<p>Lol, fendrock! I personally would not mind living there - there is a gorgeous college campus close by for lovely walks. :)</p>
<p>You’ll be done exploring the downtown of Wellesley in an hour, two tops. There’s really very little there. There’s a main drag with a CVS, Starbucks, Peets, a few restaurants and a few stores that are more meant to cater to suburban fortysomethings. It’s perfectly nice, just not a lot. </p>
<p>The campus itself is stunning and the walk around Lake Waban is lovely. I’m glad to hear you are at least staying there; that will make your logistics easier. </p>
<p>Not that it particularly helps for this trip, but wanted to add our experience. My D graduated from Wellesley in 2013, and she flew to Logan and always took public transportation to the campus. A taxi from Logan to the campus was around $80. Since that was too high for our budget she took the Silver Line bus to South Station, took the T to MIT, then took the bus from MIT to Wellesley. She also used zip cars while on campus. Usually she went in with some friends to get a car to do a shopping run.</p>
<p>“Just figuring out that when someone says silver line, that means subway, and when they say express, that is a bus,”</p>
<p>Since you are new to this, I thought I’d clarify - the terminology “silver line” doesn’t necessarily mean a subway.<br>
What this means is - in many cities, they designate the routes of public transportation using colors. So in that city, the silver line goes from a to b, the red line goes from c to d, the blue line e to f, and so forth. But they could be using those colors to denote bus routes, train routes, or subway routes (or sometimes even a combo of these things). Make sense? </p>
<p>In the case of Boston, the silver line is the only way out of the airport. People take it to South Station and then they might take another color line to their ultimate destination. In your case, Wellesley is not on any T line so you have to take a commuter train out that way, which is a different type of transportation. </p>
<p>Btw, in Boston, the subway is often referred to as the T. In Chicago, it’s called the el (for elevated). I don’t know if other cities have their own designations, but just so you know if you hear that language. </p>
<p>Also, express doesn’t necessarily connote a bus. It just means public transportation that offers an option whereby certain stops are skipped (so at certain times of day the route is abcdefghijklmnop and at other times they go from a all the way to p without a stop). That would be an express (subway, train or bus) from a to p. </p>
<p>Hope this helps! Safe travels! </p>
<p>A couple of comments. </p>
<p>Wellesley students universally use the Senate bus to get into Boston and Cambridge, so whatever you do, it won’t mimic what your D will do as a student. </p>
<p>I would use Megabus over Amtrak Boston to Philly. It’s faster and cheaper. Buses don’t obey the speed limit.</p>
<p>Very good point. Your daughter would only really be going from Logan to Wellesley a few times a year. W runs buses to the airport around holidays, or students pay other students to drive them. Since I’m redeeming miles for tickets, my D’s flights tend to be early morning before the buses start, so she simply tries to find a group of like minded students who need to get to Logan at a certain time, and they will share a cab or pay a student with a car to drive. </p>
<p>I just wanted to report back and thank everyone for the advice! We are back from our trip and it all worked out smoothly! We flew in to Logan then took the shuttle (free!) from the airport to South Station where we got on the commuter train to Wellesley. We got a bit turned around trying to walk to the campus, but only for a couple minutes…then it was no problem! The next day we took the train back to South station and headed out for some touring. :-)<br>
The campus is indeed beautiful! We were so surprised to get to see fall colors! I thought we’d miss it coming in November. We liked the little town; the shops and restaurants. It is small, but nice and such an easy walk from the campus. We were glad we stayed at the hotel on campus. It helped with logistics, but also allowed us to be on campus in the evenings and see what it was like after dark. It is a very quiet campus, and since it is so spread out it’s a little eerie and lonely walking on campus. You can walk around quite a bit without seeing many other people!</p>
<p>It has been suggested that it looks like Narnia. Especially with the lampposts. :)</p>
<p>Glad it all worked out well and smoothly for you!</p>