Grant & Yvonne share their USA holiday story with us
Grant and Yvonne adapted our Self Drive Classic East Tour, here's what they had to say:
We are Grant and Yvonne and I recently took early retirement, hence our holiday. We chose American Sky because they gave us what we were looking for, we wanted a planned tour of the American East Coast but we wanted the freedom that a non-guided tour offered. American Sky booked the hotels, flights and trolley bus tours and the rest was down to us, which was our plan. Looking for places to eat, especially with the locals was one thing we wanted to do. Eating in hotels has a certain appeal but eating in the local neighbourhoods we felt was better.
From Manchester we flew into Newark and then took a connecting flight to Boston. On arrival at our hotel there was a package with all our details, tickets and everything e needed for our holiday – well presented and set out.
The trolley bus tour (included) was easy to find and took you round all the main sites and included in the ticket was a boat trip around the harbour. We visited the USS Constitution site and had a delightful lunch at the museum (outside thankfully) It was May and very warm (80). We hopped back on the ferry when we wanted to leave, a definite high spot and it is a free attraction. The Boston Tea Party exhibits, two boats on the water and a museum - were full of children and didn’t look too inspiring, we opted for a view from an open aired balcony across the way on the 14th Floor of Independence Wharf, this was free to visit and you had a great view.
Onto New York by train, economy class was luxurious by UK standards, clean, air conditioned and the railway stations are works of art in their own rite, don’t just walk through them take time to look. A private hire cab tried to charge us $45 for a trip that only cost $15 by taxi so watch out, taxis were very good and they didn’t rip you off. We did the Rockefeller by day and the Empire State by night .... if you can afford VIP do so it paid for itself in queue times. Times Square was well worth a visit. Eat in the local diners and you won’t go wrong. We deviated from our paid tour and went on the Circle Line boat tour of the island ......3 hrs long, bar on board and commentary all the way ... worth every penny.
Philadelphia by train, again toured on the trolley bus. A very historic City, we under-estimated time here and could have spent a lot longer there was so much American history to see. We got the train to Washington and saw all the sites by trolley bus and foot, very busy but a big place and can absorb the crowds. Lincoln Memorial, The Vietnam Wall, we saw congress and the White House and even a trip to see the pandas at Washington Zoo (free admission). Don’t miss out on the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum (below)... brilliant place.
Use American Sky to book the core of the holiday leaving you with the pleasure of exploring for yourself.
We would like to thank Grant & Yvonne for sharing their story with us and hope to welcome you on another holiday soon..
If you would like to provide us with your own holiday story please contact [email protected]