Wow, I didn't expect to get answers so fast, and with so much details! A big thanks to you guys for your help and for taking the time to answer me. I will try to resume what would be best for my trip according to your advices.
- No problem with my age, expect for pubs and nightclubs, so it's OK (since I knew from the start that you must be 21 for pubs). As for the credit card, I have on and I can use it in the USA (I had no problem while in New York).
No, you wont have a problem, just wont be able to drink that's all. (though we did get away pretty easily with buying beer from the corner store.
Thanks for the news, and thanks for sharing your trip's details, it's kind of "encouraging" to know that you did this trip in the same circumstances.
2. Check the schedule on Celtics.com. I would book tickets to the games well ahead of time. IMHO the best deals are in the upper balcony near midcourt in the first few rows.
That's what I plan to do if I do the trip, and the NBA schedule's release should be made in the first week of August so I'll look at it with interest, trying to select the best games of February. Hopefully there is a stretch of home games for the C's.
Boston has alot of attractions, but not so many in February. For example, the whale watching boats do not run in the winter. What are your interests? The one attraction that comes immediately to mind is the Museum of Science.
The Museum of Fine Arts and the Gardner Museum sometimes have good exhibits, but these do not compare to the great French museums. Alas, there is no Louvre in Boston.
Boston is famous for two things: its universities (Harvard, MIT, etc.) and its hospitals, which are among the best in the world (Mass General, Childrens, the Brigham, Beth Israel). If you are interested in things academic or medical, I would just poke around those places.
I'm not a big fan of museums, though it's always interesting to visit them, especially in foreign cities/coutries in my opinion. So I guess Boston's museums would be part of my trip, as the universities would be (they are really intriguing to me), although you can't visit them I suppose, but just stay around?
What I usually do when I'm touring is that I visit a big part of the city by walking, everyday and during all my trip, trying to avoid the subway or the bus as much as possible to discover the most part of the city. The problem is, the weather in February doesn't seem to allow this kind of visit, so it could give me a problem in my occupations in the city (although Nick gave me some interesting advices about the animated places which sound really attractive to me).
1. Find someone to travel with, it's always more fun and safer.
Well, I would travel with someone if I could but... unfortunately only one of my friends is a big fan of basketball and NBA, and he would enjoy the trip but he wouldn't have the budget to pay the tickets + the hotel + the restaurants + the games, etc. My other friends wouldn't do a trip to Boston just for NBA games, and especially in late january or early february. As for my family, I usually travel with my father but he wouldn't come to Boston either (and once again the period isn't appropriate for him).
I know it would be cooler to visit the city with someone but at the same time I thought that it would be interesting to make the trip on my own. It's part of the experience in my mind.
2. I don't know where in France you are from but Boston is on the ocean and cold and the windiest city in America. In January and February you can almost count on at least one good 12 inch dump of snow in one storm every two weeks during that time period. Never expect temperatures to be above 0 degrees Celcius and expect the nights to be -10 to 0 degrees C. and wind chill factors much lower than that. If you are not use to that type of weather buy Thinsulate boots and gloves and dress in thin layers. Tee shirt, shirt, sweater, heavy coat.
Wow, much more colder than I expected!
Now I know what to expect (and what clothes I should bring), thanks for the accuracy.
3. I don't know what your budget is but really good front row balcony seats on the side of the court will run $100 American easy and maybe more. Something in the lower log on the sidelines about $150-$200 American and floor near court side $300 + American. That's all per ticket from third party vendors. You can always find sclapers outside looking to drop tickets for a lot less but the seat selection isn't always great.
OK, so if I resume with what jackson_34 and Brickowki told me too, the best affordable seats are the upper balcony near the court. 100/150$ is fine. I think I would envision more easily the seats you're talking about when I will see the plan of the Garden. When do they usually start the tickets selling on celtics.com? Just after the NBA's schedule release?
By the way, how much a courtside seat costs? And is it really worth this price (you're close to the players but do you really see the game well, if you are in the middle of the court for example?) Maybe I could go in the balcony for one game and try courtside for the following one, to experience the two. Once again it depends on the interest of the courtside seats and its cost.
As for my budget, since the flight tickets would be gratis, I would say it would be around 2130$ dollars for the whole trip (hotel, restaurants, tickets for the games + souvenirs). I have no idea of where I "could go" with this budget so your advices are welcome once again. Anyway, this is the budget I have right now and it can only grow until february since I'm not spending much to increase this value.
It's best to find a hotel outside of Boston close to the public transportation trains(MBTA subway). The hotels will be much less expensive and riding the T, as it is called will get you right into downtown and right outside the Garden in mere minutes.
Good idea, I would never have thought of it myself, so thanks again. Do you have some names of hotels, or addresses you know? Or just some suburb area's name to find some hotels in this area on Internet to compare the prices and the locations.
You're under 21 so the nightlife will be limited. There are a ton of great pubs and clubs but you won't be able to get in. As for other attractions Fanuel Hall day or night is outstanding with lots of restaurants, shopping, street entertainers and in the winter it's lit up beautifully at night. The Museum of Science is a great day time take. The Museum of Fine Arts is also a good daytime attraction. Copley Plaza and the Copley Square Mall as well as Newbury Street are excellent shopping areas if a bit expensive. Being 19 you will be the same age as a ton of students at many of Bostons and America's best college's and universities. Visit one or two during a Friday or Saturday afternoon and I'm sure you could find a party for that night. With a French accent, you'll fit in well and score some night time fun for sure.
These places sound really cool to visit and to stay around! Especially Fanuel Hall and the Mall. As for my accent, it would be cool if I could use it an asset, hopefully you're right about the party possibility.
I also take note of the areas to avoid and the areas to see that you mentioned after in your post, and I'm going to do some research (or buy a tourism guide) about Boston and its suburbs to envision the places you quoted.
Thanks again to you guys for all your advices, it's great and it helps me plan my trip. TP's for all of you (and more coming after the karma limitation).
PS : Nowee, of course it would be cool if this thread could be used to help all the people planning this kind of trip to Beantown!