Hello,

I plan to arrive with my nephew to the U.S.A in a few weeks.

We will be visiting the following areas:

-Boston
-NYC
-Philadelphia
-Chicago
-Detroit

We can either fly into ORD/DTW or into EWR/JFK and would like to visit most of the above mentioned cities by road.

Can you give us any suggestions on what is the best approach to renting a car for about 2 weeks, on a budget, so that we can visit these areas. Is it feasible/economical for two of us to drive from lets say NYC to Detroit, or would it be cheaper by flight?

Also, any idea on how feasible/long it would take to drive from Boston to Duke University and then to Orlando?

Basically, we are looking to visit some colleges/universities in these towns. The driver has a Legal, Valid, U.S. Drivers License.

Thanks
RJ

dupe, sorry

Renting a car in the Northeast is expensive and a very poor choice if you are merely going between major cities. You should be able to fly between the Midwest and Northeast on the cheap, especially if your itinerary is flexible.

Thanks for your suggestions

So it seems that I could take NJ Transit from NY to Philadelphia. What would be the most reasonable way to travel between Philadelphia and Boston...with suitcases?

Also, which would be the best airport choice (BOS, EWR, LGA, JFK) to get a low fare to DTW or ORD?.

Thanks
RJ

The easiest way by ground is to take Amtrak, which runs between DC and Boston with stops in Philadelphia, Newark and Manhattan on an almost hourly schedule. To go a little bit faster look for the Acela trains, as these are the new "high-speed" trains. Don't know if there's non-stop air service between PHL and BOS.


I would probably say EWR or LGA. If you're going to stick to trains, EWR will be the easiest to get to. Try a booking engine that will check several area airports. For example go to Orbitz, click on "expand search options" and select the box to check airports within a 70-mile radius, then put in LGA or EWR. That should help you find the lowest fare between the 3 major NYC airports and your destination.

LGA has the lowest fares if you are flying into DTW. Spirit is the main LCC, but the fares are usually matched by the majors.

If you fly to Chicago, be sure to check fares into MDW as well as ORD. Most of the LLCs fly into Midway.

If you do rent a car..

Are you the drivers, or your nephew? Rentals for folks under 25 years of age can be hard to find or very expensive.

Also, rentals in NYC can be a lot more expensive - as much as double - what they cost elsewhere.

I don't know what your budget is, but I would still hire a car. It will take longer but you might save quite a lot of money. Flying or taking Amtrack or buses just brings you from city to city. Most of the schools are not going to be right in the center. When you add up all the different transports you are going to use, plus the higher prices you are going to pay for overnight stay in city hotels, it will be more expensive then driving a rental and staying in cheaper places outside of cities.
Try Alamo Rent a Car at www.goalamo.com they offer good internet rates. Other rentals also. If your nephew comes from abroad, the rates are going to be even lower.

I'm going to agree with the last poster (and disagree with most of the others) and encourage you to travel by car. With 2 weeks in the U.S., you'd go crazy without the freedom of your own car.

If it were me, I'd choose to fly into DTW - a nice airport, relatively few international flights, so customs should be less of a hassle, and probably cheaper rental cars than the other airports.

From there, you could drive to Chicago in half a day. You'd be looking at a long day driving to get to the east from Chicago. Once there, the large cities of the east coast are spaced relatively close together - Philly to NYC will be a few hours, NYC to Boston, half a day or so. Philly to Duke would be a haul, but again, a one day trip.

I'd pass on Orlando, unless your college-aged nephew really HAS to see Disneyworld. Instead, make your Boston-Detroit loop pass through Cornell, RPI, U of Rochester, etc., then head to Niagara Falls and drive through Canada to get back to Michigan.

Cheapest way to do it is to rent a car at ORD/DTW, visit all your cities, and return your car at the original place. However, keep in mind that NYC and Boston are not car-friendly places. Just park your car at the hotel and take public transportation to the schools in the city.

Boston to Durham, NC is just over 700 miles. Because of heavy traffic, it'd be very tough to do it in a day. Better to break it into 2. Durham-Orland is ~620 miles, and can be reasonably driven in a day.