Travel & Lodging

Travel tips

Here is some information to plan for your tip and your arrival in Blacksburg.

 

If you travel to the US internationally and this is your first visit to the US, please know that you will go through “Immigration and Customs” at the airport where you land in the US. As soon as your passport and visa have been checked, you will need to pick up your checked luggage from the luggage carrousel and you will walk with your luggage through customs. You will then hand your luggage back to your airline for your connecting flight to Roanoke. After you hand off your luggage, you will need to find your way to your gate for your flight to Roanoke. After you land in Roanoke, you will pick up your luggage again from the luggage carrousel.

 

Later this week, we will enter pick up times for the Roanoke airport and Amtrak train station for attendees who asked to be picked up in the shared spreadsheet. We do not charge for pick-ups. We will also provide attendees with instructions on how to contact us and what to do if your flight gets delayed or you need any help. If you have an emergency in the US, you call 911. Again, please make sure your arrival information is up to date by Monday, June 24, evening if possible so we can plan ahead. Graduate students Kassaye Belay and Matheus Borba will drive two 12-passenger vans back and forth between Roanoke airport and Blacksburg hotels on July 6 and July 7. If you arrive on July 5 or July 8, someone will still pick you up or we will give you detailed instructions on how to reach Blacksburg by public transportation.

 

If you stay in one of the suggested hotels in Blacksburg, you are at walking distance to the conference hotel, the Virginia Tech campus (including the Hahn Horticulture Garden, where we will have the Welcome Reception Sunday evening), several restaurants, and the Kroger supermarket. It is a longer walk to the small Blacksburg downtown area but it can be done. You can also use Uber or Lyft or take the free public buses, but they do not run very often during the summer and rarely on weekends: https://ridebt.org/routes-schedules

 

The conference check-in desk will be located inside the Inn at Virginia Tech. It will open around 2:00PM on Sunday, July 7, and stay open until around 7:00PM and then re-open Monday morning at 7:30AM. You do not need to register to attend the welcome reception in the Hahn Horticulture Garden on Sunday evening. You can just show up at the reception at the Hahn Horticulture Garden any time between 6:00PM and 8:00PM for food. For beer and wine, a conference volunteer will be on site to hand out free drink tickets (maximum two per person). If you said in the shared spreadsheet that you are interested in attending one of the workshops Sunday afternoon, we will contact you separately.

Arriving by Air:

Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport

As the closest major airport to Blacksburg, Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport (ROA) provides easy access to the conference center and offers convenient connections through domestic and international gateways in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington, Chicago, Detroit, Cincinnati, and Charlotte.

The following airlines fly directly to Roanoke:

The Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport carries the following car rental agencies:

Washington Dulles International Airport

The Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) is located in Chantilly, Virginia approximately 26 miles from downtown Washington, D.C.

The following airlines fly directly to Dulles:

The Washington Dulles International Airport carries the following car rental agencies:

The Piedmont Triad International Airport

The Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTI) is located at the center of North Carolina, situated between the cities of Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point.

The following airlines fly directly to Greensboro:

The Piedmont Tried International Airport carries the following car rental agencies:

Charlotte Douglas International Airport

The Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) serves approximately 175 nonstop destinations around the globe.

The Charlotte Douglas International Airport carries the following car rental agencies:

By train or bus:

Train:

There is an Amtrak train station in Roanoke with two daily trains from/to Washington D.C., New York City, and Boston.

Bus:

There is a bus that runs between Washington DC and Blacksburg: Virginia Breeze.

Conference shuttles for pick up from the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional airport and the Roanoke Amtrak train station:

We will arrange for picking up attendees from the Roanoke-Blacksburg Airport and Amtrak train station on Saturday, July 6, and Sunday, July 7, 2024. Please check back here when we get closer to the conference for details on how to arrange for a pick up.

Smart Way Bus:

You can also take the Smart Way bus from the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport and Roanoke Amtrak Station to the stop on Virginia Tech's campus at Squires Student Center and call The Inn at Virginia Tech (540-231-8000) between 7:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. to schedule a shuttle pickup from Squires to The Inn.

Cab Services:

The following cab services are available from the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport.

Cab Service Blacksburg:

Lodging

We reserved room blocks at reduced rates (valid until June 7, 2024) at:

Please, note that these prices do not include tax, which is around 10%. Also note that all rooms fit a least 2 people and this will not change the price per room so you will pay only half per person if you share a room. Only one person needs to make the reservation and simply select 2 people from the menu. Some rooms can even fit 3 to 5 people (always for the same total room price) with the caveat that there are only up to 3 beds in a room. For example, at the Residence Inn and Hyatt Place, you can book a room with two queen beds. These rooms also have a sofa so they fit 3 people comfortably. If you are wlling to share the queen beds, 5 people can share these rooms. If you want to share a room but you do not have someone to share it with yet, feel free to use this spreadsheet. Thank you to keynote speaker Dr. Tiffany Lower-Power for putting the sheet together!