Chris, a suggestion would be don’t stay in Trenton, PM or IM me for some more Info, i can give you some places to stay and things to do
Being part of the planning committee, I think I can field these questions.
As far as hotels go, I would have to agree, don’t stay in Trenton. The area is definately one that students don’t want to be wandering around in after dark. I’ll try to find the link for the NJ regional website, where we’re compiling all the information that you may need. I’m not sure about attractions either…of course it’s Jersey, so there are going to be like 1000 malls in walking distance.
As more information develops I’ll keep you posted.
The closest hotels seem to be in the Rt 1 corridor in the PRINCETON AREA- ABOUT 20 MIN NORTH of Trenton. That means teams travelling in wil need to find surface transportation to go to and fro.
WC
The event schedule for the Sovereign Bank Arena does not list the regional. Is the venue up in the air or just not on the schedule?
Team 1881 is going again for our second year. I’d really like to see the LAN scouting
As far as I know we do have the SBA locked down, and ready to go for March
Aloha,
we will be coming to an east coast regional for the 1st time and then head on to NYC for some play time…
Can’t wait to see you all there. We plan on sending as much leis to everyone as possible…
as long as I get one I’ll be happy.
Team 1882 will be there. It is a miracle that we have NASA backing for the 2nd year. I can’t wait to get back into the game. Hope to see Paul K, Big Mike, John the other Morgan, 1923, 75, 25 and our 1881 neighbors and the rest of the teams that make this the next best thing to Christmas morning!
On the subject of hotels:
Here is a rough compliation of some local hotels from the NJ FIRST website (I wrote the page, so let me know if you need more help/information): http://nycnjfirst.org/nj_hotels.html
Secondly, if you want to look for your own hotels, check out those in the Princeton/Lawrenceville area. They are likely to be the most convient and safe place for your team to stay. =)
Feel free to PM me if you have any questions, or shoot me an email and I will get your questions answered (if I can’t answer them myself): sreffler@usfirst.org
I love how Sara did not fail to mention SAFE places to say. The arena is in Trenton, which isn’t known to be the safest place in NJ to stay. But like she said, Princeton/Lawrenceville is probably your safest bet, though there may be a few hotels in Trenton.–Just don’t stray too far from the hotel & don’t do dumb things. Princeton and Lawrenceville are still quite the drive though (at least 10-15 minutes if not more) so you’ll be needing some kind of ground transportation.
**and apparently I didn’t realize that my coach posted the same thing a few posts above me :-p
We have stayed at the Courtyard Marriot Hopewell-Ewing in the past if I’m not mistaken.
Not much to do right in the area of the hotel (nice little airport right next to it though), but there was our good luck charm restaurant in 2004 (Hooters) on the way back to the hotel and then by the time we did got back to the hotel, some scouting in the lobby/conference room and then some much needed sleep.
About a 10-15 minute bus ride from the venue if I’m not mistaken.
Not too shabby!
The Route 1 corridor north of Trenton has the best selection of hotels and budget-priced restaurants that I know of in the area. Google Map hotels for Lawrenceville, NJ will give you the list.
The Quaker Bridge Mall is out there as is a Home Depot or two (one also in Ewing). Be aware that Rt 1 is a major commuter route and gets pretty jammed up around the Rt 1/I 95 junction, so the 15-20 min non-rush hour ride to the SBA can become 30-40 min if you hit traffic.
30-40 If you get lucky, a couple years ago a tractor trailer flipped over on rt 1 and some teams were stuck in traffic for over 2 hours.
All that 2 hour delay should mean to a FIRST team is more time to mentally prepare for the competition and get “in the zone”.
Kinda like our 3 hour delay by bad descisions by our bus driver in 2004 where we had some great times as a team and by the time we showed up in NJ on 10am on Thursday, had the “get it done” attitude and just went right to work.
I think that was the best example of teamwork I have ever seen in my team. It made me very proud of all of our kids that day. 
That will be soooo cool. No, literally: Cold. NJ in March is a little bit colder than, say, Hawaii. Although you’ll be indoors much of the time, prepare for weather that can be from a high of 45 F to a low of 20 F - during the day. It gets colder at night.
I truly hope we have a few inches of snow for all y’all.
Don
I second that. 1 South will become your worst nightmare during rush hour, I live on the North/South Brunswick Border just North of the area, and even just getting past the Quakerbridge area can be a nightmare. Plan extra time if you’re traveling along there.
Depending on where you stay, you can probably plan a route avoiding Rt. 1, at least for the most part. Talk to whomever you decide to use for ground transportation, they probably know alternate routes, or can plan them.
202/206 take you straight to SBA, as does the Turnpike/195…there are several ways to get there…you could even take the train to the Trenton station and walk a couple blocks to the arena…although weather might make that hike a little less than desirable.
Firstly, the train station is about a mile away. But I do not reccomend walking through that part of town unless you’re with a big group. Obviously, this doesn’t work if you have to lug tool chests, kits of spare parts, etc.
Secondly, George is right, you can certainly take a variety of roads to get to the SBA, but I reccomend 1/129. Even with traffic, that doesn’t get terribly congested. That’s the way I went to SBA last year, and while about 50 cars sat at the traffic light on the other side of the street, I got in without a wait. Anyone with driving questions or hotel questions absoultely should NOT hesitate to PM me. I will be happy to help anyone I can.