Do we really need reservations for New England?

Guenther Erhard wrote:

Nice website! I'll read it more deeply this evening.
I couldn't wait ;-)

I can't believe:
you're in Mittenwald and at castle Linderhof which are both just a
few miles from my hometown Garmisch-Partenkirchen. I live now in
Munich since 2000.

Greetings from Bavaria,
Guenther


Guenther,

Next time I am in Germany, which I hope will not be too long, as I love
the country, I will have to look you up. If you are ever in Washington, DC
look me up!

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

In article , Guenther
Erhard wrote:

IRRC is the peak foliage already gone for ME after Columbus Day.
Is room availability still a pain in the last two weeks of
October?

Depends upon the part of ME and how the weather's been. With aftereffects
of Isabel, there may be enough winds to make foliage a moot point (at
least, that was my experience when I lived in VT).

Foliage from northern to southern VT differs by a week, sometimes two.

--
_Deirdre http://deirdre.net
"Dogs may have kept us company on the hunt, but it was the cats who
insisted we invent houses and discover fire." -- Khiem Tran

Juliana's experience is not relevant. The period prior to Columbus day
and the couple of weeks after are different worlds. If you are in the
mid week you will manage. If you are on weekends expect miserable
traffic and a great deal of crowding. Finding a place to drive in the
gap may be worse than finding a place to camp. FFM

Juliana L Holm wrote:
About 8 years ago I went on a motorcycle trip through New England and upstate
New York for 11 days. We were visiting castles (and I recommend to you the
information from that trip, which is in my web page in my signature).

We made NO reservations (except that four nights we stayed with friends and
family) and had no problem.

This was the third week of September, if I remember correctly, and we had no
reservations. We camped half the time and stayed in a couple of inexpensive
hotels. We had no problem finding a place to stay.
Julie

Guenther Erhard wrote:

(me) wrote in
.com:

Miguel's observations not withstanding, it's got more to do
with who you are and what you want than anything else. If you
aren't particularly "picky" you'll probably do okay.

I don't think, we're really "picky", a standard room with a bed
to sleep on is enough. Of course it should be clean, i.e. we don't
want to fight against cockroaches for place at the bathroom sink.
Hey, how long do we stay at such a place? A few hours to sleep and
taking a shower, that's all. It would make a difference if we stay
at the motel for a week.

of course means you might have to drive the better part of an
hour at the end of your day to get to some "remote" place
to stay. What fills up is generally more the "upper end" and
"centrally located" kinda places.

Do you know anything about the well-known motel chains (Super8,
Motel6 and so on)? Usually they are located at the Interstate - is
this also a "centrally located" place?

A simple test however is to call right now and ask what the
availability at some "sample" campgrounds is for that period of
time. They will probably give you the best feel for the
situation.

Good idea! I'll pick some out and ask...

THX, Guenther

Guenther Erhard wrote:

Do you know anything about the well-known motel chains (Super8,
Motel6 and so on)? Usually they are located at the Interstate - is
this also a "centrally located" place?

We helped my daughter with a long-distance move in July and spent 4
nights at EconoLodge motels at interstate exits. We found them in
general satisfactory and clean, at a reasonable cost.

Interstate exits do not tend to be centrally located, although some are.
I guess I ask what you want to be located near. We stayed at one
Econolodge in Niagara Falls, which was nearing to the falls than the
visitor parking lot. However, the others were in the middle of nowhere.
Funny, the one in Niagara Falls cost less than the one in the cow
pasture in upstate New York. I imagine because it had more competition.

You also mentioned campgrounds. I really can't imagine that campgrounds
will be heavily booked in October. Do remember that Maine can be quite
chilly even in August.

Barbara

Miguel Cruz wrote:

There are a lot of anal-retentive people in the newsgroups.

Tell that to all the people who were sleeping in their cars during a
Columbus Day snowstorm a few years back,
in Waterbury, Vermont.

wrote:
Miguel Cruz wrote:
There are a lot of anal-retentive people in the newsgroups.

Tell that to all the people who were sleeping in their cars during a
Columbus Day snowstorm a few years back, in Waterbury, Vermont.

Multiply cost by expected risk.

This "tell it to..." argument can be used to justify any amount of paranoia.
Tell it to the people who didn't wear parachutes to their jobs in the WTC.
What, you don't wear a parachute anytime you go in a tall office building?

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos and tales from around the world: http://travel.u.nu
Site remodeled 10-Sept-2003: Hundreds of new photos, easier navigation.

Guenther Erhard wrote in
8.17:

Thanks for all answers so far.

To conclude: it seems that finding a room can sometimes be really
a pain on weekends and it advisable to reserve a room in advance.
During the week the problem depends on the location. Campgrounds
are available but the nights are chilly (which is not problem for
me).

The reason why we don't want to reserve in advance is: we want to
decide depending on weather, foliage and area spontaneously where
to go on the next day. Our usual approach is that we start trying
to find a motel in the late afternoon. If we have no luck finding
a room in a acceptable time we stay on a campground.

Is there a chance to reserve only two or three days in advance?

Guenther

Guenther Erhard wrote:

Hi,

My girlfriend and I going to spend 10 days in Maine, Vermont and
maybe a day or two in the Quebec area. The trip starts the day
after Columbus Day.

Usually we decide during the afternoon where and how (tent on
campground or motel) we will stay overnight. When I was here
during the first two weeks of October 2000 I had no problems
finding a motel or a campground. Has this changed so much?
Following the threads in the NG it seems one has to book weeks in
advance.

What about the campgrounds? Are they overcrowded at this time?

TIA,
Guenther

It's been a number of years but my wife and I were in VT on Columbus
Day weekend without reservations. On Sunday night we wanted to get a
room and tuned to a visitor's guide radio station. They said that
there was one room left at a B&B which had bunk beds. We would up
driving to Troy, NY which at least was on our way back home. We stayed
at a Holiday Inn which had expected to be 10% filled and wound up
being 100% full. They had to call in staff.
However we were not looking at campgrounds.

Guenther Erhard wrote in message 08.17...
Hi,

My girlfriend and I going to spend 10 days in Maine, Vermont and
maybe a day or two in the Quebec area. The trip starts the day
after Columbus Day.

Usually we decide during the afternoon where and how (tent on
campground or motel) we will stay overnight. When I was here
during the first two weeks of October 2000 I had no problems
finding a motel or a campground. Has this changed so much?
Following the threads in the NG it seems one has to book weeks in
advance.

What about the campgrounds? Are they overcrowded at this time?

TIA,
Guenther

It really depends where you want to go. I live in Montreal, and we're
often down in New england over the long weekend, particularly when it
falls (ugh..) on the same one as Canadian Thanksgiving. It's hard as
hell to find a room in most inns and motels, and has been getting much
worse lately. We almost always camp, so it's not really an issue; we
just pack up the car and head down, but even some campgrounds can fill
up. State parks are often a good bet, but they may not be situated
exactly where you want to be.

Bob

Travel and Astronomy Photos
http://www3.sympatico.ca/bomo

The reason why we don't want to reserve in advance is: we want to
decide depending on weather, foliage and area spontaneously where
to go on the next day. Our usual approach is that we start trying
to find a motel in the late afternoon. If we have no luck finding
a room in a acceptable time we stay on a campground.

Is there a chance to reserve only two or three days in advance?

Guenther

It's really unlikely, especially during peak foliage weekends. We've tried
to reserve a week in advance at several favourite spots in New Hampshire,
Maine, and Vermont, and usually ended up camping...which was fine, but we
had wanted to have cutesy-tootsie weekend in an inn. Even the little Mom 'n
Pop motels are full to the gills, and there are a lot of them in New
England. There are almost always a couple of very expensive rooms available
at places like The Wentworth or The Balsams or Mount Washington Hotel, but
it depends what a bed and linen napkins is worth to you. I prefer the smell
of the forest and a cozy goosedown bag for two.

Bob

--
Travel and Astonomy Photos
http://www3.sympatico.ca/bomo