Taking the red-eye out of Newark, but not familiar with the area (driving from out of state). Which is the best/safest/fairly inexpensive & close to airport park & fly type of place? One that won't take 45 minutes to drop me off at the terminal. Can't do valet parking as I no longer have a valet key.

Natalie, not sure what a valet key is...but don't most airports have long term parking? Shuttle buses can take you from your car to the terminal. Phili airport has this service...I would imagine Newark must have something like that in place as it is a pretty busy airport.

Airport parking looked really expensive. Just looking for something more economical, but still safe. A valet key is a key that opens, locks and drives the car, but won't give access to the glove box or trunk, used when handing your car over to valet parking.

Our solution is to do a oneway rental to the airport and then another home, but we do live near a small airport so we can easily do that airport to airport. It is much less expensive then long term parking for 2 weeks. Works for us.

We went out of Newark this past August and used FastTrack, for two weeks, cost was $174.67. It is an outdoor self park and then a shuttle takes you to the airport and when you get back, you look for the shuttle to come by and take you back. Parking at the airport itself is costly and even near to it, will still cost you more than most. I found it to be more than parking near Phila., but hey, I was on Bonaire in 4hours, 10 min.. That cost amount I gave you included all taxes as well. You can now decide what you want to do as you have something to compare with, driving there yourself or taking a shuttle there.

Here is their website: They were formerly Mr. B's, now known as Fastrack. Oh, and the price I gave above was for 15 days, not 14.

www.fasttrack.com

I think they were also known as Avistar Parking in Newark. We used them in August and for our February trip. We were very happy with the service. Debbie, you also got a better price than us, we paid about $225.00 for the same time period.

Avistar is different from Mr B's. The lot with the biggest sign near the airport is SkyPark. Friend of mine who travels quite often to see her aging parents in Texas swears by Mr B's. Don't know if the name change has impacted operations.

Another alternative to look into is the local hotels - some allow 1 week parking for an overnight. While you may not need the night, it might be cheaper and a more relaxing way to spend the time before the flight. THere are many hotels on Rt 1 across from the airport.

Natalie.. Well here's another idea which we've found to work really well for us. We use AIRBROOK & park in their lot located in Ridgewood NJ on Rt 17. For our 2 week trip last year, they charged us $98 for roundtrip fare (for 2) plus $1 per day (14) parking in their secure lot for the 2 weeks. Total charge $112. Check their website for other charges..
http://www.airbrook.com/Shared%20Documents/shuttle.aspx

There are some nice restaurants in this area, so we had a great dinner & drinks, drove 10 mins to the lot & were at the Continental check in 45 mins later. Their vans & pick up at Newark run hourly.

Got another one for you Natalie....
http://www.parksleepfly.com/
I've used there services out of MIA before and its great. You basically book a room at one of the listed hotels and get free parking for up to 2 weeks. since your driving in for a late departure you could use the room to pull together then check out for your late night flight to paradise. i just checked randomly and found some in the neighborhood of $115

Thanks for all your suggestions. I ended up getting a stay & park package from the Ramada, which included free shuttle to the airport for 145 (up to 2 weeks parking). Not cheap, but I was able to shower, change and relax a bit before heading the airport, which was really nice.