<p>Kayak.com has been very useful. The problem is the alternate airport search to find lower airfare: I HAVE to go to Newark (though I can just as easily leave from SFO as OAK, and could probably manage SJC if the cost difference was worth the trouble of getting there). </p>
<p>Thanks for the site suggestions – I just keep looking, and occasionally I find deals that surprise me. Such as the one I found on Southwest which if I bought before November 16th would not only give me two round-trip tickets to Long Island and back for $475 but would also earn me the last two credits I need for my own free flight. Alas – Long Island is NOT where I need to be, and I’m not sure I can buy the tickets that quickly anyway.</p>
<p>cheers, I get tired just READING that! We’ll see if we can fit that in, though; that definitely makes the most of the limited time we have. And since we both habitually stay up past 2am, I imagine we could do that and add in a caffeine IV like jmmom suggests and be fine. </p>
<p>suze: I hadn’t really thought about dinner after the play. We’re both used to towns that close down rather early (where I’m at now, which is usually shut down by 7pm except maybe 1 or 2 restaurants on Friday nights, and Berkeley which shuts down at 5pm except for a few restaurants that close in rapid succession the later the night – in either case, nothing is ever open at the time the show would be over!). I’ll look into those, thanks. :)</p>
<p>I got a reply from his aunt yesterday and she says she’s more than happy to host us Friday through Sunday nights (even though she recommends a hotel downtown for Saturday night, since the play will be over so late), so the trip is now February 16-19. Score an extra day!</p>
<p>Airtran flies from LA and San Francisco to LaGuardia and Newark (also to White Plains and soon to Newburgh). One possibility would be to fly Southwest from Oakland to a city where you can connect to Airtran (like Las Vegas or something) but you’d better be willing to change planes a few times. You can get your seats 24 hours in advance. You don’t have to get then assigned at check-inlike you wo with Southwest. </p>
<p>If you are also a student with an “edu” email address, you can get a student universe account, like jasmom mentioned. If you want to save $$, I’d consider taking Southwest/ATA to La Guardia and then get a shuttle to Newark. It really isnt all that far. Alternatively, you can probaly get a shuttle into the city and then look into taking a train out to NJ. </p>
<p>As for tickets, get discount tickets through theatermania.com or broadwaybox.com (the broadwaybox website was acting up when I tried it a few minutes ago, but it is a great site!)</p>
<p>Want to reiterate the advice of those that have told you to make your plans as soon as possible. In the northeast, many public schools have off the entire President’s week…so there is lots of travel. Even though it’s February, it is a very busy weekend in NYC for plays and museums. </p>
<p>And…as also noted by others…if you need to take connecting flights, choose somwhere like Las Vegas or the south…try not to fly through Chicago, Minneapolis or Detroit! You could have a blizzard…or it could be 60+ degrees! Be prepared to stay an extra day, if necessary.</p>
<p>for food options, look at <a href=“http://www.menupages.com%5B/url%5D”>www.menupages.com</a> - you can preview restaurants by neighborhood, price, type of food, etc, as well as see their menus.</p>
<p>for affordable shopping- go to herald square (34th/broadway). Macys and H&M among tons of other fun stores.</p>
<p>For ridiculously expensive window shopping, walk through the area around FAO Schwartz (Madison Ave and the 60s).</p>
<p>Something else fun to do is go to a comedy club- one of the best ones is the comedy cellar. Look it up online and print out FREE tickets. Some of the best young comics out there, and famous comedians randomly drop by often (Dave Chapelle walked in off the street when I was there and proceeded to do an entire set).</p>
<p>Check this out—I’m going to, next time I’m in the city–it’s where a lot of my people came from. I just learned of this listening to 1010 WINS as I drove by the city yesterday–there are many more museums than are listed on the website–apparently the publicity has preceded the organization. There are supposedly a dozen or more museums in lower Manhatten detailing the experiences of its residents over many generations. <a href=“http://www.museumsoflowermanhattan.org/[/url]”>http://www.museumsoflowermanhattan.org/</a></p>
<p>Also–never forget–Javert is one of the good guys. </p>
<p>Last time I saw Les Mis, in NYC, I sat across the aisle from Johnny Cochran. He saw my 3-yard stare (more of a contemptuous glance, really), and when the lights came on he was gone. He died within a couple of years.</p>
<p>All of the suggestions have been noted (printed, filed and highlighted, in fact), and I greatly appreciate the insight. As a NYC newbie, I imagine all that advice will come in handy!</p>
<p>I am reviving this thread because I have a question about airfare and general ease of travel.</p>
<p>Most of the airfare deals I’ve seen are running into the $700s for two round-trip tickets Feb 16 and Feb 19. I did, however, find a deal at Southwest to fly from Oakland to LaGuardia for $570 for the same thing. My question is: is there an “easy”/cheap way to get from LaGuardia to Newark (or even all the way to Plainfield), or would it just be better to go with one of the AA flights from OAK to EWR?</p>
<p>For the cheap way…but very time consuming (and, IMHO, too time consuming for a short weekend) you could probably get a bus from LGA to Manhattan…they go to Grand Central Terminal (which won’t help you much…because there aren’t any trains from Grand Central to NJ) I’m not sure if there are buses from LGA to Penn Station (trains to NJ) or Port Authority (buses to NJ). One of the NJ parents might have better info.</p>