O Canada!

I’ve always wanted to take the family to Niagara Falls. Despite being in Canada, it seems like the quintessential American vacation. But Canadian travel now requires passports. So our first expense is documents:

Passports:
$95 per adult, $85 per child
$445 in fees for the 5 of us

And then we can drive or we can fly. If we drive, I’d consider taking the ferry across Lake Michigan. It changes the pace of travel and lets you skip the Chicago traffic.

Time to try the Lake Express ferry, Milwaukee to Muskegon
Car: 1way $90
adult: $81, 2 kids free for each adult
total 1 way: $252

Baymont Inn & Suites Muskegon
2 Queen, indoor pool, free breakfast
Sun Aug-8-2010 to Mon Aug-9-2010
$119.99

I am too tired to research this better, but perhaps we’d drive much further into Michigan, 2 hours or so. Grand Rapids at least. Maybe Lansing. In any case, after a night in Michigan, we’d drive to Niagara Falls.

Muskegon to Niagara Falls via I-69, 411 miles, 6.5 hours

Aug 9-11
Embassy Suites Niagara Falls – Fallsview
6700 Fallsview Boulevard,  Niagara Falls,  Canada L2G 3W6
2 ROOM SUITE-2 QUEEN BEDS-FALLSVIEW-NONSMOK
pool, breakfast
BEST AVAILABLE RATE
Rate  (CAD)     255.00
Taxes     33.15
Total     $576.30 CAN

This hotel is fairly expensive, but the views sound absolutely breathtaking. We’d spend 2 nights. Ride the Maid of the Mist and the tourist things. Gaze. If we’ve made it to Canada, it would seem a shame not to see Toronto.

It is 1.5 hours, 133KM (82 miles) to Toronto

Aug 11-13
Residence Inn Toronto
55 Minthorn Blvd
Markham, Ontario L3T 7N5 Canada
2 Bedroom Suite, Bedroom 1: 1 Queen, Bedroom 2: 1 Queen, Sofabed
indoor pool, breakfast, internet
$209 CAN per night
total:  $418 CAN

Then for the drive home, I think, we’d mix it up a bit. Take in Cleveland the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame.

5 hours to Cleveland, 471 KM (292 miles)

Embassy Suites Cleveland – Downtown
1701 East 12th Street,  Cleveland,  Ohio 44114
Fri 13 Aug 2010 Sat 14 Aug 2010
2 BEDROOM/2 BATH STE-1 KING/1 DBL BED NOSMOK
Total     $217.82

Then the last day is going home: 7 hours, 455 miles

411 + 82 + 292 + 455 miles = 1240 miles, at $0.55 a miles = $682

For a rough total of:
$445 passports
$252 ferry
$120 Muskegon
$543 Falls (in USD)
$418 Toronto (in USD)
$272 Cleveland
$682 in mileage

= $2782

Wow.

I started out pricing airfare and it was expensive. Flying into Toronto was ~$350 a ticket. So no. While this isn’t as expensive as Disney, it is not cheap. There is a certainly wiggle room in the pricing. Cheaper hotels. Fuel efficiencies. Luck.

bon voyage