New England in the Fall Itinerary

Hi fellow TAs – I just wanted to stop by to let you know that I have now at last finalised and booked our trip to New England in the Fall.

First and foremost Lyn and I would like to send our sincere thanks to everyone that provided us with so much useful information and advice. We received far more than we could ever have expected – it was such an unexpected and generous gesture – we were extremely touched and it has enabled us to put together what I’m sure will be a memorable holiday.

For those of you involved from the start you will recall that the itinerary at one stage was changing on an almost daily basis. We had so much wrong when we started but thanks to your patience I think we have now got it right.

Getting it right of course means lots of thing to lots of people – it will involve a lot of driving but we don’t mind the driving – driving through this fabulous scenery is part of the pleasure. When we’ve had enough of driving we will stop and walk. New England is studded with scenic views, walking trails and beautiful traditional towns – I don’t think we’ll have any problem finding an excuse to get out of the car and go for a walk.

As you all will know the problem with planning this sort of trip has been what to include and what to leave out. This has been the most difficult part of the whole process – we pass so close to so many places and things that demand a visit – they are must sees – even if it is just a fleeting glimpse but of course it can’t be done. I fully recognise that even now we have probably spread ourselves too thin and we have not given sufficient time to “stop and smell the roses” but this holiday has turned out to be all about compromise. It will be sad not to see Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York State, Adirondacks, Lake Champlain, Niagara Falls and many many more – but that will give us a good excuse to return.

Finding accommodation has been interesting – as advised I have booked early – which was solid advice as accommodation is already filling up fast. We set a budget for our accommodation at £100 per night (approx $160) – now that wont buy you the swankiest place in town (and in some towns there were some very swanky places to stay) but it also doesn’t put you into the cheapest bracket. We (hopefully) have found some gorgeous places to stay and yes we did it all for £100 per night. We tended to go for a lot of motels this time but these motels look really nice – last year on the west coast we only stayed at one motel -The Lone Pine in Cambria - and that was terrific and great value so we weren’t concerned about booking motels this time around. We had a poor experience with our bed and breakfast booking last year but I was determined that we should persevere and convinced Lyn to give it another go and so we booked The Woodstocker Inn, Woodstock, Vermont – it looks fabulous.

Anyway for those that are interested I have detailed below the final itinerary with prices (for information):

Flights from Heathrow to Boston and out of Washington back to Heathrow – with Virgin Atlantic £560 ($880)

Sept 30th – Oct 2nd – 3 nights - Boston MA– The Club Quarters - £347 ($547)

Oct 3rd – Oct 5th – 3 nights – Bar Harbour ME - Highbrook Motel - £236 ($373)

Oct 6th – Oct 7th – 2 nights – Grenville ME, Moosehead Lake – Birch Point Cabins - £179 ($282)

Oct 8th – Oct 10th – 3 nights – North Conway NH, Golden Gables Inn - £235 ($370)

Oct 11th – Oct 12th – 2 nights – Woodstock VT, The Woodstocker Inn - £269 ($425)

Oct 13th - 1 night – Williamstown MA, The 1896 House - £87 ($136)

Oct 14th – Oct 15th – 2 nights – Harwich Port Cape Cod MA, Sandpiper Beach Inn - £221 ($348)

Oct 16th - 1 night – Boston Logan Airport – The Wyndham Chelsea - £189 ($298)

Oct 17th Jet Blue Domestic Flight – Boston MA to Richmond VA - £101 ($160)

Oct 17th – Oct 18th – 2 nights - Skyline Drive – Skylands Resort - £201 ($317)

19th Oct – 21st Oct – 3 nights - Washington DC – The Washington Plazza £215 ($339)

Oct 22nd – Fly home.

Our car hire is with Thrifty – we have booked a Sebring (soft top) this is Lyn’s idea although I think it may be a bit cold for open top driving. £480 ($755)

Total comes to bout £3,500 ($5,523) including almost a couple of hundred pounds for petrol – which I think is brilliant for 2 people for 3 weeks in New England (and Virginia).

And that is it – all booked – will now devour even more travel books between now and when we leave to make sure that we pick up all of those “must sees”.

Thanks once again for all of your help – I will keep you all informed on how it went with a full and comprehensive travel report – beware you have been warned!! Lol

Take care

Ray

New England in the Fall Itinerary

What a great trip you have planned. Rarely do we get to see an itinerary in such detail along with pricing. Looks like the pound is making a move upwards so you make get more for your money. You will see people driving with there top down in their convertables especially if the sun is out. Fall will be beautiful. Enjoy!

Dave

New England in the Fall Itinerary

Hi day4844

Yes the pound is making a strugle for a bit of a revival but it is never going to be as good as it was last year - still that was a bonus.

A little sunshine would be nice but I%26#39;m not counting any chickens

Take care

Ray

What an incredible amount of work you have put into this. I am guessing you spent more time planning than you actually will traveling!!

You said this was the final itinerary, but 1 comment anyway. I would skip the long trip to Harwich since you will have been to Bar Harbor and had ocean time.

If you insist on heading from the NW corner of Ma to the SE, then maybe Newport, RI which will be very different from the other areas that you will have visited.