Boston college trip/sightseeing, car & hotel inquiry

Hi -

We are a San Francisco family planning a Monday thru Saturday trip with my teenage son and preteen daughter in late June to the Boston area, which they have not seen before and I haven%26#39;t visited since pre-kid business trip days (basically saw the inside of conference rooms!).

We plan to arrive Monday night, stay one night in the city (Marriott Long Wharf?) so we can walk around a few sights %26amp; eat, then Tuesday morning drive north to Tufts and on to Dartmouth for an overnight stay. After that, we return on Wednesday evening. We will be seeing Boston College, Boston U. and Northeastern. Also want to go to go to see Brown, probably Friday morning/day. We leave early Saturday. I KNOW it%26#39;s a tight schedule......

Questions:

Car - We need it to go to Dartmouth, so we are planning to get it at the airport, drive to the Marriott Long Wharf and then leave early the next morning. Should we return the car so we can take just public transportation to the colleges in Boston and then rent a car again for the Providence/Brown trip? Keep it and don%26#39;t use it in the city?

Hotel - We want to be centrally located so we can see a FEW sights in between the college visits. Generally, we like charm and local flavor unique to the city we visit, or great views. I%26#39;ve thought of the Omni Parker House, but am worried about the construction next door (my husband HATES construction) - is the construction behind the hotel or along side it?. Other ideas? Go back to the Long Wharf for convenient location and at least water views?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Boston college trip/sightseeing, car %26amp; hotel inquiry

Hi,

The Long Wharf is a great hotel, in a central location and has lots of Boston views. However, if your husband hates construction, I hate to tell you, but the Long Wharf is surrounded by the remains of the Big Dig construction. However, if you decide that it%26#39;s not bothersome, I%26#39;d see if they had rooms for your return and stay there. It%26#39;s walking distance to Quincy Market, the North End, Downtown, Chinatown, etc. and convenient to the T for trips to other areas like Back Bay, Harvard, etc.

There is a condo development being built about 3 blocks from the Parker House, I don%26#39;t know if that%26#39;s the construction you are referring to. It really doesn%26#39;t have much impact on the hotel itself. It%26#39;s difficult to eliminate all nearby construction if you want to stay in downtown Boston; it%26#39;s a busy place. You might also try Jury%26#39;s hotel in the Back Bay. It gets consistently high ratings, and it%26#39;s in a converted Police station in the heart of Back Bay, so it%26#39;s got charm and a good tourist location. You can walk all over the Back Bay and South End and Beacon Hill from that area as well.

For views, you might try the Marriott Custom House hotel, which is in an historic landmark building downtown, across the street from Quincy Market. If you can get a room on an upper floor, you will have outstanding views of all of Boston, harbor and city.

Parking at the Long Wharf for one night will cost you $42, plus the rental cost of a car for that night which you really don%26#39;t need.

If I were you, I%26#39;d head out to the airport from the Long Wharf, the morning of your departure, and rent the car. The Long Wharf is on top of the Aquarium Blue Line T stop, which will take you directly to the Airport, where you can pick up the car, and head out from there to Dartmouth. Then, I%26#39;d drive back to the airport and return the car, and take the T into the city, back to your hotel.

Boston college trip/sightseeing, car %26amp; hotel inquiry

I am currently looking at colleges with my seventeen year old daughter and have been to many of those you mentioned and I can tell you from experience that you would probably go crazy trying to go to all of the schools on your list. It%26#39;s not that they are that far apart - it%26#39;s the time involved. Your talking about a one hour information session and usually a one hour tour, as well as time spent finding parking and the right building, etc. Trying to go to all will also really cut into any sightseeing plans.

I would suggest the following - Try to get your son to eliminate a couple (Have you checked out Princetonreview.com and studentsreview.com which have input from students as to what the schools are really like?) If Dartmouth and Tufts are still on your list, then you might want to consider a hotel in the north suburbs. You could aim for a Tuesday afternoon tour at Tufts and then check in to a hotel in Meford (where Tufts is located) or a little further north in the city of Woburn. Wednesday you could drive to Dartmouth for the day (its approximately two hours) and then return to your hotel that evening. Thursday you could take the T (our subway) from Medford (if you%26#39;re staying there) or the commuter rail (if you%26#39;re in Woburn) into Boston to see BC, BU and Northeastern. You could return that night to your hotel and spend Friday either driving to Providence to see Brown or continue with the schools in Boston.

Of course that strategy leaves you with only Tuesday a.m. to see Boston, so if seeing some of the city is a priority, you might want to stay two nights at the Marriott Long Wharf and save Dartmouth and Brown for later in the trip.

I agree with everybody%26#39;s input, particularly the last one. Your schedule is very ambitious, probably too ambitious. I don%26#39;t think you can plan on seeing three schools in one day. In addition to the logistics involved, you%26#39;d be so bleary-eyed that all the views of the schools would be munged together so much so that you wouldn%26#39;t remember what you saw where.

You%26#39;ve probably got the drill by now but BC, BU, Northeastern, and Tufts are all on the ';T';, so at least you don%26#39;t have to worry about directions, parking, etc. But I wouldn%26#39;t plan on more than two schools per day. Even one a day is probably more ideal, but I know it%26#39;s not an ideal world. And a car, except for Tufts, would really get in your way. So don%26#39;t have the car in Boston and have to worry about parking and paying for the priviledge (like $40+ a day at the hotels).

And I always suggest spending an evening in Harvard Square and walking through Harvard Yard, even if it%26#39;s not even a glint in your long long list. It%26#39;s a part of Boston that you and the family should experience, especially when one of them might go to school here.

Anyway, let us know what you%26#39;re planning.

All of the colleges you want to visit are easily accessible by public transportation and visiting them that way would be easier than driving, but if you stay downtown, two are a bit far out. Tufts (Red Line to Davis, then 10 min. walk or 94 or 96 bus) is easy enough, but Boston College (Green Line B to the end) is a TREK. You should try to arrange things to visit at least one of these colleges on your way in or out of the city when you have a car.

... and then get totally lost?? I don%26#39;t think so. If you can get there on the T, I think it makes sense to do. BC is right on the Green Line. Driving to either is pretty complicated. Stay with your T plan!

Wow - you guys are all so quick in responding - - I REALLY appreciate it.

Thanks for the info on the valet parking costs. We%26#39;ll just go on the T from the airport to the Marriott Long Wharf the first night - -we will still be on SF time, so we%26#39;ll have a long evening to walk around a bit Monday night. Then we%26#39;ll just rent the car Tuesday am across the street to go north to Tufts for Tuesday, stay in a cute Hanover B%26amp;B Tuesday night, see Dartmouth Wed am and back to get an afternoon/eve Wed night and offload the rental car.

I will definitely try to reduce the # of college visits....maybe we%26#39;ll do a ';walk-by'; going out on the T to BU and Boston College instead of the full tour/info sessions and see if we get a sense of the campuses.

Questions remaining:

1. Hotels: I still have a question about whether there are any other well-located hotels unique to Boston. We%26#39;ll want to try to walk parts of the Freedom trail and see sights in the late afternoons/evenings. Is the Jurys too far out to do that? Is the Omni Parker House better located than the Marriott Long Wharf? We%26#39;d rather be around an open area with walking/eating interest right outside than in a part of the financial district that closes down at night.

Any great hotels that I am missing? Are there any in the Beacon Hill area or is that too residential to be interesting to teens?

2. Is the drive to Providence to see Brown easy? Looks like it%26#39;s an hour estimate to get there, not sure if it%26#39;s hard to find.

Thanks again!

The good news is that Boston%26#39;s Downtown is pretty compact, so you won%26#39;t be very far away no matter where you stay. That said, the best-located hotel for everything you are saying is the Omni Parker House. It%26#39;s right on the Freedom Trail and a block from both the Red (Tufts and Harvard) and Green (BU, BC %26amp; Northeastern) subway lines. But the Marriott Long Wharf is only a 10 minute walk from the Parker House, so you can see it%26#39;s not a big deal. Both hotels have many interesting places to see, do, and eat at, including Quincy Market and the North End.

Jury%26#39;s is in Back Bay, about a 15 minute walk from the Parker House the other way. Fine hotel, too. Not much for hotels on Beacon Hill, which, by the way is only a 5 minute walk from the Parker House.

Providence is indeed an hour drive from Boston and there also are commuter rail trains that run between the cities as well. Once you find your way to the Highway, it%26#39;s an easy drive on Interstate 95 all the way.

Good luck!!

Thank you, thank you, kind people!

One last question about the construction next to the Omni Parker House - - has anyone seen it? The hotel says it%26#39;s right next door and they can put us on the other side of the hotel so that it%26#39;s no problem. I%26#39;m just checking to see if anyone can tell me if it seems totally disruptive to the hotel, i.e., a mess when entering the hotel, does it take up half the block, or anything else about it.

You all are GREAT!

FYI, The constuction site is directly behind The Omni Parker House on Province Street. There are no hotel entrances on this side of the hotel. The main entrance is on School Street and another entrance is on Tremont Street. A junior suite at this hotel is ideal for a family of four. They are spacious and beautiful and you can get 2 double beds and a sofa bed. I know that many of these suites are located overlooking the construction site, but hopefully there will be something available for you on the School Street side. Call the hotel directly(617-227-8600) for your requests. It`s also very advantageous to become an Omni Select Guest member (omnihotels.com/800-FOR-OMNI). It`s free and offers nice benefits for you stay.

Just a comment on doing a ';walk by'; for some colleges. From an admissions standpoint it might not be a good idea. My daughter applied to colleges last year and I was shocked at how competitive the admissions process is now.

I recently read that some schools actually keep a record of how many contacts you have with a school to see how interested you really are and that when push comes to shove and it comes down to two similar candidates, the one that has expressed the most interest will get in. (To stay competitive in the rankings, schools always want to improve their ';yield'; or percentage of admitted students that enroll.) So, if you are coming all this way, you may as well earn some points by signing up for a tour, or registering somehow so that they know you were there.