<p>Traveling with DS #2 from midwest to midatlantic for Labor day weekend college trip. Any suggestions/comments/additions most welcome!</p>
<p>Thursday Aug. 30th: Fly to Philly in evening (so DS can get some school in before leaving). He spends night with friend at Penn.
Friday: Info/tour at 1 pm at Penn. Amtrak train to DC late afternoon/evening. He spends night with friend at G'town.
Saturday: Info/tour 10 or 11:15 at G'town. Afternoon at GW (need to call if tours avail.) Night in DC.
Sunday: Rent car and drive 2.5 hours to UVA. Self tour since none available. Maybe drive to William and Mary. Drive to 3.5 hours to Raleigh. (Don't mind long drives!)
Monday: Self tour (since holiday) with niece attending UNC. Spend night either Raleigh or go to Durham.
Tuesday: Duke info/tour 2 - 4pm. Evening flight home.</p>
<p>So 4 to 6 schools in 5 days. Thoughts? Seems doable but maybe I'm missing something!
Thanks so much.</p>
<p>How early are you going to be leaving for UVA from DC? Traffic is terrible and gets progressively worse the later you leave. I would suggest leaving EARLY for your drive to UVA then it is about 2 1/2 hours to get to William & Mary from UVA on 64. It is an ambitious schedule to visit these two schools on the same day. I would take 66 then to 29 to get to Charlottesville from DC and stay off 95.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. I hope for an early departure but I am traveling with a 17 yr. old! And not sure if he is interested enough in W&M to warrant a visit - so we might play it my ear. I’ve never been to these parts of VA and NC so a little sightseeing might be nice!</p>
<p>In Charlottesville, you can visit Monticello. If you go to W&M, it is located on the outer edge of Colonial Williamsburg. Mount Vernon is nice but it is off 95 near Ft. Belvoir. </p>
<p>When we travel, we always leave early but our kids are use to it – they roll themselves into the backseat and sleep. We calculate our travel times to miss the major rush hour traffic in the Northern Virginia area. There is nothing worse than going 10 miles in 2 hours which has happen more than a few times :(</p>
<p>Why would you consider spending a night in Raleigh if you’re planning to visit UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke? You would save time and gas if you spent the night nearer to Chapel Hill or Duke. I would head to Durham to spend the night after the Carolina tour.
The Southpoint area of Durham is nice.</p>
<p>Yes PackMom you are right. Having never been to the area I just assumed the three cities were closer than they actually are. Your suggestion makes much more sense. Thanks!</p>
<p>Sounds like our Labor Day weekend plans (different schools though). Bring a small notebook and jot down a few notes about each school so they don’t all meld together when you get home. That is something you can do while your son is listening to the tour guides.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your input. Most helpful. </p>
<p>New question: Does it make more sense to drive out of DC on Saturday early evening and get to C’ville that night or wait until Sun. morning? I’m thinking traffic might be lighter around dinner time heading out of the city? </p>
<p>Also - SteveMA - just learned there is a football game that Saturday at UVA so hotel rooms hard to come by FYI.</p>
<p>UVA, W&M, and Duke/UNC is a pretty big triangle. Visiting W&M will add about 6-7 hours just in driving on an already full schedule. Good luck. I agree with Packmom. Spending the night in Raleigh is out of the way. Hotels are a little cheaper in Durham.</p>
<p>when your in NC visit davidson college . a little bit of drive from durham but may become a first choice!
also on a side note when flying if they try and put you in a radioactive nude body scanner “opt out” and take the pat down!</p>
<p>Yes we’ve decided to skip W&M - just not manageable. Davidson is tempting - we’ll see if we have extra time but it’s over two hours from Durham.</p>
<p>Thoughts on leaving DC Sat. evening rather than Sun. am to avoid traffic?</p>
<p>And yes I don’t trust those scanners. I believe they are banned in Europe?</p>
<p>centraleagle–our trip is around PA and WV mostly so we won’t have to worry about a UVA game :D. We are planning on spending time in Gettysburg and maybe going to Hershey. I’d like to go to DC for a day but it depends on how sick of driving I am by then :D.</p>
<p>I think you have a good plan. The traffic out of DC should be pretty light on Sunday morning. I’d spend the night in DC since you don’t have a time crunch to reach UVA on Sunday. If you can get a reasonable rate, I’d try to stay at the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill. I was hoping my D would attend UNC just so we could return!</p>
<p>You might want to add a self-tour of American U while you’re in DC. It would be a safety compared to the other schools you’re visiting, but it’s a nice option in the mid-atlantic.</p>
<p>while I am never a person to say hey let’s drive 2 hours , I do think if it opens up the possibilty of changing your child’s future it is worth it. (IMO)</p>
<p>and yes the “safe” scanners are banned in europe. in a couple of years the U.S. government will queitly remove them from our airports and say ooops!</p>
<p>DC traffic is really bad, especially when going into Virginia from the District. GW is a good school, not quite as good as G’Town academically (more of a rich-party school from my experience) AU (American) is not quite as academically well-known, but is also a good place to study.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t drive into DC at all, but stay in the suburbs and take metro in. Georgetown doesn’t have metro, but you can get into Roslyn and walk across the bridge to Georgetown.</p>
<p>I agree with GTalum, stay as far out of the city as you can-preferably on the side of town that is in the direction you will be heading. If you don’t want to walk to G’Town, you can hop on a bus near the metro too. It’s an easy walk though. You could walk from GW to G’Town too.</p>