Your trip seems to be coming together nicely.

The Doubletree Guest Suites is on Winter St which is right off 128 (North). In the other direction (south), across the highway it is Totten Pond Rd and goes into Waltham.
Accross from you is a little shopping center that has 2 restaurants of note: Green Papaya (a very good Asian restaurant) and Bertuccis (a chain Italian -cheap and good not great).
Just up Totten Pond Rd, not 1/2 mile from DD is Naked Fish. A very good seafood restaurant with a Cuban flare. We go there a lot.
(The Costco is right behind your hotel).
No breakfast places right there but doesn't Doubletree serve breakfast?

To get from MHT to Waltham, you practically have to pass all the stores in Salem, NH. Exit 1 off Rte 93 south. Stock up the car.

On shopping tip. If she is into bottled water or soda, pick up a million cases of each - kids complain that the water at school is no good and hauling packs of soda and water to dorm room is difficult on public transportation. Much cheaper to buy in bulk than pay $1+ in a machine. She can store it under her bed.

Or just buy her her a Brita pitcher and a couple of extra filters. Isn't Waltham on MDC water, which is usually pretty good?

If you getting in PVD during AM or PM rush, I strongly suggest you take this route around Providence.

Get on I-95N. Take the very next exit (14) to Rte 37 West. After about 2 miles, you can get onto I-295N. Yes, it is longer, but traffic can be pretty bad going into Providence both in the morning and afternoon.

Definitely do your shopping outside of Boston. We did this last fall and were shocked by the lack of stock in all the discount stores (Target, Kmart, Bed Bath Beyond, Staples, etc).Boston has so many students arrive at the same time that the stores look like Christmas Eve during a stock clerks strike! We still laugh that there was not a single wash cloth at Target, no desk lamps at any of the shops and we couldn't find a single matching twin sheet set (bottom, top +pillow case in the same color)!

And our daughter arrived earlier than most kids for a freshman/foreign student orientation!

The good news is that she survived doing without some "necessary" items for the first few weeks, and that her weird $60 desk lamp makes a great conversation piece!

BTW, I think you asked about this, the time between the Manchester airport and Salem, NH is probably about 20 minutes. Are you arriving late into MHT - just curious about the overnight in NH?

Thanks for all the great info! We are definitely flying into MHT not PVD. The Doubletree does not include breakfast for our rate and usually hotel breakfasts are expensive if bought a la carte and not very good. Isn't there a pancake house or diner near by for some scrambled eggs? Fabulous tip on bottled water, DD is very finicky. We will definitely shop in NH before arriving in Waltham. Booked the 11/22 return for DD and gotten in touch with Vermont Transit. She will take the subway (or is it commuter train?) to South Station and a bus from there, if she can't find a fellow student going to MHT with a car. Her plane leaves at 5:30 p.m. so she has lots of time. We are busy making lots of lists. She hasn't received her roommate assignment yet, but we are labeling some items as joint decisions like curtains, rugs, etc. I hope she can have a mini fridge, this worked well for her summer program at Miami U. to store cold water, yogurt, fresh fruit, snacks. Will have to learn Brandeis policy on microwave too. Thanks again for all the help!

Waltham to South Station would be the Commuter Rail, not the subway. Don't worry, by November she'll know all the routes by heart, anyway.

Here's a tidbit of advice regarding joint-decision stuff: Decide jointly on things they'll share, but don't pay for them jointly. Divide the budget, and each buy half the stuff, so it's clear who owns the fridge and who owns the rug, and there are no division issues at the end of the year.

Many dorms have inadequate wiring or hall kitchens, and so discourage in-room appliances, which take up precious space anyway. Your housing packet will probably spell all this out in detail.

FYI, the train from Waltham will arrive at North Station, I believe, so DD will need to get from there to South Station (can take orange line from N. Station to Park St., change to red line to S. Station). Sure DD will figure this out, but just want her to be prepared! Another idea for her return home would be to post at school to see if enough people are going to MHT and would go in on a van.

The only thing that wasn't mentioned is that MHT lies about halfway between I93 and I293. I use the Brown Avenue entrance/exit. If you want I93 (best way to Salem) get in the right hand lane to take Rt 101 East. This connects with I93. If you are staying in Manchester for the night, Manchester has some wonderful restaurants. There are several hotels on Brown Avenue. Be aware that some of the "airport" hotels are actually on Willow Street. I found ours hidden behind a car dealership. Willow Street would be the next exit after Brown Ave on Rt 101 East. There is also a Mall in Manchester but the one is Salem is much better and bigger. Also more choice of big box stores in Salem. Glad you got a great deal on airfare!

There is a wonderful restaurant in Waltham called CAMPANIA. It is a very special place. If you're looking for something more casual/less expensive, there are many options on Moody St. in Waltham.

There is also an excellent breakfast/diner called BROTHERS II on Main St. in Waltham.

Also, a great shopping area for Waltham would be to take the Mass Pike West for about 15 minutes and go to Rte.9 in Natick. There is every store you could possibly think of here.

Is it starting to seem like there are more places to shop in Boston area than there are people? It is true. College may even run shuttle service to some mall or other on weekends - a lot of them do.

And everything is available on-line, shipped right to dorm. So when she forgets something, all is not lost.

And the secret words for next summer are "rent a storage locker"

Really and truly, for getting to Manchester Airport for the trip home, your daughter should be able to easily find a group of others heading there or find a local friend willing to give her a ride...