Friday, August 30, 2013

Plan for the Boston-UConn Trip (Update 10/8)

Stanford's first road trip of the 2013-14 season will be in the second week of November—less than 10 weeks a month from now!

Update 10/8: Wally M. reports that "All Boston College tickets are general admission. Doors open one hour before game time. The ticket office is inside Gate B at Conte Forum."

Stanford will play Boston College at 1pm EST on Saturday, November 9th. Then on Monday (Veteran's Day), they play at UConn at 7pm EST. This game will be telecast on ESPN2. (Although the UConn website currently says the location is "TBA", a televised game against a ranked school would usually be held in their larger arena in Hartford, rather than on the campus in Storrs.)

Wrongggg! Late news from UConn is that this game will be in the friendly confines of Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, CT. From the Hartford Amtrak station to Gampel Pavilion is 27 miles; here's a map.

Wally Mersereau has already started to plan his winter's travels and writes as follows:

It's not too early to book reservations if you plan to travel cross-country to attend the Boston College and UConn games. Airfares are often lower if booked more than 60 days in advance.

There are plenty of non-stop flights to Boston from SFO and SJC. Boston College is in Newton, Massachusetts, adjoining Boston on the west and served by the Green Line of the MBTA. Boston College is the terminal station on the Green B Line, easily reached from downtown Boston. The game will be played at Conte Forum, about a half-mile walk across campus from the MBTA station.

The next leg, from Boston to Hartford is a challenge if you don't have a car. There are no airline flights and Amtrak is round-about and takes 3 1/2 to 5 hours via Springfield or New Haven. For the non-driver, that leaves the bus that will get you there in about 2 1/2 hours on either Peter Pan or Greyhound. If you plan to travel by public transport on November 11 you need to check holiday schedules.

With a car, and assuming decent weather, you are looking at a reasonably pleasant 2-hour Sunday drive on I-90 (click for a map). Renting a car for only the Hartford portion of the trip requires careful attention to details such as pick-up and drop-off locations and whether these will be open on Veterans Day. My current plan is to go to Hartford by bus, but if a FBC member will be driving and has an extra seat I would like to hitch a ride.

After the UConn game on Monday night the next task is to find your way to an airport for the return flight to the Bay Area. In my case, I'm going early to Boston and staying on in New York and will fly back from JFK. I will take Amtrak from Hartford to Penn Station in New York. Others may prefer to return to Boston for the flight home.

Wally