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I was originally going to put this on Reddit but I couldn't find a suitable subreddit for this, so considering the overall-friendlier group on here I thought I'd ask here first.

Yesterday I received an offer to work in Conneticut for a few months, start of June to the end of August, at which point I'll have about $1500 saved up. Not much but I don't have to pay for board, food or transport so this is pretty much for me to spend.

My aim afterwards is to do a bit of travelling along the east coast, so I'm looking for anything in this area which anyone would recommend, either from people who live there or have done a bit of travelling before. Ideally, there's a couple of things I already have in mind:

1. Visit the Smithsonian, particularlly the Air and Space Museum, although I understand it's rather far from CT.
2. Visit my girlfriend who'll be in Maine during this time. How much would it be to travel CT to Maine, roughly?
3. Head down to New York, and be a typical obnoxious tourist.

Does anyone have any tips and advice on these plans, as well as any plans which you'd recommend? Also, any advice on customs, etc would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys.

Where in CT? I live in Norwalk, it's about 25 miles above Westchester Ny. I'm about 5 hrs from Maine, northeast CT is about 3 hours from Maine.

If you want, if we have any similar gaming interests, could potentially meet up for a game:
X-Wing
Kings of War
Deadzone
Dice Masters
Star Realms
Legendary
War Machine


Also, be awesome in the freest country of the free. 'Murica!!!
And sample the cuisine. The food (at least in my area) is pretty good. There's a serious melting pot of cultures when it comes to food. Your taste buds should scream in delicious agony.

I think the smithsonian Air and space is a must-do. It's on my bucket list and I missed it the one time I was in DC. DC itself is worth a trip. It's a grand capital quite unlike any other.

More to the point, what are your interests? The US has alot of everything but it'd help to know what you're into.

Hope you have a great time on your visit.

Lastly, I don't know much about travel costs on the east coast, but if you can book early -as in now- you can often score some pretty good deals. Costs can go way up, especially in the summer as you approach your travel day.

It's about 5 hours to drive from CT to Maine.. What specific city to what specific city? CT is part of the tri-state area so it's very close to New York and New Jersey.

The Museum of Natural History was always my favorite thing to do in Manhattan. You could make a day of it - Natural History, picnic in Central Park, then walk to MOMA.

You could also go visit the Statue of Liberty, which of course I never did once the entire time I lived there. Same for Broadway.

If you're here in June, perhaps head over to Jersey for Monster Jam. I don't think there's anything worthwhile in NJ except monster trucks and maybe seaside, though.

 timetowaste85 wrote:
Where in CT? I live in Norwalk, it's about 25 miles above Westchester Ny. I'm about 5 hrs from Maine, northeast CT is about 3 hours from Maine.

If you want, if we have any similar gaming interests, could potentially meet up for a game:
X-Wing
Kings of War
Deadzone
Dice Masters
Star Realms
Legendary
War Machine


Also, be awesome in the freest country of the free. 'Murica!!!
And sample the cuisine. The food (at least in my area) is pretty good. There's a serious melting pot of cultures when it comes to food. Your taste buds should scream in delicious agony.

According to Google Maps I'll be close to Barkhamstead, and about 1/2-1 hours' drive from Hartford, which is roughly in the centre of the state. My girlfriend said it's about 2 and 3 hours' drive to Boston and New York respectively. I personally haven't played any of the games you've mentioned and I won't be able to bring my 40k but if a few Dakkites want to meet up for bevs and games I'll definitely be up for that

 Eilif wrote:
I think the smithsonian Air and space is a must-do. It's on my bucket list and I missed it the one time I was in DC. DC itself is worth a trip. It's a grand capital quite unlike any other.

More to the point, what are your interests? The US has alot of everything but it'd help to know what you're into.

Hope you have a great time on your visit.

Lastly, I don't know much about travel costs on the east coast, but if you can book early -as in now- you can often score some pretty good deals. Costs can go way up, especially in the summer as you approach your travel day.

Thank you both for the input. I pretty much want to take in as much culture as possible (without sounding cliched), so museums, bars, tours, activities, anything is practically on my list.

If you're looking for something transcendental and wish to pay your respects to those that came before and reflect on their sacrifices, I'd recommend visiting the Ben and Jerry's Flavor Graveyard, in Vermont.

Food, that what you want from the us, food

There is a lot of history in Boston, probably worth spending a weekend there.

NYC has lots of everything.

Note: trafic can be VERY bad heading to/from the cities on the weekends. Keep that in mind.

A trip down to Washington DC is probably worth it. Tons of museums and the like.

If you are an outdoors type, I’d head up to New Hampshire. Hiking, rock climbing, etc. Lakes in the southern part of the state.

I’ve only been to Maine a few times in my life. Seems a nice place.

Head to the coast, eat a lot of seafood.

The US is a big place, what are you interested in?

Go shooting. If you head down to VA I'll give you a lesson.

NE is a bit boring, but still a nice place.

If you do head down to DC, plan on taking more then one day. You could probably spend a week there as a tourist and still leave without seeing the majority of things.

Take your $1,500, go to Atlantic City, bet it all on red.

I say go to Manhattan. Love that city - at least for a week at a time.

I was an intern at the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of American History in college. The museums are awesome but D.C. does have a lot of homeless. If you don't mind constantly being hassled for change, then you should give it a shot.

I saw my doppleganger in D.C. too - well, he was in an ad on a poster in the subway for some chain hair-salon. Spitting image, was crazy. Have the picture still somewhere.

Never been to America. They tell me New York isn't too bad!

What to do in 'Murica?


FREEDOM.

Where in Maine is she? A Greyhound bus will get you there in a fairly inexpensive manner, or you could road trip it with some buds.

 MWHistorian wrote:
Go shooting. If you head down to VA I'll give you a lesson.

This is a great suggestion. May seem a bit odd, but being that you come from a place with much more restrictive laws, this is kind of your chance to easily try shooting of handguns (and others), which -though not unique- is a quintessentially American activity that can be engaged in without stigma in much of the country. Wherever you find yourself, there's probably a Dakka'ite nearby who would be happy to take you to the range.

If you're going the "tourist" thing after your work is done, Im thinking this is September no??


Head to a gridiron game (Yeah, I know you guys have ahd some NFL teams play at Whembly, but it isn't the same) and see Americans celebrating "their" game. Also, September baseball is always lots of fun, and games are much better live than they are on TV


Aside from sportsing, I concur with the shooting.

 Valkyrie wrote:
I was originally going to put this on Reddit but I couldn't find a suitable subreddit for this, so considering the overall-friendlier group on here I thought I'd ask here first.

Yesterday I received an offer to work in Conneticut for a few months, start of June to the end of August, at which point I'll have about $1500 saved up. Not much but I don't have to pay for board, food or transport so this is pretty much for me to spend.

My aim afterwards is to do a bit of travelling along the east coast, so I'm looking for anything in this area which anyone would recommend, either from people who live there or have done a bit of travelling before. Ideally, there's a couple of things I already have in mind:

1. Visit the Smithsonian, particularlly the Air and Space Museum, although I understand it's rather far from CT.
2. Visit my girlfriend who'll be in Maine during this time. How much would it be to travel CT to Maine, roughly?
3. Head down to New York, and be a typical obnoxious tourist.

Does anyone have any tips and advice on these plans, as well as any plans which you'd recommend? Also, any advice on customs, etc would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys.

For customs, don't throw rocks at cars.

#3 when you see a cop put your hands up and say "Don't shoot" It's the equivalent of bugging the royal guard If they get pissy about it, comply first, ask for a lawyer, sue later.

Anything you want to do or try, you can do it in new york. It really is the city that never sleeps. try a play, on or off broadway, catch a game, see time square, see the big statue. I wouldn't recommend niagra falls, it's like a 3rd world country there now.

Look into Amtrac for long trips like heading down to D.C.

Depending on where you are in CT, you should be able to hop a train into NYC pretty easily.

No one has mentioned the Intrepid Museum, for shame.

Go to Washington DC. I highly advise you stop at our Natural History Museums in DC and NYC (some really good dinosaur collections), the Library of Congress (it's HUUUUUUGE), and check out our monuments. We've got lots of those. DC is practically a city of marble statues.

As for customs, I'm not so certain how it is in Britain, but contrary to popular belief and memes, we Americans are extremely friendly and talkative, and strangers will sometimes engage you in their life story, and expect you to return the favor. Silence is considered to be awkward and be prepared to be chatted up at random. Especially if they realize you're a tourist.

Also I guarantee you will be hit on at bars by women depending on how strong your accent is.

 MWHistorian wrote:
Go shooting. If you head down to VA I'll give you a lesson.

Sounds vaguely threatening.

Eat red meat and shoot guns.

Welcome to paradise, brother.

 Valkyrie wrote:
I was originally going to put this on Reddit but I couldn't find a suitable subreddit for this, so considering the overall-friendlier group on here I thought I'd ask here first.

Yesterday I received an offer to work in Conneticut for a few months, start of June to the end of August, at which point I'll have about $1500 saved up. Not much but I don't have to pay for board, food or transport so this is pretty much for me to spend.

My aim afterwards is to do a bit of travelling along the east coast, so I'm looking for anything in this area which anyone would recommend, either from people who live there or have done a bit of travelling before. Ideally, there's a couple of things I already have in mind:

1. Visit the Smithsonian, particularlly the Air and Space Museum, although I understand it's rather far from CT.

EDIT: HERP A DERP, YOU SAID SMITHSONIAN... hahaha. Pay no attention to the illiterate new englander talking about NYC museums,

DC is a hike from CT, but you can catch a short flight from TF Green in Providence to DC (like, an hour to ninety minutes), and bam. You're there. Might be cheaper to fly into Baltimore and drive to DC, but that's adding like 2 hours (or more, with traffic) to your transit. Train's also an option, but that's like probably 6 hours.

That siad, if you can make a weekend of it, and don't mind a bit of travel in a weekend, totally recommend it. DC is also a killer city and there's a metric fuckton of stuff to do (touristy and local flavor-y).

2. Visit my girlfriend who'll be in Maine during this time. How much would it be to travel CT to Maine, roughly?

Kind of depends... thing is... Most of New England is suburban, and most of Maine is rural. Where does she live in Maine ? If it's someplace like Portland, your best bet is to probably rent a car and drive. If it's someplace like Bangor, Presque Isle, or god forbid, Caribou, i'd plan to meet up somewhere where there's more to do and might be somewhere halfway in the middle. Just me.

3. Head down to New York, and be a typical obnoxious tourist.

If it's your first time in the states, you have to. I'm pretty sure it's in the fine print on your Visa. Al the museums. All of them. They are all awesome in NYC. If you're in CT, you're only about 2-3 hours from Boston, another awesome city to check out. Providence can also be fun if you get to know any locals (its a smaller city, not as much to do as boston or nyc for example, so if you do hit up Prov, make sure you have a semi-local or local, or it will seem like a waste). Hartford is kind of a gak-hole, but again, if you know someone it can be a fun city too.

Does anyone have any tips and advice on these plans, as well as any plans which you'd recommend? Also, any advice on customs, etc would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys.

I'm a New England native my whole life, so its hard for me to give travel advice to someone coming here. My only recommendation is definitely do your best to get to NYC and Boston at least once during your trip. I personally recommend either / both in the warmer weather, particularly Boston. Boston in winter is no way near as fething cool as Boston in spring / Summer. If possible, see if you can take in a baseball game at Fenway Park for local Boston Flavor. It's like cricket, but not completely bizarre (just kidding).

Good luck, welcome to the States, and hope you have fun.

 dogma wrote:
No one has mentioned the Intrepid Museum, for shame.

Another good one is the Nautilus museum. First nuclear submarine, located in Groton CT, so easy to get to.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Food, that what you want from the us, food

Oh dear God that is so not what any one wants from you. If you want fat , fat and sugar yep sure it's a great deal.TV programs that show american amazing food (always the biggest and the best) horrify me, it seems that to go biggest (burger....bbq....ect) they have to forgo flavour in favour of stuffing as much fat, protein and sugar on something and then making it 5 times too big for a human to eat

If I was going to the US i'd be aiming to shoot the biggest ordinance i could, and yes i do mean artillery. ....and ride around a supermarket in a fatties scooter ( I can't do that here...yet) and go to reservations and see if the mental state is comparable to the abodigines over here. I'd also want to go to massacheucetts or however the feth you spell it, h.P.Lovecraft and nice people from what i've met.

 Bullockist wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Food, that what you want from the us, food

Oh dear God that is so not what any one wants from you. If you want fat , fat and sugar yep sure it's a great deal.TV programs that show american amazing food (always the biggest and the best) horrify me, it seems that to go biggest (burger....bbq....ect) they have to forgo flavour in favour of stuffing as much fat, protein and sugar on something and then making it 5 times too big for a human to eat

If I was going to the US i'd be aiming to shoot the biggest ordinance i could, and yes i do mean artillery. ....and ride around a supermarket in a fatties scooter ( I can't do that here...yet) and go to reservations and see if the mental state is comparable to the abodigines over here. I'd also want to go to massacheucetts or however the feth you spell it, h.P.Lovecraft and nice people from what i've met.

A lot of the small, local places to eat are fine. In New England you’d want to head to the coast, find the fish shack where the locals go, right on the wharf, and get seafood as fresh as it gets. Most of the big chain restaurants pack their food with processed junk, avoid when possible. I have fond memories of sitting at a picnic bench on the dock in Maine, watching them take lobsters off the boat, while eating one from the restaurant they were taking a crate of them up to.

Most of the native reservations in the north east are now casinos. As tribal land, they get to make their own rules, and gambling is A.O.K for them. Where it is not in most of the country.

 Manchu wrote:

 MWHistorian wrote:
Go shooting. If you head down to VA I'll give you a lesson.

Sounds vaguely threatening.

Lol! No, not at all. I used to be a firearms instructor. I'll give a free handgun lesson.

 Bullockist wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Food, that what you want from the us, food

Oh dear God that is so not what any one wants from you. If you want fat , fat and sugar yep sure it's a great deal.TV programs that show american amazing food (always the biggest and the best) horrify me, it seems that to go biggest (burger....bbq....ect) they have to forgo flavour in favour of stuffing as much fat, protein and sugar on something and then making it 5 times too big for a human to eat

Fat, Protein, and Sugar is flavor. And besides, its an insane stereotype that all American food is huge and a full of fat and/or sugar.

That said, its a shame the OP isn't going to be on the west coast. We've got great food out here, and great beer. Tons of microbreweries, In-n-out, etc...

Anyway, while you're there you have to try some genuine NY style Pizza. Just go any old corner pizza place in NY itself. Pro-tip: The proper way to eat NY pizza is to pinch the two ends of the crust together, folding the slice in half, and then eat it from the tip inwards.

 Bullockist wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Food, that what you want from the us, food

Oh dear God that is so not what any one wants from you. If you want fat , fat and sugar yep sure it's a great deal.TV programs that show american amazing food (always the biggest and the best) horrify me, it seems that to go biggest (burger....bbq....ect) they have to forgo flavour in favour of stuffing as much fat, protein and sugar on something and then making it 5 times too big for a human to eat

If I was going to the US i'd be aiming to shoot the biggest ordinance i could, and yes i do mean artillery. ....and ride around a supermarket in a fatties scooter ( I can't do that here...yet) and go to reservations and see if the mental state is comparable to the abodigines over here. I'd also want to go to massacheucetts or however the feth you spell it, h.P.Lovecraft and nice people from what i've met.

Close! Massachusetts. Native, born and raised here. We also are fine with Masshole. THat's usually derived from the way we drive, which is to say, perfectly, and anyone who drives less or more aggressively than we do is an unwashed phillistine worthy of being given the bird and honked at.


Also, Lovecraft was actually from Providence, Rhode Island. He lived in the Wickenden / India Point area, which is a small, but insanely cool part of the city. Providence is about 4 minutes drive from Mass if there's no traffic, so you were damn close.

It's an understandable mix up, because Rhode Island is so small, it's kind of like a goiter on Mass. I kid, i kid. I love my unable to drive properly, "whew, 45 minutes is a LONG drive", coffee milk drinking neighbors.

(there is a very fierce friendly rivalry on just about everything between MA and RI residents if you haven't noticed).

 MWHistorian wrote:

 Manchu wrote:

 MWHistorian wrote:
Go shooting. If you head down to VA I'll give you a lesson.

Sounds vaguely threatening.

Lol! No, not at all. I used to be a firearms instructor. I'll give a free handgun lesson.

If you've never been shooting, I highly recommend it. I'm personally a fan of trap shooting, but handguns are a figurative blast as well.