A CAX travel question for you cali guys

chris25810

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I'm watching the price of flights steadily climb and phet and i are gonna have to pull the trigger pretty quick. It is a shit ton cheaper if we fly into San Francisco and find our way to the hotel. What's the best option here:

Take a cab the 36 miles to the hotel and what will this cost roughly?

Option 2- Take BART/Caltrain from the airport to the hotel?

The thing that worries me a bit with option 2 is that we would be heading to the airport monday morning with 3 million other people headed in that direction.
 
Are you going to make Phet pack lightly, or will he have a bag for his clothes, a bag for his makeup, a bag for his shoes, his purse and a carry-on? If you guys travel lightly, the train ought to be fine. And splitting the cab shouldn't be too bad, but would probably be $50 each with a tip, whereas the train would be cheap, I'd think. I don't know the Bay Area trains, but I bet that is a great option.

Edit to add: my "guesstimate" might be a tad high for the cab ($100 total with tip), but the cab from John Wayne Airport to my home (8 miles) is $25 with a tip. So I'd figure a Bay Area cab ride for 30-some miles would be $100 with a tip, at least. You can do the SuperShuttle and that might save you guys nicely, but you might be the last of 6 or 7 people dropped off at your destination, and that might suck.

- M1A
 
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Correct me if i'm wrong but isn't there a BART line that runs right to the airport?

Not sure. I've only done SF once and I drove.

What day would you guys be getting in? If I drive, I'm going to drive up on Friday am early, and I'll be running up to SF to hit these two stores I really want to check out. I'd have no problem picking you guys up if we could sync it. If not, no big deal, but I thought I'd offer.

- M1A
 
Fuck the cab idea. Traffic sucks, and with the way cabbies are, that 36 mile trip will be more like a 360 mile trip. You could spend less on your Quantum build ;).
 
Talking it over with my wife, I may fly up, too. Just realized its a near 400 mile drive, and for what I'd pay for in gas, I can get a nice seat on the plane, get a rental car, and just take it easy. It also allows me to narrow the window of time I'm away from home and to do it comfortably. I'm also kicking around the idea of flying up on Thursday so I can do my SF excursion with plenty of time to spare.

- M1A
 
I just got my airline tickets and will be arriving fairly early on Thursday morning, since that was one of their cheaper days!

I think I got a pretty good deal, $334 including all the taxes. Last year I paid $290 and had to drive 5 hours to Spokane to get that rate, this year I get the local airport that is 15 minutes from where I am!! :)
 
Yeah, I'm getting $199.90 round trip with Southwest right now...my Yukon XL will easily gobble up that much worth of gas round trip. I'm leaning on flying, and I'm leaning on getting there Thursday afternoon.

- M1A
 
this might help.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080629191236AAliNWu
http://www.santaclara.org/gettingaround/pubtrans.cfm
http://www.sftravel.com/shutl.html
http://www.santaclara.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp

You want to go to great america. The convention center is right next door. The VTA is what passes right next to the convention center.

I guess car rental will not work for you. Probably could use super shuttle if your going to the hyatt. Maybe check with hyatt to see whats the best way to get from SFO to their hotel.
 
BART is pretty cheap, but it only goes down to Fremont. It would cost you $10.55 to get that far, and there is a BART station right at the airport. Fremont to Santa Clara is about 15-20 miles. Maybe not the best, but it might put you in range of the local KLOVers in Santa Clara. They all know that phet abides by the rules of the road, so getting a ride should not be a problem. :)

Edit: VTA picks up at the BART station in Fremont too.
 
Maybe you can catch a ride from a KLOVer in which ever area you choose. If I weren't driving an big truck packed with games I'd help out. It's kinda a pain driving that thing anywhere other than from my house to the show. I try and walk or catch a ride myself once I'm at the show.
 
BART is pretty cheap, but it only goes down to Fremont. It would cost you $10.55 to get that far, and there is a BART station right at the airport. Fremont to Santa Clara is about 15-20 miles. Maybe not the best, but it might put you in range of the local KLOVers in Santa Clara. They all know that phet abides by the rules of the road, so getting a ride should not be a problem. :)

Edit: VTA picks up at the BART station in Fremont too.

that would be the scenic route.. Probably a 2+ hour bart/VTA ride.
 
There is no great way to get to the hotel from SFO.
The only viable options are.

1.Take Cal Train to Santa Clara and then a bus to the hotel.

2.Take a cab.

3.Rent a car and drive there.

4.Take a shuttle to hotel assuming there is one.

Too bad Cal Train and The Light Rail don't share a station,since The Light Rail goes right by the hotel.
If you guys came in around 5pm on Thursday I could pick you up on my way home from work.
 
Your best bet in my opinion, and this sounds far more complicated than it is, is to get on BART at SFO to the Millbrae station, get off there and go across the tracks to Caltrain, take that down to Mtn. View, which links with light-rail which goes right to the venue (I'm assuming your hotel is nearby). Even though the distance is relatively short, you're going through different cities and counties with different systems, so it's somewhat complicated, but not really so bad.

Forget BART to Fremont, that's the long way around and it will take forever, and you're still pretty far away from the venue once you get there.

Also forget a cab from SFO, that will cost a fortune, though if you're ok with spending the $$ that will be the easiest solution for sure. Probably 45-60 mins depending on what time you arrive.

As for getting back to SFO on public trans, no worries on commute hours, especially in this economy. If you know where to be and at what time to get where you need to go, you'll be fine.
 
I called the hotel and they also suggested the super shuttle. It looks like phet and i could snuggle up in a small van for less than $120 round trip.
 
I called the hotel and they also suggested the super shuttle. It looks like phet and i could snuggle up in a small van for less than $120 round trip.

So, is the expense of the shuttle and the time spent worth the cost of flying to SFO instead of San Jose?

Last summer driving to Spokane was worth it even with the 5 hour drive each way... this year the difference in price was $44, so it wasn't worth that long drive!

I am there from Thursday until Tuesday, as I want to go to Santa Cruz afterward and just chill by the beach :)
 
There's a lot of good suggestions. If it were me I'd take bart to Millbre, then take Cal Train South to Mt. View station zone 2-3, then catch VTA to the hotel. Or you could take the Cal train to the Lawrence station zone 4 in Santa Clara and take a cab to the hotel which would probably be about $12 cab ride if that. I'd give you a ride if you want. :D

I'm watching the price of flights steadily climb and phet and i are gonna have to pull the trigger pretty quick. It is a shit ton cheaper if we fly into San Francisco and find our way to the hotel. What's the best option here:

Take a cab the 36 miles to the hotel and what will this cost roughly?

Option 2- Take BART/Caltrain from the airport to the hotel?

The thing that worries me a bit with option 2 is that we would be heading to the airport monday morning with 3 million other people headed in that direction.
 
There's a lot of good suggestions. If it were me I'd take bart to Millbre, then take Cal Train South to Mt. View station zone 2-3, then catch VTA to the hotel. Or you could take the Cal train to the Lawrence station zone 4 in Santa Clara and take a cab to the hotel which would probably be about $12 cab ride if that. I'd give you a ride if you want. :D

This is exactly what we're gonna do and take the VTA right to the hotel.

To answer your question Josie, it's about $200 less to fly into SFO than SJC airport and this way, Phet and his houseboys get a chance to mingle with their kind while in San Fran.
 
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