Travel from Groton after sub cruise

engineer

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How do mids typically travel from Groton after they finish a sub cruise? I would like to book a flight on Southwest in case the dates change, plus I was wondering about ground transportation to the airport.
 
engineer,

You really should talk to your DS/DD about transportation, as they will best know the way USNA will get them to/from Groton.

If MIDN are bussed to/from Groton, any air travel you purchase is not reimbursed (USNA did not purchase air travel for MIDN, i.e. gov't bus was available to/from Annapolis). I wouldn't be surprised if this was the method as MIDN are frequently bussed between Annapolis and Newport -- but like I said, talk to your MIDN.

Southwest closest airports are Windsor-Locks, CT (Bradley - Hartford/Springfield) and Providence, RI, which is a bit of distance from Groton. Your MIDN will have to work closely with their command to see if a duty van or ground transportation service (shuttle/taxi) is available. This is a great thing for him/her to look into. I would also default to finding a suitable ground transportation service and NOT the duty van.

Also...do you know if your DS/DD is on leave immediately following? If so, it is common for MIDN to leave from their cruise site.
 
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At the same time, make sure that they will be able to have independent travel from their cruise location, which your son/daughter might not know until they actually report to their sub. If they do not have independent travel, USNA will take care of all travel arrangements and your kid just has to show up on time in the right place. If they do, they can arrange travel to and from their leave location themselves.
This changes from year to year and from ship to ship. If they are not allowed to have independent travel from their ship, they will be bussed (or flown? Probably bussed) from Groton back to USNA and will not be allowed to leave direct from Groton regardless of leave status.
For example, I had a friend who had a 3/C sub cruise in Hawaii. He lived on the west coast. Instead of being able to fly direct from Hawaii to California, he was not allowed to take independent travel but instead the Navy flew him from Hawaii back to Annapolis...where he promptly went back to BWI and flew out to CA.
 
At CGA if a duty van/libo van wasn't available, the different New London taxi services had flat rates to Providence. I liked Harry's because they were fairly reliable at the time. Between Hartford and Providence, I'd chose Providence (PVD) every time. Small airport right off of I-95.

Amtrak is also an option. There is a stop of PVD now, but I don't know if it's an Amtrak stop or some local commuter rail.
 
And that is very close to waste if I've ever seen it...

Oh it gets worse...

PROTRAMID two years ago they planned on getting us all government travel...which fell through at the last second, meaning that the Academy had to scramble to buy 400+ cross-country flights.

You'd think they'd learned but it happened on the way back too, meaning this time that a good chunk of mids missed several days of leave because the Academy was unable to find flights that left on the scheduled Friday.

I'm sure there are plenty of moving pieces that I (as a mid) don't see, but it seems to make more sense to just buy the tickets en masse well ahead of time, cheaply, rather than holding of for gov't travel (which worked...twice? over that summer between all three blocks?) and then spending obscene amounts at the last second.
 
engineer-

I'm sure your Mid will figure it out, however, let your Mid Kid know PVD is infinitely easier to get to and closer than BDL when booking a flight. Especially if time is of the essence in getting there to catch a flight.
 
I suggest Amtrak - leaves from New London. No worries about schedule changes or cancellations. 10% discount with military ID. Total time is about the same once travel to the airport and check-in is factored in. Someone from the Subase will be glad to give a ride to the station - it's all of 5 minutes away. Getting from BWI to the Yard has never presented a problem for my (soon to be) 2/C.
 
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