Conference kaosws::canada

    
    If you are constrained to travel by bus or train from London, then
    crossing into the USA is going to be VERY difficult, except via certain
    gateway cities, and the frequency of services tends to be low.
    
    To Get to Albany from London, for starters you'd have to get to
    Toronto (rail or bus), then, either to Buffalo NY by bus or Montreal
    by train or bus.  From Buffalo, there is a train service to NYC (New
    York City) that I believe goes through Albany.  From Montreal, there is a
    train service to NYC once a day called the Montrealer, that goes via
    Albany.
    
    I don't know quite what the timings are, but you can probably reckon
    that it could take two days for either route to allow for the
    connections to get to Albany by bus or train...
    
    Depending on quite what your travel plans are after meeting the
    friends, you could meet in Kingston, Cornwall, or Montreal much
    easier.  Train London to Toronto and then train Toronto to Kingston,
    Cornwall or Montreal (all on the same line).  London to Montreal
    would probably be 8-9 hours by rail including the connection in
    Toronto ... Cornwall is about 1 hour closer, and Kingston is about
    two hours closer to Toronto.
    
    If you plan to go into the USA from Canada, ensure that your passports
    have a US visa, and preferably what is known as a multiple entry
    visa, allowing you to make as many border crossings as you like.
    Beware also that US immigration MAY request proof that you will leave
    the country ... for this your return ticket from Canada should suffice.
    
    Stuart

    Stuart,
    
    Thanks very much for your prompt and detailed reply.
    
    Given that it sounds as if it will be quite difficult for us to do what
    was originally planned, maybe you could give me a rough idea how long
    it would take us to drive from London to Providence, R.I.  I think it
    may be easier for us to hire a car in London and drive to our friends'
    relations where we could leave the car whilst we all go together in
    a bigger car.
    
    I have already ensured that we have visas on our passports and we will
    only be going into the U.S. and then back out again, so hopefully we
    will not have any problems there.  It is ten years since we were over
    and, at that time we did a similar trip, into the U.S. and back to 
    Canada with no problem - are things more difficult now?
    
    Sorry to keep asking questions but I did not realise it would be so
    difficult for us to get either bus or train over the border.
    
    Thanks again
    Margaret
    

    You're welcome!
    
    Things aren't really any different crossing the border, although the
    traffic across the border has increased dramatically in the last year
    or so. With a more favourable US exchange rate and the dreaded GST
    (same as UK VAT) a lot more people are doing their shopping in the US!
    
    I'd allow two days of driving, especially with a 6 year old who will
    force you into making more pit stops than you'd normally do for
    yourself.  One day London to Albany ... London to Cambridge (via hwy
    401), Cambridge to Hamilton, Hamilton to Fort Erie (via QEW).  Fort
    Erie to Buffalo NY.   Buffalo to Albany (via NY State Thruway).  This
    is probably about 8 hours plus stops.  You may want to take a break a
    bit earlier in Syracuse ...
    
    I'd spend the night in Albany.  From Albany I don't have the routes at 
    hand ... but if I remember I'll dig out the right map tonight.
    
    Digital rates with Avis are good for small cars, especially considering
    they have unlimited mileage ... and you're looking at LOTS of miles!
    
    Stuart

The Montrealier does through Burlington, VT, White River Jct, VT and
then down to Springfield, MA.  I do not believe it goes through Albany, but
if your friends are coming from RI, they could meet you at one of the train
stations along the way.

Dave

    There are two trains that run from Montreal to New York.  The
    Montrealer runs through Vermont, arriving in NYC in the morning.
    The other runs through Albany, in the daytime.  I think it gets
    into Albany at about 5:00 PM.
    
    If you're headed for Providence RI, the Montrealer (through VT) gets
    you as close as Hartford CT.
    
    -piper

    Hi, it's me again.
    
    Thanks everyone for your suggestions so far.
    
    It seems that all of them would take up quite a lot of time - which	
    we just don't have.  
    
    So I have made enquiries here about flying from Toronto to Boston.
    This would seem to be the best solution as far as timing is concerned
    as it would only take about half a day to get from London to Providence.
    The price I have been quoted for a one way fare Toronto to Boston is
    70 pounds and, being a good Scot (read "MEAN"), I was wondering if it 
    would be any cheaper to wait till I am in Canada before I arrange this.  
    
    Any info on fares would be much appreciated.
    
    
    Thanks again for your help.
    
    Margaret
    
    

    I'm just catching up on this notes file; I hope I'm not too late.
    
    One-way fares tend to be very expensive.  So,
    if there's any way to include the Toronto-Boston leg on your overseas
    ticket, it will probably be much cheaper (I flew
    Israel-Boston-Toronto-Israel for 50 dollars more than I-B-I 3 years ago).
    
    Tickets from Toronto to the US used to be more expensive than tickets
    from Buffalo to points in the US (at least in 1986 and before).  So you
    might check out driving to Buffalo instead of to Toronto, and flying
    Buffalo-Boston (USAir used to do that).
    
    By the way, there is a bus that goes from Buffalo to Boston (or at
    least there used to be).  But I wouldn't want to do that with a child.
    (I took it once when I was a student and there was an air-traffic
    controllers strike.)
    
    Hope this helps!
    Maurene (who-lived-in-Toronto-for-many-years)

    It's me again, just to say thanks for everyone's input.
    
    I am stopping today to get packed and organised and fly out to Toronto
    on Monday.
    
    We did eventually decide to fly from Toronto to Boston, which seems the
    most sensible way to go, taking everything into account.
    
    
    
    Thanks again
    Margaret