DriveVS Fly

[ArielLover]

OK anyone have an opinion on this one. I will be going down for my anniversary in April. Plane tickets out of NH on Southwest are running about $310 round trip per person. I will need a rental car while I am there as we are staying off site and will spend a few days visiting relatives. My other choice is to drive down. I can rent a car for $375 for the whole time with unlimited mileage. I do not mind driving as I have done it 3 times in the past. Total to fly with a car is about $950. Driving about $750. The flight however is also not nonstop. Any opinions out there?

 

[Yellow Shoes]

Originally posted by ArielLover
...I do not mind driving ...

There's your answer.

I am assuming that there is no problem with the extra time it will take to drive down. The $ savings is significant. Are you sure you have considered a night in a hotel (if you don't drive straight through), meals, gas, the oil change before and after, etc?

I refuse to consider driving because I don't do it well. After about 7 hours in the car I am screaming to get out. At that rate, it would take us 2 days to make the 1100 mile trip to Orlando. No thank you.

But many people do like the drive and the "enforced togetherness" of long hours in the car.

To each his/her own.

 

[ArielLover]

Yes the price to drive includes hotels, gas, tolls. No oil change as the car is rented.:sohappy:

 

[Pioneer Hall]

If you have the time and don't mind it...drive. Take the extra 200 dollars and spend it on something more worthwhile than the flight.

 

[DisneyPhD]

I love flying. I love being there in just a few hours. Espeically in the winter time (summer isn't as bad as the driv can be an adventrue. In fact I haven't drove to WDW in over 10 years (but normally do take a car trip that takes a few days every summer.)

However I will never fly Southwest again. Never. They do some things that are not good policy that other airlines do not. For example, it is standard policy to over book all flights. Then they have too many people and have to bribe some to get off and take free tickets, not bad if the next flight is a few hours away, not good if it is the next day. Some people are always out of luck. Also they do not have preagranged setting, everyone gets on and trys to find a seat, it is crazy, espically for groups of 4 or more or familes with young children (sometimes they don't even preboard families with young children). My other problem is there is always conections for southwest, and sometimes problems getting to them on time. It can be risky.

We have flown Spirt the last 6 times and never once had any problems, they do not do the things Southwest does.

Do you have cable? There is a new show on A&E called Airline. It is based out of southwest in Chicago and LA. It is pretty funny, and I think the empolyees do a good job, but the whole system is bad, other airlines don't do the same things.

Another factor is how many are going with you and will you have help driving.

 

[tigsmom]

We always flew. Delta & AirTran flew direct for our local airport. They no longer do & we have to drive into NYC or Newark to get a direct flight. We started driving...tried the straight thru & will never do that again. We now make a stop overnight. And its much easier on us & the kids.
This year we are flying in for spring break (from Newark on Southeast), but will drive down for 2 weeks in the summer. We make the drive part of the trip, not just a way to get to WDW.

 

[NemoRocks78]

Definitely fly. I'm only a 1hr 45min-2 hour drive from Orlando, so i've never experienced driving from the north. But some of my relatives from New York and Pennsylvania have done it at least once and vow to never do it again. It's too much of a hassle. You also will have to be stopping overnight, another bad thing. There's a ton of low-cost carriers out there, you're bound to find something cheaper as well, try one of the travel sites such as Orbitz, Travelocity, or AOL Travel if you have AOL. The last summer, in 2003, my family tried a road trip for the summer, which was a drive to Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas, and we'll never drive a long distance again. Stick with flying. Even if it may cost a little more than a drive, it'll sure save all the hassles of driving, especially since you are located in New Hampshire, so it will be a really long drive.

 

[Grumpy56]

I think the drive only makes sense if you have kids, then it is the airfare times 4 or 5 and it is a major savings.

 

[1000th_Guest]

One thought about rental cars agreements. Even though they are "unlimited mileage", they probably limit the states you are allowed to visit during the rental. My sister had to shop for a rental car agency when driving from MA to Arkansas (because the agencies limited travel to New England states).

Aside from that, I wouldn't mind driving, but my wife WON'T*. Our children are also young enough that they can't handle a trip that long. Ugh. We're considering going in May when the rates go way down [being off-season again].

* then again, with the particularly anti-American and unconstitutional approach the current US administration is taking towards air travel recently, I may not give anyone the option. [uh oh. I've switched into political mode]

 

[DisneyPhD]

Another reason to fly is it takes less time of your vacation. In aug we flew down for 10 days, my BIL and SIL drove (they wanted to stop and visist some friends on the way.) At 1st they planned to spend more time on the road then at WDW. They did change there mind 5 days at WDW and 4 coming and going. Never spend longer getting to and frow then being there.

For us most of our vactions are around college breaks and we only have a week, so driving would really cut into how much vacation time we would have.

I also don't think summer driving is as bad as winter. I wouldn't mess driving in the winter.

When you have more then 4 people the & bennifits then add up for driving, but less then that flying is better.

 

[barnum42]

Coming from the UK driving is not a personal option, though I have driven from Boston Ma to Atlanta, so have some idea of the long slog.

You will save $200 – is this saving worth the extra time an hassle of driving as opposed to sitting back and relaxing on a flight? Driving will take extra days out of your vacation allowance – is it worth $200 to you to get these days back?

Lots of pros and cons between the two. I suggest you write both down in two separate lists, this will help you to see at a glance which option works out best.

 

[PixyDust]

We've done both...

And from now on, we'll drive.

Our son got sick one night when we flew down, and it was about 2 am. We couldn't get any medicine at the hotel, so my husband had to hire a cab to come get him and take him to a 24 hour Walgreens or something.

It definitely saves time to fly (2 hours versus 12), but it just isn't worth it to us.

 

[ArielLover]

I appreciate all the feedback. We are leaning toward driving. A lot of people mentioned that it would take away vacation time. We are spending 7 days at Disney regardless of how we travel so it does not effect vacation time either way. My wife like the idea of driving to have time to "unwind" before we get there.

Thanks all:wave:

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

We always fly !!!! :lol:

 

[tigsmom]

Originally posted by ArielLover
I appreciate all the feedback. We are leaning toward driving. A lot of people mentioned that it would take away vacation time. We are spending 7 days at Disney regardless of how we travel so it does not effect vacation time either way. My wife like the idea of driving to have time to "unwind" before we get there.

Thanks all:wave:

If its just the two of you then the drive may help her unwind...to a certain extent. I 95 has a lot of construction and major backups around the major cities. With kids (I have 2- 15 & 9) I think the stress level goes way up. (but we drive anyway...I hate to fly)

 

[barnum42]

Originally posted by tigsmom
(but we drive anyway...I hate to fly)

If you are phobic of flying ask at your local airport about day courses to help you get over the fear. They do them at UK airports, so I would assume them do them in America.