<p>One of my main selling pts for penn is that it is in the northeast so one has major cities at ones disposal, but do students actually go to these cities. is this even something i should consider on my pro/con list?</p>
<p>Yep. 1 1/2 hours by Amtrak train to NYC, 2 hours to DC. Commuter trains (SEPTA to Trenton, and then NJ Transit from Trenton to NYC) are much cheaper to NYC, but take a bit longer–2 1/2 to 3 hours. And the train station is a few short blocks from campus.</p>
<p>There are also cheap buses from Philly to both cities.</p>
<p>Many Penn students take advantage of Philly’s proximity to these cities.</p>
<p>plenty of folks jump on the boltbus or megabus at 30th street and are at nyc penn station in 2 hours</p>
<p>And those buses have wifi, and outlets to power your macbook. It’s quite the epic win</p>
<p>45 Percenter, I don’t know where you live now, but one of the changes in the past few years is that Bolt and Megabus have completely taken over the youth intercity travel market here. My kids used to use Amtrak, commuter trains, Chinatown bus, but that’s all over – it’s all about the double-decker Megabus with wifi for $10 now.</p>
<p>^ Do those also go to DC? And do grown-ups 
like you and me take those? Or are they overrun by college kids?</p>
<p>I usually drive to Manhattan (and take out a second mortgage on the house to pay for parking), but 10 bucks is hard to beat.</p>
<p>EDIT: Never mind–did my own Googling:</p>
<p><a href=“FlixBus welcomes BoltBus travelers”>FlixBus welcomes BoltBus travelers;
<p><a href=“http://us.megabus.com/[/url]”>http://us.megabus.com/</a></p>
<p>What a deal!</p>
<p>there’s one or two seats on every bus that really are sold for $1</p>
<p>I personally like the train much better than the bus, but to go to DC I’ll only take a train if it’s paid for. </p>
<p>As for visiting… I’ve been to NYC five times and DC twice this year (including yesterday, when I went to DC on a class trip, all expenses paid!)</p>
<p>My son goes to NYC quite a bit (too much, in my opinion) and takes the bus.</p>
<p>I’ve actually never been to New York for a day trip before but that’s probably because a lot of my friends are from the northeast already so we only go to NY to go home. I’ve only heard of a couple trips to DC (for Obama’s inauguration and the cherry blossom festival). But it’s definitely convenient if you’re flying around or visiting people!</p>