Bullspenners help! Summarize Notre Dame trip

[willia33]

Alright guys, there's lots of threads going around, I'm hoping we could get a good summary of making this trip affordable. Until the recent news of the approximate $175 roundtrip airfare, it was going to be unobtainable, now...maybe.

I went to priceline and for $500 you can get two roundtrip tickets and two nights in a hotel (located close to o' hare airport) for two people (fees and expenses included).

With tickets of $140 looks like you have a minimum of $640 with the rest discretionary (food, entertainment, etc.)

My questions

1) What is the answer to travel between Chicago and South Bend? Presume fellow Bulls fans are taking a bus, getting there early to get all the pre-game festivities.

2)  How is transportation around Chicago? Is staying at the hotel near the airport not a wise choice? Presume you can hop on a train and get to chicago and major attractions?

[BDYZR]

1 - Rent a cheap car.

2 - The EL will get you close enough to do what you want.

[T-Man]

Good luck to you... It is killing me not to go to this one.. Bottom line after flight, hotel, tix, car, etc... I could not justify a grand...  This would have been my 16th roadie...

[thatBULL]

near ohare you'll have to travel to do pretty much anything fun (bar, etc.)  If you stay downtown you are a quick cab/train away from everything.  Train can get you around from ohare, but its not close.  You can do without a car if you are in the city.

[The Sheriff]

I'm taking a train (Amtrak) to and from South Bend... If I recall correctly, it was $37 roundtrip... There are local trains you can get on as well that have more flexible schedules...

[RJWGoBulls]

The cheap train option is the south shore line, takes about 3 hours.  $15 return for the train then another $15 each way for a taxi when you get to South Bend.

Various departures during the morning,  As well as the scheduled 5.45pm and 10.16pm departures back they also have a special that leaves 90 mins after the game finishes

http://www.nictd.com/TempPDF/ND_Home_Games_2011.pdf

[ctbrown24]

You can rent a car around the ORD area for about $15 a day. If you're staying in a hotel outside the city, you shouldn't have to pay for nightly parking. Our hotel in the city charges $50 a night. We are picking the car up Saturday morning, and dropping it after the game.