Question Assignment

Your second assignment is to go to the FAQ page and post a new question in the comments section of that page.  What do you want to know that we haven't covered?

Necessities

Questions that only YOU can answer - and which you should answer, sooner rather than later:

- Does my cell phone plan charge roaming fees?  Will I be able to use it in New York without racking up massive fees?

- Do I have a copy of my insurance information, in case of an emergency?

- Do I need to make arrangements for someone to take in my mail, or for my mail to get held at the post office, before we leave?

- Should I get a house-sitter?  Do I need to have someone look in on pets?

- If you have bills that will need to be paid while we're gone, consider switching to online payment so you don't miss any notices.

- Make photocopies of your passport and/or driver's license or some other form of photo ID.  Yes, we'll still be in the country, but it's good to have copies of these documents in your dorm room while we're traveling.

- Will it be possible to refill your medical prescriptions in New York pharmacies, or should you obtain an advance prescription before you leave?

- Do you have a credit card?  If so, make sure to call their customer service number to alert them you'll be out of town for certain dates (fraud protection can automatically kick in and shut down your card if it's used in a drastically different zip code).

Getting to NYC

Most of you will probably be flying out of Kansas City Airport (airport code: MCI). Flying into New York, you have three options: LaGuardia (LGA), John F. Kennedy (JFK), or Newark (EWR), which is in New Jersey, but is just as easy and close as the others.

If you don't care which airport you're going to fly into, a lot of airfare websites will sort all NYC flights based on price. Some resources for finding good airfare:

Kayak is an aggregator that will sort through all of the major airlines and booking sites by price.

Kayak won't check the "discount" airlines, though - you'll need to check those separately. Keep in mind that airlines like Southwest and Frontier may have much cheaper fares, but may require you to change planes or transfer more than once.

Hipmunk sorts flights according to level of "agony" (price + flight duration + plane changes).

You have the option to buy a one-way ticket to New York and change your return plans as you go, but keep in mind that you will NOT be able to stay at the FIT dorms beyond July 29! After that, you're on your own.

You won't get your MTA (metro) cards until after our first meeting, so when you get to New York, you'll have to decide how you want to get to the FIT dorms (406 W. 31st St, 10002). If you have a lot of luggage, you may want to plan in advance and budget for a cab.