Along with two Australian couples and our Italian guide, I left New York before the sun had fully risen, prepared to visit over a six day period - Niagara Falls, Toronto, Hershey, Lancaster and Washington DC with Mauiva AirCruise.

Our flight from Westchester deposited us on the American side of Niagara Falls and we were shuttled in a private bus over the border into Canada to stay for two nights at the Sheraton on the Falls. Riding on the Maid of the Mist boat, straight into the heart of Horseshoe Falls towering mists and seeing a double rainbow generated by the mix of precipitation and sunshine that occurs there 365 days a year was my favorite experience. Though it seemed there was no activity involving Horseshoe, Bridal Veil or the American Falls that we did not do and by the time we departed Canada on our third day, I had had enough of water. During our brief jaunts away from the falls, to Toronto and Niagara-on-the-Lake, I enjoyed the view from the CN Tower and a wine tasting that involved many a sip of Ontario's sweet and unique icewine.

After landing in Pennsylvania, we headed to the Hershey Factory, where we watched as personalized candy bars were made uniquely for each of us - toffee and pretzel bits in milk chocolate for me. Lunch was in quaint Lancaster where I found the colonial architecture more appealing than the fast food choices for lunch. Moving on to Amish country, we toured a homestead, schoolhouse, working farm, watched cows being milked and learned about Rumspringa by watching, "Jacob's Choice". I wondered internally at what my travel companions made of the Amish culture and over dinner at a traditional Amish restaurant we compared and contrasted the Amish and Native Americans with the Aboriginal people of the Australian outback.

That evening, our earliest check-in of the trip at the Double Tree Resort in Lancaster, I found the pool and hot tub still open and fully took advantage of the amenities. Before leaving Pennsylvania the next morning, we stopped in Harrisburg where I was surprised to find their unique green-domed state capitol building quite impressive.

Gallery: Mauiva AirCruises - East Coast Destinations

I'm a card-carrying frequent flyer, refer to airports by their three digit codes and know the exact ritual to go through before I can clear a TSA checkpoint and be allowed to put my shoes back on. The shine has worn off though, and the flying portion of travel is now a chore. But still enjoyable is the feeling I get when I am up in the air and looking down at the ground so rapidly passing beneath me.

Once upon a time my belief was that flying commercial was the only alternative should I decide against passage by train, bus, car or boat. Putting up with the pains of flying commercial? A necessary evil. Enter Mauiva AirCruise and a whole new world of plane travel.

The morning I depart for my All American East tour with Mauiva, it's pre-dawn in New York City but I'm on a private charter bus and the still-sleeping Upper West Side soon gives way to Harlem and then the Bronx and before I know it we're in Westchester. Already, this is so unlike my usual combination of trains and taxis and struggling with luggage through bustling city streets. At the private airport in Westchester, I don't have to wait before I'm able to help myself to free coffee. Instead of hours, it is minutes before I'm driven through the gates, coffee still in hand, and onto a Tarmac right next to my waiting plane. I board and we've taken off before I even have a chance to soak in the fact that no one ever demanded I take off my shoes. Once up in the air, I'm served breakfast that's fresh and recognizable, given a choice of any newspaper I could possibly want to read. The flight attendant calls me by name. I hardly have time to think about how long this journey might take before we're down on the ground again, ushered into another private bus, again waiting for us on the tarmac while we watch our bags being transferred for us.

Gallery: Mauiva AirCruises - East Coast Destinations