I want to remind everyone attending that a breakdown of your expected transit costs can be found
here. It would be advisable to make sure you purchase your tickets in advance wherever possible. Ticket vending machines do take some time to figure out when one is not used to them, and having potentially 20 or so last minute transactions at a limited number of machines could delay us and cause trains to be missed.
You can purchase your NJT tickets from their vending machines on New York's Penn Station in advance for the round trip, so you won't need to purchase another one in Plainfield (if we go there) or in Princeton Junction or Princeton. You can purchase any commuter rail ticket from the New York vending machines even for trips not originating in New York, by taking the option to change the origin. Therefore, although we are taking Amtrak to Princeton Junction, you should be able to buy your Princeton Junction-Princeton and Princeton-New York tickets in New York before we depart. Allow time to accomplish this before we meet for the day at New York's Penn Station.
You should also be able to purchase your Metro North ticket for both directions to North White Plains and back in Grand Central Terminal, and your LIRR Penn Station-Port Washington and Port Washington-Flushing tickets from the vending machines at Penn Station.
Doing your homework by reading what you need to pay, and obtaining tickets for yourself BEFORE we meet will help you and your fellow attendees to make all of our intended connections. The group WILL NOT WAIT for anyone who has not purchased their tickets ahead of time. Some connections may be tight, and we WILL make them where possible.
You also should ensure that you have a Metrocard for the NYC subways (and any PATH trips you might take on your own) with the proper value loaded for the trips we will be taking on the Fest as well as any extra trips you may need to get to the start point or from our ending point.
I want to caution everyone that some longer walks will be necessary to get to or from some train stations. If you do not feel you are agile enough to make such a walk, perhaps you should skip participation in the elements of the Fest that call for such walks. Of note is a walk on 34th Street from Penn Station to Hudson Yards, which is several longer blocks. Again this is not an effort to exclude anybody, but just as you would not try out for precision dancing like the Rockettes or playing for a major league sports team, consider that while we share the interests of riding trains, we also need to move between them possibly at a quick pace if the first train of a planned connection arrives late.
If you frequently need to use restrooms, I suggest monitoring your intake at breakfast and lunch to be able to get to the next break in activity. I believe that all three commuter railroads do have onboard restrooms, but subways don't. Subway stations do, but they are not the best places to visit.
Riding trains is the primary reason we have these events, and again we WILL when possible make those trains.