XP: Anyone from the Annapolis area?

[mrs.jacinthe]

I've got a swim competition there in June (GCBS) and I have questions regarding where to stay, airports, public transport ... basically everything.



I know SOMEONE is from around there, but I can't find the post.  SO - if you're from Annapolis and/or are familiar with the Sandy Point State Park/Kent Island area, please PM me. TIA!

[hannahb]

I'm a couple hours away. Don't know much about the area. I do know people who have done races down there so I will ask around and get back to you

[mrs.jacinthe]

Jan 28, 2015 19:03:25 GMT -5 hannahb said:

I'm a couple hours away. Don't know much about the area. I do know people who have done races down there so I will ask around and get back to you

Awesome, thanks!  I am looking at the map but b/c traffic, safety, etc, I need a local's guidance.  LOL

[cinco]

I'm from just outside Annapolis. We always used BWI and used shuttle service. I think most of the Kent Island hotels are well regarded. Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions.

[irie]

I live near BWI and used to work in Annapolis. You should fly into BWI.i would then rent a car. There are lots of nice hotels, from basic to luxury in the Annapolis area.

[theoriginalbean]

I visit a lot for work, and I was also going to say fly into BWI. lots of great places to stay, LOTS of great places to eat.

[spunkypenguin]

I believe wawa is from somewhere in that vicinity. We did the Chesapeake Bay 10k and I remember her saying she lived near there.

[wawa]

Jan 28, 2015 19:59:04 GMT -5 irie said:

I live near BWI and used to work in Annapolis. You should fly into BWI.i would then rent a car. There are lots of nice hotels, from basic to luxury in the Annapolis area.

Same here actually.  And yes, rent a car, there's no good public transport way to get TO Annapolis.   And sandy point you also need a car to get to.  (unless the race organizers are running shuttles from the navy stadium?   they do that for a lot of events in the area)   Do you want to stay in Annapolis or KI?  (I'm assuming the answer to that will be based on race logistics.)

I don't know KI well, so I'll just offer my thoughts on Annapolis -
You kinda can't screw up Annapolis.  It's a smallish place and is the downtown is very walkable.  There are sketchy areas, but they're small - and frankly, not that sketchy. (recently totally refurbished section 8 housing)  And it's not like you'd accidentally wander into them from downtown.  In terms of hotels there are two regions - the mall/parole area and actual downtown Annapolis.  I think you'll find a wider range of prices in Parole (standard HI type places), but then you're near the mall (which is big and nice) on the outskirts of town rather than the charming downtown harbor area.  (there's also a big high end mixed use development near there, the town center at parole which I think has 2 hotels.)  There are actually a number of good non-chain (and good chain) places in Parole, so if you end up there it's not like all is lost.  And the rest of Annapolis is all of 5 minutes away since you'll have a car. 

All  of the hotels in downtown Annapolis are nice as far as I know so you can't go wrong there.

Give me an idea of what kind of food you'd like to eat and I can point you at some specific places.  There's lot of good stuff.

If you want to stay on KI I can ask friends about that - I have two who live over there.

[oreille]

I'm mostly a dirty lurker, but I grew up on KI and live near BWI now. PM me if you have questions!