Austin to Toronto and back

[ajiva]

My family and I have been thinking of doing a round trip drive from Austin to the east coast visiting several cities along the way. Eventually ending up in Toronto and then heading back. The cities we're planning to visit are:

Leave Austin, TX
New Orleans, LA
Birmingham, AL
Atlanta, GA
Washington, DC
New York
Toronto

Google Maps shows 4000 miles:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sour...35&ie=UTF8&z=5

Any thoughts on the route? Any place that's a must stop?

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

A roadtrip is far more than just a bunch of points on a map, but that's really all you've given us.

Without knowing anything about what sorts of things you are interested in, what things you know you want to see already, and how much time you have, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to really give you much useful information.

[ajiva]

Of course that makes sense :) The goal of the trip is to visit NYC and DC. Along the way we just need stops to see various things. Except for the final two cities the rest are just sort of way points.

[glc]

You have to define "things to see" a bit better - do you want to see city-oriented things or country-oriented things? We also need a time frame.

[Midwest Michael]

ok, we know that you want to see NYC and DC, two of the points on your map, but you still haven't told us anything else about your trip. "Various Things" doesn't give really any direction to narrow down the thousands of possible things you could see or do or how much time you might have to do them. I take it that since those cities are your priority, that's where you want to spend the majority of your time (however much time that may be)? What things in those cities do you know you want to see/do?

Until you give us some help by answering the questions I asked in my previous post, your going to have a hard time getting much in the way of help from this or any other internet forum.

[AZBuck]

As Michael has pointed out, no one can really help you without knowing what you want to get out of your trip. There are plenty of websites that will offer generic suggestions for what to see in the major cities. Just do a search on {cityname tourism OR attractions}. As for "various things' along the way, we offer two excellent resources, one organized by states and the other by highways.

AZBuck

[Southwest Dave]

Google Maps shows 4000 miles:

Don't forget that figure will increase significantly with detours into and around City's and places of interest. Also worth noting that the mapping travel times are fine for a machine that never has to stop for food, fuel, sleep or anything else us mere humans have to do.
Four thousand miles is a full 7 to 8 days of driving for 9-10 hours a day and any sight seeing to be done should be added to that.

[Quebec Gen]

Since you're planning on coming this far north, I'd add a couple of stops in Vermont and Quebec, especially if you want to experience something different than the typical American cities. Quebec City is especially interesting and different from any other city in North America. There's a distinct European feel to it, not to mention a picturesque location and amazingly preserved architecture. Montreal is more similar to other American cities, but it has a certain trendy, lively flair and is a fun city to discover. It's the city that never goes to sleep and it's a city of diversity...if you take the time to discover its many faces and you don't stick to the touristy part of the Western downtown area.

I never cared much for Toronto until I started to discover the more "underground" parts of it and the waterfront neighbourhoods. I like the sceneries offered by the old grain elevators and industrial ruins over the skyline. There a lots of good Indian restaurants in TO, as well as Vietnamese and Thai (stay away from the downtown area where you pay twice the price for half the quality). There is a certain number of excellent festivals held in TO as well, you can grab a cultural calendar to learn more.

Have fun!
Gen