Questions About Going to Shea

[TransMonk]

The wife and I are making the trip to Queens next week for the Braves series. It is her wedding gift to me and we are both excited since in my 21 years of being a Mets fan this will be my first trip to Shea. We are flying out of Madison early Monday, connecting in Chicago and landing at LaGuardia in the mid-afternoon. We are staying at the Comfort Inn on 37th Avenue in Flushing. We have tickets for Monday night, Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon before flying back Wednesday night. Now, I know my way around Manhattan in a pinch, but have no knowledge of Queens at all.

Question 1: The hotel boasts that it is within walking distance of Shea and mapquest puts it as less than a mile away. We do not mind walking a mile and back to the game, but we have also read reviews of the hotel stating that it is not the most accessible walk. Can we (should we) expect to be able to walk to the game? With tennis in town that week, it seems to me to be the most logical option, but thought I'd check with local folks to be sure.

Question 2: The game on Wednesday will most likely end sometime around 4:00 (unless Trachsel's pitching). Our flight from LaGuardia leaves between 7 and 7:30. Is there somewhere near the ballpark that we can catch a cab to the airport? Again, with tennis in town I didn't think it would be hard, but is there a designated place at Shea?

Anyway, hope to see the Mets win a couple and maybe I'll see some of yous there.

[Willets Point]

Wow! I can't answer your questions, but have a great trip. You deserve it if you've been waiting that long to go to Shea. And your wife is a prize worth keeping.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

1. Walk!

It's easy and will take 15 minutes. It's not like the most beautiful stroll ever, but you're right, probably easiest. Just go 2 blocks south to Roosevelt, then walk west over the bridge. At the foot of the bridge is shea -- you ought to be able to see it. They were doing some construction last time I went, but it wasn't an issue IIRC.

In a pinch, you can walk to the Main St. 7 stop, and go to Willets/Shea. 1 stop, express or local.

2. Not sure. I think there are often taxis out in front of the stadium after the game, look for 'em the first 2 nights. You could also head back to Flushing and you'll probably find a cab or black car there.

3. Have fun!

[Guest OlerudOwned]

Sounds like a blast, have a great time.

[Guest KC]

Great gift, have fun. Keep in mind for Wednesday if you plan on leaving from
Shea that there is a pretty strict limit on how big a bag you can bring into the
stadium these days. There's usually car service over by gate E on the park's
property but you'll do better with a yellow cab on the other side of the fence
under the subway to go to LaGuardia.

[metirish]

Have fun Monk, what a great gift from your missus,enjoy the games and the City,sucks that Bobby V doesn't have his restuarant close by anymore.

[TransMonk]

Thanks for all the great replies. Pretty much everything I wanted to hear.

We plan on having a blast. We thought about the fact that we would be departing directly from the game and what kind of baggage we would have. Since we'll only be gone over 2 nights and we can't take many toiletries on airplanes these days anyway, we are each only taking a change of clothes and little else. My wife has a large purse that is as big as a tote bag and I'll bring a knapsack. Hopefully we won't have much trouble getting them in the park if we let security ruffle through it.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Have a great time!

[smg58]

Have fun. People will probably be parking for baseball/tennis farther away than your hotel, so there's no reason not to walk it. Can't help you with the cabs, though.

[Frayed Knot]

TransMonk wrote: We thought about the fact that we would be departing directly from the game and what kind of baggage we would have. Since we'll only be gone over 2 nights and we can't take many toiletries on airplanes these days anyway, we are each only taking a change of clothes and little else. My wife has a large purse that is as big as a tote bag and I'll bring a knapsack. Hopefully we won't have much trouble getting them in the park if we let security ruffle through it.

Another alternative - which may or may not be practical depending on your personal logistics - would be to stash your gear at a LaGuardia locker early in the day before going to the game (it's not much further from your hotel than Shea is). That way you'll avoid any problems with bags at the park and avoid having to go back to the hotel before heading for the plane.
Heck, without bags you can practically walk to the airport.

P.S. Avoid Tommy Glavine's cab driver.

[TransMonk]

That's another good idea...thanks!

Mets.com's Shea info lists the dimensions of what you can bring into the park as 16"x16"x8". Neither of our bags will be nearly that big. We'll check out the lockers coming into town on Monday, though. It may be the best idea after all.

[Guest cooby]

Transmonk, are you staying at the Ramada? We stayed there last year (nice, don't miss the restaurant back behind the lounge). If you walk really slow, it might take you 10 minutes to get to Shea.


Oh never mind.

[Guest sharpie]

I'm not sure if there are lockers at LaGuardia any more.

[Benjamin Grimm]

You can call them and ask, but doing so would probably land you on Homeland Security's watch list.

[Guest Hillbilly]

I hope you guys have a GREAT time!

[TransMonk]

Thanks for all the great advice! Our trip was very nice. We got into town just before noon on Monday and took the time before the game to walk through Chinatown, Flushing Meadows, the tennis area and of course, the area outside Shea.





As you guys know, the game on Monday pretty much stunk, but I was still in heaven rooting with Mets fans, hanging out at the stadium and soaking it all in.

Tuesday we took the train into Manhattan and walked through the Village. We made it back just before the rain. Of course we walked back down to the stadium hoping against hope there would be a game...but the rain kept coming.



Because of our erring on the side of caution we only saw the early game of the double header on Wednesday. We left our seats soon after the victory, walked right outside, caught a cab, got our boarding passes, and went through security in less than a half hour. Literally! We were in a bar in LaGuardia watching the bottom of the first of the second game. Had we known it would be that easy we would have stayed a little longer, but I was still happy to see a Mets win.



We got stranded at Ohare because our flight from NY was delayed over 2 hours. We ended up renting a car and driving from Chicago. Even with the snag at the end, it was a great trip and it's a trip we plan on making every two years or so.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

I'm glad that you and Mrs. Monk had such a nice time. Thanks for sharing your photos - they're great!

Next time come on a weekend and perhaps a few of us can meet you at Shea

[Guest KC]

Cool, glad everything went smoothly and you didn't get completely washed out.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Love them crazy angles.

[Guest Edgy DC]

We need shots of the Ms. Monk. The TransNun, or whatever.

[seawolf17]

Edgy DC wrote: We need shots of the Ms. Monk. The TransNun, or whatever.

Because Edgy's secretly putting together a CPF Wifey Watch thread.

[soupcan]

="seawolf17"]Because Edgy's secretly putting together a CPF Wifey Watch thread.

Really?

Okay then here is a picture of Mrs. soupcan. Her maiden name was Electra...

[Guest cooby]

Your'e gonna have a hard time prying a picture of my wife out of me

[Willets Point]

Too late. We already have pictures of your spouse. Unless you also have a wife...

[seawolf17]

I know wearing a flannel shirt every day didn't exactly make me a runway model, but I'm soooo glad I didn't come of age in the seventies.

[Guest cooby]

You don;t like my wedding gown?

[Vic Sage]

your hair is sort of reddish auburn, coobster?

yummy

[MFS62]

They look like the little bride and groom dolls they used to put on the top of the wedding cake.
Do you still have a slice of your wedding cake in your freezer for "good luck"?

I have lots of pictures of my wife, but none of her mother. It seems neither camera nor mirror could capture her image.

Later

[Guest cooby]

lol, MFS63, I love your mother in law jokes, because I feel just the same way about mine.


No, Vic, as I explain when this picture first started appearing (Willets, where DID you dig this up?) my hair is TAN, it just looks red in pictures for some reason. My wedding was in May so it was still pretty dark.
So calm down!


I've probably gone through four or five refrigerators since I got married, cake is long gone...




BTW, Transmonk, your trip to Shea sounds similar to the one my husband (the one in the pic in the groovy tux) and I took last year. Our son bought us tickets for Father's Day and we drove in from Central PA (about four hours, so not quite as bad as having to fly). Beautiful day but it started to rain about 5 pm and didn't stop until about 9 pm, so I know what you mean about sticking it out at the ball park hoping not to have to waste your tickets!

Had a great time and got carded at the beer stand (Nathan's on the first level, in case anybody wants to try their luck at getting carded) so I was happy.

[Willets Point]

]Willets, where DID you dig this up?

Are you kidding, I have it posted on my wall?

Seriously though, not everything is lost on the EZBoard Cranepool.

Amusingly enough you had to calm down Vic about the red hair in that thread too.