THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Fun Stuff => CHATTER => Topic started by: negative creep on 01 Apr 2010, 06:49
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So here is the thing: Two friends of mine are about to travel to the USA and I foolishly (and drunkenly) told them I could ask you guys for advice and such.
They will be landing in New York on May 12 and take the plane back from San Francisco on July 7. Apart from those two dates they don't yet know much what they are going to do, except that they want to visit the following cities on their way: Washington DC, Birmingham (Alabama), New Orleans and Flagstaff (Arizona).
What they need now is basically anything they can get. Do's and don't's for travelling the US, things to do in aforementioned cities, cheap places to sleep/eat. If you live there and have time on your hands and want to show them around the city, that would be awesome, too. (did I mention they are pretty girls?)
As for activities, keep in mind they are not above the drinking age, so 21+ bars are out.
I will be gone for a week, starting tomorrow. When I come back, I'll be expecting replies. I'm couinting on you there
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Everyone hates the North. I can be of no help to you.
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Since they are going the southern route, Austin is a good inbetween of New Orleans and Flagstaff. Also they had better check out the Cali coast as they are driving up to San Fransisco. As for where to stay, they should look up hotels on sites like Expedia, Travelocity, and Hotwire, unless they want hostels, then they should look those up elsewhere. They should bring lots of things to entertain themselves in the car with, because it will be a long and mostly boring drive.
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Austin's actually a bit of a detour between Flagstaff and NO. Major cities along the way are Dallas (sucks) and Albuquerque (the best). Depending on how hard they want to push through the southwest, they'll probably want to stop in both. The between ABQ and DFW is boring as hell and there's pretty much Amarillo along the way which is the most worst place. There is literally no scenery until you hit mid-New Mexico and the gorgeous Sandias. So yeah, that'll be boring as crap.
I-10 and Austin is an option, though, but it'll involve a longer-ass boring drive through West Texas and at some point a major turn northward either in Arizona or NM. Neither of those are really exciting.
(Austin is a rad as fuck town, though, so I can see how that would be mad tempting too.)
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Are they driving? If so, standard rules still apply (pass on the left, etc), but expect a loooootttt of people to ignore them, especially in places where the freeway is more than 3 lanes. Also, some states (at least on the east coast, I dunno about anywhere else) like Maryland and Kentucky have been known to use small unmarked airplanes to monitor speeding drivers, so beware of that.
West Virginia is very pretty to drive through, not very much of a detour from I-81 S, and if you stop anywhere it's like going back in time to the 1960s. Just don't stay there very long.
If driving, the I-81 ends somewhere around Knoxville, Tennessee and to keep on to Birmingham you have to get onto I-75, which takes you through Chattanooga, which means you should really just come to Atlanta at that point because it is only an hour away and we have a better aquarium now and stuff.
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there's pretty much Amarillo along the way which is the most worst place.
Everybody's always gotta be hatin' on the Texas Panhandle, jeez.
It's true Austin's not a direct route, but if they've got more than a month to kill I highly recommend it as a detour. True the drinking there is legendary, but there are plenty of underage things to do.
I wouldn't personally touch West Virginia, its kinda pretty, but then you gotta deal with the people there. Maybe I'm just biased, I figured out I'm allergic to eggplant there.
Tips for road traveling, tips! I mean in the US its customary to tip between 10-15% at most sit-in restaurants,if they have someone seat you, you should tip. Also there is always an alternative to McDonalds, and make sure you stretch your legs every chance you can get on long road trips.
Also I hear good things about that Atlanta Aquarium, I hear they have a whale shark there. (whale sharks are pretty much the coolest thing)
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Actually, they can just do I-10 to Austin, then go up to Dallas and continue on I-40. Don't know why I didn't think of that before.
That'd be the best possible trip I think. It'd be a shame to go through NM and not hit ABQ and get some goddamn tasty New Mexican food.
\/ Oh goodness, I didn't even think of giving tours. My friends and I would totally give tours of ABQ and Santa Fe to foreigners. Might even be able to finagle free lodging at a Sheraton while they're here too.
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I'll show them around New York if you can specify a) exactly how pretty we're talking here, and b) what their interests are.
There's a dozen various tours of New York I can do, from the most mundane (Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, bleh bleh) to seedy rock 'n roll underground.
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Albuquerque (the best)
Brokencyde are from Albuquerque. DISPROVE'D
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Neil Patrick Harris is from Albuquerque.
REVERSAL. SAVED.
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West Virginia is very pretty to drive through, not very much of a detour from I-81 S, and if you stop anywhere it's like going back in time to the 1960s. Just don't stay there very long.
I hate driving through West Virginia. That is because I always have a destination, and we end up diagonal through it so it lasts forever and I'm always driving so I can't even enjoy the views.
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Neil Patrick Harris is from Albuquerque.
REVERSAL. SAVED.
Oh shiiii-
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Flagstaff (Arizona).
What the fuck? There is nothing in Flagstaff except for a college that has a marching band program, hardcore christian kids, and a bunch of pretentious stoners. Tell them not to go there. Flagstaff is terrible. Sedona ain't so bad but really touristy. Honestly they can hit the grand canyon and ignore the rest of az pretty easily.
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guys not all of west virginia is scary!
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San Francisco is an awesome city.
If you like museums don't go to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. It was a huge disappointment.
Do go to the M.H. DeYoung Musuem. That museum was seriously awesome. Its modern art exhibit was easily ten times better than the SFMOMA in its entirety. Not to mention it's got a whole variety of shit, like some awesome African masks that if I saw on a man I would seriously get nightmares and/or think I was on acid, and this really rad Native American stuff that was like "oh my god I didn't know they were so talented" and some pretty crazy awesome landscapes that were like, "whoa, those European painters had imaginations as fantastic as any fantasy author but they didn't do it with elves they didn't it with perfect composition and lighting." God I love museums. And if the King Tut exhibit is still there when you go, don't bother. It was mediocre compared to the rest of the museum.
Oh, and ignore the Academy of Science or w/e it's called that's next door to the M.H. DeYoung musuem. It's for little kids.
Other cool things:
Alcatraz is a lot better than it was twenty years ago. Twenty years ago it was shit, but now they've got this awesome tour with audio samples from people who actually worked as guards or were inmates talking about events that actually happened (like attempted break outs and riots) and what life was like there. Very cool.
If you're an outdoorsy type, and have a day with awesome weather, and have a rental car, totally drive to Point Reyes. That is an incredibly beautiful place. It's not overdeveloped, and it's got like elk and owls roaming all over the place, and the hiking is excellent, and the food is great (especially the meat, since all their cattle that they eat is raised right there at point reyes). Just don't go into the water because it's got the highest concentration of Great White Sharks anywhere in the world, which is kind of awesome.
Try to get to Point Reyes before dawn if you can. Sunrises there will be one of the most memorable events in your life.
Also, if you've never seen redwoods before, there's a place called Muir Woods about forty five minutes north of downtown San Francisco. It closes at dark because if you're in there when it's dark without a flashlight you're fucked - I would know. But it's really beautiful at twilight and the hiking is fun. Redwoods are amazing if you haven't seen them before, and even then they have this majesty that's hard to find anywhere else. Although being stranded there after dark because your car is out of gas and there are signs everywhere telling you it's mountain lion country is kind of creepy, it's a beautiful place to be stranded at.
And I haven't been to New York, or Wash D.C. although I plan to.
Some things I do know about New Orleans: muggers there aren't afraid to kill you. Their crime rate is pretty crazy high, so be careful. And they definitely aren't afraid to mug tourists - apparently it happens all the time. So travel in groups.
Birmingham Alabama is supposed to have a great nightlife, but I've never been there personally.
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Also it's a darn shame that route makes them miss Chicago entirely.
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Whatever state you drive through, watch out for the [ulr=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068473/]locals[/url].
And that is a sad thing! Chicago is an awesome city. St. Louis is also pretty rad. Also, if you can, go to Nashville. (I know I said that in the other road trip thread, too.) It's Amurrican, it's got some very good music, and for the most part, everyone is nice! It's definitely worth visiting.
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Are they driving?
Probably not, at least if renting cars works the same way as here, where they won't let you rent cars if you're that young.
I'll show them around New York if you can specify a) exactly how pretty we're talking here, and b) what their interests are.
There's a dozen various tours of New York I can do, from the most mundane (Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, bleh bleh) to seedy rock 'n roll underground.
Very pretty, if you ask me. Anyway, they are interested in all kinds of music, art, things like that.
Thanks so far for the many replies, I will be back in about a week!
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wait dom you are sending cute german girls into dc?
holy fuck yes
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Wait they're not driving?
I
I don't know how to do this.
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I'll show them around New York if you can specify a) exactly how pretty we're talking here, and b) what their interests are.
There's a dozen various tours of New York I can do, from the most mundane (Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, bleh bleh) to seedy rock 'n roll underground.
Very pretty, if you ask me. Anyway, they are interested in all kinds of music, art, things like that.
Thanks so far for the many replies, I will be back in about a week!
Cool, I'm down. Send 'em my way.
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Go to Maryland and have some goddamned crabcake. Which would probably mean you should be in the general vicinity of the Chesapeake bay.
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Are they driving?
Probably not, at least if renting cars works the same way as here, where they won't let you rent cars if you're that young.
So what is their transportation plan? Are they planning to ride buses? I guess that would work, I've never thought about it. I doubt there are train connections, and please don't tell me a couple of pretty young girls are planning to hitch-hike across the country.
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Lots of pretty young people hitch across places successfully all the time.
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Lots of pretty young people hitch and successfully get themselves raped, murdered and dismembered in the US all the time. Not necessarily in that order!
I fixed your post Drill King!
Not to mention hitchhiking is illegal in many states.
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to the greyhounds!
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Then they DEFINITELY need to bring themselves something to entertain themselves. Greyhounds are boring and the stations are kind of depressing. Take Megabus instead! It's cheaper! Or a train! Sometimes they have wifi! If they are flying, well, hey, that's cool.
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I'd recommend, once they've done the Northeast (quickly, because it's pricey as hell if you don't have your own transportation), get all of their checklist cities (friends/family?) out of the way as fast as possible. Then meander up from Flagstaff through the Grand Canyon, Utah, Colorado, Montana, Washington, Oregon, and then into California from the north (which is where most of the best parts are). Preferably by train as much as possible. LOTS of beautiful scenery. I don't know how old you have to be to stay in a national park, but they all (and there's a good number of them along the way) come highly recommended. If they're at all interested in the outdoors, cities like Moab, UT and Boulder, CO offer a lot of great opportunities.
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actually, Greyhound has started offering Wi-Fi on some of their buses.
Just sayin.
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I doubt there are train connections, and please don't tell me a couple of pretty young girls are planning to hitch-hike across the country.
Of the actual checklist cities, the only ones that don't have easy, no transfer Amtrak routs are NoLa to Flagstaff and Flagstaff to SF. And Flagstaff to SF is pretty much just a transfer in LA or Oakland.
On the bright side, one of the routes to Flagstaff is through Chicago, so that's a cool city to plan a stop at anyway. Though it would take a couple days to get there.
Both Amtrak and Greyhound let you buy a pass for as many rides as you'd like for a given period of time.
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wait dom you are sending cute german girls into dc?
holy fuck yes
So could you show them around an such? That would be great.
So what is their transportation plan? Are they planning to ride buses? I guess that would work, I've never thought about it. I doubt there are train connections, and please don't tell me a couple of pretty young girls are planning to hitch-hike across the country.
I don't know, but I will find out. They only bought the plane tickets about a week ago, so I don't know how detailed their plans are at this point.
Gene, hit me with a pm for contact information and such. Thanks for your help, it's appreciated!
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maybe dom when and what would they be trying to do?
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Thanks to whoever mentioned Megabus! I'm going to be travelling around the States for a bit after my placement in the Adirondacks and it seems the cheapest way to get around the North East, but that seems to be the only area they service. I'll probably be greyhound busing it after that.
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If they plan on doing any flying to get around the country once they're here, tell them to land at Washington National (Reagan) if they come to DC, not Dulles or BWI. Reagan is connected to the rest of the city by the metro, but the other two you have to deal with shuttles and trains and stuff because they are kind of surprisingly far away from the city.
Chris and I could potentially show people around DC as well- Chris is fluent in German, if that helps.
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I could theoretically offer services both in terms of entertainment as well as transportation in the Northeast, as I may be making a drive from CT down to Washington, DC in that time frame anyway.
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Yet you never come to visit.
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Tell them to visit me on the final leg of their San Francisco trip. I'm in Livermore which is in the same county as Oakland, which is right across the bay from the City. I know some shit to do in my neck of the woods.
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Tell them that they can sustain themselves on nothing but apple pie.
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Apple pie and FREEDOM