| Stanford Fast Break Club | Supporting Stanford Women's Basketball |
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Getting to the airport: it's a toss-up whether you want to take a door-to-door van, or drive yourself and park in a long-term parking lot. The long-term lots are hard to find and then you wait for the shuttle; and your car is exposed to the elements while you are away. On the other hand, there's always that wait in the dark while you wonder if the van is really going to find your address, and on return, the wait in the van while he circles the airport looking for more passengers and the extra ride while he drops off other people in strange neighborhoods before getting to your place.
Cost-wise for a 4-day trip for two people it's about a wash.
Of the vans, SuperShuttle is very professional and provides an automated call to your cell-phone when the van is heading to your house. We've ridden South and East Bay a number of times without problems as well.
For SFO you can park in the airport-run long-term lot for $13/day. Skypark is the same, or $15/day for covered parking. ParkSFO offers covered parking for $13/day or a $15/day valet parking option. But you can park at Park and Fly, Anza Parking or Fasttrack Parking, for $12/day (outdoor). Fastrack offers a special Senior Rate of $8.99/day, and Park and Fly sometimes has an $8.99 special. On a recent trip we stood at the "Off-airport parking shuttles" loading zone at SFO and saw two each of Anza, Fastrack, ParkSFO and Skypark shuttles go by while waiting for the Park'n'Fly shuttle. So they all offer equivalent shuttle frequency.
For SJC, the airport-run long-term lot costs $15/day and the ride in the shuttle as it bumbles its way around the huge lot can be a bore. This site lists a number of alternate off-airport parking options.
| Link | Comment |
|---|---|
| http://supersearch.travelzoo.com/ | Travelzoo has a good service, allowing you to put in your air travel information once and then shop multiple sites for the best deal, without having to start over and enter your information with each vendor—Don Anderson |
| http://us.lastminute.com/ | For the bold and/or feckless traveller, buy bargain seats at the last minute—Alice Bittner |
| http://http://www.seatguru.com/ | Info on all airlines, including the planes they fly. Click on the name of a plane in the list for a seat map as that airline configures the plane, showing which seats to prefer and which to avoid—Committee |
| http://www.southwest.com/ | Southwest schedules and ticket sales, which are not available from Expedia, etc.—Alice Bittner. |
| http://www.tripadvisor.com/ | Does hotel price comparisons based on four other sites including Expedia and Travelocity—Committee. |
Here's what the Travel committee has found out about schedules and fares, plus suggestions of local attractions to enjoy between games. For certain trips the travel coordinator arranges social activities and get-togethers.
This is quick one-game road trip for a Sunday game following a Friday night game against a major opponent (Minnesota). We do not have a game time yet. With the typical 2pm start time it will be iffy getting back to Palo Alto that day.
Thanksgiving weekend in Honolulu with lots of basketball to watch! What could be nicer?
The tournament is the Rainbow Wahine Classic. Participating teams are Hawaii, Stanford, Purdue, Prairie View A&M, Iowa State, San Diego State, Bradley and Ole Miss.
We don't have the tournament schedule or web site yet, but we have made contact with the U. of Hawaii staff and the following is official info:
In prior years of this tournament, there have always been four games scheduled each day, with the championship game (and we expect the Cardinal would play in that one, yes?) at 5:30pm on the last day. That makes it about 8pm to get the net cut down and get out of the gym. There are a number of red-eye flights leaving HNL for SFO between 10 and 11pm, getting in at dawn. Another flock of planes leaves HNL for LAX at the same time, with early-am connections to SJC or OAK. So if you are up for going to work straight from the airport on 5 hours sleep, you're in!
Staunch fan André writes,
For East Bay Folks traveling to Hawaii in November there is one flight to and from Oakland each day. I got a relatively good deal today, $1230 for two of us, leaving 11/27 in the morning and returning 12/3 in the evening.
If you are interested in a package deal you should call Betty Kregg at the Palo Alto office of CSAA: (650) 798-3207. Say you are a Cardinal fan looking to get to the Thanksgiving Weekend Hawaiian Tournament. The numbers she comes up with are typically 5%-10% less than Travelocity can find on a given day. Second choice: use Travelocity or Expedia to book a combined hotel-air package.
Some who want to get into the spirit in a big way are
thinking of ordering the Reyn Spooner
"Stanford" style Hawaiian shirt.
It is sometimes available at the Track House. Contact Harriet Benson if you want to try for a group discount.
A mega-trip to play quality opponents on the East Coast. More to be posted later.
Last year, more than 20 FBC members were at both games. Fran Liu organized a fine group dinner and got us great seats for the ASU game.
We play in Tempe on Thursday (7pm MST), and in Tucson on Sunday at 2pm.
For UA tickets, buy your own at the door the day of the game. For the Thursday ASU game we will pre-order a block of tickets if we can. To join this block ... TBS.
More on flights and itineraries later.
Possible local attractions include—
Tucson area:
Phoenix area:
Everybody's favorite hotel for this trip is the Valley River Inn (1000 Valley river way, Eugene, Oregon 97401; 1-800-543-8266).
The Thursday night game is at Oregon in Eugene, and the Saturday night game is at Oregon State in Corvallis.
Trip coordinator Don Anderson will consider whether it is worthwhile pre-ordering a block of seats. Check back later for details.
Many fans fly to Portland, rent a car, drive down to Eugene, and return to Portland to fly home. It is possible (although more expensive) to fly SJC-EUG, changing planes in Portland. For example, a Southwest round trip flight from San Jose to Portland ranges in cost from $180 to $320 per person (if you want to pay a premium and get a semi-reserved seat). Alaska Air quotes round trips from San Jose to Eugene via Portland from $400 to $600 per person.
It is also possible to drive from Palo Alto, but you should allow for a five day trip, given a Saturday afternoon game in Corvallis: Wednesday drive 5 1/2 hours to Ashland, OR (many good motels and restaurants); Thursday morning drive another 5 1/2 hours to Eugene. Saturday return to Ashland (arriving after dark); Sunday complete the drive home. Your cost for gas, lodging, and food may be similar to the cost of flying Southwest or Alaska to Portland and renting a car.
And more about Eugene at Via Magazine.
This season the Thursday game is in Pullman, after which we can have a pleasant day and a half to visit Seattle.
Possible itineraries TBS
Seattle is famous for its coffee, and that does not mean just Starbucks. There are indeed many Starbuckeries, but there are also many local coffee shops and cafes where you can escape the rain. Check the Seattle's Best Coffee shop locator, and also this coffee fan's list of Coffee Shops I Can't Stay Away From.
After you have had enough coffee, you'll have plenty of energy to root for the Cardinal and to stay up reading afterwards. If you need a book, the Elliot Bay Book Company at 101 South Main rivals Powell's Books in Portland and probably has whatever you may be looking for.
If you have the time, it might also be worth visiting the famous Pike Place Market which is consistently rated as one of the best places to shop for food in the US. Close by is the new Olympic Sculpture Park, an outdoor wing of the Seattle Art Museum.
And if you have even more time (and if the weather is ok), the Olympic National Park and surrounding peninsula is spectacular (although it may be very wet or snowy, so double-check the weather forecast).
Finally, this is also the home of the Washington Huskies, and for some tips on driving and parking at the game as well as for more ideas as to where to stay and eat, check out their Purple Web Page.
Last year this was a dismal trip with two losses. No doubt the team will be looking to improve this time.
Hotel: traditionally the fan hotel has been the Courtyard Marina Del Rey
Tickets: neither host team anywhere near sells out, so expect to buy tickets at the door.
It's a tossup whether to fly or drive for this trip. Experience shows that, in good weather, the door-to-door travel time is almost the same. On the plus side, if you drive, you needn't rent a car to get around LA. On the minus side, that drive home up I5 on Sunday night gets pretty long, even if you break it with a late supper at Harris Ranch.
Socializing is informal on this trip, as so many people have relatives or other plans in the L.A. area. However, it is common for fans to have a pre-game nosh at Aunt Kizzy's across the parking lot from the hotel, and also common to hang around the lobby after a game to applaud the team as they come in the door, and maybe get an informal word from the coaches.
A good reason to make this trip is to scope out the Galen Center and its environs, because in just 10 days we will be right back here for the PAC-10 tournament!
Far from the friendly confines of the San Jose Arena, the tournament will be at the Galen Center on the USC campus. Presumably at least some FBC fans will not also have tickets to the men's tourney across town at the Staples Center, and will want to stay in the vicinity of USC. We'll try to get some info on available hotels.