<p>I thought I would share what I learned about traveling to schools back East. Especially in light of the fact that our local AAA travel office was recommending we rent a car to visit Columbia, Yale, Northwestern and Brown.
As we live in California, I was not familiar with train travel. Amtrak runs from Washington DC-up to Boston. There are also subways in the major cities-ie: NYC, Chicago, Boston--all of which will take you practically to the front door of the university. The only place we needed a taxi was from the train station to Brown-which was about 10 blocks UP Hill--too much for me and my roller suitcase.
I am gratefull to the person who told me about using the trains/subways-we avoided renting a car and having to drive in the snow/ice. I hope this proves helpful.</p>
<p>One other point about Amtrak, that many people don't know about: Their "College Visit" Plan allows parents to ride for free when they're accompanying their child on college visits. Here's the link:
<a href="http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/am2Copy/Hot_Deals_Page&cid=1093554029818&c=am2Copy&ssid=224%5B/url%5D">http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/am2Copy/Hot_Deals_Page&cid=1093554029818&c=am2Copy&ssid=224</a></p>
<p>I was happy to find the amtrak discount before our trip a few weeks ago. Just a hint: I had a hard time getting the discount to apply to mid-day trips, so I just kept going til I found one that worked. Don't give up - it really will give you a free ticket if you're flexible about times.</p>
<p>i can't imagine a worse way of traveling than by train (in america)</p>
<p>taking flights (usually $39 or less) around the north is much easier and more reliable.</p>
<p>(they say you can set your watch my Amtrak's derailments, anyway)</p>
<p>Taking flights is never easy these days. You have to get to the airport way early and go through security and plenty of east coast city flights get delayed and canceled, particularly in snowy, icy, and even fogy (Logan!!) weather. And when you arrive at the airport to visit, it is not necessary easy and can be expensive to get into the city.</p>
<p>The east coast corridor is the best of the Amtrak areas and I would certainly prefer it to flying around the northeast.</p>