May 2014 USA/Canada Travel & Hockey Advice

[ftmN]

Hi everyone, TLDR; please help with bold questions

I'm going overseas for the first time and will be going to USA/Canada for 5 weeks and would like some NHL hockey ticket/general minor league advice, as well as some general travelling questions answered, this post will be quiet extensive so please feel free to ignore it.

I'll try and give you quick description of my background and itinerary so that you can have an idea of what I’m doing and asking. For a little bit of a background I live in Australia in a very outdoor based culture, as a people we really don’t know anything about NHL or hockey in general, it would be lucky to find anyone over here that knows what the NHL is let alone how hockey works. I’ve always loved ice hockey and have been following NHL for about 7 years and religiously for about 4 years. The only hockey we have here is called the AIHL and is pretty much up to the caliber of a good pub league team, you are only able to see this in certain cities. I would love to see an NHL game and at very least some AHL games with my time over there. I was originally supposed to go over in December in the middle of hockey season so to come over after the start of playoffs isn’t ideal. I would really like to get as much hockey culture and what it’s like to live apart of a hockey community in my time over here, as well as a lot of nature and sightseeing, so any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

With my travelling side of things my partner and I will be trying to get as much as we can out of our experience over there, we are both very outdoor-based people and will be going to quite a few national parks etc. Below I have a brief outline of where we will be and when, if you have anything to suggest we do or see that wouldn't take us out of the way then please feel free to suggest it, as well as suggestions if we shouldn't go to a particular place, please note that all flights are booked. Most of the time we want to be sightseeing, enjoying culture etc and not stuck in museums or galleries. With the questions below I’ve done quite a bit of research and am either looking in the wrong place or there isn’t a definitive answer, any help is appreciated.

Itinerary-
Los Angeles (26th April->30th April)
Plans: Disneyland, sightseeing (nothing specific planned, mainly tourism related)
Question: I’ve heard you need to stay away from Downtown?

Vancouver (30th April->8th May)
Plans: Vancouver (stanley park, Capilano Suspension Bridge & Cliffwalk), Whistler (Garibaldi Provincial Park & Joffre Lakes Provincial Park), Victoria (Alberni & Pacific Rim National Park Reserve)
Questions: Would you not go to Pacific Rim National Reserve as it is slightly out of the way and would require me to hire a car? Does it differ from Stanley Park much?

Toronto (8th May->11th May)
Plans: Day trip to Niagara Falls, Toronto Island, CN Tower, HHF.

New York (11th May->18th May)
Plans: General tourism (Brooklyn bridge, times square, central park, empire state etc)
Question: Would you go to a ML baseball game?

Washington (18th May-25th May)
Plans: A day in Washington, general tourist sightseeing. Hiring a car day two and doing a road trip. Going to Charlottesville & Lexington (through Shenandoah national park to sightsee and walk along the Appalachian trail), then to Morgantown and then to either Pittsburgh or Hagerstown.
Questions: Is Pittsburgh a desirable place to go? I’ve heard mixed reviews of the city in terms of whether or not it is worthy of visiting. If I wasn't going to Pittsburgh I would go to another local town, Hagerstown, which is on the way back to Washington.

If you weren't going on the road trip, what city and where would you recommend to go?

New Orleans (25th May->28th May)
Plans: General tourism and culture related activities.

Las Vegas (28th May->30th May)
Plans: Grand Canyon day tour, sightseeing + Las vegas general tourism.

LA (31th May)
Plans: General sightseeing, fly out late night.

Hockey Related-
I have never bought hockey tickets and the first round appears to be the only time (realistically) that I would be able to see a game. Assuming that the standings stay how they are and Ducks don’t fall to second, below is my estimated timeline. So basically I could only see Ducks game 7 and LA game 6(when in LA), which realistically isn’t great odds for either series making it that far. My plan is to buy both game 6&7 tickets and get a refund for the one’s I don’t see. In the off chance Ducks fall to second place I would then purchase game 6&7 tickets for LA vs Ducks.
Estimated First Round Dates and Locations:
16/4 – @Ducks, 18/4 – @Ducks, 20/4 – Wild, 22/4 – Wild, 24/4 – @Ducks, 26/4 – Wild, 28/4 - @Ducks
17/4 – SJ, 19/4 – SJ, 21/4 – @LA, 23/4 – @LA, 25/4 - SJ, 27/4 – @LA, 29/4 – SJ

When do tickets go on sale and are they hard to buy say 2 days before a playoff game for either of the above two California teams? I’m fairly sure tickets go on sale once a team is sure they are locked into their spot?
How do ticket refunds work and how long would they take? I’ve heard you get a refund for all tickets bought through ticket vendors such as stubhub etc but not 3rd party.

From the second round onwards I may be able to catch a Boston game in round 3(assuming they make it) or a round 2 NYR/Philly game 7, depending if and where they play. Pretty much my only chance is to watch a round 1 game 6/7 or round 3 Boston game.
Second Round:
1/5, 3/5, 5/5, 7/5, 9/5, 11/5, 13/5
2/5, 4/5, 6/5, 8/5, 10/5, 12/5, 14/5

How much do 3rd round Boston tickets and 2nd round NYR or Philly Tickets cost? (as I know ticket costs differ from team to team and with playoff depth)

Minor league hockey (AHL etc)-
It looks like from the AHL websites I should be able to at very least catch Abbotsford and Toronto’s AHL teams in their playoff run. Is an AHL playoff game something you can turn up to the night of and walk in the gates? And asides from skill, will it give me just as good as an experience?

I would also really like to see a hockey game at Maddison Square, I'm assuming this is something I will need to look for when I'm over there as the Rangers may not be playing when I get over there. Do minor league games still play around the middle of May in MSG?

If there are any minor league hockey games in any of the locations that I have missed that you would recommend for me to see, QMJHL/CHL or local games etc. I know that my chances of NHL calibre games are quiet low but anything you can suggest other than AHL games for where I will be would be greatly appreciated, I am not aware of where teams are located or when their playoffs starts as I haven't looked into it(teams outside of NHL/AHL). I'm fairly sure most lower league playoffs will be finished by the time I'm over there.

Weather:
Other than the normal weather for the month of May would you expect any reason to take winter clothes in case of a blizzard or colder weather? I’m not sure if Spring weather is consistent or is prone to adverse weather occasionally, most of what I have read for the cities I should be packing normal spring clothes.

Weather Averages: Highest – Lowest (celsius)
Los Angeles 23 - 13
Vancouver 16 - 8
Toronto 18 - 9
New York 21 - 12
Washington DC 19 - 8
New Orleans 29 – 20

Phone/SIM:
I have the below phone, I’ll need a sim card to use across Canada and USA, who would you suggest and how much does the prepaid cost? I’ve had a general look and it looks like AT&T is the way to go.
http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i950...xy_s4-5371.php

If you have any questions please feel free to ask, I'm sorry if this post has been extensive. I would really like to get the most out of my time overseas and would like to get as much hockey culture and experience while over there. Thanks to everyone that took the time to read this

[goalie13]

I'll start with the blizzard question...

You're safe in May, unless you take a side trip to Calgary. You should pack a rain jacket though as that is always a possibility in May in at least half the locations you plan to visit.

[euphoria/]

Didn't read the entire post but if you are looking for hockey tickets, StubHub would be your best bet if you can get your hands on a printer. Don't have to meet strangers in a large city, and the prices are usually below face value. Victoria is pretty nice but the park isn't anything special. The wax museum and the royal museum are pretty awesome, though the latter is a tad pricey.

[ftmN]

Thanks, I won't pack winter clothes. Does StubHub refund if the series doesn't get to the game?

[goalie13]

Itinerary-

Los Angeles (26th April->30th April)

Plans: Disneyland, sightseeing (nothing specific planned, mainly tourism related)

Question: I’ve heard you need to stay away from Downtown?

Vancouver (30th April->8th May)

Plans: Vancouver (stanley park, Capilano Suspension Bridge & Cliffwalk), Whistler (Garibaldi Provincial Park & Joffre Lakes Provincial Park), Victoria (Alberni & Pacific Rim National Park Reserve)

Questions: Would you not go to Pacific Rim National Reserve as it is slightly out of the way and would require me to hire a car? Does it differ from Stanley Park much?

New York (11th May->18th May)

Plans: General tourism (Brooklyn bridge, times square, central park, empire state etc)

Question: Would you go to a ML baseball game?

L.A. - From Anaheim, you are also fairly close to San Diego. There's some pretty decent tourist type stuff to see down there too.

Vancouver - Stanley Park is an urban park. Pacific Rim is wilderness. For an outdoor adventure, the west coast of Vancouver Island & Pacific Rim National Park is phenomenal. You are quite right though, you will need to rent a car and it is out of the way. But (in my opinion) it is well worth it, especially if you are going over to Victoria anyways.

New York - I would go to a Yankees game. I'm not a baseball fan, but I am a sports fan and I think if I was to ever go to one MLB game, Yankee stadium would be a great place to go to a game.

[nuckin_futz]

Goalie13 gave you very good advice. You seem to be a very outdoorsy person so one thing I would add for Victoria is Butchart Gardens. Victorians are known for being a little crazy about flowers. Butchart Gardens is our Mecca.

http://www.butchartgardens.com/

Definitely go see a baseball game in New York. When you're there There will be a 4 game set between the Yankees and the New York Mets from May 12-15th. 2 games in Citi Field (NY Mets home) and 2 in Yankee Stadium. These are rare inter-league games and there should be a fair bit of hype surrounding them. As they don't play each other that often.

Have a great trip.

[ftmN]

Thanks a lot for the MLB and Pacific Rim advice, I was a little hesitant about going to Pacific Rim as it will require another day or two but it seems like its worth it. The interleague sounds like a plan, I know very little about baseball but I'll look it up and see one of the games at Yankee Stadium.

[trek]

AT&T Go Phone prepaid $2/day for unlimited US voice and sms but no data. You could do T-Mobile for $3/day you get unlimited US voice and sms + unlmited 4G data (capped at 200MB then drops to 2G speed)

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans

Both AT&T and T-Mobile allow roaming of their prepaid customers into Canada. However all usage is billed PPU and no data. You'll probably want to hit up a few wifi hotspots.

If you want a Canadian sim (we get screwed for wireless pricing) for data usage while here you could check out Fido -

http://www.fido.ca/web/page/portal/Fido/PrepaidPlans?forwardTo=prepaidPlans

$1/day + airtime usage at .30c/min and .25/sms and add $10 for 100MB data for 1 week.

[Jägermeister]

If you're the outdoorsy type, while you're In Vancouver I'd highly recommend hiking the Squamish Chief.

Not an easy adventure, but the views are amazing.

IMO it would be a far better experience than doing Stanley Park.

Anyways, that sounds like it's going to be an amazing trip. Good luck.

[Dedalus]

Itinerary-

Los Angeles (26th April->30th April)

Plans: Disneyland, sightseeing (nothing specific planned, mainly tourism related)

Question: I’ve heard you need to stay away from Downtown?

Hockey Related-

I have never bought hockey tickets and the first round appears to be the only time (realistically) that I would be able to see a game. Assuming that the standings stay how they are and Ducks don’t fall to second, below is my estimated timeline. So basically I could only see Ducks game 7 and LA game 6(when in LA), which realistically isn’t great odds for either series making it that far. My plan is to buy both game 6&7 tickets and get a refund for the one’s I don’t see. In the off chance Ducks fall to second place I would then purchase game 6&7 tickets for LA vs Ducks.

Estimated First Round Dates and Locations:

16/4 – @Ducks, 18/4 – @Ducks, 20/4 – Wild, 22/4 – Wild, 24/4 – @Ducks, 26/4 – Wild, 28/4 - @Ducks

17/4 – SJ, 19/4 – SJ, 21/4 – @LA, 23/4 – @LA, 25/4 - SJ, 27/4 – @LA, 29/4 – SJ

When do tickets go on sale and are they hard to buy say 2 days before a playoff game for either of the above two California teams? I’m fairly sure tickets go on sale once a team is sure they are locked into their spot?

How do ticket refunds work and how long would they take? I’ve heard you get a refund for all tickets bought through ticket vendors such as stubhub etc but not 3rd party.

Quick tip before I answer you. You have a lot of info in your post. For the sake of everyone and so people can quickly answer your questions, put your questions in bold.

Anyway, I'm from Vancouver but I'm currently staying in LA temporarily.

Your LA questions:

Question: I’ve heard you need to stay away from Downtown?

Well, yes. It is not recommended because if you aren't familiar with the area you can walk down a wrong street at the wrong time. For the sake of simplicity, let's say you should avoid downtown. However, you can visit but avoid staying there til late unless necessary. Some things to see downtown: Little Tokyo, Grand Park, Pershing Square, Ace Hotel. There are two museums there as well. The contemporary art one (LACMA?) and I forget the other.

Don't stay downtown, even though Staples Centre is downtown. When you go see a game, get there a little early and explore LA Live. It's basically a bunch of restaurants with pretty lights. It's not that big, so maybe give yourself an hour at most? Unless you plan on going drinking. There might be a wait, though I'm not too sure.

When do tickets go on sale and are they hard to buy say 2 days before a playoff game for either of the above two California teams?

For LA Kings, absolutely. But you may still get nose bleed seats, if that's okay with you.

For Ducks, no. You can still probably get decent seats very close to the day of the game.

LA Kings is really the main hockey team in Southern California. It's louder, flashier, and, truth be told, better entertainment value.

If you just want to see good hockey, either team will do, and Ducks might arguably be better, but I'll leave that to your discretion.

Tickets go on sale shortly after they know if they'll need another game, right? Maybe a day or even day of sometimes.

Look on ticketmaster.com and search for LA Kings or Anaheim Ducks.

With regard to refunds, I'm not sure, but I was under the impression that Ticketmaster does not issue refunds.

Have fun!

[goalie13]

Goalie13 gave you very good advice. You seem to be a very outdoorsy person so one thing I would add for Victoria is Butchart Gardens. Victorians are known for being a little crazy about flowers. Butchart Gardens is our Mecca.

http://www.butchartgardens.com/

Personally, I could certainly pass on Butchart Gardens. I know that's very un-Victorian of me, but it's just a huge flower garden in an old rock quarry. Not my thing.

I would much rather climb Mt.Finlayson or go kayaking or biking or something like that. That's why I think a trip up to Tofino & Ucluelet would be a great addition to his itinerary.

[ftmN]

If you're the outdoorsy type, while you're In Vancouver I'd highly recommend hiking the Squamish Chief.

Not an easy adventure, but the views are amazing.

Hey thanks for that, I didn't even know that hike existed so I will definitely see if I can fix that hike in.

Question: I’ve heard you need to stay away from Downtown?

Well, yes. It is not recommended because if you aren't familiar with the area you can walk down a wrong street at the wrong time. For the sake of simplicity, let's say you should avoid downtown. However, you can visit but avoid staying there til late unless necessary. Some things to see downtown: Little Tokyo, Grand Park, Pershing Square, Ace Hotel. There are two museums there as well. The contemporary art one (LACMA?) and I forget the other.

Don't stay downtown, even though Staples Centre is downtown. When you go see a game, get there a little early and explore LA Live. It's basically a bunch of restaurants with pretty lights. It's not that big, so maybe give yourself an hour at most? Unless you plan on going drinking. There might be a wait, though I'm not too sure.

When do tickets go on sale and are they hard to buy say 2 days before a playoff game for either of the above two California teams?

For LA Kings, absolutely. But you may still get nose bleed seats, if that's okay with you.

For Ducks, no. You can still probably get decent seats very close to the day of the game.

LA Kings is really the main hockey team in Southern California. It's louder, flashier, and, truth be told, better entertainment value.

If you just want to see good hockey, either team will do, and Ducks might arguably be better, but I'll leave that to your discretion.

Tickets go on sale shortly after they know if they'll need another game, right? Maybe a day or even day of sometimes.

Look on ticketmaster.com and search for LA Kings or Anaheim Ducks.

With regard to refunds, I'm not sure, but I was under the impression that Ticketmaster does not issue refunds.

Have fun!

Thanks a lot for that, I'll keep away from Downtown just in case and I will have a look at a few of these ticket sales websites to see if they have a policy on refunds. Obviously tickets will need to be purchased last minute to avoid losing any funds, as travelling I don't really want to spend $600 on tickets and not see the game etc. Thanks for that advice, if you think I can pick up game 6 or 7 games after the game beforehand is done then I will leave it until then to purchase.

[ftmN]

I'll be bumping this every day or so for additional information, sorry for the annoyance. If people could help me with the bolded questions then that would be very much appreciated, specifically about the BC travel areas and Pittsburgh question. Please feel free to suggest anything.

[SAnuck]

Hey buddy, I'm an Aussie who's been living in Victoria for about 5 years so I'll try help out where I can.

1) Where about's in Aus. are you from? I'm born and raised Melbourne boy but studied in Adelaide.

2) Glad to see you're visiting Victoria and Vancouver Island. It truly is a beautiful city which is far too often overlooked by visitors and the weather at the moment is out of this world, so you've come at the right time. I'll try help you out with Victoria.

- There was a suggestion by someone earlier to visit Tofino which is up island. It's an incredible little town but with such a tight schedule and coming from Australia the main attraction of Tofino are the beaches and it's simply not worth it. Not to sound like an ass but our average beach back home is just as nice so i would avoid it this trip. The time it would take you to get there (4-5 hr drive form downtown Vic one way) and the overnight accommodation simply isn't worth it.

- I would definitely check out The Butchart Gardens. As an ourdoors person you will absolutely LOVE it! It's constantly ranked as one of the worlds best gardens/parks and as an Australia we have our botanic gardens in each city but this blows it out the water. Definitely worth the visit.

- Look into the Zip Lining which is in Sooke (about an hr from downtown Victoria). It's a BEAUTIFUL way to get some incredible views.

- Look into some Whale Watching. B.C and Victoria especially is known as having some of, if not the best, whale watching spots in the world. I went with a very skeptical mindset about whether I would enjoy it and I absolutely LOVED it!

- Walk around, go into some local bars (head into a bar called "The Podium". It's a sports bar on lower Yates and it'll give you a sense of that true Canadian Hockey passion and feel. Also have some AWESOME meals at a great price), meet the locals (honestly the friendliest people you'll ever meet) and just soak it all up. I've travelled Australia extensively and honestly Victoria is the most beautiful city I've ever visited and it's not 'cause it's full of shinny, expensive attractions or huge sky scrapers; it's the small things. The culture, the smells, the people, the old buildings, the 'feel' of the city...all that stuff and it's all best experienced by walking around and soaking it up. Obviously check out the parliament buildings, Cook St Village, Johnson Street, Government St., Uptown etc. but just reallly try to take in the moment and the city. It's beautiful.

3) When visiting downtown Toronto and the CN Tower check out "Real Sports Bar" for a meal and a beer. Even if there isn't a hockey game on it's an amazing example of a true, North American sports bar taken to the extreme which we just don't have back home.

4) You'll be fine with the weather - It definitely isn't Summer so bring a jumper or two with you but you won't need to buy thick, winter snow jackets or anything.

If you feel like catching up with a fellow Canucks fan and grabbing a beer, a bite to eat and showing you around Victoria shoot me a PM before you head over!

Enjoy your trip man and hope you love Canada!

[ftmN]

Hey buddy, I'm an Aussie who's been living in Victoria for about 5 years so I'll try help out where I can.

1) Where about's in Aus. are you from? I'm born and raised Melbourne boy but studied in Adelaide.

2) Glad to see you're visiting Victoria and Vancouver Island. It truly is a beautiful city which is far too often overlooked by visitors and the weather at the moment is out of this world, so you've come at the right time. I'll try help you out with Victoria.

- There was a suggestion by someone earlier to visit Tofino which is up island. It's an incredible little town but with such a tight schedule and coming from Australia the main attraction of Tofino are the beaches and it's simply not worth it. Not to sound like an ass but our average beach back home is just as nice so i would avoid it this trip. The time it would take you to get there (4-5 hr drive form downtown Vic one way) and the overnight accommodation simply isn't worth it.

- I would definitely check out The Butchart Gardens. As an ourdoors person you will absolutely LOVE it! It's constantly ranked as one of the worlds best gardens/parks and as an Australia we have our botanic gardens in each city but this blows it out the water. Definitely worth the visit.

- Look into the Zip Lining which is in Sooke (about an hr from downtown Victoria). It's a BEAUTIFUL way to get some incredible views.

- Look into some Whale Watching. B.C and Victoria especially is known as having some of, if not the best, whale watching spots in the world. I went with a very skeptical mindset about whether I would enjoy it and I absolutely LOVED it!

- Walk around, go into some local bars (head into a bar called "The Podium". It's a sports bar on lower Yates and it'll give you a sense of that true Canadian Hockey passion and feel. Also have some AWESOME meals at a great price), meet the locals (honestly the friendliest people you'll ever meet) and just soak it all up. I've travelled Australia extensively and honestly Victoria is the most beautiful city I've ever visited and it's not 'cause it's full of shinny, expensive attractions or huge sky scrapers; it's the small things. The culture, the smells, the people, the old buildings, the 'feel' of the city...all that stuff and it's all best experienced by walking around and soaking it up. Obviously check out the parliament buildings, Cook St Village, Johnson Street, Government St., Uptown etc. but just reallly try to take in the moment and the city. It's beautiful.

3) When visiting downtown Toronto and the CN Tower check out "Real Sports Bar" for a meal and a beer. Even if there isn't a hockey game on it's an amazing example of a true, North American sports bar taken to the extreme which we just don't have back home.

4) You'll be fine with the weather - It definitely isn't Summer so bring a jumper or two with you but you won't need to buy thick, winter snow jackets or anything.

If you feel like catching up with a fellow Canucks fan and grabbing a beer, a bite to eat and showing you around Victoria shoot me a PM before you head over!

Enjoy your trip man and hope you love Canada!

1) I was born in Brisbane, raised in Karratha/Perth and now live in Albury at the moment and am moving to Melbourne most likely in the next 6 months. Would you recommend Victoria Island over the 2 Whistler locations? We plan on going hiking but not sure if that is going to happen around Pacific Rim etc! Thanks for your advice.

2) I'll look into Zip lining and whale watching thanks, the reason I didn't initially look into whale watching was because of price.

3) Sounds delicious!

4) Thanks for that, we'll be in a bit of a rush and still don't have our BC plans finalised, unsure of where to spend our time so far, thinking 3 nights in vancouver island.

[SergioMomesso]

Come up to northern BC and I'll take you snowmobiling in the mountains for a day.

[ftmN]

bump, please help with BC related questions. Is there anywhere you wouldn't go or would go within a couple of hours of Vancouver that I have listed? Thanks in advanced.