<p>Thank you all so much! It’s so nice to check in and see such wonderful messages. We are excited for him and hope that he loves it because there’s no turning back now. </p>
<p>I had NO idea that we couldn’t get non stop to LGA from the Bay Area! That was a shock to read. When I booked the flight for him to visit, I picked the flight with a layover simply because it was the cheapest I could find on short notice. It had a stop over in Detroit and was delayed an hour on the way there so I told him when he flies by himself, we would always book a nonstop. I guess I have to compare the ground transportation costs of flying nonstop into the other airports so I can really see the true costs of the trip and how much time he will save (or lose) flying into JFK or one of the other airports with a nonstop flight. If ground transportation from a different airport costs a lot more, it might be worth having the layover. Thank you for letting me know! I would have been searching and searching for the non stop from Bay Area to LGA.</p>
<p>Thanks, too, for the tips about the clothing. I hit the end of the season online sales and was able to get a lot of great deals. I think all he needs now are shoes, scarf and sheets! I’ll send him with the basics and ship the winter gear later. Luckily, boys need less stuff than girls so he won’t have a lot of “extras” and thanks to tips from other moms, I now know to use Amazon and the like for shampoo and laundry detergent. Son hates shopping so we’ll skip the trip to BB&B. He will just have to do without things he could have had in CA if we drove, like a fridge and tv. It doesn’t seem like he needs that anyway. I will have to ship his guitar and amp to him though. I wonder if a guitar can be a “carry on”-lol"?!</p>
<p>2016BarnardMom, I mentioned the marching band and he laughed. I guess they got to see them play on the visit and he thought they were very funny and he showed me some youtube videos. I don’t think he can play guitar while he marches but drums might come in handy. Thanks for all of your help before!</p>
<p>As a mom, I will always find stuff to worry about. Now, I have to worry about Columbia being ranked as the “Most Rigorous” school. I will be curious to see if it’s that much more difficult to what they are going through now. Someone just told me that a person dies once a week on the subway-um, thanks for giving me something else to worry about. I was warned to teach him the 'subway stance" and all about “mugger money”-yikes. There is so much for him to learn. Just think, at one point I was worried about him learning to walk in the snow-lol. His whole life is going to change and it’s exciting and scary at the same time!</p>
<p>Thank you again for all your nice, helpful messages!</p>