<p>We're planning to visit a few colleges next month and I am just not sure if this is do-able, especially the side trip to Montreal. The dates and times of the visits are not negotiable. Tell me what you think. </p>
<p>Tuesday - drive to Burlington VT. 6 or 7 hours
Wed. admissions interview and tour College 1
Thursday morning - admissions interview and tour College 2
Thursday afternoon - drive two hours to Montreal, Canada and spend the day in Montreal, including dinner. After dinner drive two hours to Potsdam, NY
Friday - Admissions event at college 3 in Potsdam, starts in the morning, ends around 4.
Friday evening, drive half way home and spend night maybe around Syracuse or Utica, or Ithaca??<br>
Saturday morning, get up early and drive last few hours. Need to be home by around 11 am on Saturday.</p>
<p>Is it time consuming to cross in and out of Canada? Yes we have up to date passports.</p>
<p>It sounds doable to me. I live in Northern Vermont.</p>
<p>EDIT…I missed one thing…didn’t realize you were seeing a college on the same day you are going to Montreal as you wrote “spend the DAY in Montreal.” Your plan is doable but I would not consider that spending a DAY in Montreal. How early is the interview and tour in Burlington (I assume the school is in the Burlington area on Thurs.)? If you are done by noon, this plan sounds doable. If you have to leave Burlington much later than that, not sure going to Montreal is worth it.</p>
<p>We were in Montreal a couple of weeks ago and crossed over on I87. Going in was a bit longer wait at say 12 noon than the way out a few days later, but no more than 20 or 30 minutes. We have US passports. On the way out many Canadian vehicles were pulled over for inspection by US customs.</p>
<p>Going to Ithaca would mean driving significantly out of your way. There’s no fast, painless route to Ithaca from 81. And if you are headed towards eastern Pennsylvania, it’s the wrong direction. From my house in the Philly suburbs, Syracuse is meaningfully less driving time than Ithaca. Ithaca is nice, though, and Syracuse not so much – but if all you are doing is sleeping, it’s not worth it.</p>
<p>We live near Allentown in PA so I was looking for a place half way or more from Potsdam somewhere in NY. Syracuse seems too far north and Ithaca looks too far South, but I don’t know of another place in-between. We were actually in Ithaca last weekend and it was an easy 3 hour drive.</p>
<p>If you are just stopping for the night to sleep, it would not make sense to detour to Ithaca. But if you want to go further than Syracuse, maybe you could stop in Cortland. If you want to go even further than half way, you could stop in Binghamton.</p>
<p>Then go for Ithaca. It’s out of your way, but it’s nicer than Syracuse, Utica, or Binghamtom. It leaves you an easy shot back to Allentown in the a.m. Just get off I-81 at the Rt 13 exit in Cortland, about halfway between Syracuse and Binghamton. Take Rt. 13 to Dryden where it joins Rt 366, then stay on Rt 366 right into Ithaca. It should only take about 30 minutes from I-81. I occasionally need to travel to Ithaca but given limited air service into Ithaca I usually find it easier to fly into Syracuse, rent a car there and drive down Ithaca; this is the route I take, and it’s pretty easy). You can get a decent meal in Ithaca, and there are pleasant places to walk in town, on campus, and along the lake.</p>
<p>It’s seems a shame to be such a short ferry ride to SUNY Plattsburgh and not look at the school. </p>
<p>Monday–Make the drive to Burlington</p>
<p>Tuesday/Wednesday–Visit the Vermont schools.</p>
<p>Thursday-AM admission’s meeting in Vt., then take the ferry over to Plattsburgh and visit SUNY Plattsburgh and head up to Montreal. Spend the night in Montreal.</p>
<p>Friday–get up early and make the drive to SUNY Potsdam for the Admission’s event.</p>
<p>I hear what you are saying nysmile, but we are not planning to visit any SUNY schools. The school in Potsdam is Clarkson. We’ve visited way more schools then most people and I’ve promised son a visit to Montreal in lieu of more schools.</p>
<p>Your plan is definitely do-able. (I have a D in Ithaca, a S in Montreal and a nephew in Burlington and have visited all in your time frame.)
Crossing the border back into US has been consistently longer for us than going into Canada. If however, you spend a long evening in Montreal, the crossing will be quicker.</p>
<p>I have to say, I would rather spend a couple more hours in Montreal than a couple of hours looking at SUNY Plattsburgh.</p>
<p>Kathiep: Stopping in Cortland would be fine. But if you were willing to drive the extra 45 minutes or so to Ithaca, the same 45 minutes would get you about an hour from home, and you might as well just keep going and get there. It shouldn’t take much more than 6 hours to drive from Potsdam to Allentown. If I were leaving at 5, I would rather be home at 11 than at some motel at 8:30.</p>
<p>I know you don’t want more colleges, but since you mentioned Clarkson in Potsdam, where many from our area apply, there is also St. Lawrence in Canton, very close to Potsdam, another popular college for kids from our area. These two schools are 11 miles apart. Actually, as you leave Potsdam to drive back home, you will pass St. Lawrence University in Canton in 11 miles and so you’ll pretty much see it!</p>