<p>Ways:
driving (minimum 6.5 hours one way)
riding a bus (10 hours)
flying (1.25-hour flight, 1.5 hours to airport, and however long the airport security/checkin/wait is)</p>
<p>Means:
driving up and back ~$180 for gas, tolls, and one night at a Day's Inn
bus $158
flying Southwest $259 or more for tickets and getting to/from airport</p>
<p>I'm glad the kid can read in a moving vehicle! :D</p>
<p>What are your kid's ways/means?</p>
<p>At least SW is an option for you!! They run really good sales periodically. Sign up for their DING program and you can find some great deals.</p>
<p>[Southwest</a> Airlines - What is DING!(R) ?](<a href=“http://www.southwest.com/ding/what_is_ding.html]Southwest”>http://www.southwest.com/ding/what_is_ding.html)</p>
<p>Oh and we’re not there yet as dd is only a junior :)</p>
<p>I vote for driving. The little darlings will be your captive audience, so maybe they will talk to you. :D</p>
<p>Amtrak, about 3 1/2 hours each way and $100-150 roundtrip, depending on the time of day. The school runs a shuttle bus to the Amtrak station, and we run the shuttle car on this end 
(and when D doesn’t have much luggage, she’ll take the commuter train to within a mile of our house.) It’s very convenient, and we’re delighted that it’s easy for her to get home for vacations. </p>
<p>We do drive her up at the beginning of each year (about 4-5 hours, depending on traffic) and back in the spring.</p>
<p>Ways:
driving 8 hours one way
riding a bus (a lot, have to go east before you can go west on her route)
flying 4 hours? with a connection through such lovely airports as Ohare (wrong direction), Atlanta (out of the way), Cleveland (not my choice in winter), various NY airports (no way!), Dulles (wrong way but not too bad), Cincinnati (ok)</p>
<p>Means:
driving up and back in my Prius~$95 for gas, tolls, and one night at a Priceline hotel
bus ? didn’t check cause I think she’ll kill me
flying $210 if we plan ahead and are lucky and getting to/from airport</p>
<p>I have the extremes:
DD1 - 100 miles away - drive 2 hours each way
DD2 (this coming year) - 2000 miles away - fly and stay a while (at least Portland is a great place to go)</p>
<p>That was a fun analysis!</p>
<p>Ways:
Amtrak = 52 hours (including transfers in Chicago and NYC); closest station to school requires a friend to drive 1 hour to pick him up and return to school; on home end, closest station is 30 minutes away
Plane = 7.5-hour total trip including one stop and hour layover; 1 hours to airport on home end; school end requires a 1.5 hour drive (and a friend with a car) or a $35 one-way shuttle ride
Drive = 2500 miles. He’s actually doing this when school ends this spring, to accompany a friend who is driving cross-country for a summer internship. Taking about 7 days.</p>
<p>Means:
Amtrack = $227 (plus contribution for friend’s gas)
Plane = $125 one way (plus contribution for friend’s gas, or) and $35 shuttle
Drive = 125 gallons of gas at $2.25 per split between two guys should be $140 each; and they plan to sleep at fraternity houses all along the way. He pays his own meals on this trip. We told him we would contribute the cost of the plane ticket towards his expenses.</p>
<p>Normally he always flies and then snags free rides to/from the destination airport from other friends who also fly to/from school.</p>
<p>Thanks, Highland Mom! I’ll sign up for DING. I got a Southwest Visa card to start racking up some miles on it, since all the miles I’ve been racking up elsewhere for a trip to Europe this summer aren’t taking me to Europe now that the squirt has decided to go to college early. I’ve been saving up the take-me-to-Europe miles for two years!! ~~ sigh ~~</p>
<p>archiemom, wow… 52 hours by train, AND it’s more expensive than the plane!! I’ll have to tell S that should he complain about 10 hours on a bus!</p>
<p>The Southwest Rapid Rewards program is great! I signed up when DS’s freshman year so that we could use the free tickets to get him back and forth. They have blackouts around Thanksgiving but not around Christmas break dates. He’s now a junior and I’ve only used one free ticket on him as I’ve been able to find cheap fares between home and where he goes to school. Hubby and I have used them to fly to Arizona and Florida and currently have three more ticket that we need to use.</p>
<p>Ways -
plane: 4 hours to big city, 1 hour hop to school, transit time to and from airports under an hour each way, layover invariably more than 4 hours - total 13 hours. Ignoring the time spent when small-town airport isn’t open and flights diverted or cancelled.
train: not available
automobile: 1980 miles, 27 hours</p>
<p>Means -
Plane all the way - Usually around $350 - $400 round trip. Much more Thanksgiving week.
Plane, then school shuttle - Usually about $300 - $400 round trip and solves the little airport problem but adds logistical issues in the big cities served.
Automobile: $150 - $175 for gas, $200 for two nights on the road, meals, wear and tear on the car, missed days at work, to be repeated at the other end of the term. So far that’s been a non-starter.</p>
<p>OK, I tried amtrak’s website again and ignored the “you can’t do this” message.</p>
<p>To take the train:</p>
<p>23 hours to Chicago, then 41 hours to town 1 1/2 hours from school. She could probably bamboozle someone into picking her up if she bought the pizza when they got back.</p>
<p>Problem is the only available trains miss each other by 2 hours in Chicago, so there’d be an overnight there. Taxi, hotel…</p>
<p>$270 train fare
$20 taxi (times 2)
$100 hotel</p>
<p>87 hours
$400 plus pizza</p>
<p>Well, unless they put a train line under the pacific ocean, we are stuck with flying.</p>
<p>We have done similar scenarios for getting to the cousins house for spring break.
Bay area to San Diego- flying wins every time.</p>
<p>1300+ miles.</p>
<p>35 minutes to airport in home town, two flights, 25 minutes back to the dorm in college town</p>
<p>About 5.5 hours</p>
<p>Ways
6.5 hour drive (according to google - it takes longer with stops)
bus - I believe there are the notorious buses to Chinatown
train 10+ hours
plane 1.5 hours or less with a bus on one end</p>
<p>Means
We drive him there and pick him up with stuff
He flies the rest of the time</p>
<p>I had several options in college–start with a 1-hr ferry ride or a 2-hr train ride (each about 2 miles from my house), then either train then bus, or two buses, up to campus. Total cost no matter what was about $40 each way. Depending on the connections, the whole thing took 4-7 hours. If my parents put the car on the ferry and then drove, it was about 3.5. Sometimes on the way home from school I was able to get a ride to the ferry terminal or to a place with more frequent buses and trains, which could shave an hour or so off the trip. </p>
<p>I really liked traveling to school by boat–it felt so unusual and adventurous. Except for one particularly windy winter day, when it just felt nauseating.</p>
<p>Bolt Bus
NYC to Boston and vice versa
Have never paid more than $20 - usually a few dollars less
WIFI on board, though sometimes spotty
Arrives/departs close to Penn Station – more convenient for us than Port Authority
Also runs to Washington DC and Philadelphia</p>
<p>Drive- 2 1/2 hours door to door, about 140 miles.
Amtrak- not available locally, stops 20 miles from college town (why- who knows the logic).
Flight- likewise would have to go from hometown to big city to college city, not even worth considering.
Bus- would take 7 hours at least. I checked on possiblities to avoid 5+ hours of parent time (+ is the waiting/loading car etc time) for the round trip.</p>
<p>Therefore someone’s parents do the honors for the instate flagship U.</p>
<p>I will be about 60 miles from home when i go.</p>
<p>S1-drive 2.75 hours
Amtrak, Bus, Airport all available but more expensive/longer…wouldn’t bother</p>
<p>S2-drive 4 hours
other options not convenient and way more expensive. One of his suitemates from our area usually catches a ride with roommate to S1’s college town (1.5 hrs) and then rides the train home.</p>
<p>Driving - 3 hours, 45 minutes
Amtrak - 4 hours, 4 minutes $29
Grayhound - 5 hours, 5 minutes $38.50</p>
<p>Other than the fact that Amtrak leaves at 3am, it’s reasonable and fast.</p>