The US and CA with a child – history, waterfalls, big cities, woods, jail and another Disney (belated)

[ellen10]

Enjoying your trip report

 

[Pushka]

Love Boston. We were there in late October and it was super hot and humid yet you were there recently and in coats?

 

[craven morehead]

This time to Boston, Niagara Falls, Quebec City, NYC, San Francisco and LA. Tea parties, kids museums, waterfalls, snow, aquariums, parks, American Girl, American Girl, and more American Girl, Beverly Hills, and another Disney checked off the list. Again this report will have a focus on activities with kids and other things that interest us. May not be as interesting as Japan as we some parts are well known on this forum. Like most of our travels the girls travel on points. It is also another belated TR.

We are heading to BOS on 2 separate planes. The girls are going the long way round via 2 longer flights but it beats multiple connections in a day. QR is also a better airline, MissM wants to see the big bear in DOH and would also like to go completely around the world not half way and back.

First stop for the Girls QF F lounge then off to the plane the QR a380.
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MissM was completely unaware of what was to come next and was beside herself when she realised.
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We had not told her she would be in F and she told MrsM that this is so much better than the QF F plane from Japan. Ok I never did fess up to the QF747 F fib I told her six months ago and was about to hear about that later.

Fairly decent start to the trip

 

[Matt_01]

Love Boston. We were there in late October and it was super hot and humid yet you were there recently and in coats?

Many of the reports I am posting at the moment are belated with some being from trips taken a couple of years back. The actual words were written some time ago but I never got to sorting through photos and posting. When I was looking through other TRs there did not seem to be many that covered activities for kids activities which is why I am choosing to cover that, I am sure there are few on AFF you travel with younger kids. When we were in Boston it was late March and April.

I am still playing catch up for a few other reports.

 

[Matt_01]

To get from BUF up to Niagara we had arranged a driver, when we travel we try and balance easy of getting from A-B, time and cost. As we were getting in late a driver service was the most convenient, from memory there are certain lanes that the hire cars can use and it was all painless. I think the cost was CA80-90. We stayed a the Marriott Fallsview the hotel was pleasant enough and there is a small executive lounge with a reasonable offering of snacks and wine in the evening. I could not find any photos of the lounge. In the morning we caught the funiculaire down to the main entry level, for those who do not know what a funiculaire was I didn't it is just a small carriage that takes you down a steep incline.


The US side ferry

The CA side ferry

 

[Matt_01]

Some more pictures of the falls from the inside.

a lower viewing deck which I believe is no longer used
Down the road was a small butterfly park


iPhone are not that flash when it comes to macro work

 

[Matt_01]

The view from the room in the morning and evening.

 

[Matt_01]

Next leg of the journey was to get to Quebec City. We had looked at pubic transport option to get to YYZ however a driver service was the easiest and from memory was in the vicinity of $200. On arrival at YYZ check in was just like any domestic flight. We were flying AC and although I have *G status I assumed I would not be able to take in a couple of guests into the AC lounge, did not check as a PP lounge did the job. Nothing spectacular or bad about the flight however when we were coming into land the chap next to let out a sigh and oh s#!t there is snow, that’s not supposed to be here. Turns out he had come from LA on short notice, did not check the weather and was not expecting snow.

The Hilton is quite nice, the rooms were big but we may have been upgraded there is a good size lounge and a pretty good spread of food and selection of wines. However there were access woes, this time the issue was with MissM as apparently the laws in Quebec do not allow minors into clubs/ lounges areas within hotels that supply alcohol, restaurants are treated differently. They provided us with drink vouchers that could be used at the lobby bar which I found odd as she could not go there either, our first world problems. Given that MrsM went to get herself some fizz and I was in charge of MissM and took the lazy dinner option room service.

Photos from the room and the lounge.

 

[Matt_01]

Venturing in to the lower town/ old city and wandering around.

 

[Matt_01]

Some more and we also found some places to go into as it was bitterly cold.

 

[Matt_01]

The following day we boarded the bus and off to the Aquarium. It was a public bus that stopped in the vicinity of the Aquarium but it was still a bit of a hike. It is not large but good for children. MissM was amazed at how large the walrus is, first time she had seen a real one.

On the way back to town we got off the bus a few stops from the hotel and wandered back

Sometimes kids are just nuts, just above zero and she wants to go for a swim in an outdoor pool

 

[Matt_01]

Last thing on my list was the La Citadelle de Quebec

 

[Matt_01]

Time to leave and head to NYC. Check in was relatively painless as was immigration, when we were in Quebec there was no pre-check it may be in place now. We were flying DL to send the SC and points back to VA. There was a small lounge that we could use via DL or PP it did not really matter we had access.

 

[Katie]

The Hilton is quite nice, the rooms were big but we may have been upgraded there is a good size lounge and a pretty good spread of food and selection of wines. However there were access woes, this time the issue was with MissM as apparently the laws in Quebec do not allow minors into clubs/ lounges areas within hotels that supply alcohol, restaurants are treated differently. They provided us with drink vouchers that could be used at the lobby bar which I found odd as she could not go there either, our first world problems. Given that MrsM went to get herself some fizz and I was in charge of MissM and took the lazy dinner option room service.

Great to know! I've got the Hilton in Quebec booked for us in December. Although my Miss is Not So Little (over 173cm and 13 soon), she is clearly a minor.
We had a similar issue with the bar at the Waldorf Astoria/Caledonian in Edinburgh and allowing minors.

 

[Matt_01]

So we have arrived at JFK did all the standard clearances we use dial7 for airport transfers and headed to the Hilton Mid town if you are planning on staying there the lounge in on the ground floor, not large and not a great offering and the coffee machines were removed from the rooms several years back. I knew this in advance but decided to stay there anyway as it was close to most things we would be going to.

This was also the day I was dreading, day one in NYC with MissM and American Girl is only a few blocks away. Arrived at the room bags dropped and there was the call to go to AG, I let them know it was a couple of blocks away, gave them directions and said I will do my own thing, well that went down like a lead balloon so off I went.
I think I was only required to help get the stuff back.

 

[Matt_01]

The next day we were off to Snug Harbour a place MrsM found on Stanton Island. On the way to the ferry we had a brief stop in downtown.

Explaining the memorial to MissM was a bit interesting. She could not understand why any one would deliberately fly a plane into a building.

 

[Matt_01]

Snug Harbour was a bit of a hike to get to and was quite quaint although we walked there it was uber to the rescue to get back to the ferry terminal.

Wandering through some of the streets on Stanton Island

On the way back to the hotel another stop off at AG and more stuff to carry.

 

[RooFlyer]

Ah. Now I can see the reason for flying First. Need the extra luggage allowance back!

 

[Matt_01]

The following day was a lazy stroll through central park, The Guggenheim and The Museum of Natural History

 

[Matt_01]

The Guggenheim


The Museum of Natural History