Travel arrangements

[day]

Hey, so I'm just wondering how everyone's getting there, when/where they're coming in, where they're staying, all that jazz - I know it's getting close to time, but I haven't made any carved-in-stone plans aside from buying my plane tix, and any advice anyone else can offer is welcome (I don't travel often).

I'm coming in at Midway airport around 6pm on Tuesday night, and my current plan is to take Orange Line to Union Station, take the Metra line from there to Libertyville, and call a cab to my hotel (the Days Inn Libertyville, which offers shuttle service to PIR) from there, then reverse the process to get back to Midway for my flight home - all of which will run me about $8 each way and avoid all Chicago traffic (except what I have to walk through to get the half-mile from the Orange line to the Metra - down Historic Route 66!).
I looked into shuttle bus service, but the quote i got was over $50 each way to take a van from Midway to the RTC and back, which is a leetle bit out of my price range.
I was going to stay closer to the base (Libertyville is 6 miles out), but the hotel's really reasonable and I hear there are a lot of things to do within walking distance, which is important since car rental is not a workable plan.
I haven't made the room bookings, though - my sailor's paying for our hotel room, so I kinda feel like he should get final say, but I know there was definitely availability at the hotel last night.
Are there better, still reasonably priced hotels closer to base that are still an easy walk from stuff to do?  Is there a better way to get from Midway to the general RTC area/hotels that doesn't cost a fortune?
I saw this posting on the RTC's Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=324592704650&topic=17386
which seems to indicate that we might not have to send them back to base nightly, which would be awesome if true!

[Holley's Mama #2]

We are staying at the Springhill Suites/Marriott in Waukegan. They have a graduation package for $79/night for a suite. We are driving from South Carolina. I've seen some comments on NavyforMoms.com regarding problems with shuttle service. You may want to investigate further. If you are staying anywhere near us, we would be happy to give you a ride to graduation. There is also a meet & greet for families on tuesday night at the Ramada Inn in Waukegan from 6 - 8.

Since we are driving, I have not looked into any other form of transportation to/from the airport. One Mom posted that there is a ton of stuff to do in Libertyville.

[diannep]

day: Sounds to me like you have gotten great deals! I would stay where you are. We stayed at Residence Inn, 4 miles from the base when we went. 10 minutes to the base...no big deal. And taking the shuttle to and from PIR was wonderful! We bypassed the line of cars getting into the base for PIR and got right in. Is your son GradNGo to GL by chance where he may have overnight liberty with you? That is the only thing I was thiniking of. If he is flying out, but doesn't leave until a few days after PIR, then you would need to take a cab to get him each day and take him back to base.

[bubbymom (Nadine) ship 09 div 08]

Hey Im staying at the Residence Inn...Im w u on the expensive cab fare but it will be 3 of us. Ive researched the airport transport but they r expensive too. What Im gonna do is call the hotel and ask questions to gst services. They should be very knowledgeable on the best ways to get around. I dnt plan on renting a car either bc things seem so close. So a quick taxi hopefully wont break my very tight budget. Just went to NY for a wed...went 2 miles in a cab 15.00 from one side of the freeway to my fams hotel on the other side...robbery! So Dianap there is a shuttle from Residence Inn? That would be awesome! Im gonna start my phone calls for info today.

[diannep]

YES! Residence has the shuttle to and from PIR. Be on the first one out in the morning if you can!

[AndreaS61]

We're flying into Midway. It was quite a bit cheaper than O'Hare and more open flights. Staying at the Super 8 in Waukegan. I chose to rent a car because I didn't know about transportation from Midway, plus I want to be able to get around to grab food or whatever. I also made an appointment on Wednesday for my daughter to get her hair deep conditioned and styled. She said at bootcamp they whacked her hair off below her ponytail and then she only had body wash for her hair for the first couple weeks. This should be a luxury for her. Super 8 has a shuttle to the base for PIR, so that's not a problem. We plan to go to Chicago on Friday to play around. I won't drive there - especially on black friday - so I think we'll look into taking the train or whatever for that. Don't want to get lost, look for parking, etc.

[StarChild (Ship9 Div007)]

We are driving from SC as well and staying at the Springhill Suites. Hope to see you there.

[Holley's Mama #2]

driving from SC, too! Staying at the springhill suites, too! hope to see u!

[Tammie (Daughter In Navy)]

We are driving from Baltimore it's a long drive but so worth it. It's going to take us about 12 1/2 hours straight but we will be stopping to eat and etc. We are leaving at 3 ANSI we should get there around 5 pm. Staying at the super8 , hopefully find some things to do and relax and watch movies too and of course the macy's parade on thanksgiving if we can get that channel on. I'm very happy that we will have our children over night for three nights and four days. We are leaving Sunday morning off to work on Monday .

[AndreaS61]

Wow! Didn't realize you were driving to GL. Stay safe! So far the weather forecast for GL looks okay. Supposed to be nicer in GL than in Seattle - we're expecting snow here starting Tuesday and of course we have to leave home at 3am to get to the airport for our 7am flight. No worries - my car is great in the snow and I can't imagine there will be a lot of traffic at that time of the morning. We get into Midway around 1:30pm, pick up the rental car and then drive to the hotel (about an hour or so). Will see you there! Can't believe it's only a week away.