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Trip Report

Washington and New York holy week

Visiting family and strolling around US

  • New York+ 6
  • New York
  • New York
  • Washington and New York holy week
lina cifuentes
About Me:Mom of two, our favorite hobby is traveling, discover new flavors and live experiences ! read more

North AmericaUnited States10 days / April 2018

Highs & Lows

New york is never boring

Distances between cities are quite long

Itinerary Overview

Holy week was approaching and we had no trip planned, my son was living in Washington because of his university and my sister was about to get married in New York, so the trip matched perfectly. We traveled from Bogotá to New York approximately 5h 30 min, we stayed there for 4 days, but not properly in NY, my sister lives in deer park which is around 1 hour by car from Manhattan, as the roads there are actually good preserved the 1-hour round trip wasn’t a chaos.

 

After NY we rented a car at Hertz which is something I totally recommend, distances in United States are very long and renting a car is the best thing, even though I recommend it only for traveling from city to city, because finding a parking lot in Manhattan is impossible and costs quite a lot (save that money for the metro, much cheaper).

 

Next stop was Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania from Deer park it took us around 3h 30min, we stayed with a sister of my husband who lives there, its actually an interesting place to visit, you can feel a lot of peace there and if you have children the Hershey´s park is 23 min away (awesome plan) we just stayed there for two days, and after that our last stop was Washington, 2 hour trip, our favorite plan when traveling trough United States by car is stopping by in restaurants at gas stations (Ihop, waffle, house, denny´s). We stayed in D.C 4 days at a Marriot hotel, when we got there we returned the car as we prefer to walk around the city, Washington is a great city for walking! it is really safe, peaceful, every corner has its magic and you can find great restaurants around the city.

 

 

  • 4 Nights: New York
    New york is always a good idea
  • 2 Nights: Harrisburg
    Family hangout
  • 4 Nights: Washington
    Washington and it´s magic
New York - New york is always a good idea
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New York New york is always a good idea

New York - New york is always a good idea - null
New York - New york is always a good idea - null
New York - New york is always a good idea - null

We arrived Friday very early so we went for breakfast at one of our favorite places, Denny´s. We have been in New York for several times as its one of our favorite cities, so this time we didn’t went to the touristic spots tourists normally go to. We visited some of our favorite places for eating such as Magnolia Bakery where for sure you´ll find the best banana bread pudding, also we went to Max Brenner their specialty is chocolate and almost every plate has chocolate (you can imagine how amazing it is). The wedding was on Sunday it wasn’t a big party, only family was there, they rented a house at the Hamptons a beautiful zone.

Harrisburg - Family hangout
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Harrisburg Family hangout

Harrisburg - Family hangout - null
Harrisburg - Family hangout - null
Harrisburg - Family hangout - null

Our stay at Harrisburg was quite short but it was perfect, we visited the State capitol, the nuclear plant “Three-mile island” it´s not possible to go very near it but we stopped by and it is actually very interesting listening to the story of the accident, we also visited a little town near called Dillsburg, the town was perfect for strolling around, there are some little shops with beautiful handmade pieces, some restaurants with homemade food which is always a good option! Finally, as we were staying at the house of my sister in law basically we ate most of the time at her place!

Washington - Washington and it´s magic
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Washington Washington and it´s magic

Washington - Washington and it´s magic - null
Washington - Washington and it´s magic - null
Washington - Washington and it´s magic - null

Finally, we arrived at Washington, we lived there before so again we didn’t do the usual touristic activities (Smithsonian Museums, obelisk, capitol, etc..) we walked around the city as it was spring, the cherry blossoms were so beautiful! We took advantage and did some shopping at the Potomac mall and finally went to our favorite restaurants of city, Georgetown cupcakes are the best ones, fogo de chão is a steak house with awesome meat and five guys are our favorite hamburgers! I totally recommend going in spring the weather is the best and the views are really pretty with the cherry blossoms.

Q & A

  • Restaurant recommendations?

    Max brenner in New York and for dessert Magnolia Bakery is a must
  • Packing tips?

    tennis for New York and Washington
  • Transportation Tips?

    Rent a car if you are going to travel between cities
  • Any surprises?

    Everything was perfect!
  • Booking details?

    In Washington we stayed at Courtyard by Marriot, totally recommended it isn´t expensive