It looks as if work won’t be paying for a trip to America, so I’m going to have to fork out myself.
I’m thinking of a week in Washington and a week in New York, and travelling between the two by train. Does this sound reasonable?
I’d be travelling with Maxjet, so business-class seats are £400-£500 each way. :eek: Yes, I know that’s not expensive for business class; it’s expensive in absolute terms. And at 6’4", I’m too tall for cattle class.
But when’s the best time to travel? I don’t like it too hot, and I’d like to avoid the main tourist season, e.g. when the schools are out. So June? September?
Washington - New York is one of the only corridors in the U.S. that would actually make sense to travel by train so, yes, that will work. Washington, D.C. gets very hot during the summer and New York City can as well. You might have good luck in late March - May. There is a lot of history and things to do outside of D.C. as well like Colonial Williamsburg, Mount Vernon (George Washington’s estate) and much more so you may want to rent a car in D.C. at least. You can get around without one but it wouldn’t always be ideal.
It’s deathly hot in New York City during the summer. I’d definitely go in the spring or fall. Here’s the average monthly high temperature (F/C).
January
38 / 3
February
40 / 4
March
48 / 9
April
58 / 15
May
68 / 20
June
77 / 25
July
83 / 28
August
82 / 28
September
75 / 24
October
65 / 18
November
54 / 12
December
43 / 6
The train system on the East Coast between DC and Boston is one of the few spots in the states where it works well. You don’t want to have a car in NYC anyhow.
I thought at first you meant Washington State, and I was a little alarmed that you were flying all the way over here to spend three days on a train.
Schools in NY tend to be in session though mid-June, but it’s not the same all over the country so you still have kidlet tourists from other places coming in. There are a lot of tourists in NY and DC all the time anyway.
Weather-wise, I like early May. It could be brisk, it could be rainy, but it won’t (probably) be very cold or very hot. April is good as well if you don’t mind more of a chance of very brisk. Personally, I find March in NY very bleak. I am also a big fan of October. If you came at the end of October, you could catch the Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village in NYC.
The spring is a great time to see the capital, because of the famous cherry trees in bloom all along the Basin, etc. OTOH, if you’re allergic to cherry pollen (as I am), you’ll want to avoid that.
[Some fifteen or twenty years ago, when American anxiety about Japanese commercial dominance was reaching its peak, a stand-up comedian said this of the cherry blossoms of D.C.[paraphrasing]: “In the 19th Century, the government of Japan sent a gift to the United States of several hundred cherry trees, which were then planted around Washington, D.C. And do you know why Japan sent all these cherry trees? Because they knew that some day, we would want to photograph them…”
But the fall is the best time to see New York. I would wait until October or even early November, though. That’s when the performing arts calendar is in full swing, the museums stage a new slate of long-term exhibits, stores are geared up for the holidays (don’t miss the Barney’s window display!) and the city is bustling with its locals and sees fewer tourists.