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Holiday ideas for US

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  • 05-03-2015 9:12pm
    #1
    thisistough
    Registered Users Posts: 394 ✭✭


    Hi all,

    I'm looking to book a holiday to the U.S. sometime around September/October. I have about €2000 to spend on flights and accommodation and would love to manage to go for more than a week but my problem is that's about as much as I can decide on.

    I'll be travelling alone so from looking at hotels I'm getting crippled by pesky single supplements, but I couldn't stay in a hostel. My initial thoughts were Washington DC, Chicago or San francisco, does any one have any experience of visiting these cities or any cities that you thought were great to visit?

    Thanks all


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    #2
    InTheTrees
    Registered Users Posts: 9,900 ✭✭✭InTheTrees


    thisistough wrote: »
    I'll be travelling alone so from looking at hotels I'm getting crippled by pesky single supplements, but I couldn't stay in a hostel.

    I've been in the USA too long but what is a "single supplement"? Is that like in Ireland when a hotel has a price based on 2 people and if its only 1 then they charge more? (They should charge less).

    US hotels dont do that. You rent the room and they dont care. Most will provide camp beds if you want to jam more people in.

    What web site are you using to compare prices?


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    #3
    ProudDUB
    Registered Users Posts: 11,569 ✭✭✭✭ProudDUB


    Yep, single traveler supplement is not a thing that US hotels generally charge. They generally just charge a rate for the room, regardless of how many people are in it. (They won't let a gang of people check into a room that was sold as a single or double room, but that is more a health & safety/fire thing than a price thing.) Are you going thru a travel agent? Is that where you are seeing the charge?

    I use Priceline a lot for booking hotel rooms. (I just do a regular booking, not one of their auctions.) I'll usually compare them to Expedia or Travelocity or hotels.com, but Priceline usually comes in at the cheapest.

    Chicago, SF & DC are all wonderful cities, with loads of things to see and do. It depends on what you are into really....shopping, museums & galleries, historical stuff, night life etc etc...

    If you go to the west coast, you tend to lose a whole day traveling, both going and coming. And the jet lag can be a real killer for the first couple of days. Whereas if you go to the east coast, you can be in your hotel by lunch time and you still have half a day to do stuff. The jet lag is not so severe either. So if you are only going for a week, its important to maximize your time.


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    #4
    Dave1442397
    Registered Users Posts: 303 ✭✭Dave1442397


    You could spend a week in Boston, NYC or Washington DC easily enough.

    If you want to save money, you can stay outside the city and use the trams/trains to get into the city. All three are good walking cities, and with the subway in NYC and the Metro in DC, it's very easy (and cheap) to get around.

    If going to NYC you can stay in NJ and travel in. Journal Square has tons of hotels and you can take the PATH train to NYC.

    http://www.expedia.com/Journal-Square-Hotels.0-l6229383-0.Travel-Guide-Filter-Hotels?&regionId=6023404&semcid=13172-1&kword=Jersey_City_DSA!e.ZzZz.3330002592150.0.50698278972._cat:united+states/new+jersey/jersey+city%23inurl:-Hotels.jersey_city_dsa&gclid=CjwKEAiAmuCnBRCLj4D7nMWqp1USJABcT4dfCkWdoh6SgnqVEi2fV83EoZSO7hfC173oOo-MrZZqVRoCMyrw_wcB

    For DC, I've stayed in Reston and Alexandria and gotten good deals. We just took the metro into DC proper, very safe and clean. There's a lot to see in DC, and I like that a lot is outdoors and a lot indoors. If you can't take the heat outside, you can always duck into a museum for a while. Many of the museums are free, too.

    In Boston, I stayed at the Club Quarters hotel, which is right by Faneuil Hall. The rooms were small, but it was a very nice hotel if you're going to spend most of your time out sightseeing.

    As everyone said, there's no such thing as a single surcharge on rooms in the US. You pay the room rate and that's it. A tip - if you find a good rate online, call the hotel desk before you book it and ask them if they can beat that rate. Many times they will, or offer you a better room at the same rate.


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    #5
    InTheTrees
    Registered Users Posts: 9,900 ✭✭✭InTheTrees


    Boston is a good choice. Much cheaper flights than SF too.

    I really like the New England coast too. Those old coastal towns are beautiful. Gloucester or Rockport.

    Do they have a train to those towns from Boston?


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    #6
    anne burnell
    Registered Users Posts: 279 ✭✭anne burnell


    boston is super.... check out appartments to rent on homeaway .com..... we did it twice with them and were not disappointed...


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    #7
    thisistough
    Registered Users Posts: 394 ✭✭thisistough


    InTheTrees wrote: »
    I've been in the USA too long but what is a "single supplement"? Is that like in Ireland when a hotel has a price based on 2 people and if its only 1 then they charge more? (They should charge less).

    US hotels dont do that. You rent the room and they dont care. Most will provide camp beds if you want to jam more people in.

    What web site are you using to compare prices?

    Well I guess I won't be going with the travel agent who told me that that was the case then!

    My current idea (it changes hourly) is to do Chicago (the MileNorth Hotel seems to be good) to Buffalo, NY (I have friends here that I can stay with so won't need a hotel) and to get a bus from there to Toronto before coming back to Dublin again.

    I would love to go to Boston or Washington but I'm just finding it too expensive and I don't really want to go down the Air BnB route, it just doesn't really suit me! Hopefully there'll be loads more trips to the US for me to do the west coast as well, there are just too many options!

    Does any one have any experience of crossing from the US to Canada on public transport? I assume there are passport checks and everything crossing the boarder but are there visa requirements or anything that would make it more awkward?

    Thanks so much for all of the advice!


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    #8
    ProudDUB
    Registered Users Posts: 11,569 ✭✭✭✭ProudDUB


    thisistough wrote: »
    Well I guess I won't be going with the travel agent who told me that that was the case then!

    My current idea (it changes hourly) is to do Chicago (the MileNorth Hotel seems to be good) to Buffalo, NY (I have friends here that I can stay with so won't need a hotel) and to get a bus from there to Toronto before coming back to Dublin again.

    You don't need a travel agent at all, unless they offer up some sort of really great pricing deal, or an all inclusive package that is specifically designed for solo travelers. You can do it all yourself on the internet.

    Use Skyscanner and/or the airline websites to compare flights. There are loads of hotel websites and TripAdvisor is great for reading traveler reviews on hotels.

    I'd give Buffalo a miss, unless you are going there specifically to see your friends, and/or save money on hotels. There are much more interesting cities to visit, but if you are a nature lover, the fall foliage in upstate New York is really beautiful.


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