<p>@2018dad, I suggest that you look at hotels in Secaucus, NJ…Harmon Meadow…just google that. Every hotel in many price ranges is in that complex which is right outside the Lincoln Tunnel (it’s where MetLife aka Giant Stadium) is located. Full of shopping and restaurants. You can park at any of the hotels and take NJ Transit bus directly into NYC Port Authority. I commute it every day. </p>
<p>We go to NYC all the time. Oftentimes we use Hotwire.com, look for a 3* or above hotel w/ 70% or greater reviews and take subway around the town. Have paid as low as $90/night in the financial district - great place to see 911 Memorial at night. Thanks @tpcrd66, I may use that idea next time. I know the kids often stay in that location with HS trips to the city.</p>
<p>Whatever accomodations you arrange, make sure you work into it what you will be doing with your car while you;re there. Because you won’t want to be driving it to get around in Manhattan. For people not used to it (and even those who are, sometimes) driving in, and even into, Manhattan can be very stressful.</p>
<p>I’m disembarking again! D decided to go with the school that offered her a place off the waitlist. It’s been a crazy couple of days while she pondered. </p>
<p>I’ll leave the margarita machines for everyone who has to go back on board the SS Indecision due to waitlist acceptances. </p>
<p>@monydad – and the streets are not in the best shape after the winter we have had. Bad pot holes!</p>
<p>Also, no right on red in NYC. It took me a little while to figure that one out. I actually found NYC driving easier than Boston driving, but neither is for the uninitiated. </p>
<p>@monydad @CT1417
How is it compared to LA and SF? I lived in SF when I was younger and frequent LA every now and then, so I’m not really novice to urban driving. I drove once in Rome/Naples and that was quite an experience.</p>
<p>I’ll probably not gonna drive in NYC. I’m liking what @tpcrd66 mentioned. Stay in Secaucus, NJ, then take the bus. Thank you all!</p>
<p>I never drove when visiting LA or SF so cannot fairly comment. </p>
<p>NYC: there is a traffic light every block (20 blocks/mile). There are rules/restrictions about turning onto or off of avenues. Streets run north-south; avenues run east-west. When you are at an intersection where you are allowed to turn, you often sit stuck behind others waiting to turn (no turn signals). Rules against ‘blocking the box’, AKA pulling into intersection but not able to make it through before light changes. (Heavy fine and points on license.) The traffic in some areas is so congested that you would almost be faster walking.</p>
<p>Am I discouraging enough yet? I only kept a car in Manhattan during the summer in order to leave on Fri afternoons. We later had a car in the city so that my husband could commute out of the city, but we never took the car out of the garage on weekends b/c you always needed somewhere to put the car at the end of your journey. Having said this, I have friends who live in NY and drive their children to school or sports & activities, so plenty of people use their cars w/in the city, but it is REALLY not advised for visitors. Drivers are aggressive. </p>
<p>Boston: much smaller, but some odd road rules and downtown is a maze of roads. If you do drive in Boston, take care to look before starting up at the green light as there is often someone running the red coming through the intersection. </p>
<p>We drive into Boston, NY, Philly, DC, but I just suggested avoiding the expense of paying for a rental car and the garage fees when you won’t be able to use the car in the city. If you take the car out of the garage to go anywhere, you would need to pay for a garage at your destination as on-street parking is very limited.</p>
<p>@CT1417 Thank you. I’ll PM you if I have more questions.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, my appeal for any FA to Cornell got denied. Oh well, at least I tried. I guess their NPC is accurate after all.</p>
<p>I actually drove in SF for several days, a few months ago.
I think it is way easier to drive in SF, more like Chicago when I lived there.</p>
<p>In Manhattan, especially anywhere near midtown, it is not uncommon to be in repeated stop and go traffic, with an emphasis on the stop. While taxi cabs constantly stop in the middle of the street in front of you, and cut you off so they can make a left turn from the middle lane, etc. Then you can also dodge the bike messengers. And see the pedestrians ignore the traffic lights and continue crossing the street right in front of you, so you can;t go straight. even after the light has changed.
Then the light changes on you, with the result that you find yourself stuck and blocking the intersection, while 4,000 vehicles are trying to cross from the other direction. It can be stressful.
Particularly when one compounds this with the fact that you won’t know where you are going.</p>
<p>And there are a lot of one way streets, which SF has also IIRC.
However SF shares one feature, which is that it can be hard to find a place to park your car.
NYC is not hilly though.</p>
<p>I’ve never had trouble driving in LA either, save for navigating the six zillion lane highways. I haven’t spent that much time there. But I think that’s a lot easier too. In LA it is expected that you will get around in a car, and the infrastructure/streets were developed accordingly. Seems to me.
In Manhattan it is not expected that you will get around in a car. The ancient streets, developed for a bygone era, simply do not accommodate the volume of traffic- both vehicle and pedestrian- that people submit them to.</p>
<p>I’m overstating the case somewhat, I drive there frequently myself .I try to avoid midtown when possible, but lots of times it isn’t because that’s where I’m going. So I do drive there too. One can definitely do it,and survive. But it isn’t always stressless.</p>
<p>These days, if we’re going someplace that can be walked to from Grand Central, or is just a quick subway trip from it, and I’m not going back that late. I’m likely to take the commuter train in instead of driving. It takes the same amount of time, is much less stressful, and I don’t have to worry about traffic or where to park my car.</p>
<p>Both Boston and NYC are less terrifying with a GPS (assuming correct maps) in my experience. At least you know where you’re going. The other aspects are definitely stressful though. I much prefer walking and public transit in both cities, but I’m not a big city girl.</p>
<p>BTW, my above comments most accurately describe only midtown Manhattan. Driving in upper Manhattan or lower Manhattan is really not all that bad. Though one stil has to find a place to park. </p>
<p>To get in or out of Manhattan, via a highway or a bridge, it is advisable to have EZ Pass, else you may wind up on a long toll line. To get into Manhattan from New Jersey, via bridge or tunnel, is sort of like Russian roulette. Nine out ten trips you will go through over the bridge with only minimal, acceptable delays. The tenth you will be sitting in bumper to bumper traffic for over an hour. Time of day plays a role in this, but not exclusively.</p>
<p>Driving in the outer boroughs is not a problem either. But the BQE (Brooklyn-Queens Expressway) is basically a parking lot every time I drive on it these days, avoid if possible.</p>
<p>@Snowme - Good luck with D’s waitlist decision. (Edit) Saw you latest post that she accepted the waitlisted school Congrats!</p>
<p>@AsleepAtTheWheel - Welcome to my world. Our kid’s HS Classes are 1991, 1995, 2011 and 2014. Our oldest grandchild is HS Class of 2026! </p>
<p>@2014ProfDad - DW (the oldest of 5) is 24 years older than her youngest brother.</p>
<p>I concur that LA traffic is a breeze compared with the NYC metro traffic and mid-town in particular. And Boston is no better for traffic. Park it and use transit as its much less stressful.</p>
<p>Congratulations Everyone for making final decisions ! My nephew will be attending UW this Fall! </p>
<p>Growing up in Boston, I don’t find it hard to get around by car but then again I am a Boston driver ! Lol …When I lived in the Back Bay years ago I did not have a car and walked most places. Public transit ( The T) is easy to use.
I recently had to go to NYC for work and found it really easy to take Amtrak’s Acela train that runs from Boston to NYC in about 3 hrs or so. I took it from Providence. It is very convenient. If you want to see Boston and NYC . I would suggest flying into Boston and take the Acela to NYC., rent a car to get to Cornell and fly home from NY. Also, have you ever used AirBnB ? I have a friend who occasionally rents her apartment in NYC thru AirBnB. I’ve used it occasionally, and have had very positive experiences. I am staying in Burlington during orientation in June and Parents weekend this Fall at an AirBnB home. </p>
<p>@2018dad When we visited NYC for a college trip 2 years ago, we drove in to our hotel (in the Theatre District, not very hard to drive to) and parked the car in a parking garage there, checked in and left our luggage in the room. We then took subways/taxis around town to the colleges, restaurants, sights. This worked out very well for us.</p>
<p>Boston is really not that difficult to drive in. Nothing like NYC, at least. Boston drivers can be aggressive and rude, especially compared to other parts of the country, but it isn’t insane like NYC.</p>
<p>And the cash toll going from New Jersey into Manhattan is $13 ( you just pay one way - going into manhattan, not going into New Jersey)</p>
<p>@snowme - welcome back off the ship! So what school took her off the waitlist?</p>
<p>@snowme – glad she went back to her initial choice – you must be relieved.</p>
<p>If anyone needs Chocolate Therapy with their mojitos, here is the best double chocolate cookie recipe ever:
<a href=“http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/MOCHA-COOKIES-THE-BAKERY-50009669”>http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/MOCHA-COOKIES-THE-BAKERY-50009669</a></p>
<p>Making them for today’s baseball game/bake sale.</p>
<p>Enjoy the beautiful weather everyone!</p>
<p>@snowme – I’m with @eyemamom. You just gotta tell us the names of the schools involved!!</p>
<p>Does anyone else find it amusing that it is free to go into New Jersey but you have to pay to get out? (this is true with Pennsylvania as well as New York toll booths). </p>
<p>Actually, aside from a few areas near Philly and NYC, New Jersey is quite a lovely state.</p>