Boston

So this summer I did another wee trip, this time down the east coast of America with a group of friends following graduation. Not the most adventurous of trips I know but it was fun none the less and enabled me to find my current favourite city in America, Boston! Initially we had toyed with the idea of doing the whole trip up around New England (after we decided a transamerica trip would cost too much, poor students and all) rent a car or RV and go explore.....sadly this idea was quickly stamped out when we realised how much it costs to rent a car under 25. We are talking a daily charge of around £25 dollars (per driver) on top of the normal rental which adds up. So our American road trip quite quickly turned into an American bus trip with the odd flight thrown in, not nearly as cool. Never the less it was still an amazing trip. For those of you who are lucky enough (or unlucky enough depending on your point of view) to be over 25 and in possession of a driving licence here are a few of the websites I had looked at:
http://www.roadtripusa.com/
http://www.cruiseamerica.com/
http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/road-trips/overview.html

And for those under 25's, the cheapest was to get around was by bus, we used Megabus who were dead cheap! also a great site for train travel, in all countries, is seat61.com.

Boston really is a beautiful city! Our first night there we went exploring and ended up walking through Boston common at twilight, there were buskers playing saxophone in the background, crickets chirping, couples walking hand in hand...incredibly peaceful and right in the middle of the city. It also felt very safe which is unusual for any big parks that I've been to. The whole of the center of Boston, it has to be said, has the same atmosphere, relaxed and beautiful, there was always something to see and most of it was free. I think the only 'tourist' thing we payed for were the duck tours which are worthwhile, a word of warning though, book in advance! We spend a few hours hanging around in the end because we didn't. Outside of the city center there are quite a few places worth a visit, Harvard is one, while not as impressive as I had anticipated it still had nice grounds and was a nice town. Another area which I really wanted to explore more and hang around in was Fenway, sadly the rest of my companions were not as keen as myself so we didn't spend long here, neither did we get to see a tour of the grounds which had been on my to do list as there was a game on while we there so I will have to do that on my next visit. Hopefully it is worth it. We also did a day trip to Salem,

While it was nice to see a different part of the state...Salem really was a bit of a tourist trap. Unfortunately what I had anticipated as a historic town, cobbled streets and so on... was just a town with lots of over priced, and frankly bad, museums. Perhaps this was my own fault for having preconceptions, but they were in part inspired by the websites of the town. So I think for Salem, if you are driving, give it a go as its not a bad place, just don't bother with the museums. However a novelty photo is a must!

As far as accommodation in Boston...I really wouldn't know where to recommend. We ended up staying in a place called 40 Berkley which was a YWCA and a bit odd. In fairness for what we payed it wasn't bad but no air con in summer and sharing a small room with 3 other people made it a bit uncomfortable. We also had a few mad residents in the rooms next to us. Made for some interesting stories at least. A great site for hostels though (if you do not already know it) is hostelworld.com. I've booked all my accommodation here for Thailand and this trip and I've never had a problem.

So I think that is all I have to say about Boston for now, other than I love it! I think everyone on the trip at some point stated " I could live in Boston" which says a lot. If you have never visited do! and if you have well I hope you've been reminded how great it is!

Ax