We took our first Lyft ride today! I feel so cool!
Today we walked the
Freedom Trail, which started in Boston Common and ended in Charlestown at the USS Constitution shipyard. Officially 2.5 miles, but we veered off to see other things before getting back on track. It was a nice first day and "get our feet wet" for Boston.
I had Manhattan as my frame of reference and thought Boston would be similar. No. Boston has been set up for tourists (and general living) and whoever planned that city decided to make it easy to get around and not get too overwhelmed. Our hotel is in the heart of a Latino neighborhood, and they have a local market that is AMAZING. We stocked up on groceries last night (we're at a Homewood Suites with a full kitchen) when we got in. We were confronted with a number of ways to get from Chelsea (where we are) to downtown; the gal at the hotel desk said if it was her she'd call for Lyft or Uber. We were chicken, so we took a cab this morning - which was fine and we loved our driver, but it was $30 including tip one way. To come back we set up a Lyft pickup and it was $15 including tip, so that's that.
Boston is a marvel, with historic buildings alongside modern. We both remarked how clean it is here and where Manhattan smells like garbage and restaurant exhaust, Boston smells like a normal place. We had lunch in the North End, with is their Little Italy. Monello had lobster ravioli and I had arancini. We also had a beer at the fake Cheers at Faneuil Hall (the real one is at Beacon Hill). So far we like all the Bostonians we've met - the tourists make me want to punch their face, but that's good because it helps me with what not to do as a visitor and gawker.
You could certainly drive in downtown Boston - it's closer to Annapolis than Baltimore, not DC and certainly not the nightmare that is midtown Manhattan. The reason you wouldn't is because parking is super expensive ($25-40 for the day), and if you're being a tourist you will be walking all over Hell's half acre and you don't want to have to back track to get your car. And you WILL walk, so wear comfortable shoes. Boston is a walky town like NYC and DC, and you will blast through the miles without realizing you did it. The things you want to see are fairly close together, but not. It's a progression, where you'll see a bunch of stuff in this area, then more stuff is a half mile away, then more a quarter mile from there, then another third of a mile, etc. Driving it doesn't make sense.
Boston is on my list of come back and stay longer, become a part of it. I like to live like a local, and you don't really do that when you're rushing around trying to do tourist things. If I could find a place to stay that wasn't stupid expensive (good luck) I'd come back for a month or more. There's a lot going on in the Boston area, and a lot of areas to explore, not just the history stuff.
The only negative is the occasional surges. We've paid $8 one way and then when we tried to head back it was a surge time so that $8 ride was now $24. We normally just keep site seeing or pop in a pub for a pint and then it drops back down. Also I'm not sure for Boston but in DC, Baltimore, Philly, Savannah...basically any major city we've been in almost every car that has picked us up has both a Lyft sticker and an Uber sticker on the car. So I usually just pull up both aps and see who's cheaper at the time and that's who I use.
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