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Guess who's back ? 🙂 It's been a long time, I know.
Anyways, for those of you whom I have not had the pleasure meeting in the past, I am a first year IDS (advanced standing) student at PACIFIC, and not long ago was in everyone of your shoes. The only thing I can say, based on my brief experience, is that anything you go through for this school is worth it. It is amazing. No looking back from here ...
Anyways, let's cut to the chase. I know you guys that have been fortunate enough to be invitied to the interview are all probably scrambling now to find good deals on airfares, transportation lodging and so forth ... I thought I would try and give you some San Francisco "insider" pointers, in hopes that it may help.
For my interview, I actually used to commute from a California city called "Fresno". Everyday ! Please do not do that. 🙂 We're talking about a 2hr drive to Oakland, followed by a BART trip across the bay and finally a bus to school. Roughly 3 hours each direction, and obvioulsy plenty of room for stuff to go wrong ! Anyways ...
For plane tickets, checkout:
www.travelzoo.com
www.sidestep.com
www.hotwire.com
www.kayak.com
www.airfare.com
For transportation once in the bay area, check out www.511.org and http://transit.511.org/tripplanner/index.asp
This is an excellent website in that it helps you plan out your trip (in the bay area) from point A to point B using San Francisco public (CHEAP) transportation. So you won't end up paying $20 for a cab everytime you go to your interview (these things can get very pricey you know). A bus ticket costs $1.50 and are usually pretty frequent (no long waits). You can ride as many buses with the same ticket until you reach your destination. It is good for about 2-3 hours.
If you're coming from Oakland, you might need to cross the bay with the BART (unless you have your swimming trunks on) www.bart.gov/index.asp first (about $5.00) and get off at the Embarcadero station, as I am sure they mentioned in your package already), and then take the bus. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE EXACT CHANGE FOR THE BUS.
For good deals on car rentals:
www.hotwire.com (You will need to pick it up from an airport. This website does not contract with local car rental agencies)
www.dollar.com
www.budget.com
www.enterprise.com
www.kayak.com
Foor good deals on lodging (hotel, motel or warm sidewalks 😉)
www.kayak.com
www.hotels.com
www.hotwire.com
www.sidestep.com
As you have probably noticed by now, hotwire.com is the king ! I wish they gave me money for everytime I mentioned their name ...
Alright, if you guys have any other questions, let me know, and i'll try to answer them as soon as I can. I am not on SDN as frequent as I used to be, but i'll try. This post should cover it though.
PS: Driving to the interviews on weekdays is not the best idea, since parking is very hard to find here. Besides, you might run into major traffic (specially on the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges), and might cause you to be late for your interview. Unless you have someone else dropping you off, I would say stick to transportation/cab/walk. It is usually a little better on weekends.
Good Luck.
Anyways, for those of you whom I have not had the pleasure meeting in the past, I am a first year IDS (advanced standing) student at PACIFIC, and not long ago was in everyone of your shoes. The only thing I can say, based on my brief experience, is that anything you go through for this school is worth it. It is amazing. No looking back from here ...
Anyways, let's cut to the chase. I know you guys that have been fortunate enough to be invitied to the interview are all probably scrambling now to find good deals on airfares, transportation lodging and so forth ... I thought I would try and give you some San Francisco "insider" pointers, in hopes that it may help.
For my interview, I actually used to commute from a California city called "Fresno". Everyday ! Please do not do that. 🙂 We're talking about a 2hr drive to Oakland, followed by a BART trip across the bay and finally a bus to school. Roughly 3 hours each direction, and obvioulsy plenty of room for stuff to go wrong ! Anyways ...
For plane tickets, checkout:
www.travelzoo.com
www.sidestep.com
www.hotwire.com
www.kayak.com
www.airfare.com
For transportation once in the bay area, check out www.511.org and http://transit.511.org/tripplanner/index.asp
This is an excellent website in that it helps you plan out your trip (in the bay area) from point A to point B using San Francisco public (CHEAP) transportation. So you won't end up paying $20 for a cab everytime you go to your interview (these things can get very pricey you know). A bus ticket costs $1.50 and are usually pretty frequent (no long waits). You can ride as many buses with the same ticket until you reach your destination. It is good for about 2-3 hours.
If you're coming from Oakland, you might need to cross the bay with the BART (unless you have your swimming trunks on) www.bart.gov/index.asp first (about $5.00) and get off at the Embarcadero station, as I am sure they mentioned in your package already), and then take the bus. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE EXACT CHANGE FOR THE BUS.
For good deals on car rentals:
www.hotwire.com (You will need to pick it up from an airport. This website does not contract with local car rental agencies)
www.dollar.com
www.budget.com
www.enterprise.com
www.kayak.com
Foor good deals on lodging (hotel, motel or warm sidewalks 😉)
www.kayak.com
www.hotels.com
www.hotwire.com
www.sidestep.com
As you have probably noticed by now, hotwire.com is the king ! I wish they gave me money for everytime I mentioned their name ...
Alright, if you guys have any other questions, let me know, and i'll try to answer them as soon as I can. I am not on SDN as frequent as I used to be, but i'll try. This post should cover it though.
PS: Driving to the interviews on weekdays is not the best idea, since parking is very hard to find here. Besides, you might run into major traffic (specially on the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges), and might cause you to be late for your interview. Unless you have someone else dropping you off, I would say stick to transportation/cab/walk. It is usually a little better on weekends.
Good Luck.
