First Visit to USA

Pan wrote:
On Tue, 21 Sep 2004 05:55:42 +0100, "Tom"
wrote:

Washington DC it is then. Any reccomendations as to flights from UK and also
documentation required? eg Visas?
Tom

For flights, check the usual suspects (travelocity.com, expedia.com,
orbitz.com, lowestfare.com, not in any particular order) and check
airline websites for special deals (rare, but can happen).

Flights.com is another that I have used in travelling to Europe from DC.
Virgin ATlantic is often but not always the cheapest across the pond.

I have lived in the DC area for 25 years or so, and am a travel afficionado,
and I would be glad to make any recommendations I can.

Visit the Air and Space Museum on a weekday, it is the most popular museum
in DC and maybe in the world. I believe there is a bus you can take from the
museum on the mall to the Dulles Facility, which I have not yet been to.

There are many other sites in washington, but I'd need to know more about
your likes and dislikes.

If Parks are an attraction, you could do worse than Shenandoah National Park
and Skyline Drive. DO this also on a weekday. You will need to rent a car.
An inexpensive way to do this is to take the metro out to Vienna, and to rent
from Enterprise, which has a location in the Pan Am Shopping Center. It's
a bit of a walk on a busy highway to Pan Am, but Enterprise will generally
bring the car to you. They also have good rates.

I'm glad to help with anything else.

Julie
--
Julie
**********
Check out my Travel Pages (non-commercial) at
http://www.dragonsholm.org/travel.htm

On Tue, 21 Sep 2004 04:04:57 +0100, Tom wrote:
We are an elderly but reasonably fit couple wanting to spend some 2 weeks in
USA. It will be our first visit and I wondered if some kind person(s) could
point me towards a web site that might give me some info. We would like to
see things that we cannot in the UK specifically or Europe in general i.e
Space exploration Museums, etc

Are you specifically interested in indoor things like museums, or
will outdoor climate play in your decision?

We might want to hire a carif our UK drivers licence would cover us. We
would hope to keep out of hurricane areas, and criminally unsafe areas.

What time of year do you intend to come? For instance, the Atlantic
hurricane season is the six months from June through November, with about
95% of major hurricanes occuring August through October. Hurricanes
affect weather far up the eastern coast, but most of the time, if you're
not directly in the path of a hurricane, you're at most inconvenienced
by heavy rain. http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/G1.html

Two of the most important areas for space flight are the area at
Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, FL, and Johnson Space Center
in Houston, TX. Both are in "hurricane country", and both have fairly
extensive visitor facilities.
Also, the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama has quite
the visitors center -- again in an area affected by hurricanes. If
you'd like to look over the list of NASA visitors centers, see:
http://www.nasa.gov/about/visiting/index.html

I grew up watching the space program, but I'm not an aeronautical engineer
nor am I particularly interested in old planes, old space junk. For me,
the thrills are not in the museums, but in watching launches -- which,
as you know, can be rescheduled at a moment's notice. Waiting for a launch
is probably not how you want to spend the only time you'll be in the US,
but if you have plans to return, trying to see a launch is an amazing
and visceral experience, especially when the sound wave hits you and
shoves your glasses or binoculars back into your face, and you feel your
chest resonate with the sound.

No matter where you are in the US, there's a moderate chance that your
television in the hotel or motel will receive the NASA channel, which
tends to alternate between some pretty mundane reporting and some
wonderful footage. I tend to watch the pictures with the sound off. g

You might want to play with the "destination finder" at:
http://www.weather.com/activities/tr...cationplanner/
The climate and weather is exceedingly varied in the US, and you may not
want to invest in clothing suitable to some areas of the US at some times
of year. The URL above can suggest some areas that have what you might
consider to be reasonable temperatures when you intend to visit.

As to museums, I've spent a bit of time visiting the Smithsonian collection
of museums in Washington, DC -- they've actually just opened their
newest museum, the Museum of the American Indian:
http://www.si.edu/redirect/hpmus_nmai.htm with the grand opening this week.
The Smithsonian is sort of like grouping the major museums of London and
Oxford and Edinburgh all together in a fairly compact location, which
may send you toward Washington, DC. The Air and Space Museum is one of the
most heavily visited museums of the Smithsonian, so it tends to be a bit
grubbier than the rest. More help he http://www.si.edu/
Right now, our elections will be taking place in early November; I suspect
security will be quite stiff in Washington, DC now and for the coming months,
and may be more obtrusive than you're used to in the UK.

Most of the major US cities have one or more museums: you might look
here for some choices: http://www.museumlink.com/states.htm
http://www.museumca.org/usa/types.html

You probably don't want to drive in most of the large cities, as traffic
is quite stiff. Washington, DC has very accessible public transit; having
a car in the DC or the New York City or Boston areas is probably more
of a hindrance than a help.

Things you don't see in the UK... hm... well, being an outdoors sort,
I'd send you to places like Yellowstone Park for the geothermal basin,
to California for the Sierran and Coastal redwoods, to Hawaii for
a live volcano and tropics, to the desert southwest and to midwestern
prairies for archeology and spectacularly empty spaces, to the Olympic
Peninsula for temperate rain forest, to the Everglades for wetland
ecology, to various areas for caving... the hard part for European
visitors is to realize the vast amount of territory in the US, and how
long it can take to drive from one area to another. For instance, my
home state is Iowa, a state ranking 26 of 50 in area, located in the
upper midwest (it's the state west of Illinois, where Chicago is located).
It's about 56,000 square miles, or a bit more than half the size of England.
I now live in Oregon, the 9th largest of the states, about the same
area as England, on the west coast (we're the state that keeps California
and Washington state from bumping up together). It takes me about 3 days
to drive from Iowa to Oregon, doing little else but driving, stopping for
short rest and meal breaks.

My advice: pick an area that has something you'd like to see and stay
in the area for your alotted time, or consider splitting your time between
two disparate areas and flying between them. Consider the likely temperatures
at the time you'd like to visit, as I can almost guarantee you that
the weather in the northern states will be much warmer in the summer,
much cooler in the winter, than you're used to in England, and much warmer
in the summer to not as cool in the winter as you're used to in much
of the south.

On Tue, 21 Sep 2004 04:04:57 +0100, Tom wrote:
We are an elderly but reasonably fit couple wanting to spend some 2 weeks in
USA. It will be our first visit and I wondered if some kind person(s) could
point me towards a web site that might give me some info. We would like to
see things that we cannot in the UK specifically or Europe in general i.e
Space exploration Museums, etc

Are you specifically interested in indoor things like museums, or
will outdoor climate play in your decision?

We might want to hire a carif our UK drivers licence would cover us. We
would hope to keep out of hurricane areas, and criminally unsafe areas.

What time of year do you intend to come? For instance, the Atlantic
hurricane season is the six months from June through November, with about
95% of major hurricanes occuring August through October. Hurricanes
affect weather far up the eastern coast, but most of the time, if you're
not directly in the path of a hurricane, you're at most inconvenienced
by heavy rain. http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/G1.html

Two of the most important areas for space flight are the area at
Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, FL, and Johnson Space Center
in Houston, TX. Both are in "hurricane country", and both have fairly
extensive visitor facilities.
Also, the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama has quite
the visitors center -- again in an area affected by hurricanes. If
you'd like to look over the list of NASA visitors centers, see:
http://www.nasa.gov/about/visiting/index.html

I grew up watching the space program, but I'm not an aeronautical engineer
nor am I particularly interested in old planes, old space junk. For me,
the thrills are not in the museums, but in watching launches -- which,
as you know, can be rescheduled at a moment's notice. Waiting for a launch
is probably not how you want to spend the only time you'll be in the US,
but if you have plans to return, trying to see a launch is an amazing
and visceral experience, especially when the sound wave hits you and
shoves your glasses or binoculars back into your face, and you feel your
chest resonate with the sound.

No matter where you are in the US, there's a moderate chance that your
television in the hotel or motel will receive the NASA channel, which
tends to alternate between some pretty mundane reporting and some
wonderful footage. I tend to watch the pictures with the sound off. g

You might want to play with the "destination finder" at:
http://www.weather.com/activities/tr...cationplanner/
The climate and weather is exceedingly varied in the US, and you may not
want to invest in clothing suitable to some areas of the US at some times
of year. The URL above can suggest some areas that have what you might
consider to be reasonable temperatures when you intend to visit.

As to museums, I've spent a bit of time visiting the Smithsonian collection
of museums in Washington, DC -- they've actually just opened their
newest museum, the Museum of the American Indian:
http://www.si.edu/redirect/hpmus_nmai.htm with the grand opening this week.
The Smithsonian is sort of like grouping the major museums of London and
Oxford and Edinburgh all together in a fairly compact location, which
may send you toward Washington, DC. The Air and Space Museum is one of the
most heavily visited museums of the Smithsonian, so it tends to be a bit
grubbier than the rest. More help he http://www.si.edu/
Right now, our elections will be taking place in early November; I suspect
security will be quite stiff in Washington, DC now and for the coming months,
and may be more obtrusive than you're used to in the UK.

Most of the major US cities have one or more museums: you might look
here for some choices: http://www.museumlink.com/states.htm
http://www.museumca.org/usa/types.html

You probably don't want to drive in most of the large cities, as traffic
is quite stiff. Washington, DC has very accessible public transit; having
a car in the DC or the New York City or Boston areas is probably more
of a hindrance than a help.

Things you don't see in the UK... hm... well, being an outdoors sort,
I'd send you to places like Yellowstone Park for the geothermal basin,
to California for the Sierran and Coastal redwoods, to Hawaii for
a live volcano and tropics, to the desert southwest and to midwestern
prairies for archeology and spectacularly empty spaces, to the Olympic
Peninsula for temperate rain forest, to the Everglades for wetland
ecology, to various areas for caving... the hard part for European
visitors is to realize the vast amount of territory in the US, and how
long it can take to drive from one area to another. For instance, my
home state is Iowa, a state ranking 26 of 50 in area, located in the
upper midwest (it's the state west of Illinois, where Chicago is located).
It's about 56,000 square miles, or a bit more than half the size of England.
I now live in Oregon, the 9th largest of the states, about the same
area as England, on the west coast (we're the state that keeps California
and Washington state from bumping up together). It takes me about 3 days
to drive from Iowa to Oregon, doing little else but driving, stopping for
short rest and meal breaks.

My advice: pick an area that has something you'd like to see and stay
in the area for your alotted time, or consider splitting your time between
two disparate areas and flying between them. Consider the likely temperatures
at the time you'd like to visit, as I can almost guarantee you that
the weather in the northern states will be much warmer in the summer,
much cooler in the winter, than you're used to in England, and much warmer
in the summer to not as cool in the winter as you're used to in much
of the south.

"Tom" wrote in message
...
Hi,
We are an elderly but reasonably fit couple wanting to spend some 2 weeks
in
USA. It will be our first visit and I wondered if some kind person(s)
could
point me towards a web site that might give me some info. We would like to
see things that we cannot in the UK specifically or Europe in general i.e
Space exploration Museums, etc
We might want to hire a carif our UK drivers licence would cover us. We
would hope to keep out of hurricane areas, and criminally unsafe areas.
Tom,
From Shropshire


My wife and I , both 64 yo but in very good health, recently did a trip from
NYC to DC to Philadelphia by train. It was very easy and training from one
to the other is only a matter of hours or less. NYC , of course is quite
walkable and has excellent public transportation and is chock full of things
to do,see and eat. Washington DC likewise has many interesting things. We
stayed near Washington Circle and from there one can take a free shuttle to
Georgetown and one to the Kennedy Center. Also there is free concert of
some sort daily there. Philadelphia is a very walkable city plus they have
fairly good public transportation. It is a most signigicantly historical
site for the US and has some interesting parts to stroll through ie,
Rittenhouse Square area. If you could cover these three cities and perhaps
somehow Boston, you would have seen a lot the US has to offer in terms of
culture and history.

"Tom" wrote in message
...
Hi,
We are an elderly but reasonably fit couple wanting to spend some 2 weeks
in
USA. It will be our first visit and I wondered if some kind person(s)
could
point me towards a web site that might give me some info. We would like to
see things that we cannot in the UK specifically or Europe in general i.e
Space exploration Museums, etc
We might want to hire a carif our UK drivers licence would cover us. We
would hope to keep out of hurricane areas, and criminally unsafe areas.
Tom,
From Shropshire


My wife and I , both 64 yo but in very good health, recently did a trip from
NYC to DC to Philadelphia by train. It was very easy and training from one
to the other is only a matter of hours or less. NYC , of course is quite
walkable and has excellent public transportation and is chock full of things
to do,see and eat. Washington DC likewise has many interesting things. We
stayed near Washington Circle and from there one can take a free shuttle to
Georgetown and one to the Kennedy Center. Also there is free concert of
some sort daily there. Philadelphia is a very walkable city plus they have
fairly good public transportation. It is a most signigicantly historical
site for the US and has some interesting parts to stroll through ie,
Rittenhouse Square area. If you could cover these three cities and perhaps
somehow Boston, you would have seen a lot the US has to offer in terms of
culture and history.

"Tom" wrote in message
...
Hi,
We are an elderly but reasonably fit couple wanting to spend some 2 weeks
in
USA. It will be our first visit and I wondered if some kind person(s)
could
point me towards a web site that might give me some info. We would like to
see things that we cannot in the UK specifically or Europe in general i.e
Space exploration Museums, etc
We might want to hire a carif our UK drivers licence would cover us. We
would hope to keep out of hurricane areas, and criminally unsafe areas.
Tom,
From Shropshire


My wife and I , both 64 yo but in very good health, recently did a trip from
NYC to DC to Philadelphia by train. It was very easy and training from one
to the other is only a matter of hours or less. NYC , of course is quite
walkable and has excellent public transportation and is chock full of things
to do,see and eat. Washington DC likewise has many interesting things. We
stayed near Washington Circle and from there one can take a free shuttle to
Georgetown and one to the Kennedy Center. Also there is free concert of
some sort daily there. Philadelphia is a very walkable city plus they have
fairly good public transportation. It is a most signigicantly historical
site for the US and has some interesting parts to stroll through ie,
Rittenhouse Square area. If you could cover these three cities and perhaps
somehow Boston, you would have seen a lot the US has to offer in terms of
culture and history.

Kay Lancaster wrote:

Two of the most important areas for space flight are the area at
Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, FL, and Johnson Space Center
in Houston, TX. Both are in "hurricane country", and both have fairly
extensive visitor facilities.
Also, the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama has quite
the visitors center -- again in an area affected by hurricanes. If
you'd like to look over the list of NASA visitors centers, see:
http://www.nasa.gov/about/visiting/index.html

If the O.P. does choose to come to DC there is also the Goddard Space Flight
Center in Beltsville, MD just north of DC to go to. It is not as cool as
Kennedy or Johnson (both of which I've been to) but has exhibits and
interest.

Julie



of museums in Washington, DC -- they've actually just opened their
newest museum, the Museum of the American Indian:

Not quite yet. The dedication is going on as I write and it will be opening
at that time.



--
Julie
**********
Check out my Travel Pages (non-commercial) at
http://www.dragonsholm.org/travel.htm

Kay Lancaster wrote:

Two of the most important areas for space flight are the area at
Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, FL, and Johnson Space Center
in Houston, TX. Both are in "hurricane country", and both have fairly
extensive visitor facilities.
Also, the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama has quite
the visitors center -- again in an area affected by hurricanes. If
you'd like to look over the list of NASA visitors centers, see:
http://www.nasa.gov/about/visiting/index.html

If the O.P. does choose to come to DC there is also the Goddard Space Flight
Center in Beltsville, MD just north of DC to go to. It is not as cool as
Kennedy or Johnson (both of which I've been to) but has exhibits and
interest.

Julie



of museums in Washington, DC -- they've actually just opened their
newest museum, the Museum of the American Indian:

Not quite yet. The dedication is going on as I write and it will be opening
at that time.



--
Julie
**********
Check out my Travel Pages (non-commercial) at
http://www.dragonsholm.org/travel.htm

Hi,

your UK driver's license is fine in the US.

but we're a bit larger than the UK... for example there are "space"
related sites in Florida, Alabama, and Texas.

Hurricane season is the fall and usually only affects the extreme
southeast... but they have hit land much further north... be flexible in
your plans and if a hurricane is headed your way, leave.

high crime areas are tough... there are parts of most larger cities here
(just like london) I wouldn't recommend to an elderly couple... but you
most likely wouldn't want to go there anyway...

give a little thought on the kinds of things you'd like to see and come
back here and ask again.

how about visiting Texas? Lots of stuff there that you'd never find in
the UK ranging from the warm south texas beaches at Padre Island (and
spend a day (in a cab) in mexico while you're there), San Antonio and
the Alamo, King Ranch, ....

it just depends on what you like.

if I was somewhere close I'd stop by Corsicana Texas and get a few of
The Best Fruitcakes in the WORLD at Collins Street Bakery.

in Houston I'd go to the east end and have mexican food at Ninfa's on
navigation street and visit the astrodome... and see a professional
sports team (baseball, basketball, whatever) while I was there.




Tom wrote:

Hi,
We are an elderly but reasonably fit couple wanting to spend some 2 weeks in
USA. It will be our first visit and I wondered if some kind person(s) could
point me towards a web site that might give me some info. We would like to
see things that we cannot in the UK specifically or Europe in general i.e
Space exploration Museums, etc
We might want to hire a carif our UK drivers licence would cover us. We
would hope to keep out of hurricane areas, and criminally unsafe areas.
Tom,
From Shropshire UK

Hi,

your UK driver's license is fine in the US.

but we're a bit larger than the UK... for example there are "space"
related sites in Florida, Alabama, and Texas.

Hurricane season is the fall and usually only affects the extreme
southeast... but they have hit land much further north... be flexible in
your plans and if a hurricane is headed your way, leave.

high crime areas are tough... there are parts of most larger cities here
(just like london) I wouldn't recommend to an elderly couple... but you
most likely wouldn't want to go there anyway...

give a little thought on the kinds of things you'd like to see and come
back here and ask again.

how about visiting Texas? Lots of stuff there that you'd never find in
the UK ranging from the warm south texas beaches at Padre Island (and
spend a day (in a cab) in mexico while you're there), San Antonio and
the Alamo, King Ranch, ....

it just depends on what you like.

if I was somewhere close I'd stop by Corsicana Texas and get a few of
The Best Fruitcakes in the WORLD at Collins Street Bakery.

in Houston I'd go to the east end and have mexican food at Ninfa's on
navigation street and visit the astrodome... and see a professional
sports team (baseball, basketball, whatever) while I was there.




Tom wrote:

Hi,
We are an elderly but reasonably fit couple wanting to spend some 2 weeks in
USA. It will be our first visit and I wondered if some kind person(s) could
point me towards a web site that might give me some info. We would like to
see things that we cannot in the UK specifically or Europe in general i.e
Space exploration Museums, etc
We might want to hire a carif our UK drivers licence would cover us. We
would hope to keep out of hurricane areas, and criminally unsafe areas.
Tom,
From Shropshire UK