The kids and I decided to change things up a bit for our summer vacation and opted for some city touring instead of the ocean waves. This was partly since they were each going on beach trips with their friends, but also because I was a procrastinator this year in planning.
Our friends had invited us to spent the weekend in Philadelphia and attend a Phillies baseball game. Since we would already be making the two hour drive to Philadelphia, we decided to take advantage of the proximity of our hotel to the airport and hop a quick one hour flight to Boston, the home of the infamous Boston Tea Party, for a few days in advance. I had made my way through Boston in a car as a teenage, but never really got to soak it all in. This was a great time to see all that Beantown had to offer!
Travel Logistics
I booked the trip through Expedia and felt I had snagged a good package deal on flights and hotel. That wasn’t entirely untrue, however do be aware of the extra costs outside of checkout. Once I purchased flights, I realized I had to pay additional costs for checked bags and seat selections. The additional cost wasn’t bad on JetBlue, our returning flight, but was almost an additional $400 on Frontier, our departing flight. Frontier even charges $60 if you want assistance from a live person at airport check-in.
Shortly after booking our flights, I found a news article stating that the Sumner Tunnel coming out of the Logan Airport in Boston was closed and that travelers could be expected to see a two-hour increase in commute time from the airport. Uber drivers were hesitant to take rides because of lost revenue sitting in traffic. I had researched other options (ferry and subway), but an employee at the airport suggested we hop the Silver Line Bus. While the tunnel is closed, the Silver Line is free, but even post tunnel work, it is a quick, easy option for getting to downtown. We got off the bus at South Station and it was under a mile walk to our hotel. If it’s cold, Ubers are easy to come by.
Our hotel was fantastic. We loved the historical feel of the Revere Hotel Boston Commons although the Paul Revere artwork in the rooms did startle me late night when I woke. The price was reasonable for the quality, the rooms were very spacious, the staff was friendly and the service was great! We had an issue with a broken A/C unit but the hotel moved us immediately and had us settled in our new room in 15 minutes from determining it was broken.
The hotel had a rooftop restaurant where you can enjoy a lobster roll. This is the kind with mayonnaise. I didn’t get a chance to try the hot butter rolls during our short stay, but it’s a good excuse to go back!
One thing of note on this trip was how clean Boston was. Having traveled many times to New York and Philadelphia, the streets of Boston were clean and while trekking over 25 miles on foot, we say only ten or so homeless people on the streets. Not sure what Boston is doing that is different than other cities, but they should find out what it is! We are not fearful travelers, but we felt safe and comfortable everywhere we went.
Probably one of my favorite parts of Boston beyond the rich history was the architecture. Compared to some of the other big cities, it seemed a bit flatter and spread out. If you want a nice view to take in the city and orient yourself to the area, visit View Boston. This is similar, yet not as high, panoramic view of the city. General admission runs around $35 or you can package it with other events such as dinner in the rooftop restaurant.
Site Seeing
We only spent 4 full days in Boston, but did cover a lot of ground. We were fortunate the weather was gorgeous so we toured everything on foot. We heard a lot of raves about Boston Commons, but the Public Garden is really the best part. The garden was beautiful and full of activity through the day and you can snag a duck boat ride if you like!
Visiting the Cheers Bar was on my list of things to do while in town. To be honest, unless you were a huge fan of the show back when it was on the air, I’d pass on this stop. It was crowded and had a small gift shop, but little else other than the dining. We stood under a sign that said “Please Wait Here to be Seated” for almost 20 minutes to see if we could get on the wait list for a table while the staff made it obvious they were trying not to acknowledge us while passing by us over 20 times. For a place where “everybody knows your name”, no one wanted to take our name down. I guess it was cool to at least say we saw it.
Quincy Market and the Harbor are a great place to spend the afternoon or evening. The place is filled with shops, food and live entertainment. We hopped on the Freedom Trail to get there. The Freedom Trail is a 2.5-mile red line leading to 16 nationally significant historic sites. Preserved and dedicated by the citizens of Boston in 1951, the Freedom Trail is a unique collection of museums, churches, meeting houses, burying grounds, parks, a ship, and historic markers that tell the story of the American Revolution and beyond. You can self walk this or get a guided tour. We chose to self walk since we like to move fast.
If you have a rain day on your hands, the New England Aquarium is a great inexpensive place to kill some time. Beware that even in summer, the daycare field trips are in full swing so watch out for the little ones under foot! It does get quite crowded.
Play Ball!
The highlight of our whole trip was definitely the Fenway Park experience! For any true baseball fan, this is a must see. You can pay for a tour through MLB ($25) and get to see the entire stadium, including a view from the press box, and hear it’s unique history. One of our travel goals is to hit every MLB stadium. This marked 7 of 30 for me! At 111 years old, this stadium has some of it’s original wooden seats and has all the old school vibes you’d expect. Nothing compares to the energy of game time from the streets to the stadium. Although not a good night for the Red Sox, we had an amazing time at the game and enjoyed the crowd singing Sweet Caroline at the top of their lungs before the bottom of the eight inning!
All in all, Boston is a great family trip,. relatively inexpensive and you can really see a lot of it in just a few days. I imagine I might feel differently about it during the winter months, but I would definitely go back to visit in the future!
The Roaming Roths 