Overnight in NYP or BOS?

[Anderson]

So, I've got most of my points run together for this weekend. Due to the wonder that is living three hours off the NEC (really, it sucks being so close and yet so far), I'm planning to hop the Silver Meteor out of Richmond and then grab the first Acela I can out of WAS tomorrow morning. Sadly, this will probably be the "God, it's so expensive" 8 AM Acela or the second-highest bucket 9 AM. Anyhow...

I'd like advice on whether I should overnight in Boston, which will probably be cheaper, but will involve slightly more expensive trains on Saturday or grab a train into NYP at the end of the day on Friday and spend the night in New York (therefore only having to go NYP-WAS on Saturday). The cost is probably about the same either way, so that much will be mainly semantics.

 

[Trogdor]

You should really price things out and see, for sure, what the cost differences are.

Also, don't bank on a Meteor-8 AM Acela connection. You would have missed the connection today.

 

[amamba]

I am confused. Are you asking us which city we would recommend since either way it will come out to be about the same cost? I think it depends on what you want to do. Have you spent much time in either city? I love Boston but I also love NYC around christmas. Both have great things to do like ice skating, window shopping, etc. Would you get more rail points if you overnighted in NYC - thus breaking pu your southbound trip?

 

[Anderson]

Well, I'm breaking the trip either way with some time in NYP (splitting my trip between two reservations).

As to the Meteor-Acela bit, I'm realistically banking on the 9 AM...if the Meteor is late, I'll shift to the 6 AM Regional.

I've never done either city near Christmas, so I'm wondering if either there's a reasonable-cost hotel near BOS and/or what food options are in Boston (I've only been to Boston once, really, and I was tied up with a wedding that time).

 

[amamba]

I just stayed at the copley square hotel in Boston last week for $139/night plus tax. That is pretty good. If you check out www.travelzoo.com there are a bunch of deals on Boston hotels right now. It is sort of the down season for hotels in the city. The copley square hotel is actually just about two blocks from BBY and maybe a 20 minute walk to BOS.

Near BOS one can generally find a decent rate at the Club Quarters or the Hilton Financial District. The Park Plaza is maybe halfway between BOS & BBY and I saw a promotion for rooms for only $99/night there. You can generally get the Park Plaza, the Omni Parker House, or even the Langham for about $100/night at either hotwire or priceline. Check out www.betterbidding.com if you aren't familiar with those sites or how to best use them to get the best deal.

Also the hyatt regency sometimes has reasonable rates. The new W hotel is pretty close to South Station and is very nice, but it is $$$$.

 

[amamba]

For food options, what type of food do you like? Are you looking for more value priced alternatives or would you like to splurge? You can do pretty well if you go to the marketplace at Fanueil Hall - its like a giant food court with an assortment of reasonably priced eateries. It will all be decorated very nicely for the holidays, too.

 

[afigg]

I've never done either city near Christmas, so I'm wondering if either there's a reasonable-cost hotel near BOS and/or what food options are in Boston (I've only been to Boston once, really, and I was tied up with a wedding that time).

I suggest you check hotel prices in Boston before you make a decision. If you are planning to use the T to get around, the hotels that are accessible from the T stops can be quite expensive. Boston is not known these days for inexpensive or affordable hotels, though prices will vary as always. The less expensive hotels and motels tend to be outside the city core and can require a car to get to. Boston is a great city to visit, but like NYC, has a lot of pricey hotels.

 

[amamba]

I just checked hotwire for you for this Saturday, and there are what look to be some solid choices (3.5 - 4 star hotels) available in great neighborhoods for $90. There is a 4 star near quincy market for $96. I would jump on that in a heartbeat. If you can't walk from BOS it will be at most a 2-3 stop t ride and be right in the city.

 

[afigg]

I just checked hotwire for you for this Saturday, and there are what look to be some solid choices (3.5 - 4 star hotels) available in great neighborhoods for $90. There is a 4 star near quincy market for $96. I would jump on that in a heartbeat. If you can't walk from BOS it will be at most a 2-3 stop t ride and be right in the city.

For Boston, those hotel prices are dirt cheap. Interesting that mid-December has such discount prices. I guess there is a much stronger tradition of holiday period travel to NYC - well, mostly Manhattan - for shopping and what have you than there is for visiting Boston in the winter.

 

[bobnabq]

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[Bob Dylan]

No offense to Boston, or those who love it,, it's a great place to visit in the Summer! (Red Sox Nation!!!)As has been said, hotels arent really cheap in Boston and during the Holiday Season New York is THE Place to visit! Also why blow money on Acelas when a Regional is (usually) cheaper and almost as fast! The difference can help pay for your hotel in the Apple or a nice meal, New York has Boston beat hands down for great Resturants ! Google up all the usual Travel sights and snag you a room in NY for around $100 a night, it's worth it, more so than Boston, for the same price this time of year!!

 

[Anderson]

Well, in the department of "My life sucks" (all of our lives do once in a while...for me, it just happens to be at the present moment), it looks like I'm going to have a /very/ interesting next few days. My computer decided to up and die, so instead of spending tomorrow zipping up and down the NEC, I get to spend it dealing with a rogue antivirus that seems to have locked my computer up so badly that I may have to do a full-blown disc wipe (and while being completely without my main computer for three days or so might not be an issue, with my impending trip to Iowa next Wednesday I'm a bit too close to risking being without it for two weeks for comfort).

With that said, I intend to get this looked into and do a "substitute run" on Saturday up to NYP and back (since I'll likely either have the problem dealt with or have my computer "handed off" to someone who can work with this). After that...well, I'll wedge a second run in somewhere, but this probably could not have timed itself any worse than it did (i.e. ten minutes before I intended to go to bed so I could wake up for this run) short of it blowing up on Tuesday night (which would have just rendered me system-less, period, since that would be an unfixable crisis).

For the moment, I'm going to book a ticket on train 2253 NYP-WAS to lock in the low bucket. After that...well, it looks like I'll be playing the "how do I book a train into NYC around New Years' without getting killed on the fare" game alongside the "How do I replace these points I would have earned" game.

 

[Anderson]

(For the record, I am beginning to very much suspect that some unseen force in the universe does not want me to make this trip, considering all of the headaches associated with trying to nail down this points run over the last few months...*growls*

 

[Anderson]

Practical question for tomorrow: Are there any Acelas that turn in NYP on Saturdays? I'm guessing not based on this:

Train	WAS		NYP
2250	9:00 AM		11:52 AM *TO BOS
2212	12:00 PM	2:55 PM
2216	2:00 PM		4:55 PM
2220	4:00 PM		6:53 PM

Train	NYP		WAS
2203	8:00 AM		10:52 AM
2207	10:00 AM	12:52 PM
2251	12:00 PM	2:52 PM	*From BOS
2253	3:00 PM		5:52 PM *From BOS

 

[Anderson]

Well, this just keeps getting better and better...it's 92 minutes until I could exercise my FC coupon and FC is now sold out for the 9 AM (and there's no way I'd want to risk taking the noon Acela to "bounce back" on the 3 PM Acela...for some reason I am disinclined to gamble on that).

At the rate things are going, I'm sorely tempted to stick it out in my roomette on the Meteor until NYP...though I realize now that I should have booked FC with cash (blocking a seat open) and then canceled the reservation and upgraded into FC on a new reservation (honestly, the idea hadn't even crossed my mind to try that). Yeah, this is going great.

Edit: A question: If I did the noon Acela into NYP on one reservation, bailed in Newark, and had another reservation from NYP to WAS and boarded in Newark (or even, and God forbid we should be that far behind, Metropark), would that cause any trouble? Newark would give me a 30-minute buffer against Things Going Wrong, and Metropark would give me about an hour. I know there's been mention on here of doing a ticket to WAS and bailing in Baltimore, for example.

 

[amamba]

No, it shouldn't be a problem to board acela FC late. I always book from BOS and routinely board at PVD. No one has ever questioned me about that.

 

[Anderson]

Alright, that wins. I wish the "Newark Option" had occurred to me sooner as a way to do this.

I suspect I'll settle for one of the Morning Regionals out of RVR...again, not ideal. The main problem is that the Meteor, as often as not, seems to not start breakfast until after WAS if they're running early...so I'll be keeping an eye on #98 throughout the evening.

Edit: Strange...the agent would not book the 3 PM Acela in conjunction with the noon Acela on a separate reservation. So it's been duly booked via the website; I'll handle the upgrade on the noon Acela at midnight (when I can exercise th card), deal with the morning one over the phone on my way to Richmond, and fiddle with Sunday afternoon...well, on Sunday. I'll be doing my best to make something work, Acela-wise, even if it involves another get-off-early move and not registering my trip back with AGR (which would be a matter of....750 points versus about 220 right now). Most likely is trying to get down to Union Station by 11:30 AM so I can board the noon Acela NB and then taking the Silver Meteor back out of NYP.

I just hope Select Plus is worth all of this.

 

[gatelouse]

I just hope Select Plus is worth all of this.

Probably not...but half the fun is the challenge! (End of year requals are stressful though.)

 

[Anderson]

I just hope Select Plus is worth all of this.

Probably not...but half the fun is the challenge! (End of year requals are stressful though.)

True, true...and there's something unique and oddly enjoyable about being able to grumble about this particular problem.

By the way, I'm on the train to Washington right now (they boarded early). Remind me...who is supposed to take the upgrade coupon? It's the agent at the counter, right?

(I'll give you three guesses as to why I am asking, and the first two don't count...)

 

[amamba]

Upgrade coupon should be taken when you pick up the ticket by the ticket agent or the club acela agent.

 

[Anderson]

In that case, I'm going to take a wild guess then that the RVR station agent didn't know how to react to the upgrade (since it was already phoned in and I am going to take a wild guess and say that Richmond probably doesn't get that many Acela upgrade coupon redemptions handled like that) and just forgot to ask (I took the cards out when I got my wallet out, waited for her to ask, but she didn't). It would not surprise me if redeeming them at another off-the-corridor staffed station after a phone-in resulted in something similar.

So...I guess this is a minor error in my favor (since the coupons are good until February)? Or should I do anything about it?

 

[AlanB]

Nothing much you can do about it now.

That agent however may have some explaining to do.

 

[amamba]

Error in your favor.

 

[Anderson]

Hey, I'll take it...this really feels like par for the course at RVR sometimes.

For what it's worth, the rest of the trip went off without a hitch, and I'm down in DC. Tomorrow I'll take the Meteor home, which will be another 100-odd points banked. And I've unexpectedly got a couple of spare coupons...yeah, this worked out pretty well in the end. Now, to sort out one last trip for the year...

 

[gatelouse]

Glad all's working out for this trip. You need *another* points run for S+?