Train travel in the US is more like a luxury cruise,except in the DC - NY City area. Quite expensive and little flexibility. Also local public transportation is still in very fine print around here. The best way to sightsee the country is a rental car. Allthough all rental cars are "Non Smoking" and without ashtrays or lighters, - but who knows if you dont tell. Rates are ~ $ 15 a day. You could combine air travel for long distance and rent wheels locally (LA to Chicago = ~ 2000 miles or +30 hrs driving).
On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 2:56 AM, Hendrik & Fay <heni...@ozemail.com.au>wrote: > Joy to the world the mouth of the south will be coming to your little > backwater. > OK so my hand has been forced, my daughter and some school mates (buddies > in your language, which I must learn) entered a secondary school based > competition and gained second place in the national finals. Which means they > have been invited to compete in the international finals to be held in La > Crosse Wisconsin http://www.fpspi.org/International%20Conference.html from > June 10th - 13th. > Anyway we figured that we might as well all go (Me, the missus, daughter > and son) and have a gander at the US. > Seeing all I know about the States is what I have learnt from Bruce Willis > movies and he doesn't mention much about the nuts and bolts of traveling > around the states, especially since 911. > The original plan was to stay in LA for a few days and then fly over to > Chicago and buy a cheap car (preferably with a star hanging off the bonnet > (hood)) but looking into this a bit more has revealed that registration and > insurance is a nightmare to get without a permanent US address, so we have > shelved that idea and gone to plan B which is the choo choo train. > I love train travel but apparently the anti smoking Nazis have been busy in > the US and apparently now you have to row three miles off shore in order to > light up, well perhaps not 3 miles off shore but I am led to believe that > Amtrak has a no puffing in their cattle trucks policy and you can only smoke > when the train is stopped and you are in a designated smoking area on the > platform? > Has anyone here used the train lately? Is it any good or is car rental a > better option? > For instance we plan to travel from Chicago to Milwaukee to visit the HD > museum and a couple of breweries, there is a train service between the two > but then we have to get around Milwaukee as well, spose they have public > transport. > So any hints on traveling or anything will be appreciated, our itinerary at > this stage is LA for a few days - Chicago - Milwaukee - New York across to > San Fran, down to Los Vegas (my 9 year old Son requested this one =-O ) and > then back up to LA, with a few stops in between I guess. > I'll probably have more questions for you later, so pay attention :-) > > Hendrik & Family > who really only wants to see a big Walmart (maybe make it onto the people > of walmart site) and a huge Gunshop (sort of like this > http://www.snopes.com/photos/architecture/gunvault.asp ) > > > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > -- Hans Neureiter, Houston, TX '82 300SD '02 RoadKing '72 T100 Daytona _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
