Can anyone comment on traveling to Wake Forest? Looks like Greenboro is the closest airport but Southwest doesn’t fly there which is a bummer. Anyone out there fly in and out of Charlotte? I know there are (expensive) shuttles from the school to the Charlotte airport but I’m wondering if it’s hard to match up those shuttles with departure times. I’m guessing there may only be one or two of those per day on busy travel days and that’s going to result in either an early shuttle and a lot of waiting at the airport or, worse, shuttles that can’t get the student to the airport for morning flights. Thoughts?
S flies through both Greensboro and Charlotte. Charlotte has way more flights but is a good two hours (traffic) from campus. Greensboro (small airport, easy to get in and out) is only 30 minutes from campus - just doesn’t have as many flights but doable for us (Tampa).
Wake uses a shuttle service that runs to both airports. We used it the very first time S flew home (Thanksgiving freshmen yr). Since then, he has shared Ubers, had friends with cars give hima ride, etc. You’ll likely find once you attend, it will be easy to connect with other kids for rides. The shuttles are expensive. splitting an uber 4 ways is great. Friend with a car is best!
My S flies into Raleigh since we are a United family and it is about 1:30 minutes from campus. I have flown into Charlotte and I find it to be about the same timing but maybe I haven’t gotten in at bust traffic times. Never done Greensboro as we are from CA and that would require changing planes. I don’t find the drive to be too bad from either airport. Son has a car there so he drives himself and any other kids that need a ride to the airport. I agree with @rickle1 easy for kids to find others to get a ride with. S has never taken the shuttle as they don’t go to Raleigh.
Not sure where you are flying from, but gso is the closest- about 45 min. Then concord regional(allegiant airlines) about an hour. Then charlotte,(90 minutes), then Raleigh-durham(2hrs)
Would amtrak be a feasible way? There is an express bus from high point amtrak to downtown winston salem.
Coming from Chicago. I think we have direct flights to Greensboro on American and United but we really prefer SW since you can make changes for free and check two bags for free. They just flight to Charlotte.
We just started looking for D21. We’ve visited Davidson and W&M for S19 and she was on those trips. Want to still see Wake and Richmond. S19 is going to Bowdoin and that’s already seeming a little like a pain to get there so I’d love to find a school that’s easier for D. But, if a school is a really good fit, we will suck it up!
DD usually flies into Greensboro from home (Nashville), which requires a connecting flight. For fall and spring breaks she gets together with her friends and splits an Uber or drives her car to Charlotte where there are more connections and cheaper flights. From our experience it’s about 1 1/2 hours door to door from CLT to the school, 30 minutes to GSO. She drives home at Christmas, about eight hours. Having said all this, there are usually plenty of kids wanting to share rides at breaks and holidays.
One thought if American works best for both of your kids, or even just one, it might be worth looking into the American Airlines visa. You collect points for tickets, I believe at least one bag is free, and you get priority boarding. Greensboro is a great little airport and much easier in and out than Charlotte if you can make it work.
Hm. Seems like lots of kids have cars at Wake? Is there a reason why one would need a car other than driving to the airport?
Just curious what kids do with their cars once they get to the airport. Airport parking is usually pretty expensive ($24 a day at our home airport). Maybe it’s cheaper down there but for a long break it seems like it would get very pricey.
I don’t know specifically, but I live close to Villanova (similar in size) and there are a ton of students with cars. Maybe to drive to the movies, or the huge mall or restaurants because the school isn’t within walking distance of many things and public transportation in the suburbs is not the best (Similar to Wake)? Winston Salem is 3 miles from Wake so not walkable and the area around awake is predominately residential.
Oh gosh. I’m going down this road again now with Wake. We took it off S19’s list for a few reasons- one of which was kids find fun off campus and there’s not enough to do on campus!
I don’t know if the issue is that there isn’t enough to do but rather there are some things you can’t do without a car, i.e. going to an actual movie theater or a restaurant. Kids may also use them for jobs or internships? My niece needed one to get to the equestrian center at her school because the school didn’t provide transportation.
Personally my kids didn’t “need” cars at their schools but did appreciate the fact that they could venture further a field once they did have them starting sophomore year. Also made coming and going between school and home easier (which may not apply to your situation).
Also many schools don’t allow freshmen to have cars.
Hopefully someone with a student that attends Wake can provide more specifics.
Paging @rickle1
Charlotte airport parking can be found for just under $5 per day.
WF (like so many colleges now) has Zip cars, and if you are an enrolled student over 18 you can set up a ZipCar account. As with many colleges, WF banishes underclass students to satellite parking lots- and also like many colleges Zipcars get spaces in dorm parking lots (including Poteat). For everyday use that is often plenty of car access.
Also, although normally you have to return your ZipCar to where you picked it up, you can book ahead to have it be one-way and leave it at the airport.
My son is going to a different school (Elon) but they already have their airport shuttle schedule posted for the breaks, so you may want to see if you can find this info for Wake to help plan your flight times. Also from what I’m reading on boards, student ride sharing to/from airports is very common (and that’s one way the kids defray the cost of airport parking).
DD’s car is a hand me down from her grandparents, reliable but nothing fancy. She stayed on campus most of the time her freshman year, but used it on weekends to go to the movies, go hiking 30-45 minutes away in the mountains, or go grocery shopping. She’s pretty independent: it wasn’t a big deal for us or her either. A lot of her friends who didn’t have cars rode with her, so she made some friends through having it.
There are free shuttles to Wake Downtown every few minutes. Reynolda Village is 1/4 mile down a paved woodland trail, and there are some good restaurants there.
Most of the freshmen don’t have cars. I wouldn’t sweat it if I were you, he’ll be fine either way.
Beware of construction on I-77! When you drive from CLT to Winston that’s the interstate and it’s a hot mess during rush hour so I urge you to avoid peak hours on that road. Concord does have some really cheap flights and you can avoid 77 altogether
Also, If Richmond and Wake targets, then avoiding CLT is best b/c it’s 90 minutes south of W-S – so wrong direction.
OP here. Just reminding poster’s that we don’t have a child going to Wake right now. I’m asking because our D21 is interested and I’d like ease of travel to be part of the equation.