2012 Philadelphia to Niagara Trip

Being a huge fan of holidaying in the USA, we set off on 23rd June 2012 to fly direct from Manchester to Philadelphia with US Airways.  The holiday started with a great flight, we sat on a new model Airbus A330 in comfort and both my wife & I commented to each other we felt we had just a little more leg room than normal.  The flight went quickly and everything was smooth, we picked up our luggage at Philadelphia International in record time and made our way to the front of the airport to find a taxi, as we planned to stay in Philly city for five nights, therefore we did not need to hire a car immediately.

Arriving at our regular Philadelphia hotel The Radisson Warwick Plaza, we checked in placed our luggage in the room then set off immediately to Rittenhouse Square, the park one block behind our hotel.  My wife, son and I sat there for an hour, it was the first time my son had been to Philadelphia and we all watched the world go by.

RittenHouse Square, Philadelphia, PA

Five wonderful days were spent in Philly, visiting various shops including the Reading Terminal Market which is a great place to eat, by fresh food and mingle with the Philly lifestyle, the visitors centre, love park, the grave of Benjamin Franklin and generally walking through the city.

Philly has so much to offer for tourists with many placed to visit, such as The State Penitentiary, The Zoo,  Penns Landing, Memorial Hall & The Franklin Inistute. 

There are also great places to eat in Philly, we particularly liked Bellini's a beautiful Italian style restaurant with a great atmosphere and superb food, Bellini's is also a BYOB (bring your own bottle) restaurant so if you do visit, remembe to take a nice bottle with you.  We also found Little Pete's a great place for breakfast, it was right opposite our hotel and sums up everything you expect from a typical American local diner.  Little Pete's is open 24/7, reasonably priced and if you are looking to experience a good local inner city diner, then we can recommend this one to you.  Not forgetting the many deli's around the city, all are great places to catch a bite to eat.

After leaving Philadelphia, we headed back to the airport and to collect our hire car and started to head North, with our first stop being Plymouth, Maine, as we intended to visit The Plimoth Plantation, an opportunity for a day out and a trip to see The Mayflower II and a recreation of the Pilgrim village that settled in Plymouth and to understand how the settlement affected the local Wampanoag tribe.

There is actually plenty to do in Maine and the countryside is beautiful, its a great drive from Philadelphia, in fact the first time we had ventured so far North, before heading off to Montreal and Niagara in Canada.

Our visit to Montreal was cut short as we had not realised it was Canada Day the following day (July 1st) so we moved on towards Niagara and managed to find a hotel, only just mind you as it was exceptionally busy as more than 20,000 people had descended on Niagara Falls, but what an atmosphere this created, the evening was electric with fireworks and a really good vibe.  Niagara itself is a great place to visit, this is our second time here and its well worth seeing, the falls are awesome and its worth taking the boats out into the falls as seen in the picture on the left.

We moved on to Cleveland, Ohio, to do shopping and visit the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame, an amazing museum packed with articles and memorabilia from some of the greatest musicians past and present.  The museum also has a number of theatres were you can watch concerts from the inductions into the museum and learn about musicians from interviews and shows played on some of the large screens.

This was another amazing holiday, number eleven to the USA, a place we love and recommend.

My wife, my son and myself, really love the United States and think its a great country to visit, there is much more than just Florida and we would encourage any travelers to hire a car, get out and see the country.

Visit my website at www.usatouristguide.co.nf

San Antonio (Texas)

San Antonio in Texas, is a fabulous place to visit and its worth staying for a few days around the River Walk.  There are a few hotels that back on the the river itself and the Drury Lane Plaza is one where my wife & I have stayed on a couple of occasions now.  There are many things to do in San Antonio itself and plenty to do with just a short drive.

RIVER WALK
The River Walk is a man made feature, it all started in 1921 when a flood claimed fifty lives and plans where set to control future floods.  In 1929 Robert Hugman submitted his plans to what effectively has become the River Walk today and it is still being developed now.  Lines with walkways, restaurants and bars, the River Walk makes a fantastic place for visiting anytime of the day, from an early stroll to lunching by the river, but the nightlife is what makes the whole place special as hundreds of people every evening set out for a night out on the river in their favourite bars and restaurants.

River Boats are a big part of the river scene and can be scene along the river as they ferry people on sight seeing tours and people on their daily journeys up and down the river.  The river boat is always a great way of  getting to know the city, as all the guides are knowledgeable and most of them have a sense of humour too.

THE ALAMO

The Alamo can be found in San Antonio, famous for the Battle of the Alamo in 1836 part of the Texas revolution. Best of all Texas's number one attraction is free.

EVENTS & FESTIVALS
There is always something happening in San Antonio, more so than I can over do the city justice in this blog.  There was one website that has inspired my trip to San Antonio and this was www.visitsanantonio.com, they have a brochure you can view on-line which will provide you with a real incite to the city and its culture.

Visit my website at www.usatouristguide.co.nf

Visit Philadelphia

Philadelphia, a fantastic city for any tourist, I cannot express enough just how much Philadelphia has to offer, great restaurants, culture, city parks and superb shopping facilities, having been to this city on three occasions, my wife and I have enjoyed every minute and we cannot wait to go back.

There is plenty of hotels to choose from, we can recommend the Radisson Warwick Plaza, just oposite Little Pete's, a real American style diner which serves great breakfast in the morning, and reasonable priced meal in the evening, Little Pete's is open 24 hours a day and here you can sit and watch the real American life as it passes you by.  On the other side of the block is Beliini's a bring your own bottle italian restaurant where the food is superb and we can honestly say were we have had one of the best meals ever.  The Hotel is also just around the corner from Rittenhouse Square, a beautiful park in the city, surrounded by bistro's and shopping facilities.

For those of you who feel energetic, why not run up the very steps Sylvester Stalone did during the movie 'Rocky'.  For those of you who are not too energetic there are plenty of daytime events to choose from.  For a small fee $2 per trip or $5 all day unlimited pass, you can jump on the Phlash Trolly bus  which stops at 27 great destinations around the city including The Please Touch Museum, Philadelphia Zoo, Penns Landing, City Hall Visitors Centre, The National Constitution Centre, The Liberty Bell Centre, The Independence Centre and many others.

Reading Terminal Market is superb for a lunchtime visit, not only will you find a fantastic range of vendors from bakeries, beverages, dairy & cheese, farm stands from the Lancaster Hamish community, there is also a great range of restaurants you can eat at throughout the market, we recommend you try the oriental vendors, the food is great.

There is so many other things about Philadelphia, I could write in here, but I really don't want to spoil the surprise, Visit Philadelphia next time your in the USA, you won't be disappointed.

Visit my website at www.usatouristguide.co.nf

The USA is more than Just Florida

As a Brit, I hear a lot of UK travellers who go on holiday to the USA only visit Florida when the USA has so much to offer.  My wife and I have visited the USA on nine occasions so far and hope to do many more.  I understand why people choose Florida and its mainly down to the theme parks and the fact they take Children and I know entertaining children is a task in itself, especially when on holiday, but there are still other choices, such as Chicago, Boston, New York, Philadelphia and many other great cities.

Personally we always book flight only, hire a car and book a hotel for our first night only.


BOOKING FLIGHT ONLY

Every year my wife and I trawel the internet looking for the best prices for 'flight only' and we prefer to book direct flights.  Although we often have a destination city in mind we are often pursuaded by the flight costs at the time we travel.  Strangely, this is actually very good, since we have chosen places to visit that we might not have done.  Having searched many of the websites, we have always found the best price for direct flights seems to appear on www.expedia.co.uk (we are not advertising on behalf of Expedia).


BOOKING A HOTEL


Now our destination has been set, we strongly recommend you forget the hire car for the first night and book a hotel.  Book somewhere local to the airport, preferably a hotel that offers a free shuttle service, so they can pick you up from the airport and drop you back off the following morning to collect your car.  Many hotels, local to the airport will offer free shuttle services, remember you've had a long flight getting to the USA, the last thing you really want to do is jump in a car and tackle the USA roads, unless you've done it before and are experienced.  There are many ways to book your hotel too, have a look at Expedia again and hen compare the price against other website and also compare the price against what the hotel offers direct.  Sometimes you can get a better deal booking direct.  If you only book one night and your flight is cancelled or delayed, then you don't lose too much.


BOOKING A HIRE CAR

Having booked our flight and hotel and knowing our destination, the next step is to search for car hire, there are plenty of choices on the internet and I recommend picking your car up from a reputable dealer such as Dollar, Avis, Budget, Europcar etc, we have always used Dollar and found them to be excellent, with the exception of one instance.  Again I can recommend www.netflights.com (we are not advertising on behalf of netflights) as we haev always found them reliable and have had no issues, besides being good prices compare to others offering similar services.


[TOP TIP] Only book your hire car for the day after you arrive and collect it from the airport, this way you will get a good nights rest at your hotel prior to driving, in addition you will be more alert and have more time exaining the car prior to taking it away.

We will place other blogs on here about places to visit and what we recommend to see and do.


Have a Great Holiday
David Parkes

Visit my website at www.usatouristguide.co.nf