<p class="ingestion featured-caption">We took three ferries to get from Vermont to the Hamptons. Lauren Harkawik</p><ul class="summary-list"><li>I took my family, including two kids and a dog, on ferries to get from Vermont <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jitney-bus-new-york-city-to-hamptons-worth-it-photos-2024-6">to the Hamptons</a>.</li><li><strong>Whether we drive or ride boats, it's a pretty long trip, but the ferry has other benefits.</strong></li></ul><p>My family — me, my husband, our 8- and 3-year-old daughters, and our wire-haired dog, who's 14 years young — recently took a trip to the Hamptons.</p><p>We could've driven down from our home in Vermont through high-traffic New York City and then out to Long Island via the Long Island Expressway and Montauk Highway. But I certainly didn't want to be one of the <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.npr.org/2024/04/05/1243146232/nyc-may-soon-begin-charging-drivers-15-to-enter-the-busiest-parts-of-manhattan#:~:text=There%20are%20more%20than%20900%2C000,about%207%20miles%20per%20hour.">900,000 vehicles entering Manhattan</a> on any given day, and that route would've meant six straight hours in the car (or more, depending on traffic).</p><p>Instead, we drove about two hours to New London, Connecticut, where we took a 90-minute ferry to Orient Point, New York. From there, we took a <a target="_blank" class href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shell-island-ferry-review-florida-day-trip-2024">small ferry</a> to Block Island and another small boat to Sag Harbor, a short drive from our final destination.</p><p>Other than some highway driving in Connecticut, we avoided heavy traffic and had a scenic, if long, journey.</p><p>Here's what it was like.</p>