<p>I live in Illinois, and it would take over 10 hours to get to IUB by car. So is the best option to fly from Chicago to Indianapolis and then driving down to Bloomington? Or is there an airport in Bloomington or anywhere near there?</p>
<p>bearsfan---where in IL do you live. We previously lived in the Western suburbs of Chicago. From there it took me about 5 hours to drive to Bloomington. A couple of times I did fly because I didn't have the time or inclination to drive.<br>
Closest airport is Indianapolis. You can get a flight from Midway or O'hare to Indy. The flight is only about 1/2 hour. You'll need to rent a car to drive down to Bloomington or check out the shuttle from IND to Bloomington. My experience is that limo service is outrageously priced to Bloomington from the airport. I paid less in IL for service to O'Hare. (same amount of time, but more miles in IN)</p>
<p>Here's a link to the service
Bloomington</a> Shuttle Service</p>
<p>My son drives from IU to Chicago 2-3 times a semester to hear the symphony, then back to IU the same night, so it's not an impossible drive by any means, depending where in Illinois you live. In fact, from sophomore year on, my son has driven out from Oregon to IU--now THAT'S a long drive!</p>
<p>If you do fly into Indianapolis, there are plenty of car rental places at or near the airport. The Bloomington shuttle is also convenient, as it goes to, I believe, two places on campus and is reasonably priced. My son used that before he had a car. You can make reservations ahead of time.</p>
<p>I believe the two stops the shuttle makes are at (1) the Student Union, and (2) the McNutt dorm. From either of these stops there are buses that go all around the campus (and to the Campus Mall).</p>
<p>Oregon to Bloomington, Indiana--and back--that is a drive.</p>
<p>If you are in the Chicago area, (I'm assuming the 10 hour trip is roundtrip),
on select weekends there is charter bus service from Oak Brook and Woodfield malls. There are 2 different companies.</p>
<p>Catch</a> A Ride, Inc. & <a href="http://www.hoosierbus.com%5B/url%5D">www.hoosierbus.com</a></p>
<p>You could also use Megabus to go from Indianapolis to Chicago and back.</p>
<p>megabus.com</a> - low cost, daily, express bus service in the US</p>
<p>I have used it many times from Indianapolis to Chicago, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, even Cleveland and Pittsburgh (the company loves college towns, but Bloomington is too far off the beaten path). If you purchase tickets early enough after they become available through the website (they usually make tickets available six to ten weeks before departure date, so check often to buy early and get the cheapest fares), the round trip from Indy-Chicago (drops you at Union Station) would be only $2.50. I don't think the one way price is ever more than about $28, no matter how late you purchase. They have five buses a day each way. </p>
<p>The cheapest way to do this would be to get a ride with somebody from Bloomington to downtown Indy, which might not be hard to do during Spring Break or other high travel times. </p>
<p>You could also take the Bloomington-Indy Airport Shuttle ($26 each way; stops at McNutt and Memorial Union) to the Indianapolis airport, then catch the #8 IndyGo bus (city bus; about $1.50) from the airport downtown to the City-County Building, which is the Megabus stop.</p>
<p>With good planning and a ride to Indy, the Bloomington to Union Station in Chicago trip could be done for $2.50. With good planning and no ride, you could still do it for about $55 round trip using the airport shuttle and the city bus to make the connection to Megabus.</p>
<p>Make sure you can make the connection to the Megabus on time, though. They don't do refunds or allow you to change your departure time. And make sure to copy and paste your "ticket" into a word file and save it and print it out. You can't get on the bus without a print out of the ticket.</p>