Boston-thanks for the suggested trip!
Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2011 5:41 pm
A few months ago I posted asking for suggestions on 3-4 day getaways to a small/medium city that would be easy to walk around, with lots to see and do and of course good food! I received many great suggestions and will try out several of them I'm sure in the coming year, but Boston was the pick this time.
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... highlight=
After the help I received (thanks for all the suggestions, LiamsAunt!) I thought it only right to post a trip report:
I chose Boston primarily for ease of flight-not too many places can be reached nonstop from Buffalo so that was a big plus. I liked the short flight so much that we're talking about doing it for a Maine trip. Maine's been on our short list for a long time (those darn STJ vacations keep interfering!) but with the ease of flying into Boston and then getting a car this would be very do-able.
Boston has a unique feature from their airport-you can fly in and then take a water taxi where you want to go. How fun is that? We flew in on a beautiful morning, took the shuttle bus from the airport to the taxi dock and the boat was waiting for us. It's $10/person one way or $17 r/t.
Researched where to stay and chose the Boston Yacht Haven Inn. We're small town farmers (vineyard) and readily admit to not being comfortable in a big city "closed in" environment. Since we love being by the water this place worked out perfectly for us, and while we had a few hiccups while there, it was great and I highly recommend.
We'd reserved a room with a deck and totally enjoyed watching the boats/yachts come and go and the planes flying in and out of Logan. It was fun! Plus we'd google the yacht names to see who owned what, many are charters-wow are they a lot to charter! $100k +/week.
We were quite close to the North End which is heavily Italian so ate at many great Italian restaurants. We did take one of the trolleys around just to get our bearings, and walked and walked and walked everywhere else. We also ate seafood, though have to say we preferred the Italian restaurants.
Boston has several nice greenway areas, with water features, including the well known swan boats-these guys must have some serious thigh muscles to paddle them!
Several beautiful rose gardens:
Of course there's the Freedom Trail and the history too:
And the Garden and the Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge:
Saw this goliath on the water one day-absolutely HUGE:
We took the water taxi back to the airport too :
Overall, we enjoyed Boston. I think if we hadn't stayed where we did we might have been more claustrophobic. We went to Quincy Market/Faneuil Hall one morning and that was too chaotic for us, too much going on. So having the water area/deck was a really nice breather for us. Absolutely loved the food and the goings on of the North End. On the down side was somewhat surprised at the amount of litter in the parks, and actually didn't think people were too friendly. I supposed they get tourist overload, but we didn't run into too many overly friendly servers, store people, etc. Probably just like on the islands, since you are on vacation and relaxed, you expect others to be relaxed and friendly too, but it’s not their vacation after all!
So our Boston trip was finished; now I will have to take some of the other suggestions and plan some getaways for next year. Thanks again!
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... highlight=
After the help I received (thanks for all the suggestions, LiamsAunt!) I thought it only right to post a trip report:
I chose Boston primarily for ease of flight-not too many places can be reached nonstop from Buffalo so that was a big plus. I liked the short flight so much that we're talking about doing it for a Maine trip. Maine's been on our short list for a long time (those darn STJ vacations keep interfering!) but with the ease of flying into Boston and then getting a car this would be very do-able.
Boston has a unique feature from their airport-you can fly in and then take a water taxi where you want to go. How fun is that? We flew in on a beautiful morning, took the shuttle bus from the airport to the taxi dock and the boat was waiting for us. It's $10/person one way or $17 r/t.
Researched where to stay and chose the Boston Yacht Haven Inn. We're small town farmers (vineyard) and readily admit to not being comfortable in a big city "closed in" environment. Since we love being by the water this place worked out perfectly for us, and while we had a few hiccups while there, it was great and I highly recommend.
We'd reserved a room with a deck and totally enjoyed watching the boats/yachts come and go and the planes flying in and out of Logan. It was fun! Plus we'd google the yacht names to see who owned what, many are charters-wow are they a lot to charter! $100k +/week.
We were quite close to the North End which is heavily Italian so ate at many great Italian restaurants. We did take one of the trolleys around just to get our bearings, and walked and walked and walked everywhere else. We also ate seafood, though have to say we preferred the Italian restaurants.
Boston has several nice greenway areas, with water features, including the well known swan boats-these guys must have some serious thigh muscles to paddle them!
Several beautiful rose gardens:
Of course there's the Freedom Trail and the history too:
And the Garden and the Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge:
Saw this goliath on the water one day-absolutely HUGE:
We took the water taxi back to the airport too :
Overall, we enjoyed Boston. I think if we hadn't stayed where we did we might have been more claustrophobic. We went to Quincy Market/Faneuil Hall one morning and that was too chaotic for us, too much going on. So having the water area/deck was a really nice breather for us. Absolutely loved the food and the goings on of the North End. On the down side was somewhat surprised at the amount of litter in the parks, and actually didn't think people were too friendly. I supposed they get tourist overload, but we didn't run into too many overly friendly servers, store people, etc. Probably just like on the islands, since you are on vacation and relaxed, you expect others to be relaxed and friendly too, but it’s not their vacation after all!
So our Boston trip was finished; now I will have to take some of the other suggestions and plan some getaways for next year. Thanks again!
