As I noted in yesterday’s blog post, which went on to rather dominate the comments thread, I will be out of the country in North America between September 3rd and September 26th. Leila and I are taking a three week holiday that has been about two years in planning. The plan is as follows:
September 3rd: fly to New York
September 3-7: stay in New York
September 8th: Amtrak train from New York to Boston
September 8-10:stay in Boston
September 11: Flight from Boston to Montreal
September 11-16: staying in Montreal and Quebec City (train between cities)
September 17: fly from Montreal to Washington DC
September 17-20: staying in Washington DC
September 21: Amtrak from Washington DC- New York
September 21-23: staying in New York
September 23-24: flight back to NZ
From a transport nerd perspective I am very much looking forward to seeing the New York Subway and the Washington DC Metro in particular, although the transit systems of Montreal and Boston are certain to also be fascinating.
One issue which has been at the back of my mind in recent times is what will happen to this blog while I am away. It will be during the last weeks of the lead-up to the Super City elections, the time the Onehunga Station (finally) opens and the time that the CBD rail tunnel business case is first released. I’ll probably be able to do a little bit of blogging from internet cafes: although I will probably take that opportunity to share my experiences in the various North American cities I am visiting.
I do have my handy blog assistants, who I am sure will keep things running a bit with what’s going on here in NZ. But I think it’s probably timely to remind people that I am open to people submitting “Guest Posts“, and in particular if there’s a transport issue that you think is worthy of being raised by way of a guest post then I’m quite happy to schedule quite a few posts to “pop up” while I’m away and keep things reasonably busy.
Oh, and if there are any really useful tips for visiting any of the cities listed above I’d be more than happy to hear about them!
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Enjoy it!
You’ll miss Onehunga opening!
I know. When I first planned the trip I expected Onehunga to be opening in July!!!!
Bagels with cream cheese in Central Park is one of the best breakfasts in the world. Make sure that if you go to the Empire State Building that you get there before opening otherwise the queues are bad. Although the views from the Rockefeller centre are just as good and it is much nicer.
Have fun
Make sure you visit the highline – a great use of a former elevated railway in the meat packing district of NY.
http://www.thehighline.org/
Have a great trip. You’ll probably have time to fit in a return trip on the Staten Island ferry in NYC – both day and night there’s superb views of Manhattan, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, and the best thing is it’s completely free. In Washington I loved the Air & Space Museum – they’ve got Apollo 11 and the Wright Flyer in there!
Staten Island ferry is most definitely on the list of things to do!
Enjoy your trip, I have to say as a city, New York is definitely one of my favorites and the subway is definitely the way to get around.
Please post some photos of the newly-pedestriansed Times Square. The new Silver Line busway from Boston Logan airport to South Station (not to mention the new areas opened up by the Big Dig) are also worth looking at. Enjoy!
The silver line isn’t much to write home about, it’s merely a trolley bus that runs part of its run on the wires and the rest off the time on its diesel motor…
If the timing works an interesting tour is of the Atlantic Avenue subway tunnels.
http://www.brooklynrail.net/bhra_events.html