Driving vs Flying

[GilyAnn]

I don't know if this is the correct thread for this question since it's not directly related to the world, but I need a little info and this board is great for information on traveling.

We want to take a trip to NY and we live here in Florida, next to the world. We are considering driving instead of flying. We normally fly when we travel but some family members are driving and encourage us to try it. My question is:

1. Which is cheaper?
2. Which is more stressful?
3. We have two teens that are not crazy about the travel time. How well do your kids handle the trip?
4. I don't want to take our car. Can we rent one? How expensive is that?
5. What are the advantages of flying?
6. I did some research on Google and many websites recommended driving since it was a short trip. Is there a site that can estimate driving times and costs?
7. Are there any new yorkers willing to let us know when is the best time to go there?

Any help is appreciated; like I said we have always taken a plane when we travel, and we are a little apprehensive of spending hours on a car.

 

[tzolkin]

We live in NY and drive to FL. It is cheaper now that we have kids because all we spend is gas (plus the time) vs. 5 plane tickets. We like to drive straight through the night, so the kids can sleep for at least half of the time in the car. That makes the trip much shorter for the kids and we get 12 hours of driving with no one whining or fighting. (Plus, little kids don't tend to go right to sleep at a hotel if you've been in the car all day. )

If you rent a car and stop at hotels along the way, it may not be any cheaper to drive.

I'm not sure if driving would be best for you. One of the benefits of driving is having your own car when you arrive (we usually visit family in FL, go to Disney, etc). Are you talking about going to New York City, or are you doing something else? I don't know how much of an advantage a car would be if you were just going to visit the city.

If you will use the car and are going to another area of NY, you could always plan the drive as part of the trip. Since your kids are teens, you could pick places to stop along the way that they're interested in.

You can check out mapquest for estimated times and miles. It will be about 20 hours of driving depending on where you're going.

 

[d1gitman]

I don't know if this is the correct thread for this question since it's not directly related to the world, but I need a little info and this board is great for information on traveling.

We want to take a trip to NY and we live here in Florida, next to the world. We are considering driving instead of flying. We normally fly when we travel but some family members are driving and encourage us to try it. My question is:

1. Which is cheaper? depends. we fly from Boston to FL and rt tix are about $200 pp
2. Which is more stressful?
3. We have two teens that are not crazy about the travel time. How well do your kids handle the trip? 20+hrs on road vs. 6hrs. of airport and fly time...
4. I don't want to take our car. Can we rent one? Yes. How expensive is that? rental deals vary, you have to check for good discount codes. it only adds to the cost of driving, likely negating any savings over flying.
5. What are the advantages of flying? short travel time, less tiring, leaves more vaca time available, can be lower cost than flying in some cases.
6. I did some research on Google and many websites recommended driving since it was a short trip. short trip??? Is there a site that can estimate driving times and costs? don't know of any sites with all those features, but i would calculate RT mileage on Google earth, divide by 20mpg and then multiply x $2 for gas. Add $50 for tolls. Add hotel if you aren't driving straight through. Add for food on the road or food packed in the car. 7. Are there any new yorkers willing to let us know when is the best time to go there?

Any help is appreciated; like I said we have always taken a plane when we travel, and we are a little apprehensive of spending hours on a car.

I've calculated RT by car from Boston and come up with about $600 cost for gas, tolls, food, 2 night hotel (we can't drive straight thru). this is for round trip.

Our airfare is typically around $780 - $900 for 4 rt seats. To us, flying is a no brainer. It ties up 1/2 day of our time from airport check in to flight time to ME or car rental counter. Driving for us is minimum of 24 hours and that would be two 12 hr days on the road each way, and would totally exhaust us.

 

[My2E's]

You may want to check out this website I found useful on our last Disney trip last year. It is fuelcostcalculator.com If I remember correctly it's ran by AAA. We found it very accurate. While we did save money that year by driving from Arkansas to Florida, we spent more than I would have guessed. We had to spend the night at the half way point so that was an expense, but where I was really surprised was the amount of $ we spent on food. I had some drinks and snacks in the car, but pretty much we stopped at a fast food place for each meal. That really adds up fast, especially with teens. I kept up with our expenses while traveling and also at Disney for a week, and we spent almost as much while traveling as we did staying at Disney for the whole week. Of course, I wasn't counting the resort or tickets, just food and souvenirs and such while at Disney.

As far as the drive, there were definitely times when the kids were bored. (9 and 13 at the time) Overall, the trip was good. They were actually better on the long trip than they are on a 1 hr trip to go shopping or something. I guess it is the excitement of going on vacation. They did a lot of napping, and also had the DVD players, ipods and Nintendo DS's to keep them busy. We started of with the vehicle all organized, and it was a huge mess by the time we got there. Movies and chargers and such everywhere! But hey, they did the job.

It is also worth mentioning that we drove my mom's Trailblazer which has the 3rd row of seats, so each girl had their own row. There might have been more fighting had they actually had to sit closer to each other!

 

[Mickey_loves_Minnie]

I don't know if this is the correct thread for this question since it's not directly related to the world, but I need a little info and this board is great for information on traveling.

We want to take a trip to NY and we live here in Florida, next to the world. We are considering driving instead of flying. We normally fly when we travel but some family members are driving and encourage us to try it. My question is:

1. Which is cheaper?
2. Which is more stressful?
3. We have two teens that are not crazy about the travel time. How well do your kids handle the trip?
4. I don't want to take our car. Can we rent one? How expensive is that?
5. What are the advantages of flying?
6. I did some research on Google and many websites recommended driving since it was a short trip. Is there a site that can estimate driving times and costs?
7. Are there any new yorkers willing to let us know when is the best time to go there?

Any help is appreciated; like I said we have always taken a plane when we travel, and we are a little apprehensive of spending hours on a car.

I'm in upstate New York. Where are you planning to go? Upstate or New York City? If it's NYC, I personally wouldn't drive. Parking is expensive and you don't need a car in Manhattan. If you rent a car, I would just drop it off in the city and then rent another car for the drive home.

Driving should be cheaper but it takes such a long time that I've never once considered driving to Orlando from here. Maybe if I wanted to see other parts of the South on the way down...

 

[LovinPooh]

We just drove last week from NH to FL. Mostly cause DH is scared of flying. My car is great on gas. We spent approx $300 on gas both ways. A hotel on the way down was $80 (Holiday Inn) on the way back $60 (Days Inn). We brought our own food from home for the ride. The only thing we spent $ on was dinner on the way home. Cracker Barrel, $45. This was all for a family of 4. We packed up the car with dvds and games and stuff. It wasnt that bad. I got sick on the way home. Other than that it was an okay ride. I priced airline tix for us a couple months ago and it would have been over $1000 for us to fly, plus I would have had to add a hotel room onto the package for that night, so the $80 room was kinda a trade off anyway.

I guess what I am sayign is it was way cheaper for us to drive. I would have rather have gotten there quicker by plane, but we survived and saved some $$

 

[xanman]

When you drive you can not just look at your out of pocket costs like gas, hotels etc. You have to consider the cost of the wear and tear on your car, that is why the federal government allows you to deduct a mileage cost, not just the cost of gas. You will pay for using your car, it just will be later, like when you have to replace the tires sooner, make repairs sooner etc. Your car only will drive X number of miles, you are using up some of its lifetime every time you drive it. Seldom is driving actually less when you consider ALL the costs. Having said that, I have driven and flown many times, each has it's own advantages, but please, do not kid yourself into the only cost of driving your car is the gas.

 

[LovinPooh]

I am not kidding anything... my car is a lease. Its outta here in a little bit. I had an extra 5000 miles that I havent used. Felt darn good to use them instead of losing them. Driving worked out great for us. Depending on how far you travel, and if you stay the night somewhere, and how good your vehicle is on gas, I think driving was alot cheaper than flying. Putting a couple thousand miles on a car really isnt going to make that big of a difference in tire wear. Your going to need to replace them eventually anyway if your keeping the car, just a bit sooner I guess

 

[SharkyGoddess]

I don't know if this is the correct thread for this question since it's not directly related to the world, but I need a little info and this board is great for information on traveling.

We want to take a trip to NY and we live here in Florida, next to the world. We are considering driving instead of flying. We normally fly when we travel but some family members are driving and encourage us to try it. My question is:

1. Which is cheaper?
2. Which is more stressful?
3. We have two teens that are not crazy about the travel time. How well do your kids handle the trip?
4. I don't want to take our car. Can we rent one? How expensive is that?
5. What are the advantages of flying?
6. I did some research on Google and many websites recommended driving since it was a short trip. Is there a site that can estimate driving times and costs?
7. Are there any new yorkers willing to let us know when is the best time to go there?

Any help is appreciated; like I said we have always taken a plane when we travel, and we are a little apprehensive of spending hours on a car.

With all of the hassles associated with flying now and what you have to endure from the TSA, I'd drive. Plus you have to consider, in a car you only have yourselves to deal with, on a plane you have many many other people and their annoying habits

 

[kellydizfan]

We are driving for the 1st time in July - thought I would never say that but we are actually looking forward to it - ask me when we get back. I have a Saturn Outlook that we will be taking - 2 kids in the middle seat, and one in the back. We are taking max 2 suitcases and our food. We will only need gas & hotel. Our kids are 15, 12, 9 and haven't been on a car ride longer than 5 hours in the last few years. The 2 older have done 9 hours but they were young and don't remember it and it really wasn't that bad. We will be leaving at like midnight on Sunday Morning and driving - my kids don't have a problem sleeping in the vehicle. We are planning on bringing the DVD Player, DS's, travel bingo, travel scrabble, etc. to keep busy. It will be cheaper than flying by about 1/2. Yes the wear and tear on the vehicle but I do enough driving in this vehicle now - I have almost 36,000 miles on it and I will own it 2 years tomorrow. Enjoy driving!

 

[twinklebug]

I've calculated RT by car from Boston and come up with about $600 cost for gas, tolls, food, 2 night hotel (we can't drive straight thru). this is for round trip.

Our airfare is typically around $780 - $900 for 4 rt seats. To us, flying is a no brainer. It ties up 1/2 day of our time from airport check in to flight time to ME or car rental counter. Driving for us is minimum of 24 hours and that would be two 12 hr days on the road each way, and would totally exhaust us.

I made the same calculations last year and came up with similar numbers. As the only driver it's just a matter of time and optional activities along the way. Flying has been a no-brainer for me too as time is my most valuable commodity, but I'd like the kids to see America from other than a 20,000 foot view one of these days before they're in college. If I do drive, I'll be sure to tack on extra time so we can actually enjoy the areas we stop in.

Stress wise I think flying is more relaxing. Once I'm at the airport I'm as good as at the other end. I tend not to book connections so no worries there.

OP - have you considered taking the train? I was quoted a rate of $420 (AAA) for the 2 kids and I for summer. It's still too close to the cost of flying to justify the time for me though.

 

[mafibisha]

Sorry if I missed it but do you mean NYC - New York CITY?

If so, you do NOT want to have a car. Unless you're staying in CT or NJ, which I also strongly discourage!

We love driving vacations but again, you don't want a car in NYC. You won't need it.

 

[ColoradoMom!!]

Just the other day my 10 year old said that our 12 day road trip was his favorite vacation we have ever taken. So much for the 7 night cruise to the Caribbean.

Having a DVD screen hooked up to the boys' Playstation helped.

Have fun!