Try Exploring America the Y’s Way

The Y’s Way, a program designed to help young travelers find clean, safe, inexpensive accommodations in 30 North American cities and 12 foreign countries, has more to offer than modestly priced rooms.

The free 1991 Y’s Way catalogue not only lists accommodation locations, but also includes do-it-yourself tour packages for key American cities.

Operated by the YMCA of greater New York, the Y’s Way program directs an international reservation service and an assistance desk at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Overnight rates at Y’s affiliated with this program average $26. Although less expensive lodging can be found in dormitory-style youth hostels and student hotels, the extra expense of a Y does come wtih some special advantages.

Y’s usually offer the option of single or twin rooms, although washrooms may be down the hall. Also available, for a small surcharge, may be access to athletic facilities such as a gym or swimming pool.

And this year, the Y’s Way provides a reservation service for facilities in North America and abroad. In locations where a Y doesn’t exist, suitable alternate budget lodgings are substituted.

There is a fee of $3 per location for reservations outside New York City, $5 for reservations outside North America. A reservation application is included in the catalogue.

Each year, the Y’s Way also offers do-it-yourself packages, including single or double occupancy, some meals and sightseeing in popular American cities. Packages are available for New York, New Orleans, Seattle, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Details are covered in the 23-page Y’s Way catalogue.

For example, it’s possible to visit New York for three to seven nights and stay at any of three different Y locations.

Some packages even use New York’s Vanderbilt YMCA. This is good news because the Vanderbilt facility has an excellent central location. It has a television in each room and a swimming pool that can be used at no extra charge because daily membership is included in the city packages.

A three-night package at the Vanderbilt, including three breakfasts, dinner in Chinatown, a visit to the Empire State Building, a bus tour of Lower New York and a three-hour cruise around Manhattan Island costs $170 single or $130 per person double.

The Y’s Way information desk at JFK is in the International Building between American Airlines and Travelers Aide. Employees there can help arrange reasonably priced transportation into the city and help find accommodations.

Free copies of the 1991 booklet “The Y’s Way to Visit North America and Worldwide” are available from The Y’s Way International, 356 West 34th St., New York 10001. Include a self-addressed, legal-size envelope, with 65 cents’ postage.