We're going to be driving a senior citizen size bus from Liberty State Park NJ to Mystic, CN. What's the best (safest, fastest) way to get around or through NYC?

Excuse me?
1)What's a senior citizen size bus?
2)Do you mean Mystic CONNECTICUT (CT) or are you going some place in Canada?

I suggest you go to mapquest.com and also http://maps.google.com/ for directions.

Assuming you mean Mystic Ct., you will not go into NYC. YOu will be directed on the NJ tpke to I 95. I hope you're not doing this trip this weekend. I 95 is one of the most heavily trafficked highways in the area.

Does that "CN" mean Canada, or did you type that in error when you meant "CT"?
Either way, you don't have to drive through NYC to get there.

This is actually a more complicated question than it might seem. My recommendation is that you definitely do NOT follow the directions suggested by google maps, a GPS device, or any other computer. They'll route you over the George Washington Bridge and the Cross Bronx Expressway. In my experience, the Cross Bronx is never the right way to go to Westchester, on any day, at any time of the day or night. It's usually best to avoid the George Washington Bridge, too.

My recommendation would be to take the NJ turnpike up to the Garden State Parkway, go across the Tappan Zee Bridge, and take I-287 to I-95.

If you ask google maps or mapquest or whatever for directions from Liberty State Park to Nyack, NY, you'll get the idea. Then ask for directions from there to Mystic.

This is quite an indirect route. Depending on when you're going, it might very well be faster to take the GWB, wait in all of the heinous traffic that you'll probably find there, and then go over to the Major Deegan Expressway, and take that to I-287. But the drive will probably be more pleasant if you take the Tappan Zee.

I'd be interested in knowing what a "senior citizen size bus" is...

I think the problem is that you can;t take a bus on the Garden State Parkway - or any Parkway that I know of.

If you're talking a mini-van for 6/7 people you're OK. but buses aren;t allowed.

95 North would be most direct from Liberty State Park, but it depends on the time of day. You could breeze right over the George Wash Bridge and Cross Bronx, and there aren't too many options for a camper. As others have suggested, you could take 78 way out west to 24 North in Springfield, pick up I-287 then take that to the Tappan Zee Bridge, which connects up with 95 on the NY/CT border. Then you take 95 up to Mystic. Definitely the long way around NYC

My understanding was always that, in the Northeast at least, a "parkway" is a highway on which buses and trucks are allowed. However, lots of online sources, such as the Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_State_Parkway), say that buses are actually allowed on the entire length of the Garden State Parkway. Here's a link to the State of New Jersey's list of toll rates for the Parkway, which includes a column for "omnibus": http://www.state.nj.us/turnpike/gsptollsched.pdf

And here's a story about a Greyhound bus that caught fire on the Parkway: http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?se...cal&id=5399209

I've often thought that there should be some kind of standardization of the use of this term. For example, buses and trucks aren't allowed on the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut, but there are no signs to that effect, and when somebody does drive a truck onto it, it gets stuck under or in front of one of the low stone bridges and creates an enormous traffic jam. How was the driver supposed to know any better?

I was having a senior moment (no pun intended) when I asked about Mystic, CN. I did mean Mystic Connecticut.
A Senior Citizen type bus is a 14 passenger bus - similar to an airport shuttle size vehicle. We'll be making this trip toward the end of July, going to the Statue of Liberty on the first ferry and then heading to Mystic so we're expecting to be leaving Liberty State Park around noon.
Thanks for the advise so far - any other tips will be greatly appreciated!