hsapiens | November Con // Travel to NJ, D.C., NYC (?)

Happy October! I've finally gotten my act together to plan my trip in just over a month for the final con to be held by Creation in NJ. I'm ambivalent as I'm not enamored of Creation but they were a great reason for me to travel and see a bunch of fandom friends AND a bunch of folks from college. Anyhow, here's what I have planned:

- Nov. 6 (Thursday): Fly to Baltimore after work. Very late night arrival.
- Nov. 6: Need to find a hotel. I'm leaning towards the hotel

jalabert and I stayed in Columbia, MD last year since I know the area but it's smarter to find a place that is on the road to Cherry Hill, NJ.
- Nov. 7: Drive to Cherry Hill, NJ. (I'm doing it this way because flying to BWI was half the price of Philly when I was pricing tickets *and* Hertz promised me a Prius at that airport at a reasonable rental price. No Prius guarantee in Philly.)
- Nov. 7-9: Con in Cherry Hill, NJ.

selmak and

janiekins, I finally chose to take my chances and stay at the very poorly reviewed con hotel. I'd like to say I did this with a sense of camaraderie and misery loves company but the truth is I need to scale back vacation spending. This is the least excited I've ever been about a con line-up. No major SG-1 actors at all and no female guests, either. At least this will help me save money on con photos.
- Nov. 10: Check out of crappy con hotel.
- Nov. 10-15: Undecided. I would *like* to visit

yams69 and family since I'm already there but as I don't yet know their schedules because I never got back to them with my itinerary, I don't know if/when they're available to play. We spoke about hitting some of the Revolutionary War historic sites when I was last there and those still appeal strongly. Else, I'm tempted to return to explore the Smithsonian since it's free, stuffed full of amazing things, and I've spent far too little time there. And there's a Ghanaian restaurant in D.C. that sounded cool but ran out of time for last year.

jalabert, I'm trying to figure out how to visit NY, meet the new kitty, see you, and visit my beloved Met. Given that I have an extra family member living with me and the expenses of the hurricane and the economic downturn, I'm having trouble. I don't think I can afford a week at the Crowne, eating out a lot, traveling, and the incidentals. Would you be willing to spend some time in D.C.? My plan is to have a rental car again so I could pick you up/drop you off if needed. :)
- Nov. 16 (Sunday): Fly back to Houston.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I just checked those prices because I'm a little too cheap this time around to pay the Hampton Inn's rate of $189. Comfort Inn is $143.05 but I've never stayed at a Comfort Inn. Do you know how it compares to a Hilton Garden Inn? (I've never stayed at that particular flavor of Hilton, either.) I looked at the amenities and both have the ones I care about: exercise room & "free" in-room high speed internet. I like the idea of supporting a hotel that accepts pets (Comfort Inn) and an in-house breakfast is very convenient, but its charges are $15 more than the Hilton Garden and hotel taxes tend to be higher than the rate I'd pay on breakfast if I ate at a restaurant.

Normally, I'd be all about which one was closest the airport and most safe, but this time around every penny saved is worth my attention.

Hmm, I've never stayed in a Hilton Garden either, but I should think they'd be pretty comparable. Checks website. It's got interior hallways and talks about being newly renovated. It too has wifi. I say go for it.

And if nothing else, there are plenty of McDonalds between BWI Cherry Hill (but there's lots of nice local diners too).

avoid the McD's here in Anne Arundel county--for some reason they are just horrifically greasy and they can't get a guy to put all the parts of a burger in a vertical stack (continuously disappointed here)

Ew. (P.S. to

hsapiens, Anne Arundel = county where BWI is in).

totally ew... and everyone should know Anne Arundel county!! *snap*

:) I was just telling a_n that I'm going to sound like something other than a lost tourist... *g*

Ah. I'm going to sound like something other than a green tourist by the time I'm there. (Hey, I learned last go around that a town named Newark is pronounced ne-WARK if it's in Delaware and should never be confused with the NEW-ark pronunciation when it's in New Jersey.)

So noted. I'm not really a McD's kind of a girl so I'll happily give them a wide berth in favor of a local eatery.

I did, indeed, choose the Hilton Garden. :)

The local diners sound interesting. If I can, I prefer to "sample" local culture/food. I'm allergic to seafood of all types so no crab cakes for me but last year when I was in the area I had the pleasure of having a lot of great pumpkin-y specialties. Yum!

BTW, you do know the travelocity/expedia trick, right? Check out the hotel prices there, then go directly to that hotel's website and/or call them and try and get the price matched/lowered.

Good to know for all reservations. :-D

Hmm, you're in Texas, right? There's this coupon book that's good for hotels up the I-95 (and then some )corridor from Virginia to Maine. You can find them in the "travel visitor spots". I'm not sure if there's an online version you can use. *rummages to check*

Here's the thing I've seen the "book" on http://travelcoupons.com/ Hmm, can't find hotels I'd recommend for you to stay at on the "Linthicum" page, per se. :-/ But maybe you'll see something for DC/Cherry Hill (to negotiate the con hotel), or NYC. Like I said, you can pick up the books at those "state welcome centers".

Edited 2008-10-01 18:41 (UTC)

Actually, I didn't know that trick. (I don't generally stay at high end places so cost has never been such an issue -- at least, not since I was in college and planning meant looking for a Hotel 6 Vacancy sign when pulling into a town.) I'm going to see if I can get any better deals that way. Thanks for the tip!

I haven't ever stopped at a Northern state welcome center so I'll have to keep an eye out for them. I'd forgotten how handy those places are.

November Con // Travel to NJ, D.C., NYC (?)

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