Quote:
Originally Posted by wendymom
Bacon is considering riding the Amtrack Silver Star up and back. No hotel costs. The train leaves from South Florida, runs through Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville and lands in Columbia.
If enough of us take the train, we can get a bus from USC for ground transportation to and from the venue and for breakfast and dinner.
Then we ride the train home. Total cost 125.00ish per person. (depending on where you leave from)
How much fun would it be to have 6 or so Florida teams traveling on the train!
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The USC bus is not confirmed at this point--still working the details on that, but if anyone's game please post or let me know so we can get a picture of the demand.
All that said, Amtrak is an exceptionally attractive deal for Florida teams thinking about SCRIW. Figure on this:
-Groups of 20 or more can get
group rates, which according to Amtrak run as much as 20% off.
-Your 15-and-under kids
ride half-off--limit two per paying adult. (If you ever needed hard data that freshmen are cheap labor...)
-Anyone 62 and up
gets 15% off.
-Both the child and senior discounts are compatible with group rates.
-For those of you lucky enough to be able to foist watching the kids off on some other unlucky folks, sleeper cars are available. (But I've also slept reasonably well in coach even without the benefit of being able to order silence from my neighbors.)
SCRIW's schedule, though not quite finalized, is expected to run through dinner; a few miles away from the school is
Frankie's Fun Park, a fairly standard mini golf/laser tag/go-kart/arcade establishment that also does group packages. They close at midnight, just about right to make the 15-20 minute trip back downtown to the Amtrak station and catch the 1:44 AM southbound Silver Star.
(Do note: Florida is also served by the Silver Star's sister train, the Silver Meteor. The Silver Meteor largely follows the same New York to Miami route, but travels through South Carolina via Charleston, about two hours away, and skips Tampa. Unless you're dying to check out the beach or REALLY have something against Tampa, make sure you're looking at the right train!)
That said, I know this plan was evolving while I was on the ground in Tampa (and that I had to bail directly after Finals 2 at TNT to catch my own train home), so it may not have gotten around to all the teams that initially heard about SCRIW on Friday night while I was in shameless plug mode. Tell a friend!
