My East Coast Trip

I have had a great two weeks travelling the east cost of the USA. I admit I wasn’t prepared and should not have done it so close to my trip to Australia, but I really wanted to go out and see Halloween in Salem and it was so worth it.

I absolutely loved Salem the atmosphere at Halloween was electric. It would have been great to have some friends with me as then I would have loved to have dressed up but felt a bit silly doing it on my own.

However, I didn’t feel out of place not being in costume so that was OK.

I was so eager to get to Salem for Halloween, I didn’t realise that the weather was turning, and it would be getting cold and some of the destinations on the east coast sort of close down so there were limitation to what I could see and do but I still had a great time.

One thing I always forget about North America is its size. When I was booking my east coast trip, I was thinking each place is next to each other, so it shouldn’t take so long to get there but, they are still over a couple of hours away.

I used the local bus lines and even though this meant some time on the road I loved it as it meant I got to see the scenery and still stay warm on the bus.

I used Greyhound, Mega bus, Peter Pan, and Dartmouth and had no problems with any of them although I had heard a few scare stories all my trips ran on time and were clean and comfortable.

east coast trip to boston — Boston Skyline

I got an absolute bargain with Norwegian Air. As a budget airline I was slightly concerned but it was a good flight, the seats are a bit of a tight squeeze but when you are paying so little who cares as long as I get there safely

I decided to do some homestays during this trip as I needed to save some money and I was really impressed.

I am a bit of a snob when it comes to where I stay and have to have my own toilet, but sharing was actually OK. I still had my own room and privacy and what I paid for 9 nights in homestays was equivalent to 4 nights in hotels so definitely worth the savings.

7 nights in Boston

First stop was 3 nights in Boston and then I later returned for another 4 nights. I did the Freedom walk, saw the sights of the city and even watched a few movies which I love doing when I am in USA for some reason.

2 nights in New York

My plan was to watch the Halloween Parade in New York after a day of sightseeing I popped back to my hotel for a little nap before the parade started but I then woke to news of a terrorist attack in lower Manhattan which is near where the parade would be. Some maniac went on a rampage hitting pedestrians.

Due to being on my own I started to get a little scared of course when in New York 911 is still so prominent and I know this was nothing on this scale but reporters were saying things such as this could be the start of more attacks tonight. So unfortunately I then decided not to go to the parade. I would have to use the tube and I was too nervous so I was going to watch it on TV in the bar but they were not even showing much on the TV due to covering the news of the terrorist attack. But I had visited Salem for my taste of Halloween in the US so I wasn’t too gutted.

2 nights in Philadelphia

I was so surprised at Philadelphia I really loved the colonial style architecture and could have spent more than 2 nights here as there was still so much I just didn’t get time to see. I received a complimentary Philly pass which meant I got free admission to the oldest Zoo in America and the Observation deck where I could see views all over the city.

2 nights in Washington DC

One thing that surprised me about Washington DC were the free museums. Not often in a city as big as Washington DC do you come across free attractions, so this was great. I visited the Air and Space museum, the American History Museum, and the National Museum of Natural History.

4 nights in Vermont

Apart from Salem the other point of this trip was to visit a friend in Vermont and I had the best time. Vermont was how I imagine America to be from watching movies, rural buildings, general stores, and lots of space.

It was also great to travel around with friends again as sometimes it is lonely travelling solo and the best bit was they had a car, so I didn’t have to worry about working out how to get to places which I think would be quite difficult in Vermont as there isn’t much of a public transport network.

It is quite funny, but we went to a sock sale and it was a big deal in the area. Now I must admit I have never queued for socks before, but this is a major sale and the best socks in Vermont which normally retail at $20 were down to $8 and $5 which in the cold weather these socks become a godsend so lots of people were queuing and it took us 45 minutes to just get in. Of course, I had to buy a few pairs after waiting all that time in the line, but these are actually the best socks ever and when it was -12 my feet were not getting cold.

It was my first time seeing a covered bridge. Might sound abit morbit but it really reminded me of the film Beetlejuice as at the beginning of the film where they crash. Anyway my friend had a covered red bridge right outside her house and every time I saw it I thought of this film but they are actually covered to protect them from the elements as it can get very cold in Vermont.