<p>12 or 13 inch is too small for a college laptop, at least in my opinion. nearly everyone has 14 inch or bigger. 15 inch is about perfect.</p>
<p>i’m shipping my bike via the bike shop, because i have a decent one that i want to take, so that will be waiting for me when i get there. I’m taking just one parent with me, and i’ll pack everything i need in the four allotted checked bags (they’re going to be huge). my mom will pack in a carry on, parents aren’t staying long anyway. I’m looking for a ticket with as few layovers as possible, hopefully to San Jose or San Fran so i can take the caltrain directly to the Palo Alto station. That station is right in front of campus, so that way the only bus i have to deal with is the Marguerite shuttle that runs from the station into campus.</p>
<p>ngolsh, you might want to consider taking the [SUPERSHUTTLE</a> - Airport Shuttle Transportation](<a href=“Supershuttle Express Black Car, SUV & Private Van”>Supershuttle Express Black Car, SUV & Private Van). It isn’t too expensive, and you get on a van at the airport and it takes you straight to your dorm. That’s convenient, especially when you are schlepping lots of luggage. Public transportation from SFO includes 4 different trains and a bus. Caltrain is great for going to downtown San Francisco, but not to the airport when you have lots of bags.</p>
<p>I just booked my flight. Both my mom and my younger sister are coming along- since the flights are cheap we figured we’d bring my sister to see the school. We found flights with one layover in chicago for 220, and the one-way ticket for me was exactly half price, which was nice. we’re flying into San Fran on Saturday. We’re going to stay in a hotel somewhere north of Palo Alto, within walking distance of a caltrain station. </p>
<p>We’re going to spend Sunday and Monday exploring San Fran and buying things like shelves, storage, etc. or whatever i decide not to bring in my luggage.</p>
<p>@gladmom
supershuttle may be convenient, yeah, but why waste the money when good public transportation is available? Taking the train is greener anyway. Plus this way i’ll get to know the caltrain system, which i will undoubtedly have to use at some point.</p>
<p>Got my ticket yesterday! Yay! I think I’ll take the Supershuttle though. While I would really prefer to save the money by taking the train, I’d rather not do it while I’m dragging suitcases behind me. lol</p>
<p>ngolsh, I admire your desire to “not waste money when good public transportation is available”, and believe me, I am very frugal and love public trans, including BART. And I am sure YOU can easily do whatever is necessary to get your luggage to your destination. I am, however, thinking about your Mom. It isn’t easy to carry luggage (especially the large kind that you bring for move-in), and it can be tricky getting it into and out of train cars, and you will have 4 train cars to negotiate from SFO. If you do this, I hope you have wheeled bags.</p>
<p>My family went via SFO for move-in and took the airtrain to the car rental place. We also were there earlier in the summer for a backpacking trip, when we each had a large backpack, a big bag and carry-on items. We used airport carts to carry this stuff, and without them, I don’t know how we would have managed even just getting to the car rental place. I can deal with one big bag, but not two, and you probably won’t want to make multiple trips. I don’t shirk from physical challenges, as you can see by our trip in the Sierras where I hiked 75 miles, going over mountain passes, and carrying a 40 pound pack on a 15 day trip. But, as a Mom, I wouldn’t want to do what you are planning. It isn’t that much cheaper, either, since Caltrain for 3 is $7.50, Bart is $7.50, for a total of $15.00, and the Super Shuttle for 3 would be $36 (a special rate through 9/15).</p>
<p>Anyway, I’m not trying to be pushy, but am just pointing things out. I’m sure you’ll get there, and will have a great trip, but … think of your Mom! You can learn the public trans system on your own, carrying nothing.</p>
<p>My advice is NOT to take public transportation when first arriving. Consider it for later when you’re not carrying as much stuff, maybe, but not on move-in day. If you do, you will arrive at your dorm and feel like collapsing. Super Shuttle also gets you there in about half the time.</p>
<p>Hmm…i might still be taking public transportation cause we’ve come to realize we don’t have the luggage needed to pack up everything I need. I don’t know what the cost of buying luggage to shipping will be so thats something else to consider. If I do manage to get 4 giant suitcases though I think I’ll take Supershuttle as well. But if you’re not planning on getting there move in day, whats the best plan of getting your things from the hotel to your dorm? In the end car rental seems like the best idea.</p>
<p>i think what we’re going to do is get a hotel within short walking distance of a caltrain station that links directly to palo alto (so we only have to take a single train to the palo alto station) and take the supershuttle there (to the hotel) when we arrive Saturday morning. Sunday we’re going to spend the day in San Fransisco, so we’ll take the train for that. Monday is shopping. When tuesday rolls around we only have to do the short walk to the station and ride one train to palo alto, then get on the marguerite to campus.</p>
<p>Baten,
I think its OK to check boxes on the airplane, as long as they conform to weight and size requirements (you would need to look at the airline website for this). I’ve certainly seen them coming through the baggage pick up.
Also, remember that you could borrow suitcases, then empty them and send them home with your parent when they go back. At the end of the school year you can store stuff in the basement of one of the dorms for a small fee (they provide the packing boxes). As long as you have maybe 2 suitcases or duffels to transport the stuff you need for summer at home. You can buy duffels pretty cheaply at LL Bean or probably target.</p>
<p>I advise against the duffels from Target. I wanted something with wheels, but that would collapse nice and small for storage in my dorm room. So I got rolling duffels from Target. They were cheap, but by the end of my junior year, they were held together with duct tape.</p>
<p>I’m going to be packing mostly in duffels as of right now, other than my backpacking pack. That could change, though- do dorms provide a place to store hard luggage during the academic year?</p>
<p>Would it make any sense to get a mac that can also run Windows operating system (using bootcamp)? I use Windows and prefer it over Mac, but Stanford really seems to push for Macs. Also, I’m a bit skeptical about using a Mac while majoring in computer science.</p>
<p>ah, another comp sci major. they only push for macs because the tech support doesn’t want to deal with the fuzzies who don’t know what they’re doing and inadvertently infect their entire dorm with a trojan rootkit. techies like you and i will be fine with windows machines- just keep your antivirus updated. i recommend lenovo, both the thinkpad and ideapad series.</p>
<p>Is anyone else here having trouble making a booking for the Super Shuttle or is it just me? I’ve been trying since Saturday and it keeps saying that they’re experiencing problems…</p>
<p>hmmm…boxes to the airline. another wonderful option! great. <em>sigh</em> i think i’m just going to not confuse myself and ship boxes and fly with luggage (not duffels bags ^^ - i don’t have any of them anyways except for my tiny gym/track bag thing)</p>
<p>i can’t help with the computer decision since i’m having my own. i don’t have a set major (although i am considering comp sci) so i’m just looking for something with the least amount of problems. as of right now, thats my hp rather than the macbook i’m trying to embrace.</p>
You can learn the public trans system on your own, carrying nothing.</p>