Skip to content
Home

MACSEM 2008: Travel Information and Local Arrangements

February 4, 2008 by EthnoAdmin

Click here to view a PDF guide to bargain hotels in New York City, and especially those close to Columbia. As you no doubt know, NYC is an expensive hotel market. If you plan on coming and staying at a hotel, it is *highly* recommended that you book your room as soon as possible. Even if you are hoping for a free crash space (see below) it might make sense to reserve a room with the possibility of a later cancellation, just to be safe. We'll determine what we can do about crash space well before the cancellation deadline for most hotels.

We also will have a number of crash spaces arranged with students and faculty in the NYC area. If you would like to be considered for one of those spaces, also let us know as soon as possible, ideally within a week. We'll do our best to accommodate everyone we can, as close to campus as we can. But we can't promise we have a space for you, and the sooner you let us know you need one, the better.
If you live in NYC and want to offer a couch or an aero-bed on the floor on Friday March 28th or Saturday March 29th, please let us know by e-mail, copied to Sara Snyder and Blair Mosner, as soon as possible. We'd *really* appreciate it, as would the fellow MACSEM member whose bank account you help preserve.

Finally, if you are visiting NYC for MACSEM and already have a friend in the NYC area who can put you up, please consider pursuing that possibility. The number of crash spaces we can come up with will be limited and every extra bed helps in a very expensive hotel market.

For those who have to fly to New York, LaGuardia (LGA) airport is the closest to Columbia, about a $25 cab ride or a 45-60 minute bus ride. Newark (EWR) airport provides inexpensive and efficient public transportation into the city, no more than about an hour and half all told from the airport to Columbia, quicker if you catch the AirTrain promptly. Kennedy (JFK) is a longer subway ride or a more expensive and longer ($50+) taxi fare. AMTRAK, LIRR, and NJT trains arrive at Penn Station, which is a 25-30 minute subway ride at most from Columbia. Those taking MetroNorth trains should come to the station at Lenox Avenue and 125th St., about a 10 minute cab ride or 20 minute bus ride away from campus, rather than Grand Central Station.
Permalink
AdaptiveThemes