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Quite fancied a return trip the USofA for a while now, particularly hoping it can coincide with a decent convention for me to wander round and enjoy.

But, not being of extensive means, I was wondering if there are such things as a Bed and Breakfast in the States. In case they are called something else and I'm confusing people, I'll explain. Essentially, it a cheaper version of a Hotel, where you spend the night, get your brekkie, and then tend to be turfed out of during the day.

Just looking at ways of keeping it as a cheap as possible. Also, to kill two birds with one stone, are there any decent Conventions and that during Halloween?

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Quite fancied a return trip the USofA for a while now, particularly hoping it can coincide with a decent convention for me to wander round and enjoy.

But, not being of extensive means, I was wondering if there are such things as a Bed and Breakfast in the States. In case they are called something else and I'm confusing people, I'll explain. Essentially, it a cheaper version of a Hotel, where you spend the night, get your brekkie, and then tend to be turfed out of during the day.

Just looking at ways of keeping it as a cheap as possible. Also, to kill two birds with one stone, are there any decent Conventions and that during Halloween?

Yeah, There are bunch of these places all over the US, your best bet is to find a convention first and then look around the town or city it is in. I don't know of any major conventions around halloween.

However there is Fall In
http://www.fall-in.org/

It is run by HMGS East, the same people who run Historicon. It is the Grand Daddy of Wargaming Conventions here in the US. The only of gaming convention that comes close is GenCon.

It would be helpful Grotsy - do you have any speciifc locations or are you truly open?

Truly open. First and only visit so far was to the Maine area.

It's really driven by a desire to attend a convention I guess.

Vegas has lots of conventions

There are bed and breakfasts-definitely. There are also a plethora of both expensive and inexpensive hotel/motel chains.

Cool. I shall look into Air Ticket prices and that.

Might just head to Vegas, where my aura of minor misfortunes ought to play merry hell!

There's lots of B&Bs all over the place, but I think in general most are off the beaten path, in the suburbs and out in the country. Like, you wouldn't find one in the middle of NYC or anything like that. You would have to rent a car and all that too.

But, if you're looking to attend a con of some sort, you might want to look into rooms just at the hotel where the con is, sometimes they have blocked off rooms reserved and that might be cheaper, and you won't need to rent a car, pay for gas and all that stuff too.

If you wanted more of an adventure kind of vacation you could look into some Alaska tours or something like hiking through Yellowstone park as a group and sleeping at different lodges every night. I work for a vacation company, but we mostly just do overseas stuff for US folks, very few US tours but there are a lot out there.

If you do do Vegas though, you should plan to take a trip to the grand canyon.. it's far, but it will be worth the trip

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Quite fancied a return trip the USofA for a while now, particularly hoping it can coincide with a decent convention for me to wander round and enjoy.

But, not being of extensive means, I was wondering if there are such things as a Bed and Breakfast in the States. In case they are called something else and I'm confusing people, I'll explain. Essentially, it a cheaper version of a Hotel, where you spend the night, get your brekkie, and then tend to be turfed out of during the day.

Just looking at ways of keeping it as a cheap as possible. Also, to kill two birds with one stone, are there any decent Conventions and that during Halloween?

When I've traveled, I've usually stayed in hotels, because I was traveling with family who have more "extensive means", as you say. Now when I travel I tend to find inexpensive motels ( I don't know if they have the term in Europe, might be an american thing, portmanteau of motor hotel). I've never stayed in a B&B, but the ones I've read about tend to be expensive, though often cheaper than a resort type hotel.

I haven't been to a lot of cons ( I assume you mean fantasy/SF/gaming conventions), but if that is what you're looking for, see if you can't find one in a smaller city that doesn't draw as many people. The con and your lodging will be cheaper.

No, we have crappy Motels knocking around too. Went to one with the lads for my 21st.

If we hadn't brought Caffer, we might just have pulled as well.

The term "Bed and Breakfast" around here generaly equates to little places where people have turned houses into mini hotels. They tend to be quaint and out of town sort of places, a visit to the countryside so to speak. If you are looking for inexpensive accomidations, motels are generaly what you want to look into. I would be careful to stick to chain places because they have a trend towards mediocracty rather than non-chan places that go from being great to being so filthy and run down that it's scary. Motel 6 and Travel Lodge are 2 that I've found to be reliable and decent. Other than that, you can look around online for hotel deals. Not sure how things work over there, but around here, travel agents are wonderful for getting good deals. They have all kinds of resources to use and their fees are more than covered by what they save. I never travel without one anymore.

If you are going to Vegas, you really want to hunt for deals because there are lots to find. Try to avoid staying at the big hotels on the strip because they tend to be expensive and they gouge you for everything they can while you're there.

My wife and I stayed in a B&B in The Hamptons on Long Island and it was bloody expensive. More like a luxury hotel price than a British B&B. But I think that was because The Hamptons are a very posh place.