Hi
Just to let you know how we got on in New York a few days ago.
We were due to stay at the KOA approx 60 miles north of NY, but found the sites VERY restricted for access - you are parking in a forest.
The "staff" consisted of two young girls around 14 yrs old - they didn't have a clue about customer service.
So, we told them we were cancelling our reservation as we couldnt get into the site. They were insistant that we would have to pay a $5 cancellation fee - but we finally got that sorted.
We called Black Bear Campground in Florida, around 40 miles north of NY and they had some pull thrus available - slightly more expensive than KOA (after our 15% Kard discount), but their City Tour was around $20 each cheaper.
We arrived at Black Bear and found no problem with the campground - although some older RVs may struggle with the very steep hill to reach the top camping area.
We took the New York tour and really enjoyed this VERY brief glimpse of NY.
They made the excellent choice to take the ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty from the New Jersey side rather than NY side - the NY boats were crammed full of 800 people on every crossing - we had less than 100 on each of ours (but I guess you are only on the boat for 10-15 mins at a time).
NB It is worth noting that the Liberty Harbor Campground & Marina, which is VERY close to NY, will be closing at the end of this year - they seem to have sold their 55 site lot for $25 million !!
Anyway, we continued our tour which included a 45 min stop at Ground Zero, and 45 min stop in Times Square, whilst passing the UN Building, Empire State Building and others.
We did have one minor complaint about the tour in that there were 13 of us crammed into a small minibus - unless you were short and had a window seat, you couldn't actually see much out the windows.
Our MAJOR complaint was the tour guide who took us to one side to ask why we weren't huge fans of Tony Blair and gave us a lecture on Terrorism, stating the US should be dropping Nuclear Bombs (!!) on their enemies.
Now - I know that New Yorkers probably feel more "anger" than many Americans as 911 was in THEIR home City, but I don't feel it appropriate to air his views on a Tour Bus.
We would have loved to spend lots more time in NY - but we felt their isn't ANY practical choice for RVers to do so - we may look at finding a deal to fly in and stay in a hotel for a long weekend at some point before we return to the UK.
Whilst at Black Bear CG, we also drove out to the West Point Military Academy and took their 2hr tour (only $11) - this we really enjoyed, even if we didn't have a clue what they were talking about (US History etc).
Paul
Just to let you know how we got on in New York a few days ago.
We were due to stay at the KOA approx 60 miles north of NY, but found the sites VERY restricted for access - you are parking in a forest.
The "staff" consisted of two young girls around 14 yrs old - they didn't have a clue about customer service.
So, we told them we were cancelling our reservation as we couldnt get into the site. They were insistant that we would have to pay a $5 cancellation fee - but we finally got that sorted.
We called Black Bear Campground in Florida, around 40 miles north of NY and they had some pull thrus available - slightly more expensive than KOA (after our 15% Kard discount), but their City Tour was around $20 each cheaper.
We arrived at Black Bear and found no problem with the campground - although some older RVs may struggle with the very steep hill to reach the top camping area.
We took the New York tour and really enjoyed this VERY brief glimpse of NY.
They made the excellent choice to take the ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty from the New Jersey side rather than NY side - the NY boats were crammed full of 800 people on every crossing - we had less than 100 on each of ours (but I guess you are only on the boat for 10-15 mins at a time).
NB It is worth noting that the Liberty Harbor Campground & Marina, which is VERY close to NY, will be closing at the end of this year - they seem to have sold their 55 site lot for $25 million !!
Anyway, we continued our tour which included a 45 min stop at Ground Zero, and 45 min stop in Times Square, whilst passing the UN Building, Empire State Building and others.
We did have one minor complaint about the tour in that there were 13 of us crammed into a small minibus - unless you were short and had a window seat, you couldn't actually see much out the windows.
Our MAJOR complaint was the tour guide who took us to one side to ask why we weren't huge fans of Tony Blair and gave us a lecture on Terrorism, stating the US should be dropping Nuclear Bombs (!!) on their enemies.
Now - I know that New Yorkers probably feel more "anger" than many Americans as 911 was in THEIR home City, but I don't feel it appropriate to air his views on a Tour Bus.
We would have loved to spend lots more time in NY - but we felt their isn't ANY practical choice for RVers to do so - we may look at finding a deal to fly in and stay in a hotel for a long weekend at some point before we return to the UK.
Whilst at Black Bear CG, we also drove out to the West Point Military Academy and took their 2hr tour (only $11) - this we really enjoyed, even if we didn't have a clue what they were talking about (US History etc).
Paul
