Hi Cindy and everyone else!
At last I've got down to doing the review I promised of my recent holiday to New England and Canada in the Fall.
We flew into Boston on 26th September to lovely weather, after a very comfortable and pleasant flight. As usual, USA customs took a while to get through, but as we didn't have an ongoing flight to worry about, that was fine - and they are only doing there job, after all! Our tour manager, Gary Desimone, made sure we all got sorted out on our coach and off we went to our hotel which was a bit further out of Boston than I would have liked - the other hotel used by JY is in Midtown, but from what Gary said, we got the better hotel! Apart from the breakfasts, though! Gary ended up helping to make the toast, tea/coffee etc, as the staff just didn't seem to get things going, especially on our last morning when we really had to be away sharpish. The other hotel doesn't "do" breakfast, but to be honest, we might have been better going out for brekkie to the little mall next door to our hotel that have what we had! The local tour guide in Boston was really good and took us to all the fascinating areas, including Harvard, which has some truly lovely buildings. We spent part of the aftenoon wandering throught Quincy Market and went back there at night for dinner, which was very enjoyable. We had a tour out to Cape Cod and the weather was brilliant - walking along the beach in bare feet says it all! We passed through some lovely little villages on the way there and the scenery was simply out of this world - the colours certainly lived up to their name!. We spent some time in Plymouth on the way to Chatham, and saw where the Quakers etc landed.
We also went to a fish restaurant near the waterfront - Jimmy No Names - and if you go there you would only need to have one meal between 2 (you might even get away with 3 as the portions were huge!)
We moved on into New Hampshire and travelled through the gorgeous mountain areas with many stops to take photographs and have little comfort breaks etc. The hotel we stayed in on the Sunday night was at the Fox Ridge Mountain Resort and it was beautiful! We also had a lovely Sunday dinner with "normal" sized portions and not a burger in sight! On the Monday morning we left to move into Vermont and again the journey there was really lovely. Sadly, though, we lost our tour driver as he had to go home due a family bereavement (David) and we got a new driver called Rodney who could only do the one day with us as he couldn't go into Canada with us. Again, the mountain scenery had to be seen to be believed! We had a visit to a Maple farm and that was really funny - the guy who owned it was hilarious! We stayed in an OK hotel in Vermont that night and moved on into Montreal next day. A very busy, vibrant city! The local tour guide was OK, but to be honest, Gary gave us more information about the place than I felt she did! We did a trip up into the Laurentian Mountains, and I can understand why it's called "God's country"! Outstanding scenery all the way there. We had a trip on the lake which took about an hour and the pilot was very informative re who owned what house etc! We then moved on to a superb buffet lunch in a beautiful country type hotel - eat as much as you like etc, and all very healthy food too! During our stay in Montreal, we also had a trip to Quebec - a beautiful city, by any means. The tour guide was excellent, in my opinion! As you would expect, there was a great "French" feel about the city, and it would have been nice to have been able to spend more time there. We moved on to Toronto via Ottawa and had a wander arount the St Laurence Market there and got into Toronto about 6ish in the evening. Time to go straight up the CN tower - it takes 58 seconds from bottom to top in the elevator! The views from there are brilliant as is the glass floor that you can jump up and down on! We had a guided tour around Toronto, and again the tour guide was very knowledgeable. The hotel there was central enough, but sadly I had to complain re the noise level from the room next door to me - there was apparently a girly night out going on! To be very fair to the management there, the party was stopped within 5 minutes of me phoning down to the desk - although from what I gather they simply moved to another room and carried on there! We moved on to Niagra Falls, but sadly the weather wasn't good enough for the helicopter ride over the falls, and due to the waiting times for the Maid of the Mist, we never got to do that - what we did get to do was a ride over part of the Niagra River in a cable car type of thing, and that was good. We moved on to Rochester for an overnight stay and the hotel there was fine, then it was onwards into New York City! We got into NYC about 4 in the afternoon and the hotel was lovely, with a basic breakfast, continental style (as most places seemed to be). We had a night time tour and that was good - Times Square was manic and fascinating! Sadly, theatres in NYC only do a matinee on a Sunday and most don't open on a Monday, so those of that wanted to, couldn't see a show whilst there. Ah well! We had another guided tour the following morning, taking in Central Park, Fifth Avenue etc - again the guides were very knowledgeable. The weather on the final Monday, in the afternoon, was the only real bad weather that we encountered, but 5 of us were still able to do the helicopter ride over NYC and also the Empire State Building - whilst up the Empire State Buidling, a storm came over the Hudson and I got some really good piccies of that! 4 of us had a ride in a yellow cab, and that to me was brilliant - I think I saw my life flashed before me on several occasions! On the last day, 4 of us got a cab down to Central Park (which was only a mile from the hotel, easily in walking distance or by tube) and we took the horse and carriage ride around the park - beware of the touts trying to sell you a ripped of tour! Stick to the official ones who are licensed! We extended our tour of the park to almost an hour and the weather was there to make it really enjoyable!
So, all in all, I can't fault the entire holiday - yes, some of the hotels could have been a bit better, but at the end of the day, we weren't really in them for long so it didn't matter too much!
On a personal, positive ending, I would like to say a huge thank you to Jenny and Jackie - they really did make a difference to my holiday and were 2 fantastic ladies who included me in everything! And last, but certainly not least, Gary the tour manager - a born and bred Bostonian who now lives in the UK! Gary, you were the best and you had a lot of trials to put up with which you sorted with no, or very little hassle, and were very informative throughout the whole trip. If anyoned gets him on a tour then they will be very lucky. So, thanks for making it a memorable tour Gary! It's very true, that the TM can make or break your holiday for you and he made ours!
If anyone is thinking of doing this tour, then go at the end of September if you can, as that seems to be the magical time for colours and weather.
I hope that this is of some use to you if you are going, but if there's anything you need or want to know, please don't hesitate to ask and I'll answer! Clothes wise, all you need is comfortable, casual clothes, and dress in layers to suit the changing temperatures throughout the day. The price of eating out was relatively cheap so you wouldn't need too much for that either. A hectic, but very enjoyable holiday, with masses of history in that region that applies to good old England (even although I'm a Scot, I still appreciated the connection!!!) and as I read a lot of books which seem to be associated with New England, to actually see the places was brilliant for me. I'll shut up now, honest!
Take care
Anne
