wHERE SHOULD WE GO ON HOLIDAY IN THE STATES/CANADA

Nikkei

Hi Everyone

The more I look the more confused I am so I'd like to ask for your help.

We're being really good with money at the moment but it is taking it's toll as we can't do some of the nicer things we enjoy in life so we have decided to have a holiday as a reward. Our son starts school this september and we are trying to not take him out of school for our hols which is proving expensive.

We want to spend at most around £3500 prefereably around the £2000 mark (inclusive of spending money and absolutely everything) and we want to please everyone,

We like adventure holidays but will be slightly restricted as bailey is only 5, he would love to go to a theme park and likes riding bikes and animals
My partner I'm sure he would love to see baseball or american football
I would love to do some scrapbooking workshops, shopping and possibly go to the theatre. Going to a beach would be great but we wouldn't want to spend most of the holiday there.

I know it's a big ask but can anyone make any suggestions of where I should look at and possibly the best times to go as this has to fit within our budget.

Thanks
for looking guys:huh:

richardw

Florida perhaps.

hethmar

Is it home or abroad you want?

Oh, well I guess if he wants to see baseball, less likely to be in this country

If not Florida, with your sort of interests, may be New England area. Plenty for the kids to see - whale watching, beaches, lots of museums, theatres etc and no doubt some sort of crafts lessons oh and the Boston Red Sox. Have a google

http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:K_ft9kym5ygJ:www.smartdestinations.com/attractionList.ep%3Ffilters%3D_d_Bos_Att%26pass%3Dall+Goboston&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=firefox-a

ferf1223

Consider also southern California...not likely to be as hot as Florida but option of various theme parks, shopping, theatre and of course beaches within easy reach.

nw_man

Excellent point Ferf, DisneyLAND, in Anaheim is a possible, its a lot smaller than the Florida Disneys', but they could look at that and maybe combine with LA, or at least the beach parts of LA such as Newport Beach etc

There must be baseball in LA surely

ferf1223

Yeah, also Universal theme park in LA...think there's a Knotts Berry Farm nearby...from what I can remember I think it's about a 2 hour drive from the LA area to San Diego - so the 'world famous San Diego Zoo' and San Diego is a beautiful city in its own right...could take a tram from San Diego to Tijuana too (we did because, hey, Mexico is RIGHT THERE, let's go to Mexico). Though I suppose with a young'un Tijuana may not be a great plan.

As for baseball, off the top of my (American) head - San Diego Padres and Los Angeles...OK, I forget - but I'm just about positive that there's an LA baseball team.

old_motters

ferf1223 wrote: »

Yeah, also Universal theme park in LA...think there's a Knotts Berry Farm nearby...from what I can remember I think it's about a 2 hour drive from the LA area to San Diego - so the 'world famous San Diego Zoo' and San Diego is a beautiful city in its own right...could take a tram from San Diego to Tijuana too (we did because, hey, Mexico is RIGHT THERE, let's go to Mexico). Though I suppose with a young'un Tijuana may not be a great plan.

As for baseball, off the top of my (American) head - San Diego Padres and Los Angeles...OK, I forget - but I'm just about positive that there's an LA baseball team.

:T:beer:

Yes. San Diego is an awesome place and highly recommended and has everything you want.

San Diego Zoo, and San Diego wildlife park for the animals. Disneyland isn't far for a theme park. If you want culture, there's theatre and museums at Balboa Park. The beaches at Coronado, La Jolla and Pacific Beach are amazing. There's also San Diego Padres for baseball and the Chargers for football. The weather is more stable and less humid than Florida especially on the coast. Temecula - wine country is about 2 hours also. If you're wine buffs it's well worth a look.

My wife and I usually stay 3 weeks using priceline for hotels, ebookers (netflights is supposed to be good too) for airfare and car hire plus a bunch of shopping and have change out of £3,000. Of course the dollar was $1.90/£1 but with thoughtful planning it should still be possible to live very comfortably on that or less.

LA is about 2 hours drive, recommend using the toll road though!

pazza2000

Second socal. Better taste of America, more to do, more to see etc

M4RKM

Los Angeles Angels are the MLB team in LA.

Personally, i'd go nowhere else than the New Yankee Stadium...

papercrane0

I grew up there and even after my family moved to the UK we still vacationed there. We'd fly to Montreal, which has the look and feel of an old European City, and stay there for a few days, then either in a rental car or using the Train (Via Rail, Google their website and they some times have good Travel & Hotel Deals) we'd travel to south towards Toronto.

If we where in a car we'd stop off for a few days in the Thousand Island Region (approx. a 3 hours drive from Montreal). Its had loads of water-sports activities and boat trips round the Islands.

Then we'd head on to Toronto, again about 3 hours by car. Toronto is a great city but don't spend all your time on the streets, head down into the PATH systems which is a city underground -it warmer in winter and cooler in the summer. You'll find most of the shops you'd find in New York there and loads of theaters. Last time we went we checked with the City Hall and went to see a movie being filmed which was very cool.

In Toronto is a waterpark/themepark type area called Ontario Place and if you are there in August time the Canadian National Exhibition (a.k.a the Ex or the CNE) takes place technically its a farm show actually its a massive festival.

Just outside Toronto is a permeant theme park called Canada's Wonderland

Then we'd head to Niagara-on-the-lake, which is near Niagara Falls but much quieter and refined. From here you can see the local wineries (Canada has loads of wineries but for some reason isn't aloud to sell in Europe) and go bike riding or head down to the casinos in Niagara. The town also holds several Art Festivals throughout the year.

The baseball season starts in early spring and last though to autumn, you could shell out major money to see a major league team or maybe settle for a minor league team or even just see a junior team play in the park. Be prepared to be approached by someone, Canadians are very open and very family orientated.

Crafting is also big in Canada, most super-markets and craft shop (Michael's was always a good chain) will have a notice-board full of crafting lessons.

Unfortunelty the pound dollar thing means none of it comes cheap any more. Flights to Toronto are about £350 each and hotels are expensive. In saying that we only stay a few days - maybe booking a week or two in one place would get you a better deal.

My sister and I took her two kids over 4 years ago and rented an RV which was about $80 + $25/30 (a day) for a campsite with facilities but this only really works if you like camping, want to travel and don't mind driving - my brother refuses to drive there.

Typing this has brought back so many good memories and I hope give you some ideas. Its a lot longer than I had intended. :eek:

ems2

have you considered flying into toronto and then over land - train/driving - to new york and flying from there. I would recomend stopping @ niagara falls. loads to do in all of theese places and niagra falls town is pretty tacky like an amusment park for the kids and the falls are bl**dy impressive