MyPillow:

If i intend to do Osaka n Hokkaido (winter ski season) how should I plan the flight - minimum flight time possible

so far, any Jap airline that can fly direct fr Sing to Osaka then transfer to Hokkaido fr Osaka without via Tokyo ?

Or simple to do Nagoya & Hokkaido ( any advice /suggestion)

Hokkaido is a \"must\" coz of winter sports(preferred)

Thank You!

There might be charter flights during the holiday for flying direct fr Sin to Hokkaido by SQ. by usually these r charter by travel agents so u might need to check papers or call up agents specialising in Japan Tours. we love Prime travel but more for their self drive packages though their group tours are known to be excellent as well. Anyway No self driving packages or tours during winter in hokkaido.

We went last Oct flying SQ to Osaka stayed for 3 nights then fly by jetstar to Hokkaido for 12 days. we still can self drive then. U can also do Jetstar all the way hokkaido via osaka.

Hi all,


I would appreciate any recommendations on good challenging topical assessment books and guides on O levels Physics, Chemistry and Bio. Thanks !!!

Hi parents,


Can recommend which New York pass is better? We have 3 days there and only doing a few main attractions like the cruise the see the Statue of Liberty ( not gg on the island… Worth gg at all?) empire states building, museum of natural history, a walk to Central Park, and time sq and central station if got time… Shld we just take the subway ard or better to get the pass for those city hop on buses for tourist?

Thanks!

Thanks for the info again...still adjusting our itinerary...prob gg to drop niagara falls ... too far n wrong season to go .. will go in future when younger old is older to enjoy the cruise.. Anyone been to New hampshire for outlet shopping??

Hi parents,


Anyone who here drove a rental car fr NY to Niagara Canada side before. My hubby is a Malaysian… Any issues?

Thanks!

jetsetter:

Hi Love4learning:


How old are your 2 kids? Are you guys first time visitors? 3 days is ok for revisits to Manhattan, but might be tight for newbies with young children to the Big Apple

If you only have 3 days, please buy the http://www.citypass.com/new-york?mv_source=rkg&creative=76634374349&adpos=1t2&device=c&network=g&matchtype=e&gclid=CLmE6qXV18UCFVcpjgodRlgAdA which gives u BASIC admissions to the following:

- EMPIRE STATE BUILDING EXPERIENCE (up to 86th level only. Top up $$ to get to 102nd level)
- AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
- THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
- TOP OF THE ROCK OBSERVATION DECK OR GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM
- STATUE OF LIBERTY (island tour only. Top up $$ & RESERVE IN ADVANCE to access Pedestal/Museum and/or Crown level) & ELLIS ISLAND OR CIRCLE LINE SIGHTSEEING CRUISES
- 9/11 MEMORIAL & MUSEUM OR INTREPID SEA, AIR & SPACE MUSEUM

Other optionals if you have more time:

1. Central Park (Children's Petting Zoo is inside)
2. Times Square/Duffy Square/Broadway (Musicals should be booked online in advance from Singapore to avoid disappointment!)
3. Chinatown/Little Italy/Little Brazil/Korean Town
4. Washington Square (New York University)
5. SOHO/Greenwich Village/East Village (eclectic and bohemian enclaves)
6. Fifth Ave SHOPPING
7. Columbia University (if you want to tour, you must register)
8. Grand Central Terminal (I super love this place, esp the basement market!)
9. New York Stock Exchange (Many years ago, I toured the NYSE and watched the 9am striking of that NYSE Bell when a new coy/stock was listed:) Super cool. But they have stopped the tours so you might have to tour The Federal Reserve Bank of New York instead.
13. Wall Street & Trinity Church vicinity (Highly recommended on a weekday! You might bump into a billionaire like Donald Trump...)
14. United Nations HQ
15. NY Public Library (you can look at the original Pooh Bear and his friends)
16. Radio City Music Hall
17. Chrysler Bldg (less popular than Empire State)
18. Rockefeller Center (few blocks from MOMA)
19. Greenmarket Union Square/Chelsea Mkt/Hell's Kitchen Flea Mkt
20. Carnegie Hall

Shopping:

1. Bloomingdales
2. Saks Fifth Avenue
3. Macy's Harold Square
4. Madison Ave boutiques
5. Barneys NY
6. Apple Store
7. Tiffany & CO ( Audrey Hepburn's \"Breakfast\" store!)
8. Toy R Us at Times Square
9. Disney Store at Times Square
10. Victoria's Secret Harold Square

You can drive or join a day tour to Woodbury Outlet but I skipped, cos brands sold aren't my targets.

Hotels:

It's quite hard for me to recommend hotels cos I'm not sure if you need a parking lot or not. Your entire family's interests must be factored in too:)

Some people want to be nearer to Chinatown/Canal St so they restrict their selection to Lower East Side. Can be rather noisy but old folks will be happy cos the F&B & grocery stores open till quite late.

But some people want to take the first ferry out to Liberty Island, due to their tight schedule, so they book nearer to Battery Park in Lower Manhattan or any hotel that has a Subway station that has Line 1 to South Ferry station or Line 4/5 to Bowling Green station.

Some families are diehard musical fans, so they need to stay near Times Square so they don't need to train back after the late night shows.

Some want to be nearer to NY Metropolitan Museum of Art, so they book hotels in Midtown, which is cheaper than Times Square.

Some are tagging along hubbies who go to the Financial District for meetings, so they end up staying near Wall St.

Some with budget constraint or who need to take an early domestic/Canadian flight immediately after their Manhattan tour, will stay in New Jersey hotels near EWR, or Queens hotels near JFK or LGA. Traffic to airport during peak hour can be horrendous...Please buffer at least 45min.

What these tourists do is they will join a local 1-day tour that picks them up from their hotels located in these neighbouring boroughs to get into Manhattan. You save a lot of $ by staying away from Manhattan

Getting Around

Are you guys renting a car from JFK and driving around Manhattan? Wow! Parking in Manhattan would be very expensive! Traffic police are very vigilant too

For my recent trip, I took a combination of subway, public buses and cabs. You need to plan your itinerary carefully by DISTRICT, so you minimise walking and commuting from Uptown to Downtown numerous times.

For my past trips, our car was parked at the hotel garage for the entire period of stay. We commuted via subway.


IMPT:

You need at least 5 hrs for Liberty Island + Ellis Island, so I strongly advise you to book the FIRST ferry out. Autumn/Winter Ferry timings are different from Spring/Summer timings. You should be back in Manhattan by 1pm for lunch, after all the tight security checks (Departure & Arrival metal detectors, baggage search, etc.). I queued for ~1hr in the open Battery Park for their security tentage to \"open shop\".

If you stay in New Jersey, you can also board the Status Cruises ferry to get to these 2 islands too. Just make sure you don't board the wrong ferry to the wrong borough after touring those islands!

+++

Maid of the Mist on US side ends on 31 Oct or earlier, depending on the weather forecast, so you might need to cross over to the Canadian side to take Hornblower which ends slightly later, i.e. end-Nov.

+++

NYC Marathon is on 1 Nov 2015. If you're driving, make sure you take note of their road closure advisories for any major events. I kenna this Marathon last year, so I had to abort my Met Museum tour on that day when that area was blocked. Had to re-jig my itinerary for the following days and make a special trip to Midtown area.

WOW!!!!! :thankyou:

So much to take in ...will read again...and will print this list out..

I have a preschooler and a sec 1 kid.

Not driving within NYC..Plan to stay at Stanford..This hotel any good? location like not bad ..reviews all pretty good also.. tourist class hotel lor.

we r renting car after NYC to drive up to Niagara and then Boston. Car rental super ex in NYC!! After tat will fly over the SFO for lake Tahoe for skiiing! U been there before? This is our second trip to SFO but first to Lake Tahoe. Just went SFO 2 yrs ago.

Fried chicken:

Has anyone been to the Vacaville outlet in SF? DH is Le Creuset mad and wants to check out the outlet store there. Anyone know what the prices/discounts are like? It's about 1.5 hours away from downtown SF and we don't have many days there so wondering if it's worth it.

Would like to know too..tat outlet seems pretty big with over 100 stores ..so far Gilroy is the biggest i been to with 130 over stores.. there is 1 more nearer to SFO that we will be gg too this round ...

Hi,


I am trying the come up with a list of what to do and places must go in NYC for 3 days in Nov. we are traveling with our 2 kids. Any safe clean hotels to recommend? we are also driving up to Niagara then to Boston. Would appreciate any good tips and suggestions.

BTW, out trip also includes Lake Tahoe and SFO… if anyone here been to Lake Tahoe, appreciate some tips and info too.

Thanks!

Fried chicken:

jjxy mum:

[quote=\"GiftedGem\"]If u are heading to canyon, must go for skywalk! The feeling of walking on transparent glass is simply awesome, with majestic view seeing Colorado river.

Yes. It is magnificent, but I think the skywalk wasn't there during our last visits. Too bad, will give it a miss this time as we decided to revert to our original plan.

@Fried chicken, I am glad that we managed to get two reasonable price accommodation (west YS & Jackson)..which are quite lose to YS! And has cancelled the other booking at Grand Canyon.
How much did you pay for FF inn? 300usd?

jjxy mum, good to hear you managed to get accommodation. I've heard so much about the park (first time visit) and I'm sure it'll be worth it!

No, our accom inside the park wasn't so expensive. There are different types of rooms in each lodging area and they can be 300+, but that was outside our budget. I think for Old Faithful, we paid something like $108USD, but that was with a shared bath. And it's only me and DH, no kids, so that opens up more options!

GiftedGem, we wanted to do the skywalk as well, but the people on the Grand Canyon forum on TripAdvisor were saying the West Rim (where the skywalk is) was expensive and not actually the real grand canyon but is a private Indian Reservation version (or something like that!) so we decided to give it a miss and just go to the South Rim. We were also thinking of mule rides down into the canyon, but apparently that books up a year in advance! So we've decided to walk a little distance down into the canyon ourselves. Haha. Cheaper that way![/quote]
We self drive only for all of our long holidays ..we drove to yosemite fr San Fran..we stopped at gilroy outlet thinking 2-3 hrs shopping will be enough..big mistake ..that outlet is huge!! we overstay and left gilroy late..the drive to yosemite in the nite was scary in the foresty road as it was total darkness ..u wont know if u are driving beside a cliff or not.. We srayed at Tenaya Lodge just right outside the park. beautiful place..love that hotel that has a hot indoor pool, a small covered ice skating rink, fire place outdoor for roasting mashmallows ..http://www.tenayalodge.com/

the campsites are not as comfy as it seems and most of the lodging in there r v ex and not v new except for one v ex hotel with a golf course.

jjxy mum:

MyPillow:

Jjxy, have u consider Yosemite?

I had been there during honeymoon 15 yrs ago, seemed nothing much..will just cover those canyons and NP.

Yosemite is beautiful, I stay at a v nice lodge just outside the reserve area. Was there 2 yrs ago ard late nov .. The Christmas decor makes the whole lodge looks so cozy .. Only managed to see a small pile of first snow.

Gilroy outlet outside SFO is huge! Dessert hill is small compared to gilroy but good enough with most big brands there but again stores r generally smaller here stock limited too.

Anyone got any good recommendation for Lake Tahoe in nov? Need how many days there? Things to do other than skiing? Thanks!