Family Day Trips from NYC: Travel Cheap

Thanks to Megabus, excellent (and frugal) family trips from NYC are a ride away. Megabus is a discount coach bus line that has stations in major cities. On the East coast, NYC is the main station, buses leave from 31st Street by Penn Station . The bus stop is actually behind Penn Station, so walk down 31st until 8th ave and it will be on the Penn Station side of the street. At all Megabus stops there's an adorable little Megabus sign with a cartoon bus driver pictured. Unfortunately the signs are low, so look down, not up. The first time I went to this stop I had a hard time finding the spot until my daughter spotted the sign, also we were looking in front on Penn station. But if you go exactly to the back of Penn station by 8th avenue and 31st, you'll find it OK.

From this station there are buses going to Boston, Hartford, Albany, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, Niagara Falls ON, Buffalo, Atlantic City, Toronto, Syracuse, and Rochester. If you book well in advance at Megabus.com you can literally pay $1-2 per person each way for any of these trips. But even if it's 10 per person round trip you are saving a bundle.

For a day trip, any of the 2-4 hour rides are a great deal. If you don't want to sit on a bus for more than 2-2.5 hours, then Philadelphia , Hartford, Atlantic city, or even Albany are great trips. If you and the kids are up for it, Baltimore is about 3 hours, Washington DC and Boston are 4-4.5. Maybe you don't consider 4 hours each way a day trip, but I've done it with my daughter and we had great times. It saves the expense of a hotel and our dog can stay home.

The best part is that you won't be driving, and you are saving big money. You can sleep on the bus, the seats are comfortable and if the bus isn't full you can stretch out over a couple seats. There is a clean restroom in the back, which is of course a must with kids.

Arrive 15-25 minutes early and line up if there's a line. You will already have made your reservation online at Megabus.com and have brought your confirmation email. When boarding time arrives, there will be someone from Megabus standing at the bus door with a clipboard. He/she will check your name and reservation # and tell you to board. Everyone with a reservation gets on the bus first, then they allow last minute riders to board if there's room. Although there may be some claims that there are movies shown on the bus, there usually is no movie so bring your own entertainment-ipods, portable DVD, etc.

In my experience with Megabus, the schedule has been exactly on time. Check Megabus.com before the trip to make sure there have been no stop changes. Get to the returning bus stop at least 15 minutes early to line up. When you reserve online you have the option of giving your cell # so you can be informed of any last minute problem, so make sure to enter your cell #.

Before you go, check out the tourist websites and decide a few things to do at your chosen destination. Since this is a day trip, don't overload your itinerary, quality is better than quantity. For example, when we went to Washington DC we visited the National Zoo, the Air and Space Museum, and The white house-outside, the lawn. We rode the buses and walked, we were good and tired and slept most of the way back to NYC. For a modest cost, we had a great day and quickly became Megabus fans.