Boston Layover ? (Orleans: camping, costs, cabins)

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by carpeskiem

Although, if the weather's nice, the Boston Common is probably worth it no matter how little time you spend there. It's a pretty park.

Boston Common is pretty meh. Unless you're looking for crazy people to do drugs with.

[Dm84]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

Boston Common is pretty meh. Unless you're looking for crazy people to do drugs with.

And I certainly wouldn't schlep from Logan airport just to see it.

[yaeger07]

Maybe they meant the Public Garden?

[elhelmete]

C'mon everyone it's obvious...

Take the Blue Line up to Revere Beach and hang out with some tasty Kelly's. Then back down to Maverick and grab a Santarpio's to go. Then back to BOS where your seatmates will love sitting next to you for 6 hours!

[domhsenet]

An update! I didn't expect so many thoughtful responses to this thread. It feels right to give everyone a thorough update- but also in case any lurkers are wondering about their own layovers they can read firsthand to see how it went for us.

Keeping in mind this was an October, middle of the day, middle of the week (on a Wednesday) so lines were at their longest, only a 25-30 minute wait.

We've decided to venture to Quincy market during our layover afterall.

I just wanted to thank everyone once again for sharing their knowledge and advice. Even those who told us to stay put, we kept your comments in mind to keep us reasonable and grounded c:

All the spirit naysayers will be super surprised to learn our flight left and arrived on time after all! I will say it was a bit uncomfortable as the seats were small and you couldn't adjust the seat back, so it was super upright and my head kept lolling and jerking awake, lol. But otherwise, the plane arrived at 330pm in Boston.

We left the airport at 4pm on the B terminal and took a blueline (shuttle 22) that waited right downstairs. People weren't lying when they said it would be super crowded. We had to wait for the next bus, but I loved the 3-5minute wait times between buses as opposed to what I'm used to in Atlanta it's more like 20-30 minutes.

We got to the shuttle from the bus and met with our first little bump along the road as we couldn't purchase trains tickets (our debit card kept canceling on us) but we met a good Samaritan who let us borrow his 1day pass.

Two stops over, we were at Fanuiel hall around 430pm and we took some pictures, walked around. Tried some lobster rolls and clam chowder at Quincy Market. (Omg the lobster was heavenly! I need to move to a coastal town, you just don't get that quality of freshness inland).

Quite amazingly when we got to Quincy market, a man on a piano was playing our wedding song (what a wonderful world- perhaps cheesy to some, but I felt an outpouring of happiness still ) It was raining the whole time of course, but more like a drizzle. When it rains in Atlanta, it POURS. So it felt super good to stretch our legs in the freshish air after being crammed for 2.5hours on the plane!

A lot of people were mentioning that the quick jaunt wouldn't be worth the stress. I just wanted to attest, the stress was certainly there. Something as simple as exiting the little (I don't know how to call them. The plastic gates where you slide your train ticket- we couldn't figure out that when you exit, you just w alk straight through. No need to slide your ticket back in. Man! But we were stressing about not being able to figure out something so simple!)

At the same time, I found it worth it c: when you travel to a new place, it feels like opening my eyes to a new world. So even the most mundane things were interesting, and we were fortunate to see, hear, and experience just the little piece of Boston and it felt GREAT c:

We were there until about 5:30pm and then rather than take a $17 uber, decided to just use our day pass to get back to the shuttle. The kindness of the first man had an additional perk, as we were able to hand off the same day pass to another traveler who was waiting at the station coming in. The way the young man's face light up was AWESOME. I loved that I was able to pass this along!

Shuttle 33 was waiting as if just for us, completely empty! It took us straight to the international part of the airport in gate E, we got there about 6pm.

We were able to use a self service kiosk to skip the line and get our boarding passes (another super nice person was helping us operate it!) And got through security in about 30 minutes.

I type this as I wait at my gate with 2 hours to spare. Next stop London!

Thanks again everyone! I found the people of Boston super friendly, helpful and their accents just absolutely charming. I will most definitely return for a longer venture.

[htfdcolt]

Fantastic! Glad that you were able to experience a bit of Boston in a short time, and actually got to pass on a random act of kindness. Hope the rest of your journey goes well.

[bjimmy24]

People love to hate on Spirit for some reason. I have never had an issue. All they do for me is give me free flights through their credit card deal. I'll take it.

Glad you got to do a bit when you were here.

[lrfox]

Nice! I'm glad you made it! It's even easier to do this type of thing when you're checked through on the same airline (or partner) so you don't have to worry about checking in again.

I also like Spirit and Norwegian. You just have to know to do them right. Every time I fly Norwegian I upgrade to Premium Economy at check in and it costs me less than economy on any other airline. With that you get lounge access at Gatwick, a giant seat at the front of the cabin with 46 inches of pitch, priority boarding and priority through security. All for less than a standard economy seat on British Airways, Delta, Virgin, or anyone else. I always book the Big Front Seats on Spirit. You also get essentially a domestic first class seat (not the service- standard economy service) for the same or less than a typical economy flight on the legacy carriers. If you do your homework, the Low Cost Carriers can be the best deal in the sky. They can also cost you a fortune (like if you bring your carry on to the gate thinking you get one for free - Spirit charges up to $100 for this).

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by lrfox

Nice! I'm glad you made it! It's even easier to do this type of thing when you're checked through on the same airline (or partner) so you don't have to worry about checking in again.

I also like Spirit and Norwegian. You just have to know to do them right. Every time I fly Norwegian I upgrade to Premium Economy at check in and it costs me less than economy on any other airline. With that you get lounge access at Gatwick, a giant seat at the front of the cabin with 46 inches of pitch, priority boarding and priority through security. All for less than a standard economy seat on British Airways, Delta, Virgin, or anyone else. I always book the Big Front Seats on Spirit. You also get essentially a domestic first class seat (not the service- standard economy service) for the same or less than a typical economy flight on the legacy carriers. If you do your homework, the Low Cost Carriers can be the best deal in the sky. They can also cost you a fortune (like if you bring your carry on to the gate thinking you get one for free - Spirit charges up to $100 for this).

So do you fly with no baggage at all?

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by timberline742

So do you fly with no baggage at all?

Spirit allows you to fly with one bag (an average sized backpack, or smaller). Any other bags more than that, you have to pay for. If you purchase carry on bags online when you buy your ticket, it costs something like $25. If you don't purchase bags and show up at the gate, it will cost around $100.

I think a lot of people run into trouble when they book flights through a third-party site and it's not as clear what the bag policy is. Anyone who buys directly through Spirit gets told about 3 times what the policy is via pop up prompts on the website. It's very hard to be unaware of the charges if you order on Spirit's site.

When I fly Spirit, I am typically flying to Cleveland or Minneapolis for 3-4 days, both cities where I have places to stay already. Thus, I don't need to bring much. Fold up a few shirts, a book, maybe some headphones and throw them in a bag.