Newark, Niagara, New Orleans, Miami, Newark July/August 2012

Hi we are going to be doing our third road trip in the US this July August and would ask for any feed back on our projected itinerary regarding the time we have allocated. We have previously done road trips in the Western States where I suspect traffic is considerably lighter. We are not really interested in museums as such but enjoying the scenic views along the way.
regards
Rob


Arrive in Newark, NJ at midnight 15 Jul 2012

Day 1: Day trip into NY to see: Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Brooklyn Bridge, Times Square, Central Park, West/East ? Village, Grand Central Terminal, Rockefeller Centre, Ground Zero, Little Italy, Chinatown, SoHo, Greenwich Village, Wall St.

Day 2: Pick up rental car. Head across New York State toward Niagara Falls. Stop for night somewhere along the way e.g. Binghampton.

Day 3: Arrive Niagara Falls. Spend afternoon doing Niagara Falls tours / stay overnight.

Day 4: Niagara Falls to Erie, Pennsylvania and then Uniontown, PA

Day 5: Uniontown to Harpers Ferry National Park, West Virginia. Allow time to look around and then head toward Shenandoah National Park stopping for the night somewhere along the way.

Day 6: Drive to Shenandoah NP, Virginia and onto Bluestone National Scenic River, WV

Day 7: Follow the Blue Ridge Parkway to Ashville, NC

Day 8: Drive to Nashville, Tennessee

Day 9: Day off – look around Nashville

Day 10: Follow the Natchez Trace Parkway from Nashville to somewhere around Grenada, Tennessee

Day 11: Continue the Natchez Trace Parkway through to Natchez

Day 12: Drive to New Orleans, Louisiana

Day 13: Look around New Orleans

Day 14: Spend in New Orleans

Day 15: Drive to Marianna, Florida

Day 16: Drive via Pebble Hill Plantation, Georgia to Ocala, Florida

Day 17: Drive from Ocala to Stuart, Florida

Day 18: Spend with friends

Day 19: Drive from Stuart to Everglades National Park, Homestead and back to Stuart for the night

Day 20: Drive from Stuart to Jacksonville, Florida

Day 21: Drive from Jacksonville, through Savannah to Charleston, South Carolina

Day 22: Drive from Charleston through South Carolina

Day 23: Spend in South Carolina

Day 24: Drive through Myrtle Beach, through Wilmington, to Beaufort

Day 25: Drive to the Outer Banks, North Carolina

Day 26: Drive to Williamsburg, Maryland; have a look around and then on to Cheverly [a town close to Washington as we will need to get public transport (probably train) into the city & Cheverly might fit the bill].

Day 27: Day trip into Washington DC

Day 28: Drive to DELAWARE

Day 29: Philadelphia City and Schuylkill River Trail, Longwood Gardens, Valley Forge Historical Park, Hershey’s Chocolate factory

Day 30: NEW JERSEY

Day 31: Spend in New Jersey

Day 32: Want to be back in Newark by late afternoon as fly out tomorrow 17 August 2012

Welcome to RTA!

Your itinerary means a lot of driving, but that's what my husband and I do so that's not a criticism. However, your first day in NYC sounds VERY ambitious. You've chosen most of the main sites to see in NYC but aren't accounting for lines. First, you better get your ferry reservation to Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island NOW by clicking here. That will account for 3-5 hours of your day, depending on how much you want to look around Ellis Island. (BTW, the inside of the Statue is completely closed to the public this year. So you get to the island and look around, take pictures.)

For the rest of NYC, you'll want to get an all-day pass to the subway and try to learn the system (we were lucky and had my brother with us, who's very NYC-savvy). It's a long way from Central Park to the Brooklyn Bridge!

Wear GOOD walking shoes. Some things are within walking distance, and you may have to stand on the subway when there are no seats.

BTW, Hershey's is located outside of Philadelphia -- closer to Harrisburg -- probably about 100 miles from Philadelphia and Valley Forge.


Donna

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Originally Posted by DonnaR57

Welcome to RTA!

Your itinerary means a lot of driving, but that's what my husband and I do so that's not a criticism. However, your first day in NYC sounds VERY ambitious. You've chosen most of the main sites to see in NYC but aren't accounting for lines. First, you better get your ferry reservation to Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island NOW by clicking here. That will account for 3-5 hours of your day, depending on how much you want to look around Ellis Island. (BTW, the inside of the Statue is completely closed to the public this year. So you get to the island and look around, take pictures.)

For the rest of NYC, you'll want to get an all-day pass to the subway and try to learn the system (we were lucky and had my brother with us, who's very NYC-savvy). It's a long way from Central Park to the Brooklyn Bridge!

Wear GOOD walking shoes. Some things are within walking distance, and you may have to stand on the subway when there are no seats.

BTW, Hershey's is located outside of Philadelphia -- closer to Harrisburg -- probably about 100 miles from Philadelphia and Valley Forge.


Donna

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Hi Donna, Thanks for the input, we knew that coming to the States at this time of the year i.e. summer holidays was going to make things that much busier but it meant getting away from the New Zealand winter. Re NYC, we accept that we will not see all that we might like to but to be fair NYC is to us like any city and if we really want to see it in more detail we will come back and have a NYC holiday. Our primary plan is to stay away from cities and Interstate highways fairly much and enjoy the least use of freeways that our GPS offers. We have a few friends to see along the way and a lot of scenic attractions. I, like your your husband just like to drive.

Can you tell us, have you used NYC tourist bus pass as we thought that may be a good way to sight see and then only get off the bus at certain spot of real interest to us.
Again thank for the input
Rob and Jan

I think too much is packed into day 29. It'll take about 4 hours round trip to go from Philly to Hershey and back, not including the time for whatever you decide to do there. If on day 28 you weren't planning to actually do anything much in Delaware, you could make it the whole way to Philly that day and start to do some of the stuff on the Philly list then. Alternatively, you could spend less time in Jersey.

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Originally Posted by roamingkiwis

Day 1: Day trip into NY to see: Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Brooklyn Bridge, Times Square, Central Park, West/East ? Village, Grand Central Terminal, Rockefeller Centre, Ground Zero, Little Italy, Chinatown, SoHo, Greenwich Village, Wall St.

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You arrive at midnight, on a long haul flight from NZ? Day 1 will not be an early start. I'd pick a few things which are pretty close together. Probably use taxis between sites. The tourist bus could have you spending a large part of your day just waiting for the bus. One great way to have a relaxing break in the middle of the day, and 'kill two birds with one stone', is to take the ferry to Staten Island. It is a free ferry, and gives good views of both Ellis Island and Brooklyn Bridge.

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Originally Posted by roamingkiwis

Our primary plan is to stay away from cities and Interstate highways fairly much and enjoy the least use of freeways that our GPS offers.

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Why have an electronic gadget decide which roads you will travel. Get some good maps of the States through which you will be travelling, and make your own decisions. Most good maps show which are the scenic roads, four lane roads, etc. These will most likely be the ones you will want to choose.

Are you a member of your Automobile Association at home? If so, bring your membership with you. On your first or second day make some time in NY or Newark to visit the AAA office, and pick up all the detailed maps which you will need for your trip. You will get them FREE, by showing your NZ membership. They also have accommodation guides, and lots of other helpful information. Just tell them where you are going and what you will be doing.

Have a great trip.

Lifey

Thanks Lifey, we have heeded your words and are going to forgo the NYC first day and look to see how the trip goes and if there is time at the end then we may look around a bit.

As for the GPS we have a good idea where we want to go and what roads we want to take and the GPS will make it that much easier to find those roads and the appropriate lane to be in. we drive on the left over here in NZ and our top legal speed is 100Km about 60 mph so the extra speed and wrong side of the road and being in the right lane at the right time justifies a GPS for us. We used one in the 7 western states we did in 2007 and it was well worth the money. Appreciate your views though.


We have some good US maps and the latest DK Eye Witness Guide book hence the route we feel we will take. I have to say we have spent more time planning this trip than ever before.

I agree that the GPS is particularly useful around cities. I do recommend making sure it has the latest updates before you begin driving. I think ours has improved its mapping even in the last year.

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Originally Posted by Mayelli

I agree that the GPS is particularly useful around cities. I do recommend making sure it has the latest updates before you begin driving. I think ours has improved its mapping even in the last year.

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hi Mayelli, yes we found that a GPS just made life so much eaier last time round. My wife is an excellent navigator but with interchanges that we never see the like of in NZ and the speed of travel it just becomes to onerous on her to navigate when we are there for a holiday.

Although I have a magellan Roadmate we are going to buy a new Tom Tom as I can also use it when loaded with the correct map in New Zealand and Austrlia. I get a free map update at time of purchase. thanks for the advice though
Rob