Trip to USA/Canada - suggestions/tips?

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Yep, the west coast is fabulous and the routes mentioned above have a wow factor round every corner. Hire a car and drive to see all the wildlife. Don't fancy long distances? Just do the southern half of Vancouver Island. Victoria is lovely and the drive across the mountains to the Pacific is superb. Quite likely to see orcas on the BC ferries, ospreys and bald eagles on every other telegraph pole, plus bears a plenty.
Canada always seems nicer than Uncle Sam, but once did a fly drive out of San Francisco that took in Yosemite, Sequoia, Death Valley, Grand Canyon, the Tetons and Yellowstone. The only downside was two nights in Vegas...

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Thanks to everyone for info/tips - especially Mr 6s for his many suggestions and jdh80 for his amazingly comprehensive reply.

And apologies for not replying before now, but the holiday has morphed quite a bit and was looking unlikely for a while, so I was waiting for things to settle down a bit.

On reflection, we thought the original idea of doing both coasts was too much (it's going to be a busy summer anyway, as we need to spend some time in Hungary and our eldest starts uni in September!), so we decided to split the holiday in two and do the cross-country train and SF bit another year (funds allowing!). This year, just NYC. Except, of course, it didn't stay like that!! The new plan is to fly to Toronto (where Mrs JDL has friends) for a few days, do Niagara from their side, then get a plane to NYC. Then a short week in New York, and finally take the train up the coast to Boston, spend a few days there and fly home from there (assuming you can!). And, in the meantime, weeks have gone by without anything being booked!!

So, basically, the whole thing has turned into a nightmare. Trying to coordinate the dates for three flights and three hotel stays, especially at short notice, is giving me stressful days and sleepless nights...

Still, at least most of my initial questions can now be ticked off thanks to your help.

If anyone can recommend airlines for the London to Toronto, Toronto to NYC, and Boston to London routes, that would be most helpfull.

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If you are under 6' tall, Virgin provide great service. Over 6' and the leg room is very poor for long flights.

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Jun 19, 2023 7:54:35 GMT @61666 said:

If you are under 6' tall, Virgin provide great service. Over 6' and the leg room is very poor for long flights.

I used to be 6'. Nowadays I am only 5' 11"!!

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Applying for ESTAs - help needed!!!

I haven't yet booked our hotel in NY (I know it's late! I've been VERY busy) and have just discovered that, although you dont need to tell them where you're going at the time of applying for ESTAs, you DO have to have a 'US point of contact'! (Which, would, of course, normally be your hotel!)

So, this is going to delay our applications a tad (as I'm still sorting out the Canadian part of the trip, so don't yet know the dates for NY) - how long does it take to get an ESTA approved? The Canadian equivalent is approved immediately, so I was hoping the same would be true of ESTAs, but something tells me that the US is not going to be so cooperative.

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Jun 21, 2023 15:35:35 GMT @johndaubneyslegs said:

Applying for ESTAs - help needed!!!

I haven't yet booked our hotel in NY (I know it's late! I've been VERY busy) and have just discovered that, although you dont need to tell them where you're going at the time of applying for ESTAs, you DO have to have a 'US point of contact'! (Which, would, of course, normally be your hotel!)

So, this is going to delay our applications a tad (as I'm still sorting out the Canadian part of the trip, so don't yet know the dates for NY) - how long does it take to get an ESTA approved? The Canadian equivalent is approved immediately, so I was hoping the same would be true of ESTAs, but something tells me that the US is not going to be so cooperative.

Stick to Sheppey you only need a few jabs and you're away.

[Deleted]

Jun 21, 2023 15:35:35 GMT @johndaubneyslegs said:

Applying for ESTAs - help needed!!!

I haven't yet booked our hotel in NY (I know it's late! I've been VERY busy) and have just discovered that, although you dont need to tell them where you're going at the time of applying for ESTAs, you DO have to have a 'US point of contact'! (Which, would, of course, normally be your hotel!)

So, this is going to delay our applications a tad (as I'm still sorting out the Canadian part of the trip, so don't yet know the dates for NY) - how long does it take to get an ESTA approved? The Canadian equivalent is approved immediately, so I was hoping the same would be true of ESTAs, but something tells me that the US is not going to be so cooperative.

Martin Lewis’ website has some excellent info on applying for an ESTA

It says it can take just seconds to learn whether you’re successful, or upto 72 hours - I imagine a lot depends on your history of crime & misdemeanour 🤨

Use this link for more info, including a pukka link to the correct application website - $21 per person

www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/esta-usa-visa/

[Deleted]

Well JDL will have lots of problems with that then.

[Deleted]

Jun 21, 2023 17:27:53 GMT pwe said:

Jun 21, 2023 15:35:35 GMT @johndaubneyslegs said:

Applying for ESTAs - help needed!!!

I haven't yet booked our hotel in NY (I know it's late! I've been VERY busy) and have just discovered that, although you dont need to tell them where you're going at the time of applying for ESTAs, you DO have to have a 'US point of contact'! (Which, would, of course, normally be your hotel!)

So, this is going to delay our applications a tad (as I'm still sorting out the Canadian part of the trip, so don't yet know the dates for NY) - how long does it take to get an ESTA approved? The Canadian equivalent is approved immediately, so I was hoping the same would be true of ESTAs, but something tells me that the US is not going to be so cooperative.

Martin Lewis’ website has some excellent info on applying for an ESTA

It says it can take just seconds to learn whether you’re successful, or upto 72 hours - I imagine a lot depends on your history of crime & misdemeanour 🤨

Use this link for more info, including a pukka link to the correct application website - $21 per person

www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/esta-usa-visa/

Cheers - just found that myself, very useful. The Canadian ones (eTA) are only $5 and ask a lot fewer questions! I have no criminal record (as far as I'm aware), but I'm almost certainly on a few political databases... My only real worry is that the US wants to know about ALL previous passports (the Canadians don't seem to care), and my wife once held a USSR one. Not sure how that's going to go down in the States at the moment!

The US also want your mum and dad's names and I couldn't remember if my dad was a Jeff or a Geoff!! They're both dead now, so I can't ask them, so I ended up digging through a load of family stuff just to find out. I wonder what they are going to make of my in-law's names - they both have different ones in their USSR and Hungarian documentation! And, not only has no one heard of where my wife was born, but it's in her (British) passport in both Hungarian and Anglicised Russian - without any idication that it's two names for the same place, or which is which!

They also want my Facebook ID!! Strangely, they weren't interested in the Stones forum though.

[Deleted]

Just buy them a burger and a bag of donuts and they won't care if you're from the moon.