Hi Gina!

No, you don't have to change trains. It's $90 for both of us from Penn Sta to Mystic & takes 2 hr. & 50 min.

I imagine it's about $25/person to Stamford.

Holiday weekends will be crowded with people going further north than Stamford.

Here's the Amtrak link...

/tricia

Here is a link that might be useful: Amtrack

Is it Amtrak or MetroNorth?

Also, I can't get a non-stop to LaGuardia so I need to fly in to JFK or Newark. How do I get from either of those to mid-town Manhattan (8th Ave.)? Which would be better or does it matter?

Gak, I hate this part of traveling.

MetroNorth goes from Grand Central, not Penn Station. Amtrak goes from Penn. MetroNorth stops at all the local stops in parts of Ct and Westchester Co, (but not all trains hit all the stops--often, Stamford is the first stop for trains going to New Haven). Amtrak is not local and hits only the main stations on the Northeast corridor.
There is peak and there is non peak. Peak trains are during am and pm rush hours and cost more. It is about an hour ride to stamford during peak, a little more off peak. Weekends are off peak and should not be crowded. On weekends, the trains run less frequently, but still often.
To get from LGA, to midtown, (times square area) you can take a shuttle, then train that takes you to Penn. Or you can take a cab. Try to grab someone else in line to share a cab. I think the cab is about $35. The train is about $8.
Hope this helps,

Jo

My information above is based on MetroNorth. Amtrak does go to Stamford, but is probably much more $$.
But it can be done easily either way.
Jo

From JFK you can take the airtrain to the LIRR Jamaica Station (about 10 minutes) and then you can take the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) right into Penn Station (about 20 minutes). Did you want to go to Penn?...or Grand Central, or midtown - 8th Avenue from there?

Can you fly into Greenwich?

Way back when I lived in New Jersey, you could fly into Newark, and take the tube into the City, then take the NYNH and H to Stamford and points north.
But that was a long time ago!

We're meeting people in NY near Penn station, then taking the train together to Stamford, then back again.

Thanks for all the help! I will be scheduling tonight.

Sounds like your in good shape, then! You can exit at 8th Avenue from Penn and then go from there - you will be at 32nd-33rd Street. If you end up wanting to go to Grand Central you can take the shuttle from Times Square (which you can walk to or take the 2 or 3 from Penn) but might just want to cab it at that point.

Have a great trip! Never got a chance to thank you, Gina, for the Bare Minerals advice - I love it.

LindaC the closest airport to Greenwich (my hometown), is Westchester County Airport (about 20 min away). It is fairly small and not a lot of airlines use it.

jo

Gina, if you take metro north, the trains run much more frequently. I'd suggest hopping over to GCT for the trip, plus GCT is lovely, particularly compared to Penn station.

One other thing, make sure to buy your tickets at one of the windows before boarding, if you buy on the train it's much more expensive. You can purchase tix on line now too, but I'm not sure if you can get one ticket, or if they have to be weekly or monthly passes.

Have a great trip!
AM

Here is a link that might be useful: MetroNorth

I have a friend who's son lives in Greenwich and flies in there regularly....I guess she makes connection through chicago. She takes the limo or cab to their house.

Thanks again, all. We discussed and mulled and discussed last night and decided not to bite off more trip than we can chew. So we're flying into Newark, renting a car and driving directly to Stamford.

We have a big birthday party to attend and many relatives will be there. Another couple is doing one night in NYC before coming out to Stamford so we were thinking of joining them, but too much running around in one long weekend is too much for us.

NYC will have to be another trip at another time. DH is CT-born so he knows the area well and wants to have a car.