Visiting the States...

[Talyn]

If all goes to plan, and life treats me right, I'm planning a 4/5 week trip to the US around the end of October.

Mainly to start work on a new roleplaying game, but thats a story for another thread...

Anyway, having only got my passport a couple of years ago to visit Amsterdam with some friends, and not having been abroad (proper, like!) before, i was wondering if any of you have any experience of the US.

I hear the food is cheap, which is good for me!!

The current plan is -

1 week = New York (start work on book and visit agent)
2 weeks = San Fransisco (visit film set and work on book in between takes)
1 week = Denver (meet marketing team and see what thier plans are)

Is there anything I have to go see (apart from the obvious)?
Anything I should watch out for?
Anything else which may be of use?

Now, everything might just go tits up, but regardless, I intend to have a bloody good holiday if nothing else!!

 

[Calaen]

Treat the place like you would anywhere else with regards to security, be sensible dont go walking around with a wad of notes in your hand. Dont walk up dark alleys at night unless you into that sort of thing.

take a walk in New York walking 2 blocks is frowned upon in my experience, everyone gets a bloody taxi even if where they are going is 2 blocks away.

Food is as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be. You can only eat so many $3 for as much as you want brekky's anyhow.

Have a good time that is the main thing!!!!

 

[dysfunction]

I walked around most of New York and I only took the subway a few times...Its not a very big city.

The subway can be a bit confusing...I got on a train hoping to get off around the middle of Central Park. Little did I know it was an express train and it stopped a few stops AFTER central park in the Bronx which was very dodgy. I got a lot of stares from people just hanging around on street corners.


New York isnt cheap even food wise unless its some usual boring old fast food place.

 

[Tom]

If you're an experienced driver, I recommend driving between states. Yes its a big place, and yes it will take a few days to get from coast to coast, but you'll see much more of the country that way.

Oh, and seeing as you're in California, you can't miss Las Vegas which is only a few hundred miles away.

 

[xane]

Mainly to start work on a new roleplaying game, but thats a story for another thread...

Make sure you post that one, as a side note, can FH have a non-computer games forum, for CCGs, boardgames, wargames, RPGs, etc ?

 

[xane]

Oh, and seeing as you're in California, you can't miss Las Vegas which is only a few hundred miles away.

Over 500 miles in fact, more of an air journey

 

[xane]

2 weeks = San Fransisco

the SF Bay Area is very nice, people are very laid back, weather is superb most of the time. SF itself is interesting, very very hilly, and does have its bad spots, keep out of "soho", not the same type of place as its namesake in London.

Have to see:

Golden Gate Bridge on both sides
Alcatraz
Cable Cars (actually trams)
Pier 39

Dont bother with the Zoo.

Also visit Carmel, about 50 miles from SF.

 

[Lazarus]

SF is great
Boston is somewhere worth going.
Grand Canyon is a "must" I reckon

Carmel - wouldnt bother unless you were near there.

 

[Gengi]

Hi Talyn
A few comments on the California bit, because I have been there.

Be aware that in San Fransisco it will be cold, the bloody fog is horrendous. While you are there, take a trip up the Napa Valley and drink some good wine , look out for concerts too, there are a couple of biggish venues in the Bay area. I only managed a couple of days in San Fransisco and I did all the touristy things, never got to walk down Haight though, I think I missed out there . If you have the time Lake Tahoe is beautiful, Yosemite is not too far away, Carmel and Monterey, and a city my wife had to see was Santa Cruz, because of some old vampire movie there was a good boardwalk there too. Then there was 17 mile drive (I think), home of beautiful golf courses and very rich people in a National Park setting.
Just about anywhere you go the will be jaw doppingly beautiful scenery, a reasonable place to stay but it will not be cheap, California was excellent.

If you want to know anything specific ask away , my sister and her family are living in the commuter belt for San Fransisco, Danville I think.

Later

Gengee

 

[Talyn]

Wow, thanks guys, I'm even more excited now!! Me wanna go NOW!!

I will do my best to get round all the sights and sounds, although, being a bit of a bloater, the walking part sounds like hard work... but I think I could manage!!

*runs around the room clapping his hands all excited like*

 

[Tilda]

Gloucester has its own movie star!!
I can't offer much advice, but make sure you have fun!

 

[Damini]

You really have to, as Laz suggested, see the grand canyon. There's something almost magical about the place - to stand on the edge of something so vast and amazing, and be under blue skies, and yet be able to see a storm in front of you, and lightning striking the ground... It's just superb.

Los Vegas, well, it has to be done, but there's something deeply horrid about the place. Its really hard to describe, but the lack of natural lighting, the people plugged into the machines, the monstrous blocks of rooms... it just felt like a futuristic robot brothel. You can just imagine Doctor Who dashing in, and prising open a slot machine to find a huge blob creature inside.

Boston is gorgeous, and worth at least a day trip (go from China town in New york to China Town in Boston on a very cheap bus for an experience*)

MEDIEVAL TIMES in California. Best evening ever. People are morons though and, if you're anything like me, when you are warned REPEATEDLY not to smack your plates and bowls together as it terrifies the horses, and whole sections still do it, you may be twitching to smite swathes of the audience.

Queue up in NY to get half price theatre tickets. We saw dirty rotten scoundrels when we were there, and can heartily recommend it.




*Like the one in back to the future, except this time when you hit 88 miles per hour, you don't go back in time, you just feel your spleen vibrating at the same frequency as the coachs engine

 

[Ch3tan]

The only bad thing about San Fransisco is the amount of poverty. Beggers will get very tiresome after a few days, let alone two weeks.

 

[Lazarus]

The only bad thing about San Fransisco is the amount of poverty. Beggers will get very tiresome after a few days, let alone two weeks.

things must have changed since we were there (1993 BC {Before Children}) didnt notice any beggars.

 

[Ch3tan]

I was there 2003, the place is poverty stricken, to many people not enough jobs or homes. Lots of beggers, homeless and crime.

 

[Malcolm]

Dunno about any of these places. As my wife's from Tacoma nr Seattle, we always visit her home town - for free lodging

Hoping to make it down to SF next time though, thinking about taking a few days to drive down there as i've got an aunt & uncle there.

Food is definitely cheap - and we overdose on Taco Bell and free meals at the local casino (due to mother-in-law's next door neighbour being the night manager there) every time

 

[Uncle Sick]

Well, since I only live about three hours away from Boston I can tell you it's nice and well worth the trip. Since there's alot of people with Irish origins living there nightlife is a blast.

And since (if) you're visiting Boston, you might as well check out Salem.
Yes, the place where they burned the witches. You want to be there around Halloween, too...hehe.

Now if you are into the beauties of nature, visit Maine during Fall.
Gorgeous.