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Traveling to PAX Discussion Thread
Wingedillidan
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Updatezorz:
A general transportation question to those who might have experience traveling to and from conventions with (a) good sized groups, (b) a lot of baggage, (c) a schedule, and (d) the want for the most awesome. The main question is Planes, Trains, or Automobiles?
It's quite simple for one option, the group being from Rochester rules out flying (but it DOES make a clever title :P). Which leaves the equally debatable options of hitting the road or hitting the rails. I have covered this in other discussions, but I feel that it hasn't been answered enough. Here's the pro's and con's I got:
TRAIN - 20 | 16 - DRIVING
TRAIN WINS!
(too bad I'm driving...)
TRAIN
DRIVING
*indicates sarcasm
Any input appreciated, also general transportation comments anyone?
Moe Fwacky wrote: »For all of you that have been waiting for it, the PAX East Train Alliance thread is now live, like I promised.
A general transportation question to those who might have experience traveling to and from conventions with (a) good sized groups, (b) a lot of baggage, (c) a schedule, and (d) the want for the most awesome. The main question is Planes, Trains, or Automobiles?
It's quite simple for one option, the group being from Rochester rules out flying (but it DOES make a clever title :P). Which leaves the equally debatable options of hitting the road or hitting the rails. I have covered this in other discussions, but I feel that it hasn't been answered enough. Here's the pro's and con's I got:
TRAIN - 20 | 16 - DRIVING
TRAIN WINS!
(too bad I'm driving...)
TRAIN
- AWESOME EXPERIENCE
- Gaming time whilst traveling
- Extended travel time for maximum PAX sociallizing time
- More comfortable (Amtrak has BIG seats)
- AWESOME PEOPLE
- Extended departure time requirement
- Less storage space, may need to transport a few desktop PC's
- Heavier weight on itinerary (must depart at THIS time, no later)
DRIVING
- More storage space.
- Ability to be flexible with people and car space
- Can depart at any time
- Can make it in time for more pre-PAX stuff
- Makes the PAX virgins in the cars more comfortable
- A caravan across the state with your best of friends (I heard of something like that for Prime... CCYQ or something?*)
- Finding the cars/drivers
- Extended planning (minor)
- Less comfortable
- It's NOT the awesome train trip
- Costly parking ($105-$140 total)
*indicates sarcasm
Any input appreciated, also general transportation comments anyone?
（╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Wingedillidan on
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The primary reason for both is the community that you can join up with! It makes for a whole different experience when you spend a few days before PAX with fellow PAXers... even moreso when you're traveling together. If you've got the time to spare, definitely give it a shot!
This is the most expensive part of any of the conventions I attend here; that it costs anywhere from $105 - $140 just to park the car.
On the other hand, you leave when you want to leave, and many a con-goer would call this a priceless ability.
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All that said though, I'd consider taking the train if there was PAX caravan going through upstate NY just for the experience.
The only reasons I see to go by train are:
If you're trying to conserve cash since it seems to be slightly cheaper than driving (gas + tolls).
Or there's a large group of people doing it like a mini-WCTT thing.
I haven't figured out how I'm getting there yet but if a train trip is put together I may be interested.
It's definitely a social thing, so bringing your friends along will add to the fun.
Don't want to deal with possible bad weather driving. Don't want to deal with outrageous parking rates. Don't want to worry about my car getting hit/trashed/keyed/crapped on/breathed on wrong and hence affect my ability to drive to work once I'm back to real life.
Gonna Jet Blue it there again, still have my Charlie Card for riding the T. Worked great last time, going to repeat for this year.
No man should have that kind of power.(Twitter)
Soo hmmm $182.00 Round Trip to fly (before taxes) about 3 - 4 hr flight
$142.00 Round Trip for Amtrak w/ option to bump up to Business Class for $47 (1 way) 1hr 10min bus ride from Norfolk to Newport News then 12hr 50min train from Newport News - Boston
We got about 3 SUV's at this moment and we were planning on fitting 4-5 people/car (drivers will only have minimal baggage). This should allow for enough space for 2 bags and BYOC crap and have enough left over for the swag expansions. Our current total is 10 people.. so worse case parking ($150/car) would be... $45/person.
Teehee, you rode the short bus :P. That goes one for driving.
I meant short trip. Obviously, I wasn't paying attention
I like the idea of parking way out and taking a commuter bus/train in. Especially if it frees up the $$$ for more stuff/food.
The end result was that for 2 people per car, it was a wash, and came down to personal preference. If you can get 3 in a car, or even better stuff 4 (or even more? maybe rent a big van?), you can save your group several hundreds of dollars. Yes gaming on the train is fun. If I had to choose between gaming on the train or medieval torture I would blow my budget to ride that damn train. However, in my opinion, driving in a car full of friends is still a fun time.
So if you can stuff multiple people in a car, your decision is between tons of fun, or slightly less fun and a stack of cash.
Wasn't there a car in the CCST in '09 that was able to fit like 5 people? I believe it was a sedan.
Oh you can definitely find cars for 5. In fact I'd say more cars have a middle seat in the back (from here forward known at the "bitch" seat) than don't. It's just a matter of, with a normal car, can you fit the luggage and accumulated stuff of five people in your trunk space? If the answer is yes, you've got a pretty sweet deal.
What it boils down to really
If you have a group of friends (3+) and the time you should take a road trip.
If you are going in a small group or solo (2-) and you have the time you should take the Game Train.
If you do not have the time for long road or train trips take a plane.
We had to add a whole day of travel on either end of the trip when we took the train, just time off we can not afford to lose anymore.
I am a monster truck that walks like a man.
The train trip is good if you have a little extra cash (or a little less depending on your location and if you're comparing to flying or driving) and a little extra time to spend traveling to PAX. An option I have presented for people who don't have time for the round trip is to take the train to PAX and to fly home.
There are a few trains that go direct from Albany to Boston, but most want you to go through NY Penn which adds around $50-100 each way to the trip (depending on if it's an Acela leg from NY to Boston). The direct train from Albany to Boston is around $25 each way.
Sadly, the direct train looks like it's once per day, so it's inconvenient. Both ways, either going direct or going through NY is around 6 hours long, which is amazing, since you can drive from Albany to Boston in 3 hours.
The Lake Shore Limited, which goes straight through my town (and was used last year in the ETA), departs at 10 AM EST in Rochester, and gets in Back Bay 11 hours later. It's long, only $90 BOTH ways, and has awesome people on board to game the whole way (not sure which train will be used this year).
For a while last year part of the Massachusetts leg of that train was a shuttlebus transfer due to track maintenance, according to the thingy at the Albany/Rensselaer station. Which is what led to my "is that still a bus" question.
Chicago to Boston was beyond awesome, however, at least the train bit was. The bus sucked moldy rabid donkey balls. Mostly cos the seats were small and I'm not so I was in actual pain for most of the drive.
I would like to go by train, but there needs to be a critical mass of nerds before it becomes awesome. I would like to depart from Oakland/SF if there are enough likeminded people (5 is probably the awesome threshold, although 30 would mean complete conquest of the train and we would rule from a throne of skulls... In shifts). I'll fly to Chicago if not, I guess. One more cavity search probably won't kill me <sob>.
ETA: Reserving the right to change my mind if I'd be the only one on the train.
How is taking the train to PAX East counterproductive? With a few more people it's fun as hell, and there's a PAX at the end.
We're coming from Richmond, VA. It's about 12 hours according to Google Maps, I've driven to Cape Cod, in the past and that's taken about 12 hours. So I'm expecting our trip to last anywhere between 12-14 hours.
My question is, what's the best way to travel from California to Boston, and what's the hotel to shoot for?