<p>I need a little logistical help from those familiar with the Philadelphia area.</p>
<p>DD, DW, and I plan on visiting UPenn, Haverford, Lafayette, and Vassar next week, and would also like to visit DS at Princeton. </p>
<p>If this seems like a strange group of colleges, the common denominator is they all have NCAA fencing programs.</p>
<p>We fly into PHL Tuesday night, out of PHL Saturday late afternoon.</p>
<p>First thought was to rent a car at the airport, get a hotel in downtown Philadelphia 1st night, Wednesday visit Haverford and Penn, drive to Princeton Wednesday night to see DS, drive to Easton Thursday morning to see Lafayette, then drive to Vassar for a Friday visit, then drive back to PHL.</p>
<p>A friend who knows something of the area tells me the trip to Poughkeepsie is better by train than car, so were now thinking we should forget the car and do trains as much as possible, ie. SEPTA from PHL to downtown Philadelphia on Tuesday night, SEPTA to/from Haverford, visit Penn, and Amtrak to Poughkeepsie all on Wednesday, then Amtrak maybe to Newark where we could rent a car to drive to Easton to visit Lafayette, then return the car in Newark and train the rest of the way or do a one way rental and drop the car at PHL.</p>
<p>I love train travel and I dont mind driving. I like the idea of having a car for flexibility and luggage storage.</p>
<p>I am unfamiliar with all of these environs and would greatly appreciate any advice.</p>
<p>A big plus of using the train in that area is that you can be reasonably sure of departure and arrival times. I grew up in New Jersey but it was a shock to the system when I returned to take my son on his college tour this past summer. I quickly alloted hours of “sit in traffic” time to our schedule. </p>
<p>When I do go back East, I tend to do a combo of train/rental car/taxi. It’s more planning pre-trip, but it pays off. </p>
<p>The drive up to Poughkeepsie from Philly isn’t bad. You just zip up the NJ Turnpike and hop on the Garden State Parkway to the NY Turnpike, cross over the Hudson on I-84. I mean, sure, could you get stuck in traffic on a Friday afternoon rush hour or if there’s a big wreck? Sure. But, nine times out of ten I’ve done that drive, it’s been fine.</p>
<p>The train from Philly to Poughkeepsie is a fairly long slog. You have to go into NYC and then out to Poughkeepsie and the train doesn’t take you right to Vassar.</p>
<p>Where you might not want the car is getting around Philly. Haverford to downtown to Penn can all be done on the trains, conveniently.</p>
<p>With your tight schedule, unless the weather is a mess, I would definitely drive both to Haverford and especially to Vassar. In addition to convenience, you’ll also have flexibility to explore the area around the colleges. I find that is an important detail regarding the colleges that you’ll miss if you take public transit.</p>
<p>You’ll have plenety of opportunity to use public transit once your D gets into one of the colleges you’re visiting.</p>
<p>Your suggested itinerary by car sounds fine to me. I wouldn’t bother with public transit - it will only add to the difficulty. </p>
<p>I did a drive to Vassar from NJ with my S last year, and it was easy, no problems. IMHO, much easier than taking the train to Manhattan, switching to another train to Poughkeepsie, figuring out how to get to campus from the train station, etc.</p>
<p>I think driving would work out the best. With trains, you will be subject to their schedules and the possibility of unreliable taxis.</p>
<p>Did you investigate the possibility of flying out of Stewart airport or White Plains airport in NY? You can even look into Laguardia or JFK. Even Newark is closer than Philadelphia. The drive from Vassar back down to Philadelphia might be reduced. If you haven’t already purchased your tickets, you should look into these possibilities.</p>
<p>There are 2 hotels right next to UPenn. One is a Hilton Garden Inn and the other is a Sheraton.</p>
<p>fwiw
when I compared cars vs trains–we are using trains for our spring break college trip.
Took a few days of figuring out which school tours to do in which order and based on best timing with trains…
I was planning on picking up a car in PHL and dropping it off at Newark…even if I could find a rate without the drop off penalty–I was getting $140 a day quotes --add gas, tolls, etc…
decided on trains…</p>
<p>so if you can fly and even use the car for only one leg -it might be easier.</p>
<p>As much as I love the train I think renting a car will be easier. If you want a less expensive alternative to downtown Philly I would suggest staying in King Of Prussia. Lots of inexpensive hotels with free parking (it will be $25 to $30 a night downtown) and it is an easy drive to Haverford. On Thursday if you had dinner in Easton and then drove to Vassar to spend the night it might simplify the driving. Make sure you check on when schools are offering info sessions and tours. That could make a difference as well as far as the order of visits.</p>
<p>It might be worth crossing over the Hudson earlier (maybe at 287 with the Tappan Zee bridge) and going up the Taconic which isn’t open to trucks. It’s an easy drive. I drove up on a Friday morning and back on a Friday evening with no issues and had time to see Bard too. Can’t advise on the PA portion, but I do think it’s helpful to have a car so you can drive around Poughkeepsie.</p>
<p>I’ve driven the NE college trip three times (from the Midwest) and never had any trouble driving- maybe its being naive. We actually drove through NYC on a Friday afternoon, not realizing the route the GPS was taking us. The advantage of driving is you are on your own schedule. If you love a school, you can stay longer in the day. We actually doubled back and visited a school twice one time. We generally get a rental car that you can pick up in one location and drop off in another. We haven’t ever flown in then out of the same airport.</p>