<p>My D needs to get from Texas (DFW or Austin) to Charlottesville for a med school interview on the 8th of September (so has to fly in the 7th in time to get a hotel). She needs to leave CHO after about 5 p.m. on the 8th to get back to Little Rock (where her car will be- don't ask :() in time to drive back to Memphis (where she needs to attend morning classes the 9th). </p>
<p>We are not finding any (to me) reasonable fares. Are there any carriers that are better than others for Charlottesville trips? Safe cheap hotels close to the med school?</p>
<p>Help the kid out. Dad's a :confused: moron.</p>
<p>There’s a Red Roof Inn on the Corner that is about a 5-10 minute walk to the medical school, I stayed there a couple of times when first visiting UVA or visiting my brother at UVA and the cost was (at that time) fairly resonable…maybe $90 for a night?</p>
<p>As far as flights, have you tried a super search site like Kayak? I wouldn’t suggest priceline only because it seems like your daughter needs to come/go by certain times…and priceline can be very random on the name your own price section.</p>
<p>When my father was at the Med Center for an extended stay my mother had a room at the Red Roof for about a month. I would note that the area got a bit sketchy at night with some interesting characters. Red Roof prices are around 85-95 for the time period in question. I would term the Red Roof as vintage- but cheap. I stayed there with Mom for a few nights and it was a bit noisy. There is also a Courtyard by Marriott in close proximity- looks like a room is around $159 and up. Definitely nicer (I’ve also stayed there) and as a woman alone I would feel more secure there. But that’s your family’s call. </p>
<p>Re: flights; you might just have to bite the bullet on this one. I’m afraid I don’t have any good suggestions for that.</p>
<p>The area around Red Roof Inn isn’t “sketchy”. That’s less than a half a mile from where I live, and plenty of students live behind it. You’re just in the college town area.</p>
<p>Flight: best suggestion? Fly into Dulles or National and either rent a car or Amtrak down. JetBlue services Dulles (I’m almost certain JB does D/FW, but I know for sure it flies to Austin. Dulles is a JB hub too), AirTran also services both, as well as Southwest. I’m sure you can find a cheap flight. And Amtrak will run you about 50$.</p>
<p>Nice Hampton Inn a few blocks from the corner and right next to the train station. I’d drive if possible. About 2.5 hour drive from National and slightly less from Dulles. Pretty mellow driving.</p>
<p>Good luck to the d!</p>
<p>Shoebox, I guess it depends what you’re used to. I merely offered my opinion based upon my experience and you are entitled to disagree.</p>
<p>Sketchy makes it sound like she might get robbed. Which she most likely will not if she’s responsible. I just wanted to make sure she wouldn’t think it’s a totally unsafe area.</p>
<p>Thanks for the great advice. I’ll pass it along.</p>
<p>You can fly nonstop from DFW to Richmond on American. Drive from Richmond is easy on I64 and is about 1.5 hours from Charlottesville since Richmond airport is on the far side. The Cavalier Inn (UVA affiliated) is a good place to stay as it is right accross from Grounds; however it is at Emmet and University on the opposite side from the Med School. You might have her check with the Medical School to see what they recommend for accomodations, etc.</p>
<p>Well, I gave up. I ended up just booking her straight into Charlottesville (by way of Detroit 
) . Don’t want her to have to jack around with a rent car. It wasn’t THAT bad. I just always hate feeling that if I knew another button to push I could save $50. </p>
<p>Thanks again, folks.</p>
<p>The best site to find flight’s is [ITA</a> Software - Solving the Travel Industry’s Most Complex Problems](<a href=“http://www.itasoftware.com%5DITA”>http://www.itasoftware.com) It’s a similar system as to what travel agents use.</p>
<p>Umm, if you get those coupon books along the highway you can get Red Roof at 49/night and Courtyard at 75-85/night.</p>
<p>The Corner has homeless(?) people who hang out there after midnight. Not really sketchy. They’re really friendly, and some of them like to do the whole “help a brotha out, spot me a buck” sort of treatment but otherwise totally harmless. And the it’s on the Corner – you always see a police officer on duty, all the time. Even at 3 am. I never felt uncomfortable.</p>