Australian Abroad Day Trip - New Brunswick

Once again through Megabus I was able to get a $2.50 round trip bus ticket to New Brunswick in New Jersey. New Brunswick is the home of New Jersey's State University, Rutgers University. It is very much a college town with lots of Frat houses and school buildings. I walked over to see their football stadium, High Point Solutions Stadium, which was surprisingly open when I was there. The University was opened in 1776 and has many of its original buildings still standing. The weather was amazing while I was there and I would definitely recommend it as a day trip from NYC. 

Sunny Boston

Last week I travelled up to Boston for the day. I had purchased a return bus ticket through Megabus for only $10. I arrived into Boston at 11am and was excited to see that Boston now has a bike share program much like Paris, London and Washington DC. For only $5 you can rent a bike for 30 minutes a time for as many times as you like. The first stop of the day was Boston Common followed by a ride down to the Charles River. 

 










I then parked my bike and had a walk along Newbury St, which is the main shopping stretch in Boston. They have all the best designer stores including Chanel, Ralph Lauren and my favourite Burberry store in the world.

In the centre of the city on the Freedom Trail is the Granary Burial Ground. Here lies some of the most famous Americans including Samuel Adams, John Hancock and Paul Revere.

For lunch I grabbed a bowl of the famous New England clam chowder from a restaurant near Faneuil Hall. When I had finished I walked past a line of restaurants on Union Street that were all offering lobster specials from $11-$14. Even though I had just finished lunch I couldn't go past the special so I decided to come back after Charlestown and get a late afternoon snack of lobster and beer. Coronas were only $2 so my bill with a tip came up to only $21 for 1 1/4 pound lobster and 3 beers!

The next stop was a short ride over into the North End neighbourhood. On the Freedome Trail are the hostorical sites of Paul Revere's house and the Old North Church.

















I then rode across the Charlestown Bridge into Charlestwon to see the Bunker Hill monument and the USS Constitution. Charlestown is a lovely neighbour hood with beautiful architecture. This ended my sightseeing and I started my trip back towards Fenway Park for that night's baseball game.

Kimset and Fire Island

Over the Labor Day weekend I took a day trip out to the hamlet of Kismet on Fire Island. Fire Island is a 50 kilometre long barrier island off from the South Shore of Long Island. To get there I purchased a $36 beach getaway package from MTA and the Long Island Railway. The package included 1 Discounted LIRR Off Peak round trip ticket from Penn Station to Bay Shore, 2 One way Kismet Ferry Tickets, 2 David Brothers One Way Taxi tickets from Bay Shore to the Ferry terminal and 1 Fire Island Lighthouse Admission ticket.

I left Penn Station around 8 45 in the morning and arrived at the ferry terminal at 11 15am. The ferry only takes 20 minutes and is a beautiful ride.

The hamlet of Kimset is a lovely small community with narrow streets and no car access. All the locals ride bikes and it is only a 10 minute walk from the ferry terminal to the beach.

To get to the Lighthouse is a bit of a treck but definitely worth the effort. If you walk along the beach from Kimset, you will walk through a nudist section, which was quite a surprise. There is a road if you want to avoid the naked sunbathers.

To get up to the Lighthouse you need to take the internal stairs, which are easily walked by people of all ages. The views across Fire Island are amazing from the top. Robert Moses Beach is shown with the large parking area behind.

I finished up my day with a beer at one of the bars back at the Harbor and then caught the 5 15 ferry back to Bay Shore followed by the 5 45 train back to Penn Station. I look forward to going back again next summer.

Australian Abroad

I can already tell easyJet will not be good for my Parisian bank account!

Woodbury Common Shopping Outlet

RackedNY presents a summer guide to shopping at the wonderful Woodbury Common Premium Outlets in Central Valley, New York. The extremely popular shopping district has hundreds of stores including the premium designers Burberry, Chanel, Fendi, Gucci, Ralph Lauren and YSL.

My tip is to take a day trip out there as any shorter will leave you too rushed to visit all the stores. I would suggest looking through the list of stores and find out the key ones you want to hit first and arrive before they open. Normally Burberry, Gucci and Ralph Lauren are the busiest. Make sure you get the coupon book from the Information Centre as it has lots of additional discounts.

I personally travel by Coach USA to Woodbury, which leaves regularly from the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Tickets are $42US and can be booked online here.

Will Tourists Bring Helmets on Their Holidays Just to ride in NYC?

Previously I have talked about the Citi Bike Share program to discuss my excitement and to talk about its effects on local businesses. amNY has another article this time discussing the concerns for riders safety. NYC currently has the highest fatality rate from bike wrecks in North America. One of the safety measures discussed includes mandating the use of helmets for all Citi Bike users.

I wonder, will tourists use the schemes if they are forced to wear helmets, which currently isn't the practice in London, Paris or Washington DC?

I certainly support safety measures but is having one rule for Citi Bike riders and one for other bike riders a mistake?

Off to Boston in September to see the Yankees Play the Red Sox at Fenway Park

I just picked up tickets for Yankees vs Red Sox at Fenway Park with a return bus through Megabus. Got to love new exciting travel plans!

Do Australians who Travel Abroad Live up to Their Stereotypes?

News.com.au Travel has an interesting report on what the rest of the world thinks of Australians who travel abroad. They have compiled a list of common Australian stereotypes including that Australians are:

• Dumb 
• Fat, loud and drunk
• Racist
• The world's worst tippers
• Easy-going and don't complain
• The world's greatest travellers

I would personally like to add one to the list:
Australians are the worst dressed travellers.

When heading back home to Australia from America, Europe or Asia, it is always easy to tell in the airport which are the Australians returning back home. They will be wearing thongs and board shorts for the guys and ugg boots and trackies for the girls. Why can't we wear blazers and comfortable chinos like the European men do? I understand it is a comfort issue, but come on, you left the beach four hours ago!

26 Chinatown Bus Companies Shut Down due to Safety Violations

A scary report from amNY has identified 26 Chinatown Bus companies who have been served shutdown notices Wednesday for alleged safety violations, including drivers without a valid commercial license and using vehicles not regularly inspected. The main companies shutdown include Apex Bus Inc., I-95 Coach Inc. and New Century Travel Inc.

I have personally used one of the companies who were shutdown, I-95 Coach, to travel from NYC to Savannah, Georgia. The bus I travelled on was not as modern as other buses I have used in the past. I much prefer the services of MegaBus which I have used to go to Boston, Washington DC and Providence, Rhode Island.

More details on the report can be found on amNY.

Will retailers still offer discounts to cyclists when CitiBike arrives in NYC?

In July the CitiBike bike share program will roll out over 7000 bikes across NYC. Currently hundreds of shops, cafes and bars are trying to lure cyclists with discounts and other incentives - a trend being driven by the Bloomberg administration's push to make NYC the biking capital of the East Coast. I wonder with the start of the CitiBike program, will retailers still offer the same discounts to cyclists? Will they not give them to people riding the CitiBikes? If this happens the tourists might miss out on the discounts as surely they will be the biggest users of the bike share program.

More information on the the discounts can be found on the amNY website with information on the CitiBike program found on Australian Abroad.

Governors Island Calender for 2012 Summer Season

Governors Island opens up this weekend for the first time for 2012. The ferry across to the Island is free and is a great way to get out on the harbor and see the Manhattan Skyline. Events occur most weekends with a full calender available here.

I was lucky enough to attend the Rock The Bells hip hop festival last year that featured hip hop and RnB acts Black Star, Cypress Hill, Erykah Badu  and Lauren Hill.