<p>My son will be attending UIUC in August, but we live on the east coast. I was wondering what other parents had planned for their children in getting to UIUC. I'm thinking of pre-staging his living items at a friend's house in IL in July 2006 and then flying him out to UIUC in August 2006. I'm not so sure I want him to fly from Chicago into the little old Urbana-Champaign airport on a puddle jumper. I guess the alternative would be for him to fly into Chicago and take a bus or some other transportation down to UIUC. </p>
<p>Does anyone have similar plans for their children?<br>
Does anyone know if UIUC has transportation from the airport for our children?
Would flying him into St Louis Lamber International Airport be better?</p>
<p>getting from the airport to amtrak might be a little bit of a challenge, but there is a great limo service in champaign called LEX that makes frequent trips to and from all area airports--st louis, indianapolis, midway and o'hare. i think you would find that much easier than a train. the "puddle Jumpers" aren't all that bad.</p>
<p>The easiest way would be to take the "puddle jumper" to CMI.</p>
<p>
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Does anyone know if UIUC has transportation from the airport for our children?
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No, but you can take a cab.</p>
<p>
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Would flying him into St Louis Lamber International Airport be better?
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I'm not sure how flying to STL would be any better. St. Louis is a 3 hour drive away, while Chicago is 2-3 hours away. If you really don't want to fly to CMI, you can take a shuttle bus, Greyhound, or Amtrak from Chicago, but then you'd have to figure out how to go from the airport to the downtown stations.</p>
<p>I've taken a shuttle bus and the Amtrak train, and I would recommend the bus over the train. The bus was a quick, easy enjoyable ride and it took us right next to the quad. When I took the train it actually took longer because of some scheduling error that allowed for the train in front of ours to travel at a slower rate and from what I know about trains that is not even unusual. There are buses that can take you from the Chicago airports to UIUC, but to get on the train to Champaign you would have to find a way to get from the airport to the train station; I think it would be easier to just take a bus to Champaign directly from either O' Hare or Midway Airport.</p>
<p>In my opinion, a train ride is more enjoyable and there are plenty of trains that you can take form O'Hare to Midway that go to Union Station in Chicago. Just a word of advice, the only train that travels from Union Station to Champaign is at around 4 p.m. Yes, there might be a delay or two on a train but I think it's just more comftorable and you have a lot more space to put your stuff, and it can be cheaper. Also, are there really Greyhound buses that travel directly from O'Hare or Midway to Champaign?</p>