Coming to America

[mayjay]

Hello Bro & Sis,

 

We have been invited to Houston to attend a wedding,🎉 while we are very appreciative and excited to be invited,  as a travel novices, planning the trip from Sunny Australia seems overwhelming. At this stage we will be in USA for at least 3 weeks. 
Tentatively we were thinking of flying to NYC, so far on our list we would like to incorporate the following into our holiday.

MET tour 

Warwick

Patterson

Wallkill

See a broadway show

Niagara Falls 

Yosemite

Nascar

Seeking advice on the best area to stay to visit Warwick, Patterson, Wallkill, would hiring a car be the best way to visit?

Open to suggestions on must see experiences and if flying into JFK would be the best option, before we go to Houston.

Would it be better to see Niagara Falls before Yosemite ?

 

Many thanks in advance

WCL 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dustparticle]

1 hour ago, mayjay said:

Open to suggestions on must see experiences and if flying into JFK would be the best option, before we go to Houston.

Would it be better to see Niagara Falls before Yosemite ?

 

 Niagara Falls is closer than Yosemite, so it might be better to visit the Falls first, but it all depends how you layout your plans sis.

Edited 21 hours ago by Dustparticle

[Katty]

If Yosemite is an essential to your trip, you might find it easier to fly into California, if you're coming from Australia, and you might find it, overall, less expensive, to fly in and out of the US from California. San Fransisco or Sacrimento would be equally good destinations, but both are about a 3 our drive from Yosemite. if you want to explore New York and Houston, it's very likely that flying over the long distances will come out less expensive than the petrol for driving these long distances, and you can spend so much more time exploring. It sounds like you might be spending a lot of time in New York City, and you'll probably prefer taking taxis and transport over driving in New York until you decide to go to Bethel and Niagara. Alternately, you might be able to find coach tours that will include tours of these different places. 
I'd recommend using Skyscanner and Google flights to try to work out different combinations of return and multi-flights to see what comes out to be the less expensive option, and see what is the best thing to do at what part of your trip. 

Edited 20 hours ago by Katty

[jdcarlson]

Wallkill, Patterson, and Warwick are all north of "the City." 

 

So, do the things in the city (the Met, Broadway Show) first. Then rent a car drive through Patterson, Wallkill, and Warwick on your way to Niagra Falls.

 

After Niagra, turn in the rental car at the Buffalo airport and fly to Sacramento or San Francisco. Yosemite is difficult to get in. Check with travel sites for a "tour group" as a practical way in. Sometimes individual accomodations near Yosemite are extremely limited. Tour groups have more bargaining power to get rooming and entrance to the Park.

 

If you are into to "Nature" there are several other places you might enjoy. While Yosemite has fantastic scenery, but not so much wildlife. Yellowstone is the place to go to see wildlife (Bison, Elk, wolves, bears, etc.). I do not know about how much time you have. The closest airport to Yellowstone is Jackson Hole, Wyoming. You might be able to fit it in flying from Buffalo (Niagra) to Jackson Hole (Yellowstone) then fly Jackson Hole to San Francisco (Yosemite).  But, be warned, Yellowstone and Grand Tetons (between Jackson Hole and Yellowstone) needs 3 or 4 days to do it justice.

 

Most of what you listed is in Northeast U.S. and Western U.S. You also mentioned NASCAR. That is big in the SouthEast U.S. Depending on when you will be in U.S., check the NASCAR website to see if there are any significant events during the time you are here.

 

Based on what you listed, you may want to do New York (the city, the Met, Broadway), then drive up to Buffalo (Niagra), then fly to Yellowstone (perhaps - if you want to see "critters"), then fly to San Franciaso (Yosemite), then fly from San Francisco to Houston (for the wedding). Catch the NASCAR event after Houston. There is fairly good air service from Houston to places where there might be NASCAR events. After all that, then head home.

 

If you are from Australia, you know about things being far apart. But, U.S. traffic in the U.S. is going to me much more crowded. Driving across the country is difficult because of the congestion on the roads. Looking at a map of Australia vs a map of the U.S., I see considerably fewer congested areas in Australia as in the U.S.  A few years back my wife and I made a trip from Florida (east coast) to San Francisco (west coast). With the stops we wanted to make, it took us a month to get to west coast and back. Traffic congestion in many parts of the U.S. is now much worse.

 

Depending on exactly what you plan to do in New York, and when, you may be more successful just using public transportation in the city, and wait until you are ready to go "upstate" to rent your car. Parking in New York city is a significant problem unless you have a garage space.  I have seen rental charges for garage space in New York higher than renting a three bedroom house in Pensacola. Years ago (when I was going to Bethel every year) I would ride the subway everywhere. However, I do not know how safe that is now. Busses and/or taxies may be safer. But, once you get out of New York city, an automobile works quite well.

 

Thanks,

 

Jim

 

 

[jdcarlson]

The poster who recommended flying from Australia to California has a point. It will be a looooong flight from Australia to New York. 

 

Coming in to California, I would recommend San Francisco over Sacramento. There are more flights coming in to San Francisco, so there may be more competition for low fares. Sacramento is a state capitol, which means a lot of political activity which tends to lessen rate competition (lawyers working as lobbyists are traveling on someone else's dime, and are not afraid to spend "opm" - other people's money).

 

If you come in to San Francisco check out a Yosemite tour from San Francisco. A couple years back I was thinking of going back to Yosemite, and found several tours from San Francisce that were a LOT less difficult than trying to make individual arrangements.

 

If you are not excited about wildlife (Yellowstone) it would be easy to fly from San Francisco to Houston for the wedding. Then check if there is any NASCAR event after the wedding. Fly to that (Southeast U.S.), then fly to New York to do the NYC stuff, then rent a car to drive through Patterson, Wallkill, and Warwick on your way to Niagra.

 

If you want wildlife, fly from San Francisco (Yosemite) to Jackson Hole (Yellowstone), and then fly from there to Houston, then the NASCAR event (Southeast U.S.), then to New York for the city stuff, then the drive to Patterson, Wallkll, Warwick, and Niagra.

 

It should be fairly straight forward to fly home from Buffalo (Niagra), but that will be a long flight to Australia.

 

To repeat what I said earlier, I would NOT recommend trying to drive across U.S. in a car. When the Interstate System (aka "Super Slab") was first built (60 years ago), that was a fairly easy way to get around. However, in many big city areas the Interstate roads are now almost like a parking lot, especially during "rush hour" (time to go to work, or go home from work). In 2004 Hurricane Ivan was approaching Pensacola, and a lot of people were trying to evacuate north. The problem was the congested traffic on Interstate 65 going north was moving at 5 miles an hour, and the approaching hurricane was moving in at 15 miles an hour. A lot of people got caught in the middle of the hurricane stuck on the Interstate. Not suggested as a pleasant drive.  

 

UNRELATED TO YOUR TRIP

 

As an aside, when the Branch Office formed a Relief Committee after the hurricane, all Elders were instructed to check on everyone in their Congregation. The total was 800 homes of witnesses in two counties were damaged, and 300 had to be completely re-roofed. Out of seven kingdom halls, only one was in shape to use as a center for the relief work. The storm hit September 15. By the end of the year, all homes were repaired.

 

The Regional Building Committee Kitchen was set up in the remaining Kingdom Hall parking lot. Every weekend they would serve breakfast at 7:00. There would be over 100 people show up. By 8:00 teams of 8 to 10 were formed, and given an assignment of a house to work on. There were brothers from all over. The crew that took the tree out of my mother's roof had brothers from Wisconsin and a Missionary Couple from Kenya (in the U.S. for a training session). On Thanksgiving weekend, a group (about 8 people) came from Boston, leaving Wednesday after work, driving all night, and worked from Thursday through Sunday, and drove back to Boston Sunday night. There were several sisters in this group. And, if one doubted if they could do the work, they would quickly show their pneumatic roofing nail gun with their name engraved on it.

 

BACK TO YOUR TRIP

 

50 years ago, driving across the U.S. in a car was an "adventure." Now it is pure torture.

 

Thanks,

 

Jim

[MullumMiss]

Having flown Aus to US a few times I have only ever landed in LA from both Sydney and Brisbane.  I do know there are flights to NY.  I highly recommend using an agent for your flight bookings.  The travel agent can also recommend your best route.  As to what you want to do in each location what has already been suggested by others is all good.  I have used a brother who runs tours from NYC to all the society complex’s for at least 3 times.  However if and when I do again I will hire a car and drive myself and stay upstate for a few days.  We like to stay in Brooklyn and subway into Manhattan as accommodation is usually cheaper.  We Airbnb not hotels.  I absolutely love NY and unless you imagine travelling back there you need a minimum of 7 days to enjoy.  If you hire a car to do Bethel complex’s then plan your drive to Buffalo for falls.  With the exception of Nascar we have done everything you want to do.  Yosemite is beautiful.  We did that in 1988.  Look into driving yourself from say San Francisco.  Napa Valley is lovely as is Sequoia which you could include in your drive.  For a decent trip you need at least 4 weeks if you can afford.  Sadly our dollar isn’t very good atm so that also has to be factored in.  As mentioned if you have never been to US before speak with a travel agent.  We use Flightcentre and have been happy with them.  You can organise your own accommodation, hire car and tours etc just speak to them regarding flights and routes etc.