The main characters in this TR:
On the trip were myself and DF (although we werent actually engaged at that stage so he was my plain old DBF at the time!)
Im
a 27 year old Occupational Therapist. I am a very wordy writer (as youre all about to find out
) and love organising and planning things! I spent a lot of time researching our trip. All of our accommodation, except for one night, was booked before we left, and I lived on Trip Advisor while I was booking it. I also researched transport and booked rental cars, Amtrak and VIA Rail tickets in advance; and the Lonely Planet USA Guide spent many months on my bedside table. Oddly one of the things I didnt plan in advance was our time at
Disneyland. I dont think I could even name more than a few rides before our visit! Of course I have since been converted to a diehard Disney freak, am planning a Disney wedding and have spent hours on these boards, but more about that later..
DF
is 31, also works in health, and is incredibly easy going, happy to let me do all the planning, not fazed by anything (such as things not going to plan followed by me having a mini-breakdown as a result of this) and the perfect travelling companion! Weve been together just under 2 years and live in sunny Perth with our two lovely boys (dog and budgie) and became engaged in April. We love travelling and planning our next holiday is what gets us through the long work days!
How this trip came about:
We had done a few small trips together before, mainly weekend trips to the Margaret River region but also Singapore and a cruise on the Superstar Virgo in early 2010. We had also travelled separately before we met each other; Id never been to the USA before but DF had a short trip to the west coast for a conference several years ago and had wanted to go back ever since. Initially we were going to spend a fortnight in Japan in late 2010 to watch the Formula One Grand Prix (were both huge fans) but I knew how badly DF wanted to go back to the States and we both had quite a bit of annual leave up our sleeves so we decided to change our original plans and go on a bigger adventure.
Disclaimer: We really wanted to experience as much of the US and Canada as we possibly could so our trip focussed more on seeing as many places as possible, then fully exploring each place and because of this Im sure I wont be doing the cities justice and telling you about everything they have to offer. I know a lot of travel books warn about spending too much precious holiday time travelling around, but by carefully planning this in advance (e.g. so we usually arrived at a new place in the evening or morning to avoid spending the best part of the day travelling) we felt we maximised our time well and never became overwhelmed or over-tired. We both love road trips so we didnt consider the self-driving as being in transit but as part of the experience. We always intended to go back and have a more leisurely holiday after we knew where our favourite places were, so we were reassured by that thought whenever we were sad to leave somewhere behind. We found constantly staying in a new place exciting rather than irritating and luckily werent affected by jet lag after our first day. Thankfully DF is pretty fit and strong and was happy to lug our suitcases around from place to place; if I was on my own this definitely would have been a problem, especially after taking advantage of the strong Aussie dollar and buying 26kg worth of shopping
Why winter?
I think its really important to explain the timing of this trip since we copped a fair bit of negativity about it before we left! We wanted to go in winter because its our favourite season (maybe its all the snuggling?) and we loved the thought of missing a sweltering Perth summer! Just about everybody we told about our trip in the planning stages commented on how much wed hate the cold blah blah etc. Im so glad we didnt listen to them because it was one of the best decisions we made. Were planning our next trip for late autumn/early winter and dont think wed consider visiting in the warmer months now! I did spend a lot of time researching the kind of clothing wed need before we left (for the east coast and Canada) and you can read my advice on this
here
Because Im such a huge advocate of winter travelling Ive even done up a pros and cons list to try and convert you all..
Pros
Getting to experience something different. We get enough warm weather here! Plus the scenery is so different in winter so a lot of the sights we saw were very different (and sometimes more beautiful) to what wed seen in our friends travel photos etc.
Travelling off-peak means things are often cheaper (e.g. accommodation) and a LOT less crowded which is a MASSIVE advantage for me! We had a 5-10 minute wait to catch the boat to Liberty Island, walked straight up the Empire State Building, got passes to go up the Washington Monument immediately etc.
Its easier to plan at short notice as things arent booked out. We booked a Broadway show (Wicked) on the same day, saw a Cirque Du Soleil show in Vegas with one day notice and were able to book flights and accommodation only about 6 months out.
You get to experience the festive season if you go at the right time (white Christmas anyone?). We had an awesome New Years Eve in Vegas and loved seeing the Christmas decorations that were still up.
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Cons
Obviously its cold. We both thought this was actually a pro, but I guess for those who dont like cooler weather or would be bothered by the extra clothing it could be a disadvantage? There were only a few places I felt were too cold for us to fully enjoy (Montreal and Boston) and although we had a great time, we were mainly indoors (or freezing our butts off!)
Some things shut down for the winter (e.g. the maid of the mist boat ride at Niagara Falls) or have shorter opening hours (e.g. Disneyland)
There is a risk of being snowed in. This fortunately only happened to us twice our plane was delayed once (internal flight from Buffalo to NYC), and another time we were snowed in by road and missed seeing the Grand Canyon as a result after diverting to Sedona for the night
Well think Ive bored everybody enough with the details, well done if youre still with me!
Next up - Our itinerary