<p>Son returns from DOC trip September 12th. Husband and I arrive in Hanover (from Tx) on September 12th. We have reservations at Hanover Inn, including a room for son the night of the 12th (made reservation several months ago). I realize he can stay in his dorm that night (one day early as a returning DOC participant), but I'm reluctant to give up the hotel room - perhaps he would enjoy the stay there after being in the woods! Or should he immediately begin his college experience by spending the night in his dorm, and are there a lot of other students to mingle with at that point? He says he won't mind staying in the dorm, though. Any input??</p>
<p>welcome to CC, and as one Dartmouth parent to another welcome!</p>
<p>As much as the Hanover Inn is going to charge you, definitely let him stay in his room and just give him the $ (for the cost of the room as he would definitely appreciate it more). If he wants to stay in the dorm definitely let him do so.</p>
<p>By the time he returns from 4 days in the woods he will have a whole group of friends and will probably want to stay in the dorms. There will be students there who are also returning from Doc trips in adddition to his UGA, international students and athletes who have had to come early.</p>
<p>If he could take care of the ID card when he arrives for his doc trip or on the 12th it would be great because the line is long and it is a madhouse on the first day. Daughter ended up forgetting something standing on the ID line and had to walk all of the way back to the dorm (not fun).</p>
<p>If you are shipping any of his stuff, you could go over to the post office and begin picking some up it up to set up his room. I shipped a lot of D's stuff up via ups so we would not have to drag it to school.</p>
<p>HI New - another 09 parent here, DD's trip returns the 11th, and we arrive late on the 10th, so she will have 2 nights before move-in day. I agree with Sybbie, I would forgo the extra room, it is an expensive room, just one night, and he will probably want to stay up late with new friends - he might appreciate a good dinner with Mom and Dad, though. Worst comes to worst, he can sack out on the floor of your room.
The only way I see DD staying with us is that we are probably going to drive back to Concord to do the dorm room shopping, and if we need to make a late trip to accomodate her activities, we might spend one night in Concord, but I doubt it, we will probably drive back to Hanover no matter what.</p>
<p>Good point about the ID card, Sybbie. K is coming in the day before her trip day - couldn't get her there in time on trip day - that will give her something to do.</p>
<p>Thanks for the help - I'm letting the room go today...(anybody out there still looking for a room at the Inn? Let me know and I'll tell you exactly when I call to cancel, and maybe you can snag it.</p>
<p>We will definitely take care of the ID card on the 12th of possible. He is so ready to be there!</p>
<p>New - if you are flying into Manchester and renting a car, AND you know that you are planning to buy things up there - be aware that there's a BB&B, Target, and Walmart in Concord NH, all along one highway just off the Interstate. We 'rents had to fly on Sat anyway, so we are using the extra day to drive back to Concord to do the shopping - I'm assuming that small Walmart in West Lebanon is going to be swamped on move-in day. With a guy who probably isn't as invested in "shopping for his own stuff" as my daughter, you can probably stop in Conocrd on the way on Mon and pick up a number of things.</p>