[arel]

By "home", I assume you mean Brattleboro? I do know that a train from New York stops there.

How long is the train trip betwee New York and Brattleboro?

How long is the plane trip between Newark to Keene?

Well, I like knowing that you can take a train from Newark Airport to to Grand Central, as well as a bus to Port Authority.

Realistically, though, although it is nice to have the option of flying, Brattleboro is really close enough to New York to drive or to take the train. And, with all the time lost in airports, e.g. security, flight delays, it may not be worth the effort under normal circumstances, if you have the option of a train or a car.

What were the circumstances of your husband's inability to fly out of Newark? Was it a situation that is unusual or something that happens fairly frequently?

[giselle]

He was flying in from the West Coast (we live in RI). It took him forever to get out, since there were delays and then he got bumped. When he finally made it to Newark, he was told there would be more delays. So he said I'm just going to take the train. He hopped on a train from Newark to Grand Central, and then the train home. The high speed train was another option, he could have gotten home even faster. He had gotten to the airport in CA at 7 on Thursday night and didn't get home until Friday night at 7!! Crazy.

I'd rather take the train. With the bus, we have to get there at least one half hour early, and sometimes there is already a line. Sometimes we drive down to CT, park and take the commuter train which is really cost effective.

[arel]

Your husband's trip sounds like a real headache.

I used to live in Rhode Island. (Narragansett/Wakefield area). Before I moved there I took several trips there, by train. A long trip. And I had to take the subway from Brooklyn to Penn Station first.

Now when I go, I drive. A very boring trip on I-95, which I try to break up by driving part of the way on the Merritt.

If I move to Brattleboro, which I seriously thinking of doing, I would probably use Hartford, Boston or New York for a long flight. I would prefer to use JFK in New York, if I could. I was thinking of Newark airport because there is an airline that supposedly goes from Keene, NH to Newark. And Keene is about a half hour from Brattleboro. Hartford is about an hour and a half away.

[giselle]

Bradley would give you way more options b/c it's a bigger airport.

I agree, I like taking the Merritt when I can. The drive is much more scenic, and I like pointing out all of the different architecture on the bridges, each time, much to my family's chagrin . Gotta watch out for deer though, so I always drive slower on the Merritt.

[flu189]

Maybe I am just missing something here, but going through the hassle and time of flying out of NY/NJ airports to small airfields and then still having to get to your destination by ground transportation seems to be not worth the effort. If you have a car then drive the distance to VT and then you don't have to be tied to schedules as well as the surcharges added to car rentals at airport locations. As far as business travel is concerned for those on a tight schedule the Burlington airport is close to most everything in Chittenden county and I just read that they have 102 scheduled flights per day.

[vter]

I love BTV. It's 30 minutes from my house, 5 from work. I often read that air fares are expensive, I've found it to be the opposite if you shop around. I'm going to ARizona in March via JetBlue for $229 round trip. Last trip was to Vegas via FF miles on United...flights were running around $350ish..decided to use miles instead. Been to Florida via JetBlue & USAir for just under $200.
Sure beats driving to Manchester to save a few bucks if flights are cheaper there. When you figure in mileage, gas, parking, etc. Burlington always works out to be a better deal IMO.
I can't imagine that flying to NY from Keene would be worth it. I'd be willing to bet flights are expensive and few. I searched on sidestep.com & kayak.com out of curiousity and neither website finds any flights from Keene to Newark btw.

[giselle]

thanx vtr, good to know. Burlington sounds way more convenient and doable, since they have so much more air traffic. Another plus for Burlington!
Does the city have a nickname?

P.S. I couldn't find that book on VT politics that was discussed on the thread about liberals. Has anyone read it?

[vter]

Here is a link to the author's webpage: http://chrisgraff.com/

I believe you can purchase it on Amazon as well as directly from the author's website.

Burlington is also known as "The Queen City".

[arel]

I agree that Burlington has a better airport than does Keene. And I also agree that Hartford has a better airport than does Keene. And I also agree that it is more convenient to drive to New York from Brattleboro, or at least take the train, than to fly.

But it's nice to know all the options. Sometimes there is an emergency, sometimes one may need to go to New York quickly and not feel up to driving, or have a car that doesn't feel up to driving, or not want to spend the money on a rental car, etc., etc., etc.

By the way, I visited the Burlington airport website. The pictures are beautiful. I would really like to visit that airport. I guess it's worth a trip up to Burlington.

Deer on the Merritt? Last time I drove from Vermont, I took the Merritt at night. The road was not well-lighted and I found it difficult to see. If I had known to watch out for deer, I would have stayed on I-95. Thanks for the tip!

Anyway, I greatly prefer to make the trip to Vermont in daylight. Last time it got dark before I reached Hartford, and I didn't get to see the hills and mountains as they appeared. Normally, I love the drive up. I drove home in the daylight, and got to see the views. It was getting dark by the time I got to New Haven. But I didn't care. I-95 is not scenic. But I did care when I chose to get onto the Merritt. I know now that at night it is better to stay on I-95.

[arel]

I was told by a friend that it is a 3-hour drive from Brattleboro to Burlington. Is this correct?

By the way, I agree with flu189 that flying to Brattleboro from Newark is not worth the time, hassle and expense. I just wanted to explore the options.

I live 30 minutes from JFK, so the idea of driving 90 minutes from Brattleboro to get to Hartford is not too appealing.