<p>We finally arrived in Boston and on the second day, I am 99.9% sure I am going to return my rental car. We are staying at Downtown Boston and our hotel has only valet parking for $40/day. Goodness gracious! The city is lovely but the driving for one day has put about 5 years of stress wrinkles on my face, not adding the back pain from the stress of watching out for the pedestrians. Is this a good idea to return the car? There is a train station right opposite my hotel. I am only worried about move in day, if I will need the car. My daughter can fit in everything in 2 suitcases. On second thought, I can always rent a car for move in day. Right?</p>
<p>schoolfees - If all your daughter has are two suitcases, I would probably just get a cab to Harvard and take the T the rest of the time. We always stayed at one of the Cambridge hotels and took cabs or shuttles to the school, except for move-in and graduation. Parking, both at your hotel and in Cambridge, are major hassles. A car is nice to have if your daughter needs something large that a car would be better for transporting, otherwise use a cab or the T.</p>
<p>I always had a car, but I also avoided driving and parking in Cambridge and downtown Boston. I did that by staying in the Residence Inn in Woburn. Itâs conveniently located right by the intersection of the 93 and 95 freeways, which makes it easy to get headed to just about anywhere for touring and side trips and such. It also has free parking and breakfast buffet.</p>
<p>When going into campus we drove the car to the Alewife train/subways station and parked in the big structure and then took the T for a short hop into Harvard. And we had the car available for rare drives into campus for special days like Move-in and Move-out. </p>
<p>And when itâs time to fly back home getting to Logan is a straight shot down the 93 freeway.</p>
<p>Once you get a Harvard ID, do you still need to carry Driverâs license with you as an ID? Or School ID works around Cambridge?</p>
<p>^^ Itâs always a good idea for students to have their driverâs license on them, as sometimes a store will ask for a state-issued photo ID when making a purchase with a debit or credit card. And when theyâre old enough, theyâll need their driverâs license to prove legal drinking age.</p>
<p>@gibby Thank you!</p>
<p>I returned the car and what a relief! We took the T back to the hotel and from the airport it was only about 2-3 train stops (12 mins) to the train station right opposite our hotel. I have decided to call a cab for move in day.
Total cost of parking for 2 days $55 i.e. $40 for one day parking at the hotel and $15 for parking to go to church!!!</p>
<p>Thanks for all your input. I guess it would have been a different experience if we were staying outside of Downtown Boston. We like the hotel for every other thing but parking. It is centrally located and we can trek to see so many things.
We are looking forward to enjoying the rest of our stay.</p>
<p>Itâs so exciting to hear about the new students and the excited parents arriving in Cambridge for the new year at Harvard. Iâm grateful that itâs not totally over for us yet. My son is now entering his 2nd year at HLS. </p>
<p>for parents wanting to know about driving in Cambridge, Donât! we used public transportation and it worked out great. We made the mistake of renting a car on our first visit 5 years ago and that was terrible. No parking anywhere.</p>
<p>Good luck to the new students and to the parents. Harvard is a great place!</p>
<p>I just want to mention that this week and next week are Restaurant Week (I know, why isnât it Weeks?) in the Boston area. There are some terrific restaurants in Cambridge and Boston (and the surrounding areas) that serve a 3-course dinners for $38. Restaurants like Rialto and Harvest are very close to Harvard, and are otherwise quite expensive. If you are interested, check this out:</p>
<p><a href=âhttp://www.restaurantweekboston.com/â[/url]â>www.restaurantweekboston.com/â</a></p>
<p>this is regarding âcrimson cashâ.
Before you add some value to the account, do you need to open up a new acccount(department card)? or you can just add value to you harvard ID and use it.</p>
<p>You add it to your Harvard ID. Crimson Cash isnât really used that much except to print at libraries, do laundry, and eat at local restaurants that accept it. Harvard is merging the printing system so that only PaperCut will be needed. I used quarters for laundry and printed in dorms/houses with PC.</p>
<p>Anyone know what the current policy on âloftingâ beds in the houses is? I thought I remembered it was prohibited, but I canât find any info online.</p>
<p>I donât think itâs allowed (that would require messing with the walls). But people get around it by putting their beds on tall furniture, like dressers.</p>
<p>I moved my daughter into Mather today and was pleasantly surprised that Harvard has supplied all Mather Common Rooms with a leather coach, 2 accent chairs and coffee a table. Did Harvard do this for all the houses or just Mather?</p>
<p>Are you talking about house-wide common rooms or in suite common rooms? If the former, all house-wide common rooms are well-furnished</p>
<p>^^ All in-suite common rooms at Mather were outfitted with a new leather coach, 2 accent chairs and coffee table.</p>
<p>I had read about common room furniture previously, and found the following info from this article - [College</a> Showcases New Common Space Furniture | News | The Harvard Crimson](<a href=âCollege Showcases New Common Space Furniture | News | The Harvard Crimsonâ>College Showcases New Common Space Furniture | News | The Harvard Crimson)</p>
<p>âEarlier this year, the College announced that it would purchase and provide common room furniture for all the Houses in order to eliminate the need for storage space and prevent future students from having to buy furniture each year.â</p>
<p>Oh yes I forgot about that. I donât think they have done it in all houses yet, but I did hear about that.</p>
<p>Itâs mostly due to certain houses by the river not having enough room in storage. The quad has less residents per house than the river houses (3-400 in each quad house, donât know about river houses but itâs a lot more).</p>
<p>No suite/common room furniture in Winthrop yet. The basement storage areas are ridiculously disorganized and overcrowded⊠impossible to get anything out with everything piled on top of everything else. Love the plan to (eventually) provide couches/coffee tables/chairs!</p>