<p>I am going to be attending UCSB this fall and I am from Berkeley, CA. I was wondering what the best way to get from school back to the bay area is. I am mainly concerned about cost/time/convenience/etc...</p>
<p>To those of you who are from Norcal--the bay area in particular-- how do you guys travel home, how often, and what are your suggestions regarding how I should get back to Berkeley, ca in case I wanted to visit home sweet home?</p>
<p>i think train is good and it is the cheaper way, or take the plane which will cost more but much faster</p>
<p>My daughter was almost always able to find a ride with someone coming home, not necessarily to our town, but not far. If you live in the dorms, it seems like there are always people driving up. The tough part is finding someone whose last final matches yours.
She really only has come home for major breaks like Thanksgiving, winter break, and spring. The train is a pretty long ride. She has flown also, using Student Universe, although she got a good deal on United out of SF recently.</p>
<p>There probably aren't a lot of options for travel between Berkeley and Santa Barbara. Following is a sample of the Amtrak schedule.
<a href="http://tickets.amtrak.com/itd/amtrak/FareFinder?_tripType=OneWay&_origin=Berkeley&_depmonthyear=2006-06&_depday=30&_dephourmin=&_destination=Santa+Barbara&_retmonthyear=&_retday=&_rethourmin=&_adults=1&_children=0&_infants=0&_searchBy=schedule&x=22&y=8%5B/url%5D">http://tickets.amtrak.com/itd/amtrak/FareFinder?_tripType=OneWay&_origin=Berkeley&_depmonthyear=2006-06&_depday=30&_dephourmin=&_destination=Santa+Barbara&_retmonthyear=&_retday=&_rethourmin=&_adults=1&_children=0&_infants=0&_searchBy=schedule&x=22&y=8</a></p>
<p>There is also Greyhound service from Oakland to Santa Barbara.</p>
<p>I'll have to agree willsmom. People are always looking for a ride, and drivers always looking for people to split the gas with. </p>
<p>Avoid Amtrak, unless you want to sit in there for 11+ hours.</p>
<p>Your options are basically have 3 options: Greyhound, Amtrak, or fiding a ride buddy. I really reccomend the last option, and if you don't find anyone driving up, you can always ask on some place like LiveJournal for a ride.</p>
<p>I took the Amtrak train/bus up once and it actually wasn't too bad (about 7 hours total time one way).</p>
<p>Make friends with a private pilot. There are plenty in the UCSB student population, with several thriving flight schools on the adjacent SB airport. They, like drivers, also look for opportunities to split the gas cost. Typical flight time between SB and one of the bay area airports: 2 hours.</p>
<p>I've never heard of anything asking for passengers of planes but that would be awesome!</p>