"Boston - My First Proper US City Visit" Boston by johngayton

Boston Travel Guide: 3,745 reviews and 7,876 photos

First US City Street View - Boston
First US City Street View
First Impressions

I must admit that my first visit to Boston didn't start too well. Having been travelling for almost 12 hours from Keystone, Colorado and my flight being slightly delayed in the air, I was looking forward to getting to my hotel, having a couple of beers in the bar and then a fairly early night.

Finally arriving at Logan about 11 pm I found the courtesy phone for my hotel and its free shuttle, pick up-arranged in 15 - 20 mins, and so stood at the "courtesy bus" stop and watched all the little shuttles come and go - and come and go!! After about 20 mins a shuttle duly arrives bearing the Comfort Hotels logo, I go to board only to be told that this was the downtown shuttle and that mine was a different bus. After the third Embassy Suites shuttle in about 45 mins I gave up waiting and decided just to get a taxi.

I didn't arrive at the hotel until gone midnight and couldn't be bothered complaining about the shuttle at the time, checked in and then found that the bar had just closed GRRRR!!- anyway more about the hotel in the tip section!

On this part of my trip I had decided to fly into Boston, stop overnight, and do a loop trip on Amtrak to Toronto via New York and Buffalo and then return to Boston before flying back to Colorado. I had had a vague plan to get up early and being out in Revere had thought to maybe take a walk down to the beach before continuing my journey - no way!! Looked out the window on getting up to find horizontal sleet all but obscuring the views (well it was only an industrial estate anyway!).

Everything did perk up considerably though once I actually got the hotel bit out of the way - more later.

2nd Visit.
Old State House - Boston

Old State House

About a week later, having been across to Buffalo and up to Toronto I returned to Boston, with a mini VT meet arranged for the Saturday with saccarinicity and funnybeee and as an added bonus Renee's friend SullyBiz.

Still the same chaos at the bus station at Logan, but this time I was based out of town at Watertown (see page) and got straight in a cab.

This was an entirely different experience, the sun shone and I had an excellent day out in the city, lunch in Columbus park, trawled a few bars in the afternoon, an excellent dinner with Beee at Intermission and then off back to Watertown via a few beers in Cambridge.

Pros and Cons
  • Pros:Loads of Bars!
  • Cons:Not enough time to visit them all ;-(
  • In a nutshell:This is a city worth a serious visit.
  • Last visit to Boston: Apr 2006
  • Intro Updated Apr 15, 2013
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Reviews (9)

Monstrosity or Masterpiece? - Boston Hmmm......just as I thought! Favorites (1)

This is not my favourite thing but it certainly makes interesting research into what it was all about! The Modern City... more travel advice

Decent Workdesk! - Boston Good Hotel and a shuttle which... Hotels (3)

This is a good quality hotel at the upper end of the mid-market range. Rooms are modern, spacious and well-appointed and... more travel advice

A Bit Out of Town - Boston A Bit Out of Town Hotels (3)

A variation of this tip appears on my Watertown page but given that the hotel is just off the freeway, about 15 mins out... more travel advice

Meatloaf and Beer :) - Boston Dinner with Beee and Vargas Restaurants (2)

After a very pleasant lunch in Columbus Park, Renee and Laura are off to get their hair done (more girly conversation!!)... more travel advice

Comments (4)

  • Reply
    toonsarah's Profile Photo
    Mar 6, 2010 at 6:47 AM

    I think we spent even less time in Boston than you and definitely didn't do it justice. Must go back some time and hunt out a few of those bars ;-)

  • Reply
    olja1234's Profile Photo
    Aug 23, 2008 at 8:10 AM

    A very good page, John.

  • Reply
    May 27, 2007 at 7:28 PM

    Interesting and amusing to read about your stop over in Boston - an excellent page, John!

  • Reply
    travelgourmet's Profile Photo
    Jul 5, 2006 at 1:00 AM

    Ah, John, there isn't a bad pub in Boston. Glad you were able to lift a few. See you saw my Napa pages. Cheers.

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