any one ever drive from syracuse ny?

[stahshee]

I am thinking about driving from syracuse with our 4 children . Where if any is the half way point to stop and hotel for the night?

 

[Alexander]

All the time! We are about 45 minutes north of Syracuse and have done the drive lots of times. I do have to say, not with four kids though!

We have gone as far as Viriginia if leaving late in the day, this is about 9 hours. We have also gone as far as just into Georgia for about an 18 hour drive. South of the border, between N. Carolina and S. Carolina seems to be a decent stopping point. That would be about a 15 or 16 hour drive.

We do prefer to do most of the driving the first day before we are too anxious to get there. I hate the thought of waking up in a hotel knowing we are still 12 or more hours away. Overall, you are looking at about a 22 hour drive with minimal stops. Bathroom breaks and a couple of very fast meals.

We take 81 to Viriginia and then cut across to I95. It seems to work so much better than catching 95 further north and having to go around more major cities.

If you are traveling on a holiday weekend, be sure to book a hotel room before you leave. We made the mistake of heading home on Good Friday one year and we couldn't find a hotel room anywhere off of I95. We had to head west for about an hour (out of our way) before we found a creepy room at 1:00 AM.

 

[SomePixiedust]

We also drive from NY (but from Long Island) all the time. We too like to do a bulk of the driving the first day. Depending on the time of year, weather, traffic etc. we try to get to southern South Carolina (or GA if we're really cookin!) the first day. A suggestion for getting a room for your stop-over night would be to stop at a welcome center and book one a few hours ahead from there. Every state has a welcome center with hotel info in it. Once you're at the point that you know you will want to stop in about 2 hrs, you can call ahead and reserve. Or if you have a favorite chain, carry one of their books with you and find the closest one to I95 in the state you want to stop in. This has saved us many times by calling around 5 PM for a 7:30-8:00 stop. We carry a Hampton Inn and Comfort Inn book with us and doing that has always gotten us a room--even on busy weekends. A few times we didn't phone ahead, wound up pushing ourselves further than we wanted and have had to try multiple exits (each having 5 hotels all full!) before we found a vacancy and it's never the most desirable place! It's hard to reserve before you leave for your trip because you just don't know how you'll do traffic wise and what you'll be up to tired-wise. Also, if you come straight down I95 EZpass is definitely a time saver with the tolls. It works straight through to VA, then there are no more tolls. I don't know about any other routes.
Good Luck

 

[stahshee]

All the time! We are about 45 minutes north of Syracuse and have done the drive lots of times. I do have to say, not with four kids though!

We have gone as far as Viriginia if leaving late in the day, this is about 9 hours. We have also gone as far as just into Georgia for about an 18 hour drive. South of the border, between N. Carolina and S. Carolina seems to be a decent stopping point. That would be about a 15 or 16 hour drive.

We do prefer to do most of the driving the first day before we are too anxious to get there. I hate the thought of waking up in a hotel knowing we are still 12 or more hours away. Overall, you are looking at about a 22 hour drive with minimal stops. Bathroom breaks and a couple of very fast meals.

We take 81 to Viriginia and then cut across to I95. It seems to work so much better than catching 95 further north and having to go around more major cities.

If you are traveling on a holiday weekend, be sure to book a hotel room before you leave. We made the mistake of heading home on Good Friday one year and we couldn't find a hotel room anywhere off of I95. We had to head west for about an hour (out of our way) before we found a creepy room at 1:00 AM.

What dose it cost you in gas and tolls usually?

 

[MAGGIED]

HELLO fellow CNY'ers I am from the Pennellvile area - never thought of driving - but for our upcoming trip - that we decided to take about 3 days ago - we are paying about 1200 for airfare - we could have flown out of Rocherst for about 50 less per ticket - but didn't want to deal with the hassle - good luck driving - I have to tell you I just drove on a bus with my daughters marching band to florida - took about 26 hours straight - with quick stops every few hours and it really wasn't that bad....

 

[MickeyMonstersMom]

I drove from Cortland last June/July, taking 81 to 64 in Staunton, VA, and linking up with 95 outside Richmond. Route 64 goes through the mountains, which starts out pretty but gets tedious and I think added time to the trip. Coming back I stayed on 95 to Route 17 in Fredericksburg, which seemed to go faster, even though it went through a few towns and I encountered lower speed limits and a few traffic lights. VERY pretty horse country!

We took three days coming down as it was our first time driving and I was the only driver with two children, and then swung to the opposite extreme and came up in one shot - almost exactly 18 hours - so I don't have a specific halfway recommendation for you. However, I'm planning to drive again this summer and am looking at anywhere from Fayetteville, NC to Savannah, GA depending on how I feel once I get there. I definitely want to be more than halfway when I stop, so that next day won't feel so taxing.

We stayed at a Holiday Inn in Gettysburg our first night and a Motel 6 in Savannah the second, a big mistake as we were sort of appalled at the difference in quality (yes, I expected it, but it was hard to accept nevertheless). I have already decided that I'll spend the extra cash to have a nicer hotel no matter where we stay. At the top of the Transportation Forum here there is a link to exits on 95 that helped me tremendously in deciding where to stop for food, gas, and lodging options.

 

[Drcell01]

We drove straight through from Syracuse to WDW last Easter and made it in just under 18 hours with stoping for gas and food. Half way from Syracuse would be at South of the Border (Dillon, SC).

We maybe doing this again for Presidents week if the airfares from Upstate NY don't come down soon. We are holding out till the last minute to see if airfares come down to the $200 or less level.