cellio | travel to Cincinnati (notes to self)

The dates for the Sh'liach K'hilah program changed slightly; it now starts at noon on a Sunday. That makes travel more complicated.

Train: you can't get there from here (except via DC or Chicago or something similarly stupid from a Pittsburgher's perspective).

Bus: best price $78 (advance purchase); departure options 12:30am (arriving 6am) or 3am (arriving 10am). Just how icky are buses (and city Greyhound terminals at night) these days? Dunno; haven't done that in a while. Drunk-dirty-old-man quotient was high last time.

Air: best price $249; departure approximately 6am. Nothing seems to leave at a more civilized hour like 9 or 10. Air travel is a PITA; it would have to be a lot cheaper for me to consider it in this case.

Drive: either drive half the night (Shabbat ends fairly late in July), arriving roughly 4am, or get up at the butt-crack of dawn, drive 6 hours arriving before noon, and be fresh and perky for a day of classes.

Hitch a ride from some other student who's passing through Pittsburgh (I don't know yet if any such exist; will ask).

Violate Shabbat. :-( (No, I'm not considering this; I just list it for the sake of completeness.)

Oh, here's an idea: arrive Friday. This is HUC; there ought to be people there to do Shabbat with! That might be my best option. Must call tomorrow and ask.

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For the sake of completeness, and for the amusement value:

Get on a boat or train Friday afternoon, and get off Saturday night. This does not violate Shabbat.

If I could do that (without transfers, of course) on a train I'd consider it. If I could do it on a boat I'd have worries far greater than getting to Cincinnati. :-)

I'll bet your last option could end up working well :-)

Yup -- it would give me a chance to do this without zipping in at the last minute, and to visit another congregation I've never seen before, and (I hope) spend a relaxing day with some new people. I exchanged email with someone at HUC and it sounds like this will work; waiting to hear more.

Yeah, the Cinti line (in Cincinnati they call their city "Cinti," I kid you not) goes via Virginia and Kentucky while the Pittsburgh line goes north to Cleveland. There must have been a connector, but it was a long, long time ago, well before Amtrak. The main lines just took those paths in part for historical reasons.

Anyway, I did research at HUC when it was not in session and I have to tell you NOBODY was there. It was kind of depressing. I did shabbat at Hillel at Univ. of Cincinnati, which is a short walk away, but even that would be closed in the summer, I'm guessing.

I would really contact other people doing the same program and find out who will be in town early. You can't be the only person with this problem.

Actually, we mostly call it Cincinnati, sometimes Cincy, sometimes the 'nati, and rarely "Cinti." That's just an abbreviation we use. I've noticed more people from out of town use "Cinti" becaue they see our abbreviation .

Well, it was just something I saw in newspapers, stationary, etc. It surprised me because I always thought the abbreviation would be "Cinci."

Here abouts, they've pushed to clean up South Station and the Greyhounds aren't too bad. I took one down Maine, a few years ago, to get to an event in New Brunswick. Greyhound got me as far as Bar Harbor and it wasn't bad at all.

P.S. A drive option includes: Leave Saturday evening, drive about 3 hrs, stay in a motel, wake up drive three more hours.

The last few years I went to Pennsic, my rides and I stopped about 4hrs out of Pennsic and stayed in a hotel (each way). That way we only had a modest amount of driving before setting up camp, and a modest amound of driving after striking camp. To me, it was worth the money, just to not put myself physically through the wringer. I hate sleeping in strange beds, but I hate dropping 5lb sledgehammers on my feet, more.

Leave Saturday evening, drive about 3 hrs, stay in a motel, wake up drive three more hours.

Ooh, excellent idea. Thanks; I hadn't thought of splitting it like that. (And no, the cost of a Motel-8 or whatnot really isn't an issue.)

Not that my vote matters but I also think that if you arrive on Friday, you will have a chance to get your mind and soul ready for what lies ahead. Leave everyday behind and prepare for the Spiritual journey you are about to undertake.....Wow 5am and that almost makes sense. If it doesn't, forgive me and I'll try to explain it better.

I think it'll be better to not zip in at the last minute, yes. I talked to someone at HUC who thinks this is doable; HUC won't be in session then so no services or meals before Sunday, but home hospitality is possible. I'm waiting to hear more.

If you decide to come in on Friday I'm sure you'll be able to find a place to celebrate Shabbat (I'll offer up my congregation, but I'll be driving there and I know you observe Shabbat a lot more closely than I do). You should contact the person in charge of the program and see if they can put you in touch with someone, maybe an HUC student who'll be in town for the summer (there probably will be some as a number have internships at local synagogues that go through the summer months). You could also contact the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati (http://www.jewishcincinnati.org/). They do a thing called <a="http://www.jewishcincinnati.org/content_display.html?articleid=73033">Holiday Buddies" that pairs people either new to town or on their own with families/couples or individuals and I'm pretty sure they have an option for Shabbat, too:

Jewish Federation of Cincinnati
4380 Malsbary Road, Suite 200
Cincinnati, OH 45242
Tel: 513.985.1514
Fax: 513.985.1503
jpakrosnis@jfedcin.org

LJ seems to have done something funky with your comment.

[The LJ mail eventually showed up, and the truncated comment was as follows:]

You could also contact the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati (http://www.jewishcincinnati.org/ ). They do a thing called Holiday Buddies that pairs people either new to town or on their own with families/couples or individuals and I'm pretty sure they have an option for Shabbat, too:

Jewish Federation of Cincinnati 4380 Malsbary Road, Suite 200 Cincinnati, OH 45242 Tel: 513.985.1514 Fax: 513.985.1503 jpakrosnis@jfedcin.org

travel to Cincinnati (notes to self)

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I think the Friday!

Re: I think the Friday!

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