Doable? NEw Haven, Manhattan, Phil and Princeton Junction?

Parents Forum
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<p>ok
north east parents...need expertise</p>

<p>I want to fly in with our studentt and use the train...
Our student wants to see Yale, Columbia, UPenn and Princeton...the engineering program at Col only does tours on Fridays...and if spring sched at Yale repeats the fall--then a Mon or Wed is best for that tour...</p>

<p>Would you stay in Newark--and day trip via train to each stop..
Phil is a hr by train and puts us within 5 minutes of UPenn...
for example..</p>

<p>I had originally thought we'd go from school to school--and stay locally--but I am having trouble with negotiating the amtrak web site and finding a new haven leg from Princeton or Phil...</p>

<p>Ideas? I really do not want the hassle of the car/parking which is evidently a big pain at UPenn and Princeton...I imagine in Mnahattan it would be horrible...</p>

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<p>I think it sounds like a wonerful Plan.
I’m not sure of the service to Yale, but each of the other schools is easy.</p>

<p>Penn is an easy train ride from Newark. If $ is an issue, instead of Amtrack, I’d suggest NJ Transit to Trenton and then change over to SEPTA (Philly regional rail). This is a little longer, but a real cost savings.</p>

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<p>Find out how far Princeton is from the train station. If it’s not walking distance find out how easy it’s to get a cab. Jersey City would be a nicer town to stay in, rather than Newark.</p>

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<p>Just looked it up on the Princeton website:

</p>

<p>Sounds like a good plan.</p>

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<p>New Haven has service from both MetroNorth (the commuter rail line) and Amtrak; the price from Grand Central Station in NY on Metronorth is significantly cheaper than Amtrak. Amtrak would be the way to go if you were doing the leg from Philadelphia to New Haven (so you wouldn’t have to switch railroad stations in Manhattan) but otherwise, too expensive and runs less frequently.</p>

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<p>You could take a path train from Newark or Jersey City into Penn Station, then walk to Grand Central (15 min walk) to catch Metro North.</p>

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<p>The amtrak that runs to princeton junction (only 1 a day) stops in NYC— you need to take NJ transit from princeton junction to either metropark or penn station and then switch to amtrak up to new haven. You don’t want to take metro north to new haven, as it leaves out of grand central, and that’s a bit of a hike from penn station. I wouldn’t stay in newark-- although the area has gotten better recently, its still not somewhere I would want to be walking around at night. I don’t even know if there are any hotels around newark penn station. </p>

<p>Personally-- this is what I would do: fly in, maybe stay at the airport? you can’t get to the path directly from the airport so you can’t get to jersey city without switching trains or renting a car. You can take the train from newark airport, but it’s a bit of a pain since you have to also take the train. There is a small surcharge to leave from Newark airport on the train. I would personally stay in NYC.
day 1: columbia
then take NJtransit down to princeton. You can stay at the Nassau Inn which is walking distance to the campus (slightly long, but not undoable walk from the princeton train station, a $15-$20 cab ride from princeton junction)
day 2: see princeton
then take njtransit to septa to philadelphia, or can take amtrak keystone service to philadelphia, stay near upenn
day 3: see Penn, then take amtrak all the way from philly to new haven (~2-3 hrs?), stay near yale campus</p>

<p>you can then take amtrak directly to newark airport (not newark penn station!), and get on your plane home. </p>

<p>If time is an issue, you can take the acela from philly to new haven, but it’s not necessary.</p>

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<p>Do you really think the hassle of parking the car is less than the hassle of taking Amtrak?
Frankly, I don’t think so. Parking is available. In New York, you usually have to leave the key. At the others, I’m sure that you can find a park and lock. </p>

<p>I would fly into Newark, rent a car, and get a room in Secaucus near the Meadowlands to be your base for the week. It’s about 15 minutes north of Newark Airport. Even if you went in the rush hour, it’s only 45-60 minutes to Columbia, 90 minutes to Yale, 90 minutes to Penn and 45 minutes to Princeton. I’d leave your stuff in your hotel room just in case you have to leave the key with the attendant. If you really didn’t want to drive into Manhattan, most of the Secaucus hotels have a shuttle to the train station and you can commute into NYC. That would take you between 60-90 minutes, all told. In the rush hour, it can take over 10 minutes just to get off the platform at Penn Station.</p>

<p>I think it’s crazy to rely so heavily on Amtrak. Every time I take it it’s late.</p>

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<p>Very doable by train but will take longer because of having to work with schedules. Unless you have a lot of luggage and I imagine you will not, getting from GC to Penn Station isn’t difficult–walkable with rolling suitcase, and short trip by taxi though traffic can be pretty bad. </p>

<p>I am not so sure that driving is a bad idea though. You would not stay in Newark per se but possibly might want to stay in the suburbs–splurge at the Short Hills Hilton or somewhat more modestly priced chain hotels in Secaucus area. (Not cheap though, and at leaet the Hilton is nice–about 20 minutes west of the airport.) The airport hotels are not appealing; nor is the area around them. Parking may not be as difficult as you think at some of the schools. I remember a parking deck at 36th Street when visiting Penn, and there are certainly ample paid parking facilities in decks just off Nassau Street in Princeton (if there isn’t parking at the admission office). I think the previous poster’s suggestion about driving might well make sense, at least for the NJ/PA part of the trip. There is regular train service on NJ Transit from Secaucus Junction to Penn Station and also from Newark Airport to Penn Station, so getting to Columbia by public transit (subway directly from Penn Station) would be easy. Penn Station is horrible but that’s where the trains are. </p>

<p>I must also note that New Haven is not a pleasant drive from the Newark airport area or the NJ suburbs, but it is certainly manageable and might well be better than the rather complex train trip.</p>

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<p>Please, please don’t stay in Newark, of all places! The only benefit of that would be making New Haven look nice!</p>

<p>This is the kind of thing my dad would do – he loves public transportation in general, and trains in particular. I once went on a trip with him where we tried to see how many modes of public transportation we could use in a day (train, subway, bus, ferry, cab – I think that was our best).</p>

<p>Anyway, all four colleges are very accessible by train. The trains can be the spiffy, fast Amtrak trains (or the even spiffier, faster Acela service, which probably does not stop at Princeton Junction), or the more pedestrian, slower, cheaper, commuter trains, which in the case of Princeton run twice an hour vs. once a day (supposedly – I do think it’s more than that, but I haven’t checked recent schedule changes). </p>

<p>Regardless of where you fly into, I would make NYC your home base. (Hey – it’s really exciting to be there.) You can take Metro North or Amtrak to New Haven, depending on how much time you want to take and how much you want to spend, but either way that’s a day trip. Take NJ Transit/Dinky to Princeton and back. Use Amtrak to travel between NYC and Philly – you’ll save 90 minutes each way, and avoid changing trains, but you’ll pay a bunch more. Or, if you want the real-world college student experience, take Bolt Bus or Megabus between NYC and Philly – much cheaper ($10), and about the same time as the cheaper commuter trains, and they go from and to the same places.</p>

<p>Penn is walking distance from the train station on a nice day, or a two-stop subway or trolley ride if it’s not nice. For Columbia, you take the 7th Ave. subway right to the campus. Princeton has the Dinky to get you from the real train station. In New Haven, you’ll want to take a cab for the mile-and-a-bit between the train station and campus.</p>

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<p>I agree- with the exception of Columbia parking is relatively easy-- there is lots of parking around 30th st. station in philly, and there is free parking in a garage at princeton. The train station is a pretty good distance from yale, and so that might be easier to drive as well. I would still move around each day so that you don’t have to drive all the way back up from philly after interviewing (definitely doable, but seems worthwhile to check out the area around campus). Having a car definitely increases flexibility and is probably worthwhile.</p>

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<p>Should you decide to take the amtrak take advantage of the campus visit discount. Purchase your ticket at full price, get the student ticket at half price.</p>

<p>[Campus</a> Visit Helping College-Bound Visitors Find Their Way](<a href=“http://www.campusvisit.com/amtrak/]Campus”>http://www.campusvisit.com/amtrak/)</p>

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<p>I appreciate all of these ideas and tips–I lived in NJ 30 yrs ago and have not been back since…</p>

<p>If I made NYC my homebase–wouldn’t I have the hassle of getting over a bridge or through a tunnel etc - ?</p>

<p>are tolls both ways? or one way in/out </p>

<p>sorry to ask so many questions but haven’t done this part of the country in yrs</p>

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<p>I took Amtrak and Metro North all the time when I lived in NYC (up until a few years ago). I think it’s the easiest, often the fastest, and generally the most reliable way to get around to the places you want to visit. All these schools are close to good train service. Penn is just a few blocks from 30th St. Station, Philadelphia’s main Amtrak/NJ Transit station. There are numerous daily NJ Transit trains from 30th St. to Princeton Junction (you may need to change at Trenton) for a reasonable one-way fare of $3.75, most trips taking 70 to 80 minutes; the Dinky into Princeton adds a few minutes but it’s also efficient and reliable. From Princeton Junction to NYC (Penn Station) is a little pricier at $11.75 one-way, but again there are numerous NJ Transit trains daily. From Penn Station to Columbia is a quick trip on the #1 subway uptown, get off at 116th St. and you’ll be standing right at Columbia’s main gates. Train service from NYC to New Haven is on Metro North from Grand Central, which you can reach from Columbia by taking the #1 subway back downtown to Times Square and transferring there to the S Shuttle train which takes you to Grand Central in one stop. Alternatively, you can catch the Metro North New Haven line at 125th & Park, which from Columbia is a quick cab ride across the historic and cultural heart of Harlem; or, if you’re feeling adventurous, take a #60 bus (direction LaGuardia) which will also stop at 125th & Park. Might as well see the neighborhood. This is all easy. Definitely the way to go; beats waiting in traffic jams which is what you’d be doing with a car. NJ Transit and Metro North trains are much cheaper than Amtrak with more frequent service; trains aren’t as nice but these are all short commuter-type trips, longest would be Grand Central-New Haven at just under 2 hours and $18 peak/$14 off-peak one-way.</p>

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<p>Would not use NYC as home base if you are driving–parking at a hotel will be expensive and traffic a factor; would suggest if you drive to stay in more than one place, depending on when/where you are flying in. Staying in NYC also means considerable travel time to both New Haven and Philadelphia–you are talking about hour-plus train rides each way even to Princeton Junction so you may not want to have one central hub for train itinerary either.</p>

<p>Tolls from NJ to NY are one way (in-bound, that is eastbound)) only; traffic can be awful or not depending on all sorts of things. The Tappan Zee Bridge is also an eastbound only toll and might be what you take to drive to Yale. </p>

<p>Either train or car has its pluses and minuses; my own preference as I think about it would be to drive because train schedules are really a pain to deal with when you have luggage and multiple destinations, but you can make either option work. Check NJ Transit, MetroNorth (MTA), and Amtrak Web sites and check googlemaps for driving information.</p>

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<p>I will check out hotels both in NJ and NYC–</p>

<p>any winners for clean, quiet and reasonable-ish…
either side of the river–</p>

<p>CCers are so helpful…appreciate the insight and advice…</p>

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<p>Parking in Princeton is not hard. It is also possible to take a taxi from the Princeton Junction train station directly into Princeton. The Dinky (local train) also works and puts you near to campus. If the train connections to Princeton Junction from Philly or NYC are not good, it is always possible to get off the train at Trenton (from Philly) or Metropark (from NYC) and switch to a local NJ Transit train.</p>

<p>I agree not to stay in Newark. If I were the one making the trip, I would drive, and I would stay at local hotels in Princeton (for Princeton and Penn) and in New Haven (for Columbia and Yale), avoiding hotels & parking in the cities. In Princeton, there are lots of reasonably priced hotels along Route 1 - I would suggest the Hampton Inn. If you don’t have a car, Nassau Inn is the only hotel within walking distance of campus, but it is pricey for what you get - you are paying extra for the downtown Princeton location.</p>

<p>Good luck! What month will the trip be? If the weather is expected to be good, public transit would be more manageable, but if it is cold or rainy, a car would be easier.</p>

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<p>I work around Grand Central and I have a group of people I work with in Jersey City. They come in for meetings regularly via the Path train (to Penn). The walk from Penn to Grand Central is an easy walk. Jersey City has some very nice hotels right on the water for half of the price of hotels in NYC(plus, you would get a view of NYC). Parking at those hotels are 15-20/day vs 40-50/day in NYC. There are also some nice restaurants there.</p>

<p>I would make a day trip to each of those schools, so there wouldn’t be any luggage to carry.</p>

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<p>Try using Hotels.com when looking for places to stay in NYC. I’ve always had good luck with that site and have gotten rooms that were much less than the going rate. You can save quite a bit using the site. It lets you specify the area of the city where you want to be as well as your price range or hotel star rating, i.e., 3, 4, 5 stars.</p>

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<p>The trip from Jersey City to Princeton or Philly by train is a bit of a pain (1-2 path trains, plus switching in Newark, which isn’t the nicest station). There are lots of NJtransit trains to princeton (2-3 an hour, more during rush hours).</p>

<p>Several amtrak trains stop in princeton junction, but most of them are keystone service which won;t take you to new haven. In terms of traveling to philly they work.</p>