<p>Ditto Valley Transporter over Seemo.</p>
<p>The connection is duck soup and VT is pretty good at being helpful from what I’ve heard. Even for an inexperienced traveler, it’s not a problem.</p>
<p>Ciao, The Dad. Thanks.</p>
<p>Prairie, she should be fine. I’m from CA, and my parents couldn’t afford to make the trip out with me. My roommate’s mom acted as my mom, so I wasn’t all by my lonesome self. :)</p>
<p>Likewise, on Family Weekend, we collected some of D’s friends whose parents either couldn’t come or weren’t in town yet and took them to dinner.</p>
<p>It’s a “pay sidewise” kind of things. Some other Smithie parents have given D kindnesses both small and large, particularly in moving to D.C. without parental assistance…other than schlepping some boxes to UPS. One set had D living in their spare room for nearly a month while she found permanent quarters. (You think getting into college is competitive? Try finding and getting accepted in a roommate situation in D.C. Some situations had 20-25 hopefuls showing up for an 2-3 hour “open house” that had, by way of description, the feel of a cross between Greek rush and a reality TV show. At least D was able to eliminate any ad that talked about parties right off the bat…too many 20-somethings are trying to hang on to their college years afterwards, imho.</p>
<p>We have found Valley Transporter to be highly reliable. In fact, we have had our credit card on file with them to simplify things for our daughter (a rising senior at Mount Holyoke) and will do the same for our international “daughter” who will be a first year at Smith!</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about parents/family weekend…we (and others) have taken students under our wing for the weekend…I’m sure the same will happen at Smith. Between parents doing that, and the numbers of students who choose to hang together, I’m sure it will be fine.</p>
<p>Prairie, your d isn’t the only one coming solo. Our d is also an experienced air traveler and is coming alone. We’re shipping room stuff ahead, etc. Some of us are planning on coming to family weekend when we can actually spend some time visiting, etc.</p>
<p>Anyone with advice regarding how far in advance Valley Transport reservations should be made? </p>
<p>Anyone happen to have experience/advice regarding Sage Hall instrument storage?</p>
<p>Also, I want to take a moment to thank TheDad, Smithieandproud, smithiegr, and others I can’t remember just now who have posted in the past year and a half. TheDad even took the time to talk to me on the phone about the music dept. Thank you all for taking the time to genuinely reflect, rave, advise, etc. You are one of the many reasons our d is at Smith. Seriously. Thank you!</p>
<p>My daughter kept her viola in a Sage locker without incident.</p>
<p>MomTj, you’re welcome. :)</p>
<p>You can go ahead and make your Valley Transporter reservations now (as a matter of fact, I just did so myself). There isn’t really a cut-off point where they won’t take reservations, but they take 'em up to 3 months early. </p>
<p>Also, if you book online, it says that you’ll get dropped off at JMG. Every time I’ve gotten a ride, however, the driver asks me where I’m going, and he’ll take me to right in front of my house steps or whatever. If your D arrives with luggage, she might want to stop by her house, drop off her stuff, and then head over to CCI.</p>
<p>Momwaitingfornew, thank you! You are one of the posters I failed to mention! : ) Do the lockers already have locks or do you bring your own?</p>
<p>smithiegr – thank you for the Valley Transporter advice about the reservations and drop off. Going to the house first would make things much easier.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info and reassurances, everyone. I second MomTj’s emotion here.</p>
<p>I’m not sure about the lock, MomTj. My guess is that the lock is provided. </p>
<p>My D is supposed to call tonight with some info I need, so, if I remember, I’ll ask her.</p>
<p>Valley Transporter or Seemo would be okay, I’ve traveled with Seemo and had a good experience, but Valley is generally considered the creme de la creme of the shuttles (it’s also the most expensive though). </p>
<p>I moved in by myself, coming across the country from Seattle. One thing I would say is that she should have the shuttle drop her off at her house (if possible, they may only be doing JMG drop offs), leave her bags in the house living room or with her HONS and then go to central check-in to get her keys etc. I know this is backwards from the way they have it set up, but the ITT (where they have central check in) is not especially close to most houses on campus and it’s at the bottom of a hill. When I moved in, I took a taxi to campus from my hotel in town (I came in a day early) and I didn’t ask the taxi to wait. I was done with check in in about five minutes and stuck with three huge suitcases and the entire campus to walk across. Thank God some mother saw me struggling up the hill and gave me a ride to the house in her car. </p>
<p>So, if you’re coming alone, drop off luggage first, then get keys.</p>
<p>MomTj, the student do have to provide the locks. The campus store sells them.</p>
<p>Thank you, momwaitingfornew. That’s a big help to know that about the lockers/locks. : )</p>
<p>Is the reason for keeping instruments at Sage convenience or would there be a security issue in the houses?</p>
<p>Convenience and space are huge considerations. My D lives on Green Street, right across from Sage Hall, and she still preferred to keep her instrument there. If a student lived in the Quad, it would be a real pain to carry the instrument back and forth.</p>
<p>Edited to add: As far as I know, there are no real security issues in the house. You need a key or card to get in.</p>
<p>Just curious, is it a key or card to get into the rooms themselves or is it a number code or a combination of what I mentioned? Also is it a problem/hassle to let ppl from off campus to stay for the night? Thank-you in advance!</p>
<p>For my d, primary reasons for instrument storage in Sage are for temperature/humidity control and for convenience. Not for security. If she’s going to practice in Sage she might as well keep her instrument there. : )</p>
<p>Keys (and sometimes OneCards) are used to get into the houses, but only keys are used for individual rooms.</p>