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

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01 October 2008 @ 10:30 am

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.

Tags: new jersey, new york city, sg-1, travel, washington d.c.

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aurora-novarum.livejournal.com on October 1st, 2008 03:51 pm (UTC)

Do not stay in Columbia. You're going the wrong direction, slightly out of the way, and traffic's a pain in that area.

If you're touring, you could stay in one of the Baltimore city hotels that are nice and downtown (and may have good rates).

If you're not, the hotels right by the airport are quite nice (locals often stay at them to take advantage of the free parking), and then you'll be on your way. You could even get up the road some, but if you're late night arrival, the closer the better.

Cherry Hill's probably about 2 1/2 hours from the airport (And I'm being SUPER generous here. It'll likely take you around two).

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hsapiens.livejournal.com on October 1st, 2008 04:08 pm (UTC)

You're right. Columbia is in the wrong direction. Since I'll be alone that night, I was gravitating to the known and familiar. I've heard so many (probably overblown) things about safety and Baltimore that I wanted to be comfortable with where I'd be staying. If, however, the hotels right around the airport are good, then that'll be my first choice. Finding hotels for the first time in the dark, wee hours of the morning while driving in a new-to-me city is not my idea of a great time. Thanks for the info!

I'm already getting excited about the trip, even if I'm not super-excited about the guest line-up for the con. It's a good thing that the best part of a con is actually the fans. :)

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aurora-novarum.livejournal.com on October 1st, 2008 05:33 pm (UTC)

I just checked with a couple friends, and they've stayed at the BWI Comfort Inn and found it nice and clean. Hampton Inns are luxurious low/midrange hotels too. I've stayed in both hotel chains before, but I've not stayed in the BWI area ones for either (Arundel Mills is taking you a bit south, but not by much, as samtillas mentioned).

Happy travels!

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hsapiens.livejournal.com on October 1st, 2008 06:02 pm (UTC)

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.

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aurora-novarum.livejournal.com on October 1st, 2008 06:23 pm (UTC)

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).

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samantilles.livejournal.com on October 1st, 2008 06:40 pm (UTC)

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)

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aurora-novarum.livejournal.com on October 1st, 2008 07:08 pm (UTC)

Ew. (P.S. to

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

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samantilles.livejournal.com on October 1st, 2008 08:18 pm (UTC)

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

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hsapiens.livejournal.com on October 2nd, 2008 01:49 pm (UTC)

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

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hsapiens.livejournal.com on October 2nd, 2008 01:48 pm (UTC)

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.)

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hsapiens.livejournal.com on October 2nd, 2008 01:42 pm (UTC)

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.

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hsapiens.livejournal.com on October 1st, 2008 09:33 pm (UTC)

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!

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aurora-novarum.livejournal.com on October 1st, 2008 06:36 pm (UTC)

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 06:41 pm (UTC)

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hsapiens.livejournal.com on October 2nd, 2008 02:00 pm (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.

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samantilles.livejournal.com on October 1st, 2008 06:42 pm (UTC)

you travel to the wrong part of Baltimore (and trust me, you know the moment you step into the wrong area) its not safe, but by and large the suburbs are okay... the hotel district of BWI is literally just hotels and small office business parks; they are largely segregated from the general population

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hsapiens.livejournal.com on October 2nd, 2008 03:46 pm (UTC)

Yeah, I figured as much. I figured the Big Scary City of Baltimore was over-hyped. I was in Baltimore last year and found it to be a charming, community-minded place with extraordinarily nice people. (A museum volunteer drove

jalabert and me around, trying to find our car when the museum shuttle operator decided to quit early. She didn't know the city any better than we did but she was extremely gracious in offering her help.)

I never felt in danger in the city but when I'm traveling on my own I tend to be a little more paranoid.

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samantilles.livejournal.com on October 2nd, 2008 09:36 pm (UTC)

I still remember the morning of Trilogy Tuesday (the mega release of the extended editions of LotR and the early premiere of Return of the King that was only held in 99 theatres around the country) my sister and I were driving to the Senator Theatre on the north side of town, and lets just say we crossed that magical line into bad East side territory by accident... she and I were literally crouching down as low as was legally possible and still be driving... two am that december morning was quite scary indeed (especially for two uppity white girls with elvish ears and capes... yeah...)

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