TRAVEL

This guide is in two sections: first, getting to Belfast; second, getting around Belfast.

Getting to Belfast by...
PLANE: If you will be coming from a distance that, in your opinion, requires travel by air, you can reasonably hope to arrive into one of two airports: Portland, ME, or Boston, MA. JetBlue, USAir, and several other major airlines fly into Portland. On JetBlue you often get to fly on regular sized planes. Portland is a little less than two hours south of Belfast; Boston, in turn is a little less than two hours south of Portland. Portland is closer but flights are generally more expensive.

Once you have arrived in one of these two cities, you will continue with your journey by either BUS, TRAIN, OR CAR. 

FROM BOSTON BY BUS:
If you plan to rent a car, it might be easiest and cheapest to do so from Boston, in which case you will can follow the driving directions below. If you prefer to continue on to Portland or Belfast on public transportation, once you've arrived in Boston you will make your way over to the Concord Coach Lines counters located at Logan and at South Station.  Concord Trailways is a great service--the buses are very comfortable, they have a great no-cell-phone policy which makes for quiet riding, they show movies over headsets, and they give you bottled water and pretzels. The trip, up the coast along Route 1, is very scenic. The most important thing you need to know about getting to Belfast on the bus is that there is now just one bus a day that goes all the way up to Belfast from Boston, leaving Logan at 11:20 am and South Station at 12:01 pm. It's about a five hour trip.  It is possible that in August, because of all the summer travel, they will go back up to two; the second usually leaves South Station at around 5pm. We'll keep you posted, or check the website.

FROM BOSTON TO PORTLAND BY TRAIN:
To keep pace with Concord Trailways, Amtrak offers a train service, the 'Downeaster', from Boston North Station to the Portland "Transit Center," that is, the bus station. Surprisingly, it costs about the same as a bus ticket. Concord Trailways operates out of the same place, which is good, because you'll need it if you want to continue your trip further up the coast on public transportation. Alas, Amtrak service ends in Portland.

FROM PORTLAND TO BELFAST BY BUS:
From the Portland 'Jetport' unfortunately the only way to get to the Concord Trailways bus terminal is by taxi, unless you like walking. It's actually totally walkable and we've done it, some of us, it's a little over a mile and there are sidewalks the whole way. But probably you'll prefer to take a cab, in which case you'll get in at the airport and tell the driver, "Please take me to the Concord Trailways bus station," and he or she will do so. *Note: This option only makes sense if you are arriving in Portland before 2pm, when the single bus up the coast departs.*

DRIVING DIRECTIONS FROM BOSTON TO BELFAST:
Ben perhaps you could post these as, because Google knows I'm in Russia, I can only get directions in Russia. 

GETTING AROUND BELFAST:
The best way to get around Belfast, of course, is by foot, and if you are staying somewhere in town, or even, assuming you like walking about a mile there and back, at the Penobscot Bay Inn, you'll be able to reach absolutely everything you need for the weekend (except, alas, the reception--contact us to get in touch with people who will have cars to share rides. Contact us as well if you are one of the people who will have cars and would be willing to give a ride) by foot.

Bicycles are also a great way to get around town, as well as between downtown and the East side, as there is a lovely footbridge connecting the two which means that you don't even have to ride on Route 1. Bicycles might be available for rent at Mike's shop, Belfast Bicycles. We hope so.

Cars of course are also a possibility. You won't need one much over the weekend, we hope, but they certainly are handy for getting to Belfast, so if you'll use one for that you might as well hang onto it while you're in town. Again, if you'll have one and might be willing to help out someone arriving on public transport, most of whom will almost certainly be friendly young graduate students, do let us know. I'm sure that in exchange they'd be willing to offer a lecture on their field of specialty or advice on getting your kid into college.

MAPS: BEN, DARLING, I LEAVE THIS TO YOU.