The price was shocking: $285 for two round-trip tickets from Long Island to Orlando, Florida for Christmas. At this late date, every other airline was nearly $400 or more for one ticket! The last straw was when I realized that United, the cheapest “normal” option, was now charging for carry-on bags in Economy. There’s always […]
Getaway
Weekend trips, week-long vacations, and everything in between that can be done with a few days off from work.
Transcending time in a New York cab
It’s 4:20 in the morning and I can see the stars. This is a bit glamorous, I think as I flag down a taxi on a nearly deserted Third Avenue below our apartment. I have had plenty of early morning flights, but this will be my first pre-dawn departure since moving to Manhattan over three […]
Quick escapes from New York City by bus
There’s nothing quite like stepping off the bus onto the street of a new city on a Friday night to face its new sights, sounds, and smells. We like to get out of New York for the weekend from time to time, and the cheaper and quicker we can do it, the more time and money we […]
New York State Campgrounds and the Adirondacks
Camping at a New York State campground is a balance between nature and comfort at an attractive price point. You can reserve and research online, though until you’re there, you’re not quite sure what you’ll get. We had a lot of questions and everything turned out fine, so this is my effort to share what […]
Weekend Getaway to Storm King Art Center
Imagine you could book a semi-organized day trip outside New York without getting in a car or bus. Well, you can, with Metro-North Getaways, which offer round-trip on the train and discount museum and event tickets. We’ve been big fans of the Metro-North option for some time, having done the Farm Fresh tours twice, Dia:Beacon, […]
We’re going camping
I have my briefcase, time for a July 4th weekend trip to the Adirondacks. More to come soon.
Not a Train: Taking Greyhound NYC to Montreal
Take the bus to Montreal. It’s direct, it’s frequent, and it can be done last-minute. While riding the Jazz Train is still on my bucket list, we headed up to Montreal over the Fourth of July long weekend by Greyhound, which was relatively efficient and a great deal. Here are the details: Trip time: 8-9 […]
Sleeper Train Bucket List: Norway and the Arctic Circle
![By Kabelleger / David Gubler (http://www.bahnbilder.ch) (Own work: http://bahnbilder.ch/picture/3359) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://hopstrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Nordland-710x335.png)
The Nordland Railway (or Northern Railway) runs between the historic city of Trondheim and the beautiful Northern town of Bodø. The 729 km. long railway crosses the Arctic Circle and takes you through stunning Norwegian scenery. The whole journey takes about 10 hours. The train departs twice a day, and also runs as a night […]
Albany, 2am
The Albany New York Greyhound station at 2am in the morning is a real Greyhound station, the kind your mother warned you about and which spawned the unfettered growth of Megabus and its ilk. People choose live poultry seatmates and faulty brakes to avoid its fluorescent glow. Despite its shortcomings, and the fact that the […]
Bucket List: Jazz Train from New York to Montreal
Featured image by Bublegun (Own work) [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons New York, en wagon piano bar! Imagine some of the nicest scenery in the East flashing by the window as you’re serenaded by live music and wined and dined. I first heard about this unique year-round service from a post on And North.The […]