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Need some help planning my trip to the US

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I have no fear of the ghetto.. I always laugh reading White folks talk about it like they're leaving the green zone in Baghdad or some shit.. :chuckles:

I'd much rather be on St. Clair or even Hough rather than being in some random-ass backwater town in the South...

I'm not afraid of some random backwater town in the south. As for the ghetto I think it's more of the stigma. I mean the only time I've been lost was east Cleveland and I had to buy some drunk ass dude more beer to get me out of there (directions). Southern cooking is great too.
 
That's Collinwood. If it's during the day you should be fine taking a fast picture. I wouldn't stand there and look at the sites though, not there is anything there to look at.

Cool, thanks man. Just want to take a quick picture and to have the experience.

Seriously, though...do NOT go to Randall Park mall. It's a Scoobie Doo ghost town but with real monsters.

For Cleveland, you need to do the following:

-Cedar Point - unfortunately, this is seasonal, so forget going here and a Cavs game in the same trip. This is the one thing I would recommend anyone coming from anywhere to do in this area as it is the best at what it offers in the entire world.

Actually, I don't know if there are any more "needs" in this area. The Melt is good, but not anything special. The art museum and area is really nice, but not if you're going to hit up a museum in NYC. You can always creep on Lebron's house if you wanted. Lola and B-Spots are nice too, but again, you can go to nice places to eat anywhere.

So pretty much you have to hit Cedar Point if you are travelling between June and October.

As amazing as Cedar Point seems (and looks from YouTube videos), I don't think I'm going to make it this time 'round. The whole point of heading to the US before Europe was to see the Cavs play. Sucks that these two things can't coincide, but I might have to come back and do Cedar Point next time.
 
So as far as accommodation goes, where do you recommend staying in Cleveland? Preferably somewhere close to the Q I'd say.

It looks like we'll be coming in the winter time - February at this point - as it's the only time we can both fit it in.

EDIT: and New York. Really confused as to where exactly is the best place to stay.
 
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I'd probably recommend the Hyatt. It is a block away from the Q and right next to E 4th which is one of the more "happening" areas of downtown.
 
Have you ever been here? There are many worse places. 55th and Woodland is one of my favorites. Collinwood is always nice. Some of the streets off of Wade Park where every other house is burned down. You should take the tour with Simmy.

Hey! 55th and woodland has this new Japanese restaurant called Sakura.. It's deff on the come up!

I love being uptown (university circle) that's where most of Cleveland's museums are. They just built a new one a year ago, havent been yet but if that's your scene i would check it out.
Another great area I love to hang in is Valley View. It's like 2 seconds away from Independence which has a Melt on rockside road so it works out perfectly.
Catching a movie out of town is a bit bleh but the cinamark there is amazing. Another reason I love it in Valley view is because of the metro parks. My God, they're so pretty.
So many great parks in Cleveland, it'd be a crime if you missed out on that.

As for New York, I've only been there once so I can tell you off my own experience. We stayed in manhattan off of broadway. Not sure if you plan on getting a rental car or not but, don't count on finding a parking spot on the street... You're going to be driving around for hours. A lot of the parking garages are full as well. There is so much to do in NY, just pick an area and it'll prob fill up one day. If you havent been to any of the other great cities like Tokyo, Seoul or LA, time square will blow your mind.
 
Agreed re: Disney. Two days there is plenty for two adults. I think two days in NYC is probably enough as well. Not because NYC isn't great, but because it's a place where there's so much to do and so many quick ways to get there that you can pack a lot into 48 hours. It's also very overwhelming due to the sheer amount of stimuli.

You've actually got a really good idea of where to go to see the best parts of America, at least geographically. You implied that you're a musician and I'm not sure whether you're into beer, weed and the outdoors or not...

But I'd strongly suggest adding Denver to your list either way. If you're into music, the outsoors and beer...I think colorado is a place you really shouldn't miss. You'd see and experience geography that you don't have on your list and there's a very different culture there than in Vegas, NYC and LA. And if you're into weed...you can smoke/eat it relatively freely there. You can also hike/bike, try a bunch of craft beers and you'll be more likely to actually experience the locals here than your other destinations.
+1000 to this. denver is a must-go, and i'd say portland and seattle are close seconds too. for me those would be a higher priority than some of the cities you're going to visit now, but at least make sure to head to a few on your next trip around. all 3 are only improving, too, so going in a few years should be even better.
One of Cleveland's best features that has popped up in the last few years is its amazing food scene. There might not be a better place to eat in the whole country.

Before you head out here, pop back into this thread and request some recommendations. There are no less than thirty or more restaurants I'd recommend offhand that are just awesome, and very few are expensive in any way.
wait...wat? i hope you just worded that incorrectly...

edit: also wanted to add that you should really, really check out airbnb as opposed to hotels. better in almost every aspect.
 
+1000 to this. denver is a must-go, and i'd say portland and seattle are close seconds too. for me those would be a higher priority than some of the cities you're going to visit now, but at least make sure to head to a few on your next trip around. all 3 are only improving, too, so going in a few years should be even better.
wait...wat? i hope you just worded that incorrectly...

edit: also wanted to add that you should really, really check out airbnb as opposed to hotels. better in almost every aspect.

Forgive my ignorance, but what's airbnb? The Hyatt sounds like the way to go in Cleveland.

What about near Central Park in NY? I'm at at US Travel expo right now trying to work it all out!

Just need the NBA schedule to be released for this season so I know either to go to NY first or Cleveland - need to make sure I'm actually there when we're playing!!
 
Forgive my ignorance, but what's airbnb? The Hyatt sounds like the way to go in Cleveland.

What about near Central Park in NY? I'm at at US Travel expo right now trying to work it all out!

Just need the NBA schedule to be released for this season so I know either to go to NY first or Cleveland - need to make sure I'm actually there when we're playing!!

Airbnb is basically a way to rent a actual apartment/room/futon depending on the person offering up the place for probably much cheaper then a hotel would usually be. Obviously its a good idea to check the reviews of the place to see what you would be getting into and if the people you are dealing with are legit but its a reputable site so you probably won't be getting robbed :chuckles:

Link: Airbnb
 
Airbnb is basically a way to rent a actual apartment/room/futon depending on the person offering up the place for probably much cheaper then a hotel would usually be. Obviously its a good idea to check the reviews of the place to see what you would be getting into and if the people you are dealing with are legit but its a reputable site so you probably won't be getting robbed :chuckles:

Link: Airbnb

This feels like it's turning into a fairly audacious trip! Haha thanks for the tip.
 
Melt - while good is extremely overrated. I'd suggest Steve's Gyros at West Side Market which has been featured on numerous television shows (while the wait can be 30 min.-1 hour) It is alot of food.

Also make sure to hit up the lakeside view of Cleveland which IMO is the most beautiful part of the city.
 
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I also suggest trying the B Spot as well. One of Michael Symon's restaurants. http://bspotburgers.com

Been voted for having the best burgers in America for four years straight now.

This place is pretty freaking good.
 
Airbnb is basically a way to rent a actual apartment/room/futon depending on the person offering up the place for probably much cheaper then a hotel would usually be. Obviously its a good idea to check the reviews of the place to see what you would be getting into and if the people you are dealing with are legit but its a reputable site so you probably won't be getting robbed :chuckles:

Link: Airbnb
yep. it's usually cheaper than hotels (sometimes significantly), offers similar or better locations in the city, lets you stay in a place with some character and personal taste as opposed to a monotonous hotel room, and the hosts are almost always super cool down to earth people [tho, you might never even see them depending on where you stay]. totally safe + legit.

fwiw, if i were planning to spend a few weeks overseas somewhere, like say to travel thru parts of europe, i'd go exclusively airbnb. not sure how big it is in cleveland, but for your other destinations it should be perfect.
 
I also suggest trying the B Spot as well. One of Michael Symon's restaurants. http://bspotburgers.com

Been voted for having the best burgers in America for four years straight now.

This place is pretty freaking good.

B-Spot might be the most overrated place, burger is average but since Michael Symon puts his name on it people want to say it's amazing.
 
I also suggest trying the B Spot as well. One of Michael Symon's restaurants. http://bspotburgers.com

Been voted for having the best burgers in America for four years straight now.

This place is pretty freaking good.
to add to this, there is a B-spot in the Q. So you won't even have to go out of your way to go there. I have never ate there though, so cant give my opinion.
 

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