Q: Q-train

Brooklyn’s got its share of MTA subway trains. While many people wax poetic about the literary F or root for the underdog G, my affections lie with the fast, reliable Q. It’s more of a functional relationship than one filled with drama and passion, but hey, maybe those are the ones that last anyway.

My vote for the Q is based mainly on two great features:

• neighborhoods traversed
• express status

The Q stops at a lot of my favorite neighborhoods as it snakes its way through the borough of kings. The DeKalb stop is a pleasant walk from Fort Greene and Clinton Hill (and across the block from Junior’s for all your cheese cake/egg cream needs) and Atlantic Avenue is a Brooklyn transportation hub and home of clothes and home improvement genius Target (what do you say to that, Manhattan?). The 7th Ave/Flatbush stop is perfect for reaching both Prospect Heights and Park Slope. The next two stops take you to the North and East sides of Prospect Park, and then you get the Brooklyn College area, the lettered avenues (Avenue Q!), and finally Coney Island.

Even better than the diversity of neighborhoods crossed is the speed with which the Q gets you to them. From DeKalb to Union Square is just 2 stops! Want to visit Pearl Paint for some art supplies or get dim sum in Chinatown? The Q will get you there from Park Slope in 15 minutes. And for some reason the Q seems to have a lot less construction delays than some of the other lines.

So if you’re in the market for a new Brooklyn rental, consider making proximity to the Q train high up on your list of requirements.

Airfare Made Easy

This comes from a hotel room in Chicago, so I thought I’d post our first travel entry. We plan on talking a lot about travel deals on this blog. In general, those deals don’t come on airplanes, but sometimes air travel is unavoidable.

Most travel websites focus on travel packages or travelers with very specific schedule restraints. This sort of travel works well for business travelers and families planning vacations. Those of us in the post college set will usually take a cheap late night flight and a friend’s futon over even a moderately priced airline-hotel package. Two websites cater to the cheapest among us, one you probably know about and one you probably don’t.