TRIP'S USA TRIP

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Boston will be more pricy, but staying in like, Cambridge MIGHT make it cheaper, unless Harvard is graduating the same weekend as Brown. There's enough hotels up there that you're bound to find something, just run it by us first before booking so you're not in a bad area.

And if you definitely go with the car, you have the option of picking a suburban location like Foxboro or Warwick too.

Dedham is also a possibility, though I don't know what the rates are there. Dedham is right outside of Boston/next to the part of Boston where I live (West Roxbury) though I might not be living in West Roxbury at that time. If you do Dedham though, you will need a car, since MBTA service is not as extensive.

Which reminds me, this might be helpful when you get here:

www.mbta.com

The trip planner is pretty handy. It might also help narrow down any accommodations you're looking for.

[Suu]

Yes. Important websites to know:

http://www.mbta.com like Blight just mentioned. Boston commuter rails and subways.

http://www.mta.info/ The NYC Subway is your friend while you're there. Try to avoid taxis, they'll hear your accent and suck you dry.

http://ripta.com Just in case for whatever reason, we can't get you somewhere in RI, the bus pretty much goes everywhere, including the beach and airport, for $2 one way.

http://www.septa.org/ This is Philadelphia, should you go down there. Lots of great history.

http://www.wmata.com/ Washington DC Area Metro. It's pretty thorough and easy to navigate.

http://mta.maryland.gov/services/lightrail/ This is the Baltimore Light Rail. Though I have no idea why you would go to that city EXCEPT to see the Inner Harbor.

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

Mr Squid and I stopped in Baltimore for the harbor. We took a wrong turn and ended up in I swear what looked like a "bad movie" set. Like, clothes lines from one building to the next and everything.
Found some great seafood though.

Damn I wanna see Boston.
I need a map.

[LMNO]

Baltimore is awesome, like a John Waters film.  Also, the American Visionary museum, which houses an enormous collection of "Amateur" and "Outsider" art.  People who never sold their work, schizophrenics, OCD cases, prisoners.  It's pretty stunning.

[Suu]

Mr Squid and I stopped in Baltimore for the harbor. We took a wrong turn and ended up in I swear what looked like a "bad movie" set. Like, clothes lines from one building to the next and everything.
Found some great seafood though.

Damn I wanna see Boston.
I need a map.

Boston is easy. We won't drive there though, even if you rent a car. That's what trains are for. Parking in Boston is worse than parking in New York. Yeah...Think on that one for a bit. We don't really have room for cars in the Northeast, but because we already have so many cars, we don't exactly have room for bikes either.  

[LMNO]

Boston is amazingly walkable, though.  At least in Spring and Fall.

[Suu]

Baltimore is awesome, like a John Waters film.  Also, the American Visionary museum, which houses an enormous collection of "Amateur" and "Outsider" art.  People who never sold their work, schizophrenics, OCD cases, prisoners.  It's pretty stunning.

Some of the coolest bums I've ever met were in Baltimore. This one dude could recite Shakespeare on command for a burger. I asked him to knock off Act 2 Scene 3 of King Lear and he did it without breaking a sweat.

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

So you can hop a train from RI to Boston then another to like Connecticut and NY??
Does it take a whole day to get from one to the next? Hold up. How many miles across is Mass and RI??

(see it's hard to imagine this shit when you live in FL cause this place is so damn spread out and there's nearly no public transit)

[Suu]

Boston is amazingly walkable, though.  At least in Spring and Fall.

Troof. So is Providence because it's so small, it's just that the hills can be a little intimidating. Even Roger was like, "WTF" when him and Richter walked up to Thayer to see me at work.

Hell, even Manhattan is walkable, you just need to stay focused, which is, unfortunately, going to be extremely hard to do for anyone who's never been there before.

[LMNO]

On a normal amtrak train, it takes about 4 hours from Boston to NY.  Suu has probably done it more recently than I, so she probably has better details.

[Suu]

So you can hop a train from RI to Boston then another to like Connecticut and NY??
Does it take a whole day to get from one to the next? Hold up. How many miles across is Mass and RI??

(see it's hard to imagine this shit when you live in FL cause this place is so damn spread out and there's nearly no public transit)

Train from Boston to Providence: 45 minutes on Amtrak, an hour and change on the commuter line.
Providence to NYC: 3 hours and change on Amtrak. Commuter line requires a drive to New Haven, CT, and from New Haven to Grand Central is 2 hours. Amtrak goes to Penn.

Bus and driving is about the same. It's only 150 miles exactly from Manhattan to Providence, and then another exact 50 miles from Boston to Providence. The post roads were designed like this for a reason, so you could make them in a day by stagecoach. Rte 6 connects Hartford, CT to Providence. It's almost a straight line and exactly 60 miles. We can be in Montreal in 6 hours on a good day. It took 6 hours to get out of the state of Florida on a good day from TAMPA, not even the full length of the state.

If you take the Acela, which is the high speed train (don't, because it's stupid expensive) it's 35 mins from Providence to Boston.

[AFK]

Boston is amazingly walkable, though.  At least in Spring and Fall.

I agree.  Though I recommend some planning, especially in terms of where you put up for the night.  My wife and I usually go to one Red Sox game a year and we found this great little brownstone inn that is in just the right spot so we can walk to Fenway and hit some other spots. 

[Suu]

Also, if it comes down to it, I can totally bus it to NYC to escort spags. A same-day roundtrip from Providence to New York is 30 bucks on Peter Pan.



...Plus it's an excuse to go to the City. 

[Suu]

Oh, and aside from Strange New England (We can arrange to see almost everything on there if you want), this is another FANTASTIC RI guide made by locals: http://www.quahog.org/

And there's always Art in Ruins for those that love architecture: http://artinruins.com/

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

holy cow that is incredibly small 

I could theoretically do all the places in one day if I really wanted to (which I don't)

Cool, so going from one place to another will be a breeze.
Walking is something I really enjoy. We walked the length of Manhattan just for the hell of it. (in the rain) The less driving I have to do the happier I am.
Shit. This should be a lot of fun.

LMNO- you gonna hang?