Hi Dadcanyou

We visit the US on a regular basis, and in two weeks my partner and I are off to:

Charleston - South Carolina
Ashville - North Carolina
Nashville - Tennessee
Atlanta - Georgia

We are spending a week in each location; we fly into Charlotte NC pick up our hire car, and drive between all locations ending up back at Charlotte NC, where we drop our hire car off, prior to joining our flight.

This is a DIY holiday, everything has been booked via the Internet, and there are several Companies that I use, i.e.

For flights I use a star alliance company due to my Mileage plus status with UA,

For hotels I book with ICH being a platinum member

For Car hire I always use Dollar car hire, you can book for the USA, through their UK website.

You can join all of the above Companies programmes free of charge.

I can supply you with some of the itineraries I have created if you wish.

We have done Washington previously, whilst all the locations I mention above are ideal for driving, Washington, like any other major city is not for driving in.

As a suggestion, why not consider my itinerary above, and postpone Washington for another time, maybe combine Washington with Chicago, or NY.

So, if you plan on doing my itinerary for example, you can fly direct from Gatwick to Charlotte NC with US airways, any other UK airport you will have to reconnect somewhere in the US.

I notice you are booking your own flights, good for you,

How are you planning on getting between each location, are you planning on driving or flying?

If you plan on hiring a car, one issue to consider, if you pick your hire car up in Washington, and drop of say in Georgia, the drop off fees are astronomical, you are better of picking up and dropping of at the same location if possible.

Any questions do not hesitate to ask.

Driver02

Thanks Driver02

We will be travelling fron Manchester and their direct flights only cover New York and Boston. My Wife wants to see the cities so things are now changing we can get a reasonable flight from Manchester to New York so the intention now is to combine New York and Washington hopefully with some time to drive in Virginia and down into North Carolina. Any advice on these thoughts would be welcome.

How long do we need in the cities? Are there trams like in Boston to take you round the sites? Is it better to stay outside the city and take trains in?

We are intending to hire a car from JFK airport.

Dadcanyou

Hi Dadcanyou

OK, as your itinerary has no changed this is what I would suggest, we often have the same problem, we start off with an idea, then finish booking somewhere completely different.

I would do Man - New York, there is far to much information to post here regarding New York, if you use the search engine at the top of this page and type in New York, you will find numerous pages regarding itineraries.

Now as for hiring a car from JFK, IMHO, this is a definitely NO NO NO

I have visited New York 8 times; I have hired a car and driven around New York, and also over to New Jersey, no easy task.

If you wish to hire a car do it from as close to your hotel in Manhattan, one reason, airport fees, and toll bridges, plus if you've never been to New York previously it will be a nightmare trying to find your way, either catch a cab or a shuttle from JFK, find your bearings around your hotel, and take it from there.

As for your itinerary, I would suggest this:

New York 4/5 days
Fly to
Washington 4/5 days

Then pick up you hire car drive and set off from Washington to Richmond VA (Take as long as you wish here)
Spending a week here will be no problem if you have a car to tour the outside area.

From Richmond VA drive to Wilmington NC, as I say, spend as long as you wish here.
Again, spending another week here will be no problem as long as you have a car to tour the outside area.

On completion here, if you like driving, take the long drive back to Washington for your flight, when I say long, it's around 8 hours with a stop, doing this, you will not incur any drop off fees, we have done this itinerary so any help or advice you require just ask.

As for where to stay, on a personal note, we always stay in the downtown area, i.e. within walking distance of the bars and restaurants, it's handy for the evenings if you don't feel like driving.

Within the area's I mention, thye do a trolley service, which we usually do on our first day, just to get our bearings.

Driver02

I forgot to mention, the reason for not really hiring a car within New York, and Washington, parking fees, unless you are extremely wealthy and can afford to pay the huge fees, it's a no, no.

Public transport is very easily accessible within New York, and Washington, and rest assured, you will have no problem using it.

On completion of your trip to Washington, that is when I would recommend you collect your hire car.

You can expect to pay around $30.00/$40.00 PER NIGHT for parking at hotels in both New York and Washington, (Of course, that's depends on the hotel you choose)

Driver02

Thanks again for your help it is much appreciated

How about this idea we arrive JFK 11.30 am collect car travel to Washington looking on the web there are some Best Western / Comfort inns 10 to 12 miles from city centre with buses to Metro for travel to city stay enough time to visit city then move to travel to Richmond then on to North Carolina driving back to New York and try to do city visits the same way from outside city but close to Metro. We are going for 19 days this may not be enough but all we can take away at the moment.

dadcanyou

Dadcanyou

OK, that looks OK, problem is, you may lose some time travelling, for example from NC back to New York is around 700 miles, could take you around 12 hours drive, will you be up for this?

Driver02

No problem with the driving we both drive and have driven in USA before. I will now get the maps out to look at what to do and see in VA any ideas allways welcome.

Are Metros safe in an evening?

dadcanyou

OK, give me some time; I'll dig out some of my previous itineraries for VA

Ok, for VA, we have done the following, not sure if any of the suggestions are to your taste, but take a look, I trust you find something suitable.

Yorktown Battlefield
http://www.nps.gov/archive/colo/Yorktown/ythome.htm

Monticello Jefferson's home
http://www.monticello.org/

Jamestown
http://www.apva.org/history/index.html

Colonial Williamsburg
http://www.history.org/

http://www.martinsstation.com/history.shtml

Flag Rock
http://www.virginia.org/site/description.asp?AttrID=13597&CharID=293583

Grayson Highlands State Park
http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/gra.shtml

Jamestown settlement and Williamsburg get my vote in Virginia. Also if interested -you can take a tour of the Norfolk Naval Station-
http://www.Navstanorva.navy.mil/TOUR
South Carolina / Georgia - combine quaint towns with coastal drives- Savannah and Charleston. Out to Tybee Island or Hilton Head for a breath of sea air.
In Savannah eat lunch at Mrs Wilkes restaurant. Southern food. Come hungry.
On the way down from DC eat at Cracker Barrel restaurants for home cooked style food- huge breakfasts too- and fun shopping at the same time (on all the Interstates)

Hi Dadcanyou

My links above are just to give you an idea to work from, as I'm not sure of your interests.

However, as you are starting of in New York with so much to see and do, you can create your own itinerary and also choose the amount of time you want to spend.

Starting out on your itinerary from NYC head out toward the western part of New Jersey.

The towns around Clinton are historic and pretty.

Head south down the western part of NJ to Philadelphia via Trenton (more George Washington stuff/battle sites/museum there) and cross the Delaware River where George did (small museum on each side of the River).

Head to Philadelphia and see Independence Hall the Franklin Ben Franklin's "house" site with the museums around it, Liberty Bell, and other sites.

After this you can head towards Baltimore.

Then head down to Washington DC for several days

After DC head towards Richmond then onto Wilmington and take the coastal road to Myrtle Beach and finishing in Charleston NC.

The above itinerary we have done around 6 years ago, I had to look in my diaries for some of the info, we done it in 4 weeks, I guess it's possible in 19 days.

Also, it's gives you a base to work from, as for restaurants, difficult one as you are staying depending on your price range.

On your return journey back to NY from Charleston, you can take I-95 more or less all the way back to NY.

Anything else just ask.

Driver02