Otakon in Baltimore... hm.

[camwyn]

A friend of mine has suggested I come to Otakon in Baltimore this August, as I have never been to a large con before. I've been considering it, but lately I have not enjoyed long-distance driving experiences - my car is in need of a tuneup and I do not have the $300+ I will need for the scheduled one. I went nosing around the web for travel fares, leaving 8 August, going to DC, crashing briefly at my friend's place, then attending the con and going home on Sunday, 10 August.

Amtrak wants $160. I have been to DC on Amtrak. Not a bad trip, but $160? I could get to Canada for that price.
Greyhound wants $80 and only has one bus I could take out of Newark - too early in the day to leave on Friday. I'm not sure if they run evening buses from the Port Authority, as I did not bother to look when I saw the price.

As it happens, I get Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel Magazine. It suggested a while back that budget travelers who don't mind buses should look into shuttle services out of Chinatown - that there is at least one service that will ferry people from Canal Street in NYC to Boston for $10. So I typed 'Chinatown bus New York Washington' into Google.

New Century Travel has something like five or six buses a day to DC, including ones that leave at 6 and 10 PM. They look like standard Greyhound buses, although at these prices I expect the seats are probably fairly small. By 'these prices' I mean $35 - for a round trip.

I get out of work at three on Fridays during the summer; it's half an hour to home, where I would have to leave the car. The NJ transit schedule has trains leaving for NY Penn Station at 3:30 and 4 PM. Catch one of those, then pop out of Penn and wander over to the MTA/PATH station on 33rd and ride the W down to Canal, then head up to 88 East Broadway, and badabing - off we go. I'm thinkin' I might just be able to see my way clear to doing that.

(I take an inordinate amount of joy in faintly unorthodox methods of travel. ANY fool can drive to Washington, or take a plane, or what have you. Finding reasonable train, bus, etc. fare and going in a fashion that would not occur to most people I know or to my family members - that's almost as much joy as the trip itself.)

Comments

[mephron]

AnimeCon? In DC?

oh. That's Otakon. Okay....

[camwyn]

Erp, you're right, Og make mistake. Og fix.

[just-the-ash.livejournal.com]

Og come to DC, birdie give Og major hug.

[camwyn]

If Og manage, Og let bird know. Og have little problem - Og find out today Og sister have thank-you party on 10 August, for all wedding people. Og need find out if Og can take 8 August off from work. Otherwise Og not have much time in DC, Baltimore at all. Og try find out, though.