[ChrisPlatt]

Amtrak to Niagara Falls travels a very scenic route. IMO traveling by train is far less tiring than driving or taking the bus.
Amtrak offers a considerable discount for booking early. Check their website for promotions.

Chris

[SpecialK]

If you plan to be in NYC for a week, you can get a subway pass for about $30 which is good for seven days, unlimited use (6AM to midnite or something like that). It took me a day to get used to the subway travel (there is none in Los Angeles).

Museums are closed on Monday and Tuesday, so make alternate plans for those days. There is so much to do. I made my list of things I wanted to see (just based on the NY Pass) and made a spreadsheet to organize them :-)

I enjoyed the 3-hour "around the island" boat trip in the late afternoon. There are some optional bus tours as part of the Pass as well.

I stayed at a Super 8 across the river in Bergen New Jersey. There was a shuttle van (for a reasonable $3.00 each way) that picks you up right outside the motel (but drops you off a medium hike away) and goes to the transportation center about 2 blocks from Times Square.

You can look at about 1300 images from my 8 days here:

New York City 12 by SpecialK

The helicopter flight was an impulsive extra thing ($139 for 15 minutes). At first I said no way was a going to spend that kind of money, but then I realized it was a beautiful blue day and it was my one chance.

Have fun!

[flaviopetrone]

Amtrak to Niagara Falls travels a very scenic route. IMO traveling by train is far less tiring than driving or taking the bus.
Amtrak offers a considerable discount for booking early. Check their website for promotions.

Chris

This is the reason for which I wanted to find trains. Other hand, the car allows you to see more things and to change the route while doing it because, for example, you meet someone which advices you a good place that you didn't know or just because you want to go back in a place you already visited.
"Scenic route" means that from the train you see something worth the train travel? Sorry but I didn't understand..

[phoenixvision]

check this site the street art scen is blossoming in Brooklyn you will be in photo heaven Brooklyn Street Art - ...loves you more every day.

[flaviopetrone]

If you plan to be in NYC for a week, you can get a subway pass for about $30 which is good for seven days

Museums are closed on Monday and Tuesday

I enjoyed the 3-hour "around the island" boat trip

These are very useful advices! Thanks.

The helicopter is absolutely not for me, I would feel just anxiety for all the time...

Thank you for the pics, they explain much more than thousand words!
You taken a lot of amazing shots, I enjoyed all the albums but my favourites are:
30Rk ESB Wax
Clstrs NatH SubMus CIs

Thank you!

---------- Post added 11-04-14 at 03:07 AM ----------

check this site the street art scen is blossoming in Brooklyn you will be in photo heaven Brooklyn Street Art - ...loves you more every day.

Thank you.

[reeftool]

Thank you. The best price I have found for car rental is 800 USD for 2 weeks. It is really too much, but if you know a company which rents cars for 250 USD per week, please let me know, because I can consider to rent the car for 1 week to go outside the city and stay the other week in NY.

I know that Niagara falls are quite far, but with the car I am used to travel for 700 km without stop (I live very far from the city in which I was born and very often I go back to my city). 700 km is more or less 450 miles.
Obviously with the bus the situation changes...

The trick to car rentals is to shop around. Nobody here pays full price. If my car breaks down and I just show up at the car rental counter somewhere, yes, it will cost $400 or $500 for a week. Coming over from Europe, you may not have access to the discount coupons all of us over here take for granted. A week doesn't go by that I don't get an email from Hertz for weekly specials. Some of my cheapest rentals have come directly from the airline, Southwest in particular. Start looking through online travel sites like Priceline, Travelocity, and Kayak about 2 months before your trip. Prices will be different in different places. You will get a cheaper rental at Newark Airport than JFK. New Orleans was the most expensive rental I have ever had with a week costing me almost $500 with a discount. I based that $250 on the most recent Albany airport weekly rental that my daughter paid not too long ago. You will need a credit card.

[flaviopetrone]

The trick to car rentals is to shop around. Nobody here pays full price. If my car breaks down and I just show up at the car rental counter somewhere, yes, it will cost $400 or $500 for a week. Coming over from Europe, you may not have access to the discount coupons all of us over here take for granted. A week doesn't go by that I don't get an email from Hertz for weekly specials. Some of my cheapest rentals have come directly from the airline, Southwest in particular. Start looking through online travel sites like Priceline, Travelocity, and Kayak about 2 months before your trip. Prices will be different in different places. You will get a cheaper rental at Newark Airport than JFK. New Orleans was the most expensive rental I have ever had with a week costing me almost $500 with a discount. I based that $250 on the most recent Albany airport weekly rental that my daughter paid not too long ago. You will need a credit card.

Ok, now it is clear. I already knew Travelocity and Kayak, I'll bookmark Priceline too.

I was asking because here in Italy we have a lot of companies like Hertz, Avis and some others, but they are very expensive. The other hand, in every city there are little companies which provide you quite old cars (maybe 5/8 years old) for a good price, but it is difficult tofind them because you don't see in these websites. And obviously you need to give back the car in the same place you took it.
Thank you for all the advices.

[reeftool]

Ok, now it is clear. I already knew Travelocity and Kayak, I'll bookmark Priceline too.

I was asking because here in Italy we have a lot of companies like Hertz, Avis and some others, but they are very expensive. The other hand, in every city there are little companies which provide you quite old cars (maybe 5/8 years old) for a good price, but it is difficult tofind them because you don't see in these websites. And obviously you need to give back the car in the same place you took it.
Thank you for all the advices.

There is often a very large choice of rental companies. We even have one called Rent a Wreck which rents out cars that are a few years old rather than new ones.

[qblade]

One thing I do when renting a car - when I find a rate that I think is pretty good, I book it to lock in the price, but then I recheck it periodically as often times the price will improve. If it does I create a new rental and cancel the earlier one or update the existing one. Sometimes the price has gone down close to the actual date of the rental. (Depends on a number of factors, but I've been able to save quite a bit sometimes.) Of course it has to be a rental fare that you can change without a penalty.

Also, scenic route means that the views out the train windows are really great - and I know when I'm traveling in Europe I like to travel by train often so I can enjoy the views (and maybe enjoy a beer or some coffee at the same time).

I think the standard zoom should work pretty well. Keep us posted as you get closer to the dates you are traveling so we can help out where ever possible.

Steve

[flaviopetrone]

One thing I do when renting a car - when I find a rate that I think is pretty good, I book it to lock in the price, but then I recheck it periodically as often times the price will improve. If it does I create a new rental and cancel the earlier one or update the existing one. Sometimes the price has gone down close to the actual date of the rental. (Depends on a number of factors, but I've been able to save quite a bit sometimes.) Of course it has to be a rental fare that you can change without a penalty.

Also, scenic route means that the views out the train windows are really great - and I know when I'm traveling in Europe I like to travel by train often so I can enjoy the views (and maybe enjoy a beer or some coffee at the same time).

I think the standard zoom should work pretty well. Keep us posted as you get closer to the dates you are traveling so we can help out where ever possible.

Steve

I think that in the end I am going for the train. Maybe I will rent the car just for few days if needed. Anyway I will know it in advance because I like to plan everything before leaving, as well as I like to change things last minute during the vacation.
The train, as you said, offers a lot of views, lets you enjoy the travel and sometimes lead even to meet some nice people.
About the lens, I really don't know what to do, mainly because I like the WR feature and apart from rain or some little accidents (always round the corner), I live in an area that is really humid. In autumn /winter/earlier spring there can be even more than one month with continuous fog and humidity higher than 90%! The perfect lens for me would be the last arrived, 16/85 WR, I think that would be the best walk around and travel lens for me, but it is impossible to spend that amount, so maybe I will finish buying a second hand 18-135 WR.

Thank you for everything, be sure that before to travel I will ask a lot of things more!

[ChrisPlatt]

For best views start out sitting on the left side of the train from NYC to Niagara Falls.

Chris