Florida Trip

[Rail Freak]

RF or any other Tampa/St. Pete residents, what do you feel about PSTA for getting from TPA to St. Pete Beach? Here is the route and time for the trip. An hour and a half isn't too bad and I don't mind taking public transit when available. Of course, the thruway bus would need to be as on time as possible or I'll be calling a cab. I just wonder about taking a suitcase and carryon with me on the psta busses.
Also, I said "trolley" in an earlier post, before I had done any thorough research. I'm kinda liking the deal I can get on this hotel and won't spend much more than Deerfield if I bus it to the hotel.

I'm beginning to think that I may be a lot older than you :lol: ! It would be much easier to catch the cab to the hotel. If you take PSTA, you'll be transferring to other buses, lugging luggage! The trolley is from downtown Clearwater to & thru the Beaches (Nice, but do that after you're settled into your hotel!!! Unfortunately I don't drive or I would drive you myself!!!

RF

Lol, You probably are older, but I am feeling my age.. I don't mind lugging my luggage, but if I take this trip that might change... LOL I may email www.supershuttle.com and see if they can grab me from STP... A cab would be much easier, but the cost...

If you take PSTA, you may have to change buses more than once, plus the St Pete Amtrak Station uses a local Cabbie who may help. The St Pete Staion should be able to guide you in the correct direction, 727-540-0034.

RF

 

[AmtrakWPK]

Part of that bus transportation problem is that the City of Tampa is on the east side of Tampa Bay, and is in Hillsborough County. St. Pete/Clearwater is on the west side of Tampa Bay (a peninsula, really, with the Gulf of Mexico to the west), and is in Pinellas County. So you have the transportation schedules, and bus routes, of two counties to deal with, and bus transfers, as stated earlier. While Tampa International Airport is on the far northwest end of Tampa, the Amtrak station is at the south end of downtown Tampa, by the cruise ship terminal, the Tampa Aquarium, and Ybor City, which is a lot farther from the Gulf beaches than the Tampa Airport is. The greater Tampa/St.Pete/Clearwater area is BIG. St. Pete has it's own international airport. There is also at least one large military airport, and at least one other small civil airport. We looked at the bus situation from Tampa Amtrak to the Gulf beaches and decided it would be much too much hassle. It takes us two hours, give or take, depending on Orlando and Tampa area traffic, to get from home (about ten-fifteen minutes north of WPK station) to the St. Pete/Clearwater area Gulf beaches. We drove over this past Thursday afternoon and drove back Saturday mid-day (two days ago), so that's fairly current info. Traffic in Orlando AND Tampa/St. Pete is a mess, especially during rush hours. If there is a pro basketball or football or hockey or concert or whatever when you are transiting the area, it is even worse (that happened Thursday evening in Tampa....)

 

[colobok]

Just to let you know, the beaches in the Clearwater/Tampa/Sarasota area are far less crowded and far nicer to anything here on the east coast. In fact in Deerfield, you're lookin at a pretty crappy beach setup altogether, I'm not gonna lie.
And the "museum" at the Deerfield station is in actuality a model train club that opens during limited hours on Wednesday evenings.

Moral of the story.... I think you'll be a little disappointed if you decide to head to the east coast, for whatever it's worth.

I live in Clearwater area and in fact I am surprised that it was advised as the best choice. Yes, beaches here are not bad, but I like ocean beaches much more. Ocean always has nice waves and you really feel that you are on the ocean, not on the lake or pool. Plus the color of water in Ft.Lauderdale - Miami area is much better than in Clearwater. Miami has green-blue water like most of Caribbean islands while Clearwater has mostly gray, not clear water. Even in Sarasota water is better than in Clearwater.

We usually go to the east coast of Florida at least once a year for ocean experience. We are planning trip to Ft.Lauderdale this November. I really like Ft.Lauderdale beach.

If you don't wish to go to the very south I would advise either Sarasota (Amtrak bus goes there) or maybe Daytona Beach (it's closer and has Amtrak cab thruway connection so you don't need to think how to get to the hotel).

 

[profwebs]

Just to let you know, the beaches in the Clearwater/Tampa/Sarasota area are far less crowded and far nicer to anything here on the east coast. In fact in Deerfield, you're lookin at a pretty crappy beach setup altogether, I'm not gonna lie.
And the "museum" at the Deerfield station is in actuality a model train club that opens during limited hours on Wednesday evenings.

Moral of the story.... I think you'll be a little disappointed if you decide to head to the east coast, for whatever it's worth.

I live in Clearwater area and in fact I am surprised that it was advised as the best choice. Yes, beaches here are not bad, but I like ocean beaches much more. Ocean always has nice waves and you really feel that you are on the ocean, not on the lake or pool. Plus the color of water in Ft.Lauderdale - Miami area is much better than in Clearwater. Miami has green-blue water like most of Caribbean islands while Clearwater has mostly gray, not clear water. Even in Sarasota water is better than in Clearwater.

We usually go to the east coast of Florida at least once a year for ocean experience. We are planning trip to Ft.Lauderdale this November. I really like Ft.Lauderdale beach.

If you don't wish to go to the very south I would advise either Sarasota (Amtrak bus goes there) or maybe Daytona Beach (it's closer and has Amtrak cab thruway connection so you don't need to think how to get to the hotel).

You have any hotel recommendations for Ft. Lauderdale Beach, Hollywood, ect...?

 

[user 1215]

Just to let you know, the beaches in the Clearwater/Tampa/Sarasota area are far less crowded and far nicer to anything here on the east coast. In fact in Deerfield, you're lookin at a pretty crappy beach setup altogether, I'm not gonna lie.
And the "museum" at the Deerfield station is in actuality a model train club that opens during limited hours on Wednesday evenings.

Moral of the story.... I think you'll be a little disappointed if you decide to head to the east coast, for whatever it's worth.

I live in Clearwater area and in fact I am surprised that it was advised as the best choice. Yes, beaches here are not bad, but I like ocean beaches much more. Ocean always has nice waves and you really feel that you are on the ocean, not on the lake or pool. Plus the color of water in Ft.Lauderdale - Miami area is much better than in Clearwater. Miami has green-blue water like most of Caribbean islands while Clearwater has mostly gray, not clear water. Even in Sarasota water is better than in Clearwater.

We usually go to the east coast of Florida at least once a year for ocean experience. We are planning trip to Ft.Lauderdale this November. I really like Ft.Lauderdale beach.

If you don't wish to go to the very south I would advise either Sarasota (Amtrak bus goes there) or maybe Daytona Beach (it's closer and has Amtrak cab thruway connection so you don't need to think how to get to the hotel).

Grass is always greener.

 

[TampAGS]

If you don't wish to go to the very south I would advise either Sarasota (Amtrak bus goes there) or maybe Daytona Beach (it's closer and has Amtrak cab thruway connection so you don't need to think how to get to the hotel).

The Thruway "Motor-cab" connection to Daytona Beach from DeLand typically will add between $70 and $124 to any round-trip fare. It's a lousy value for your money, particularly when compared against the value of a standard rail fare.

 

I'd love to see some figures on ridership for that service. I frequent the station in DeLand and to my knowledge, nobody ever riding the same trains I have has gotten off and transferred to Southern Cab. I would consider the service if the fare was more reasonable, since all my trips through DeLand are actually Daytona-bound, but seeing as it would cost me roughly five times more than what I pay for the rail fare, I've always arranged for a family member to DeLiver me to/from DeLand.

 

So far only my luggage has ridden the Daytona Thruway service without me. One of the few times I ever checked any baggage was from Tampa to DeLand, via Thruway bus to the Meteor in Orlando. Once in DeLand, I Descover my DeLuggage was DeLayed. :lol:

 

My bag wound up avoiding the bus altogether and Amtrak sent it over on the Star later that evening. They they arranged for a Thruway cabbie to chauffeur my bag to my sister's place in Daytona, at Amtrak's expense. My bag made it safely in the end, but it cost Amtrak way more than I paid for the ticket.

 

At any rate, for what you would pay to go to Daytona, you could hire a stretch limo to take you to St. Pete beach.

 

[colobok]

If you don't wish to go to the very south I would advise either Sarasota (Amtrak bus goes there) or maybe Daytona Beach (it's closer and has Amtrak cab thruway connection so you don't need to think how to get to the hotel).

The Thruway "Motor-cab" connection to Daytona Beach from DeLand typically will add between $70 and $124 to any round-trip fare. It's a lousy value for your money, particularly when compared against the value of a standard rail fare.

 

I'd love to see some figures on ridership for that service. I frequent the station in DeLand and to my knowledge, nobody ever riding the same trains I have has gotten off and transferred to Southern Cab. I would consider the service if the fare was more reasonable, since all my trips through DeLand are actually Daytona-bound, but seeing as it would cost me roughly five times more than what I pay for the rail fare, I've always arranged for a family member to DeLiver me to/from DeLand.

 

So far only my luggage has ridden the Daytona Thruway service without me. One of the few times I ever checked any baggage was from Tampa to DeLand, via Thruway bus to the Meteor in Orlando. Once in DeLand, I Descover my DeLuggage was DeLayed. :lol:

 

My bag wound up avoiding the bus altogether and Amtrak sent it over on the Star later that evening. They they arranged for a Thruway cabbie to chauffeur my bag to my sister's place in Daytona, at Amtrak's expense. My bag made it safely in the end, but it cost Amtrak way more than I paid for the ticket.

 

At any rate, for what you would pay to go to Daytona, you could hire a stretch limo to take you to St. Pete beach.

Do you have any idea how much would the regular cab to Daytona cost? I believe they would charge per ride, not per passenger.

I saw a bus from DeLand to Daytona for couple of bucks, but it runs from downtown and stops running too early.