LI Hotels?

[Eric Reed]

Howdy!

The De Anza Robotics team would like to go to the Long Island regional this year. Can anyone recommend hotels or motels within walking distance or convenient transportation? A nice motel 6 or the like would be good...we're on a tight budget.

Thanks,

Eric

[Ian W.]

why would anyone want to come to the LI reigional?

for hotels, i'm not really sure, cause i'm sleeping in my own bed living 10 minutes from the competition site has it's advantages. i'll try to find some stuff out, but once again, i only really know where the good hotels are (marriot, hilton, etc), not the motels.

[Madison]

Hey there!

First, we'd be happy to have you at our regional.

Second, this is Long Island. Long Island created suburbia, so, sadly, there are no hotels within walking distance.

More precisely, there's one, but there are no sidewalks.

I can't recall its name just now, but I am fairly certain it's not one of the hotels that FIRST offers discounted rates for. I may be wrong on that, but it's hard to check because I can't recall its name. But, I can think of at least one reason why it wouldn't be discounted, and it's not something I'll share.

Give me some time and I'll scare up the name of that hotel. Otherwise, other hotels are anywhere from a 5 to 20 minute drive away - longer in the mornings because of traffic on the Distressway.

[Rob Colatutto]

there is a new marriot along the service road, and a new hilton in or something, and an older hotel accross the street from that, about a 20 minute ride to the regional

[fast frank]

there really aren't many motels on long island. you'd probably be better off going to the NYC regional.

[Rob Colatutto]

i agree though, if your going to travel all the way over here, you should go the utc new england regional, thats worth going to

[Alfred Thompson]

You're on a tight budget so you are going to a regional 3000 miles from home? My team should be on so tight a budget.

Long Island is nice but accomidations are likely to be problematic. NYC is likely to have lots of hotel space but be expensive. Of course it is still the greatest city in the world so it's worth visiting.

A better bet to save money and hit a great east coast regional is UTC in CT. Of course the happening teams are going to be in Manchester NH. Not sure how hotels will be there as we will be staying in our own beds for that one.

[Eric Reed]

Well, the airfare is about the same to go to New York as anywhere else (around $200), and we're trying to attend a different regional each year. The students are paying for most of the trip, so I want to make it as cheeeeep as possible.

The students really want to see New York, and I figure the lodging would be cheaper in LI, plus the likelihood of losing a student is diminished . PLUS there is no date or location yet for the Manhatten regional! Anyway, keep the suggestions coming...we may end up in Manhatten if I can't find a reasonable place on LI.

Thanks!

Eric.

[Madison]

Originally posted by Eric Reed
Well, the airfare is about the same to go to New York as anywhere else (around $200), and we're trying to attend a different regional each year. The students are paying for most of the trip, so I want to make it as cheeeeep as possible.

The students really want to see New York, and I figure the lodging would be cheaper in LI, plus the likelihood of losing a student is diminished . PLUS there is no date or location yet for the Manhatten regional! Anyway, keep the suggestions coming...we may end up in Manhatten if I can't find a reasonable place on LI.

Thanks!

Eric.

There aren't many hotels on Long Island, and there are fewer close to the competition site. Their rates are about to equal to what you can expect from FIRST in Manhattan, I think, being roughly ~$150/night. FIRST's discounted rate may be a bit better. Maybe as low as $100/night.

Also, you should know that the LI competition venue is about 50 miles from Manhattan (less, probably). For $200 airfare, I'll assume that you'd be arriving at either LaGuardia or JFK Int'l. They're each about about 20? miles or so from the center of Manhattan. Islip MacArthur Airport is closer to the competition site, but airfare is usually more expensive.

If you want to visit Manhattan proper, there is a train station adjunct to the competition site, and you can take an LIRR train into Penn. Station.

Still, it'd be difficult to get around without hiring transportation, but not impossible. I don't think any team has come to LI without their own transportation, except for team 15 in 2000, so I can't even refer you to much anyone for other help.

I'm not sure what's going on with the NYC Regional. It's been held uptown at Columbia University in the past, but that may change. You could get to Manhattan using public transportation from either metro airport, but it'd be easier to hire transportation.

Your costs, I think, would probably be a tad higher, but not significantly. The benefit of being in Manhattan, though, might be worth it.

Still, we'd love to have you on Long Island. Out of curiousity, what's your home regional? 810 is eyeing California It could be like a FIRST Team exchange program

[Eric Reed]

In the words of Mark Twain, "there may be something in what you say."

Yeah, I 'm beginning to see that the LI regional may be a bit of a logistical problem. Hopefully good news about the NYC regional will arrive soon.

Our home regional has been San Jose, CA, but there is a new regional in Sacramento. We are exactly between these events, so we're thinking of going to Sacramento just for the new experience. The San Jose regional, however, is the best event I've been to save perhaps Florida.

Hope to see you somewhere!

Eric.