Help me plan my vacation

labro

SO! We're travelling to upstate NY at the end of July for a wedding and flying in to Watertown. The middle of our stay (Friday night through Sunday night) we're renting a cute little boathouse in the vacation town the wedding is being held in, but we have 2 nights before that stay that are open and 3 nights afterwards that are open that we don't have lodging for. So, what should I do?

I'd REALLY love to travel to Canada, maybe go to Montreal, it's only about 2 hours from our destination for the wedding.

HOWEVER, NYC is about a 5ish hour drive away. Would it be worth it to lose 10 hours travel time and spend Monday and Tuesday in NYC and leave super duper early Weds. to catch our flight in Watertown?

Pros and cons?

Montreal has poutine. I've never been to Canada. - Pros

I have no idea what else to do in Montreal. What is there to see? - Cons

NYC is NYC. Plus it's like NEY central. Plus we can crash at my cousin's apartment which is right next to Grammercy Park - Pros

Loss of 10 hours driving there and back. - Con

What does NEY have to say? Help me plan! We arrive early Wednesday afternoon and our return flight is early afternoon the following Wednesday. Friday we need to pick our friend up from an airport at an unknown time and we have pre-wedding festivities that weekend. Then we'll take him to an airport Monday and are free at that point.

ETA: July 28th is my birthday! The day before we leave. So maybe that plays in to your suggestions? It's also the 1st birthday of my cousin's daughter who we'd hypothetically stay with if they are available.

audrewuh

My response to "what is there to do in Montreal" is the same as any "what is there to do in ____" question: eat. Eat great food and walk around. 

I don't think you could go wrong either way. Have you been to NYC before?

labro

@audrewuh I've never been to either place. I guess I just have common knowledge of things to do in NY - go to Central Park, visit the 9/11 memorial site, etc. vs. Montreal, I have no idea of common tourist sites or things to do/see.

audrewuh

So just a brief glance at trip adviser for Montreal and I'm seeing a lot of church and museum sightseeing, along with great food and beer. 

I think going to Canada would be really fun, especially since you're so close. 

But, I also think going to NYC would be fun, because it's NYC and you'll be able to meet up with @swazzle and @hummingbird125 and a few more, depending on when you'll be there. If your H is anything like mine, though, that would be a con on his list. 

I think the 10 hour drive is worth it to see NYC for the first time. And you'll get the see the GORGEOUS country that is Upstate New York. That drive is beautiful. 

Would you guys take a train to Montreal? Are you near Niagra Falls or in a different part of the state?

labro

@TwoDimes I'm honestly considering that right now. We can give Montreal one full day (Thursday) and two nights before heading back south to the wedding.  I need to email my cousin and hopefully she offers me an airbed to crash on. I just want to make sure I'm doing service to it!

I've never been to either place, so both are a huge draw. I guess I'm just intimidated by the 5 hour drive there and back to NYC. But it's do-able.

eilis1228

I don't think you can go wrong with either option, honestly. I've never been to Montreal, but I've heard it's great-- tons of great food, culture, and touristy things to do. Given the travel time to NYC, I'd probably do Montreal. However, if you can, try and do both! NYC is an amazing city, there are a ton of NEY ladies there that would love to see your face!

speakeasy14

This would be easier if you had been to one before.  For purely selfish reasons, I say go to NYC.  I'm an hour and a half from NYC, while it would be 3.5 hours for me to get to Watertown.  

Another suggestion would be to go to the Finger Lakes for wine tasting.  Watertown is about 2 hours from each of the lakes.  We went to Seneca Lake in October for my birthday and I think we made it to 6 or 7 wineries in a day. 

labro

@speakeasy14 We have all of Sunday open after the wedding. I'm considering a Finger Lakes day or something, but we haven't decided yet. Whatever it is will be fun!

Honestly, at the moment I'm leaning towards definitely doing both as long as I can get H on board. Montreal the first part of our trip, then wedding, and then NYC to finish everything off.

speakeasy14

I think that is an awesome plan!  

Have you already booked your flights?  If you end your trip in Manhattan, you could fly out of La Guardia or JFK and then not have to worry about driving back upstate. 

labro

@speakeasy14 Unfortunately the flights are already booked. I should've thought harder about that....but I'm debating calling our airline to see what the extra cost would be to switch airports for the return flight. If it's minimal it may be worth it.

speakeasy14

If it is a lot to change the flights, see if you can get round trip bus or train tickets.  

teddygirl9

Just to confirm - is it your own car that you're driving? Sometimes the border is weird about taking rental cars.

 

I think doing both sounds like the best idea. I'm from Canada, and I haven't even been to Mtl lol. I'm on the other side of the country though.

AuroraRose41

Oh I can help! I went to college half way between Watertown and Montreal (in Potsdam)! 

Montreal is between 3-4 hours from Watertown (depending on traffic and the route you take). 

We had a few sorority formals in Montreal. I also went on a few trips to Ottawa (highly recommend this as well). I really didn't do too many things other than eat and drink and explore the cities a little, but they are definitely fun to check out. Also, I had an easier time finding Poutine in Ottawa. I don't remember seeing it on any of the menus in Montreal. On top of that, a LOT of places serve it in Northern NY, so you shouldn't have to cross the border to find it. Also, do you speak French? All of the road signs are in French in Montreal and that's what locals speak as their primary language. I had a very hard time driving through that city because I took Spanish in high school. 

I would also recommend the Finger Lakes, or the Thousand Islands! There is a small wine trail there with some good wineries (CLICKY). 

Or take Route 3 through the gorgeous Adirondack Mountains and visit Tupper Lake (2 hours from Watertown) and The Wild Center (CLICKY), and continue on to Lake Placid (2.5 hours from Watertown) and visit the Olympic Training Center and Musuem. You can go bobsledding (CLICKY) at nearby Whiteface Mountain and do a ton of other activities. There is also a gorgeous lake and charming shops and restuarants outside of the Musuem. 

Continuing on from there, you could go to Ausable Chasm (3.5 hours away from Watertown) next. You can go white water rafting, tubing, climb along the cliffs, and a ton of other things too. (CLICKY) . 

Hopefully this all helps! Also, are you flying out of Watertown too? You mentioned you had booked flights already but only mentioned flying in there. I can give you some other recommendations possibly depending on where you are flying out of. All of the towns I mentioned through the Adirondacks have cute B&B's and even some nice resorts to stay at too, many with a lake view. 

kaitlynmichelle

My memories of anything East of Ontario is from childhood so I'm of no help. Except that pointing out how awesome Canada is
Either way sounds like a fun trip!

beanbot2002

I vote NYC, because then you get to meet @swazzle and she's amazeballs, tons of fun, knows all the good places to eat and drink, and the bestest that ever lived.

labro

@teddygirl9 We're renting a car since we're flying from Atl to NY. I guess we'll figure out the border when we try to cross. But it'll be tourist season and summertime, so I'm sure it'll work out.

Bad news. H shot down my NYC idea. Basically, he wants to be able to spend more time there, but won't extend our trip and doesn't want to pay to change our flights, so I guess we're stuck with stuff in the more immediate area. BOO!!!!

I guess we now may end up doing Niagara and Toronto which are more like 4 hours away (I don't get how this is better than 5 hours to NY, but whatever). Or even Ottawa. We'll see. I'm so bummed.

@AuroraRose41 The wedding is IN the Thousand Lakes region! So luckily we get to make that part of our vacation no matter what! We're renting a cute little boathouse cottage on the shores of the St. Lawrence river for the wedding weekend. I can't wait! Thanks for all of those tips and ideas! I think I like them a bit more than going to the falls tbh.

labro

@beanbot2002 I am SO bummed now! No NYC for me....I'm hoping I'll be able to swing a NEY g2g somehow....

beanbot2002

labro

beanbot2002 said:

This is EXACTLY how I feel right now.

lmcooper86

Booo, I'm sorry your H wasn't on board for doing both that would have been awesome!

HOWEVER: I was going to vote for Montreal anyways, because Canada. True, a lot of the signs are in French, but there's great food and lots of cool architecture and it's a decent city for walking to do touristy things.

If you change your plan and decide to do Niagara and/or Toronto...well I'm in just north of Toronto (I'm so used to saying I live in the city...which I don't anymore. Sad). Niagara is pretty touristy, but the falls are cool, there's some kitchy touristy stuff in the immediate area, plus good wineries in the Niagara region. Toronto is awesome. Lots of great food, the Toronto island is a great day trip, some cool museums and it's generally pretty walkable, or there's the subway.

One other thing to keep in mind: the dates you mentioned fall right between the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games, which are in Toronto this year. Since there are no actual games going on over that weekend it shouldn't be too bad, and there might be some Pan Am stuff going on in the city, but traffic could be bad (which really means it could be absolute balls, because traffic in Toronto is usually bad anyways).

If you do end up doing Niagara and/or Toronto PM me if you want more details or suggestions!

GoldenPenguin

YOU HAVE TO GET TO THE CAPITAL REGION. It's the BEST part of New York. 

Mostly because I live there. 

labro

@lmcooper86 Actually all of our non-wedding travel will fall on week days. So would that be a problem?

The kitschy touristy stuff is 100% my problem with Niagara. I know I'm a tourist, but that doesn't mean I WANT to do all the tacky tourist stuff....ugh.

Bad traffic stuff - I live in Atlanta. It is #1 in the US for worst traffic/congestion. I think anything Canada tries to throw at me isn't going to be an issue. Sitting in traffic is my life every day of the week that I don't work from home.

lmcooper86

@labro - The Pan Am Games end July 26th or 27th, and the Parapan Am Games start August 7th. What I meant is there are no actual games on the weekend or surrounding dates that you're talking about traveling. I don't know if there's going to be stuff happening in between or if there are going to be road closures or lane restrictions kept in place between the 2 sets of Games.

Niagara is a tourist spot. Always has been. I wasn't suggesting you do "tacky tourist stuff", just saying that's a lot of what's there is geared towards tourists.

Traffic is always bad. If you're used to it that's great. I'm just saying that traffic is consistently bad; weekdays are sometimes better than weekends, but it depends where you're going and what route you're taking. Like I said, there supposed to be road closures and lane restrictions during the Games, and I don't know if those will be in place between the sets of Games too.

labro

@lmcooper86 That wasn't directed at you re tacky tourist stuff. I think I'm just projecting my annoyance with H. I LOVE ideas like you presented about Toronto, and I just generally dislike the whole "ride the boat under the waterfall", "take a picture in front of the waterfall", kind of thing. And re: traffic. I've been warned. By other Canadians too. But I think I'm well prepared. I'll just be that annoyed American driver.