New England ideas

Hi all,
We are a family of 5 and I'm contemplating a holiday in the New
England area in August.
Been to Boston and environment some 15 years ago and regularly visit
Florida.

Looking for a mixture of nice towns to eat and shop.
Like to swim.
Kids and wife love factory outlet style malls.
Might consider a 2 centre holiday.
Generally prefer some form of self-catering.

Grateful for ideas of places to stay and visit just to get me started.

Tia
--

blackbat /\x/\

On Sat, 06 Feb 2010 11:41:12 +0000, blackbat
wrote:

Hi all,
We are a family of 5 and I'm contemplating a holiday in the New
England area in August.
Been to Boston and environment some 15 years ago and regularly visit
Florida.

You might consider Boston again, since your kids haven't experienced
it, and it has changed quite a bit in 15 years.

Looking for a mixture of nice towns to eat and shop.
Like to swim.

You might consider the Providence - Newport region. Other than that,
there's not much urban focus in New England.

Kids and wife love factory outlet style malls.
Might consider a 2 centre holiday.

Jeez, that's not much to go on. If all you're coming for is malls and
swimming, you might as well stay on your(assumed) side of the pond.

-- Larry

On Sat, 06 Feb 2010 10:48:36 -0500, wrote:

Hi all,
We are a family of 5 and I'm contemplating a holiday in the New
England area in August.
Been to Boston and environment some 15 years ago and regularly visit
Florida.

You might consider Boston again, since your kids haven't experienced
it, and it has changed quite a bit in 15 years.

Well - I'd sooner stay somewhere more relaxed away from a major city,
maybe near but take a couple of day trips into Boston if required.

Looking for a mixture of nice towns to eat and shop.
Like to swim.

You might consider the Providence - Newport region. Other than that,
there's not much urban focus in New England.

Kids and wife love factory outlet style malls.
Might consider a 2 centre holiday.

Jeez, that's not much to go on.

Exactly the point of my post. I'm asking for advice on what the region
has to offer for a laid back holiday with good, small towns, good
restaurants and occasional shopping and day trips.

If all you're coming for is malls and
swimming, you might as well stay on your(assumed) side of the pond.

Hmmm, you'll never make a travel agent with those sort of remarks.
--

blackbat /\x/\

blackbat wrote:

Jeez, that's not much to go on.

Exactly the point of my post. I'm asking for advice on what the region
has to offer for a laid back holiday with good, small towns, good
restaurants and occasional shopping and day trips.

If all you're coming for is malls and
swimming, you might as well stay on your(assumed) side of the pond.

Hmmm, you'll never make a travel agent with those sort of remarks.

And you're not likely to get much useful information with your use of
"good". What's "good" mean to you? I bet it means something much
different to me.

Do you go to your travel agent and give them this level of request? I
want something "good".

Some great areas with both urban or semi-urban amenities and beautiful
surroundings include the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, which
has lovely towns and great restaurants and has a very active summer
arts (theater, music, museums) culture. Burlington, Vermont is a
beautiful small city with a terrific walkable downtown and is on the
shores of Lake Champlain which offers sailing and beaches... though
the water is likely to be quite cold. The lake has a legend of a
monster similar to Nessie. This one is called Champ.

I live in upstate New York, about an hour from southwestern Vermont.
My personal slogan for Vermont is "Vermont has never disappointed me."

On Sun, 7 Feb 2010 10:01:18 -0800 (PST), Bill in Schenectady
wrote:

Some great areas with both urban or semi-urban amenities and beautiful
surroundings include the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, which
has lovely towns and great restaurants and has a very active summer
arts (theater, music, museums) culture.

At last...a friendly and constructive reply!
Thanks - I'll do some investigation into The Berkshires.

Burlington, Vermont is a
beautiful small city with a terrific walkable downtown and is on the
shores of Lake Champlain which offers sailing and beaches... though
the water is likely to be quite cold. The lake has a legend of a
monster similar to Nessie. This one is called Champ.

I live in upstate New York, about an hour from southwestern Vermont.
My personal slogan for Vermont is "Vermont has never disappointed me."

I've been to NYC a couple of times but haven't taken the kids. I'm
thinking now it maybe a good idea if I could find somewhere relaxed
with good transport links to Boston and NYC for a couple of day trips.
Burlington looks interesting.

I guess I was looking for an American slant on my traditional Italian
holiday whereby it's possible to stay in the countryside, enjoy a pool
and small, interesting local towns with good and varied restaurants,
shops and swimming but still be within reach of fantastic cities like
Florence and Rome. Only for Florence and Rome read Boston and NYC.
Could Burlington be that place?

--

blackbat /\x/\

On Sun, 07 Feb 2010 10:05:31 -0600, Robin Stober
wrote:

And you're not likely to get much useful information with your use of
"good". What's "good" mean to you? I bet it means something much
different to me.

Thank you for such a considered and informative contribution.

Do you go to your travel agent and give them this level of request? I
want something "good".

FU

--

blackbat /\x/\

On 08 Feb 2010 in rec.travel.usa-canada, blackbat wrote:

I've been to NYC a couple of times but haven't taken the kids. I'm
thinking now it maybe a good idea if I could find somewhere relaxed
with good transport links to Boston and NYC for a couple of day
trips. Burlington looks interesting.

I guess I was looking for an American slant on my traditional
Italian holiday whereby it's possible to stay in the countryside,
enjoy a pool and small, interesting local towns with good and varied
restaurants, shops and swimming but still be within reach of
fantastic cities like Florence and Rome. Only for Florence and Rome
read Boston and NYC. Could Burlington be that place?

Only if you have a car. It's about 3 1/2 hours by car from Burlington
to Boston and 5 1/2 to New York (according to Google Maps; that agrees
reasonably well with my experience). You can get from Burlington to
both Boston and New York by Amtrak (US passenger rail service), but
it's slow (12 hours and 2 trains to Boston; 10 hours to New York, and
AFAIK only 1 train per day) and expensive (US$62/person to Boston;
US$56/person to New York). I wouldn't recommend it.

http://amtrak.com/

If you decide on Burlington, another nearby city to consider is
Montréal. It's about 100 miles (160km) and just under 2 hours from
Burlington. While it's nominally francophone, you'll hear all kinds
of languages on the street. The restaurants are fabulous, and there
are all kinds of places to visit - museums, churches, parks. There's
the amusement park on an island in the Saint Lawrence River, along
with Casino de Montréal nearby. There's an aquarium, botanical garden
and insectarium near Parc Olympique. If you're a golfer, there's a
lot of golf around the area.

--
Joe Makowiec
http://makowiec.org/
Email: http://makowiec.org/contact/?Joe
Usenet Improvement Project: http://twovoyagers.com/improve-usenet.org/

On Mon, 8 Feb 2010 11:58:52 +0000 (UTC), Joe Makowiec
wrote:


I wouldn't recommend it.

I guess you're right.
Can you think of an alternative to Burlington (albeit with that same
kind of waterside feel) that would allow day trips to NY in
particular? I've made the mistake of mentioning NY to my two oldest
kids and now they're really keen...




http://amtrak.com/

If you decide on Burlington, another nearby city to consider is
Montréal. It's about 100 miles (160km) and just under 2 hours from
Burlington. While it's nominally francophone, you'll hear all kinds
of languages on the street. The restaurants are fabulous, and there
are all kinds of places to visit - museums, churches, parks. There's
the amusement park on an island in the Saint Lawrence River, along
with Casino de Montréal nearby. There's an aquarium, botanical garden
and insectarium near Parc Olympique. If you're a golfer, there's a
lot of golf around the area.

Actually Montreal sounds great.
--

blackbat /\x/\

On 08 Feb 2010 in rec.travel.usa-canada, blackbat wrote:

On Mon, 8 Feb 2010 11:58:52 +0000 (UTC), Joe Makowiec
wrote:

I wouldn't recommend it.

I guess you're right.
Can you think of an alternative to Burlington (albeit with that same
kind of waterside feel) that would allow day trips to NY in
particular? I've made the mistake of mentioning NY to my two oldest
kids and now they're really keen...

The (New) Jersey Shore might be of interest. It's not /quite/ New
England, but depending on where you stay, you can get to New York or
Philadelphia on New Jersey Transit. I'm not familiar enough to offer
specific suggestions, but NJTransit's website might be helpful:

http://www.njtransit.com/

Actually Montreal sounds great.

You /can/ get from Montréal to New York on Amtrak. That's also a one-a-
day train, but transit time is 8 hours, which is comparable to driving
time, and the fare is around US$50/person. (Flights YUL - NYC look like
they run about US$350/person.)

--
Joe Makowiec
http://makowiec.org/
Email: http://makowiec.org/contact/?Joe
Usenet Improvement Project: http://twovoyagers.com/improve-usenet.org/