We've only spent a couple of days here - yes, it has quite a different feel to other cities, but it also feels a bit "touristy" around the French Quarter (because it is I guess!). This corner of the States is one we have not spent a lot of time in. If you have time, do add it to your itinerary - the Mississippi is certainly worth a look, and you've gotta try the food!
These are really cities we go to because of their location (oh dear, no doubt that will offend someone). They are good jumping-off points for trips to other places (the Rockies, some of the desert landscapes, some of the major National Parks).
Colorado Springs has a great little park in the hills behind it called the Garden of the Gods - fantastic red rock formations, sculpted by the wind. Have a look if you are in the vicinity. Salt Lake of course has the Mormon Temple - yes, you should go to the talk they give, although you probably won't be allowed inside the Temple itself. You might want to have a look at the Mint in Denver - they only make coins here, not notes, but it's interesting to hear about how many coins they have to make just to cover for the fact that so many people keep a few in jars...
I suspect this might be one of those love/hate places, but we loved it. We had a friend to take us around, and we visited in Fall. The day we arrived it was 80 degrees F, and we could not understand why the motel pool had been emptied. The next day, it snowed! We stayed near the Lake and our friend showed us around some of the swanky suburbs, as well as around the "go" and "no go" areas of the city. Had an exciting feel to it.
We stayed in a motel that ended up being in some suburb quite a way out of central Dallas, and had to get a taxi in. The taxi driver spent the whole trip telling us we had made a big mistake coming to Dallas, no one goes there, it's the most boring city he'd ever been in. Well, gotta agree, didn't see much of interest there, it just seemed to be full of towering glass buildings housing banks and insurance companies. Maybe we missed whatever good stuff they have...happy to be enlightened if that is the case!
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