Anyone drove from these states

[mom4scrapbooking]

Has anyone drove from Oregon, or California to save mmoney on airfare. Any ideas how bad the drive is or how long it takes? We are a family of 6 and it would save us not to fly. But am unsure with hotels, food, etc. for long days. Trying to weigh in all my options here.

Holly

 

[CleveRocks]

Has anyone drove from Oregon, or California to save mmoney on airfare. Any ideas how bad the drive is or how long it takes? We are a family of 6 and it would save us not to fly. But am unsure with hotels, food, etc. for long days. Trying to weigh in all my options here.

Holly

Well, you're talking about 6000 miles roundtrip. At 20 miles per gallon (which is probably generous for a vehicle that can comfortably hold 6 plus luggage), that's 300 gallons of gas. At $2.60 per gallon, that's $780, call it $800 for gas.

You're talking at least 2 nights in a hotel each way, 4 nights total, I assume staying in 2 rooms each time. That's 8 room nights. At $75/room night, that's $600.

Let's say you eat just fast food and stuff like that, the cheapest. Call it about $6 per person per meal, three meals a day, so $18 per person per day, three days each way, 6 days on-the road total, that's $108 per person for food on the road, or $648 total. Round it up to $700 for snacks and Pepto Bismol.

Tolls? I have ABSOLUTELY no idea. Let's just say $50 round trip for tolls, but I could be WAAAAY off either way.

Oil changes, one in Florida and one back home. $35 each, so $70 total.

Am I missing anything??? So far, this brings the tangible out-of-pocket expenses of driving (not including things like wear-and-tear on the car and your mortal souls) to ...

$800 + $600 + $700 + $50 + $70 = $2220​

That averages $370 per person. Will that save you a lot of money over flying??? I don't know, I don't know what airport you'd be flying out of, so I can't check flights for you. But I suspect that driving wouldn't save you a significant amount, when you take into account all the extra time as well as the wear-and-tear.

Of course, if it would be a fun and memorable road trip, then it would be worth it even if it cost more than flying, if you know what I mean.

Good luck!

 

[Stellargirl]

I've driven cross-country from San Diego to Rhode Island. It wasn't to Florida but still east coast. It was my husband and 3 year old son. He actually was okay during the drive and didn't have a dvd player. Just loved listening to cds with me. (He loves his music even then! ) It was very tiring.

We are going to WDW in June and thought of driving down from RI. Well, I don't want to be tired before my vacation so we decided to fly down.

I would definitely think about flying. Check Southwest. Sometimes they are pretty cheap. We flew from San Diego to Orlando for around $250 before. One thing about flying though, you might have to rent a car if you're not staying at Disney.

Good luck!

 

[dsweetp76]

We always drive from Colorado. My father goes with us and due to a medical condition, is unable to fly. It takes longer but the drive can be a vacation bonus, just make it fun. From Denver it is about 1800 miles. We are usually on the road about 27 hours (we drive straight through) and spend about 500-600 in gas. We used to fly so I had the same worries about driving the first time, but now I enjoy the extra time will my family without outside distractions.

 

[ms_mckenna]

Can I just say I remember as a child driving from Texas to Florida with my cousin to go to WDW and key west. We stopped along the way and did all of the things you could do between Tx and Fl. Do I remember it ... yes. Do I remember it fondly ... no. Now I remember driving from my side of Texas (East) to New Mexico to go sking each year and I do remember it fondly. But that was 24 hours (may have been more a less that has been a few years ago) in a van with adults switching out to drive. We did not stop to spend the night anywhere until we got to Red River. I think the never stopping was probably better on us as kids we left in the middle of the night so we all slept a good chunk of the time. It was probably better on my parents and the group they went with and their wallet as well. I cannot even imagine looking back how tired they must have been when we got to RR each year.
I learned my lesson a few years ago when I decided it would be a good idea to drive back from NJ instead of flying. We calculated saving around 200 dollars by the time it was said and done I probably spent more driving home than I would have flying. I only have 2 children and it was a few days of my life I honestly do not want back. My children will always have that memory of me and I assure you after the first 12 hours it was not a pleasant one. That is a LONG time in a car with 4 kids, really think about this before commiting to it.

 

[FancyBrat]

I would honestly look closer at Flights, I bought tickets from Portland to Orlando in 2005 for $220. round trip on United using Expedia.com, Not sure where exactly you live but Alaska Airlines also has Kids fly free, not sure if its just to Disneyland or Orlando though but there is some really good deals out there, just need to dig for it until you find the deals.

 

[becky_AK]

Although it might be a fun drive, I'd definitely try to find tix. We just moved to Portland from Alaska and have found tickets on Alaska Air for a reasonable price. I'm sure there are other airlines that offer cheaper tickets, but we are still used to Alaska Air being our only option for flights

 

[nurse.darcy]

Has anyone drove from Oregon, or California to save mmoney on airfare. Any ideas how bad the drive is or how long it takes? We are a family of 6 and it would save us not to fly. But am unsure with hotels, food, etc. for long days. Trying to weigh in all my options here.

Holly

Unless I absolutely had to drive for some medical condition, I would NEVER consider driving from here. . .and I am a "straight" shot to Florida's panhandle (I live off I-10). I bought airline tix for me and my DH and DS for 226.50 round trip on Delta, using sidestep.com to find the lowest rate possible. It was even cheaper than Southwest.

 

[billn]

I used to drive cross country all the time....the older I get however, he harder it becomes. My new limit is not more than 5 hours

 

[lokin4deer]

The other thing you may have not figured is thats at least 4 days of your vacation on the road. And I always find all day drives like really wipe me out.

 

[willoughbyclan]

If the above poster is anywhere close to the amount that it would cost, I can't imagine anyone even considering driving. Unless of course, you have reasons that require you to or you have kids that travel really well. I happen to have neither, especially the kids that travel really well.

We live 12-14 hrs from Orlando and after (3) road trips, we have vowed to NEVER drive again. Having (4) kids in a minivan for that many hours is just plain torture. My girls won't even talk of a FL vacation unless the word airplane is in the same sentence.

Call me crazy, but it's not a vacation to me if I am miserable both going and coming. We all agreed that in the future we would also budget for airfare or the trip would be postponed until we saved enough to fly.

 

[hniki234]

We drove from Louisiana to Los Angeles in 27 hours. It took us 3.5 hours to get from Jackson, MS to Shreveport, LA (which is where we left from headed to L.A.). And it takes us from 10 to 11 hours to drive to Orlando (we ALWAYS drive since it too expensive to get flights out of Jackson). So you're looking at 40 to 42 hours on the road. On our way to L.A., there were four adults switching out driving. We drove straight through without stopping. That was pretty miserable. If you can allot yourself an extra four days for your vacation (two driving there and two driving back), you'd be a lot better off.