New England Itinerary Help! Episode 9

New England Itinerary Planning 101:

Today we will discuss how to begin planning your own trip to New England.

There are 6 states in New England- Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts

These states cover about 62,000 square miles vs California which is approx 164,000 square miles

What to consider when planning your trip to New England

April Bielefeldt has been leading tours in New England specifically focusing on Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts during the prime Fall Foliage Fall Colors season each year since 2003.

The internet is full of sites like Tripadvisor.com, Yankee.com, Newengland.com, jeff-foliage.com for input.

How many days are you able to spend in New England- is it a weekend, 7 days or 2 weeks.

Prime time to go is the first couple weeks of October.

Average road speed when you get off the interstates is about 50miles per hour max.

Daylight- sunrise/sunset – use sunrisesunset.com for accurate times. On average sunrise October 1 is about 6:50am and sunset 6:15pm and will vary slightly as the month progresses.

What types of activites do you want to participate in- train rides, boating, any hikes, maple syrup tastings- tours etc.

Make a list of must see or do for all individuals going on the trip so you can plan in hours for historic homes, money or days they are open or closed.

How much driving do you want to do per day?

Transportation – where are you flying into- renting your own car?

What type of budget?

What kinds of lodging? The first few weeks of October in New England is considered high season, there will minimums, or black out dates for one nights. Rooms that may go for under $100/night may increase to double that during “Fall Foliage season”

**Columbus Day weekend is usually a 3 day minimum on bed/breakfast lodgings and sees high occupancy

(Be aware of small towns- weekends may have small colleges with homecomings, events, other visitors etc.)

Interests: Vermont still has 106 covered bridges in 1996 count. Places like Hildene- a Lincoln Historic home- many locations to see and visit.

About 7 million visitors to Vermont in 2015 – important to plan ahead-

Use sites like Tripadvisor.com for lodging suggestions, VRBO for longer rentals, bedandbreakfast.com, hotels.com

Regional magazines to use – Yankee Magazine, DownEast, Vermont Life, New Hampshire, Boston, Connecticut Magazine, Portland Monthly.

Jeff Foliage- jeff-foliage.com

Priority: Dates first, itinerary for getting your lodging reserved, fill in itinerary with must sees = parks, historic homes, etc, map it out and then make sure to leave some time to do nothing or edges – for unexpected finds- or weather delays!

Try not to overbook your days.

**IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN A CUSTOM ITINERY. LET ME HELP YOU PLAN YOUR NEXT TRIP! CLICK HERE

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