Travelling the East Coast of the US down to the Deep South...

Fabio

Hi guys,

I'm working on a plan to head over to the US for a month in the summer with a friend of mine to do some travelling as we'll both have completed our final summer exams this year in our degrees and so I need ye're help!

We plan to flying to Boston from Shannon....

Here's the list of cities we want to see and the order in which we want to hit them:

- Boston
- New York City
- Washington
- Raleigh, North Carolina
- Atlanta, Georgia
- New Orleans
- Houston, Texas

We're going to try and use the train as much as possible but may use the bus between Boston and NYC and NYC and Washington to save a few quid.

The burning question for us though is how much time should we spend in each city?

I was thinking a week for NYC as I was there for 2 nights last summer and it wasn't half enough, had a week in Boston at the same time and enjoyed it, could have spent a lot longer than a week but to be honest I felt I got to know it quick enough that I'd not have to spend ages there again.

How much time would you allocate to Washington? We both study US Foreign Policy/History so we'd want to see pretty much everything in that area like the Vietnam War Memorial, Capitol Hill, the White House and all of the museums...

I really don't know what to allocate to Raleigh or Atlanta - I'm thinking 3 days each. New Orleans and Houston would probably have a lot to offer so 4 days each would be needed probably...

It seems to me that 30 days just may not be enough - an extra 5 days could go a long way...

Opinions?

hussey

I did that entire trip (well similar route) in around than 30days

I had 3days in boston and I got the chinatownbus to new york and that was cheap as chips

5 days in NYC, 3 days in Wash DC (mainly due to staying with a friend) - 2 days was grand here to do all the sightseeing

I didn't go to Raleigh, but went to Atlanta - 2 days was fine for me here.
I then went to Mephis & Nashville (Both places I'd highly recommend)

I didn't go to N.O as the hurricane hit that year, I was suppose to go to Houston but went to Austin instead - it was a fantastic place Austin - I loved it, great music seen and had a great vibe to the city.

Here was my trip
NYC - 5days
Boston - 3 days
Chicago (flight) - 4days
Philly (flight) - 4 days
Wash DC - 3 days (I stayed in virgina and commuted)
Atlanta (flight) - 3 days
Nashville - 2 days
Memphis - 2 days
1 day travelling
Austin - 2 days
Dallas - 3 days (worst city ever)

Fabio

Thanks for the reply Hussey, seems like you'd a great trip.

Overall we're looking at a budget of €1200 to cover all trains, buses and flights and accomodation.

I'm saying 35 days would be best cos we'll be on the train a lot and more time = less stress.

Any advice on that or am I overly worried?

As for Atlanta, what things are there to do?

scruff321

are internal flights around the states cheap?

Fabio

Not really, or so I've heard.

The train is cheap from what I have looked at.