cost of driving

[anne60]

I am toying with the idea of driving from Central Massachusetts over Thanksgiving week. Has anyone done a similar trip? Mapquest has it down as a 21 hour ride. There are 5 of us, so the $$ we save would probably be significant. Our youngest is 10, so they can take the ride (I think!). any experiences anyone can share would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[peg2001]

Are you planning to do it in one marathon drive or break it up by spending the night in a hotel half-way down? Since the kids are older, you should be able to make the drive without too much trouble. It does get expensive to fly a whole family down! Plus, you'll already have your ground transportation when you get there (no car rental to deal with).

I would let the kids know ahead of time that they are responsible for planning their own road entertainment. They may want to pick up some magazines, tape player and headphones, or hand-held games (e.g., gameboy). Pack some snacks and drinks as well.

Give the car a good inspection before you go. Take care of any preventative maintenance at this time.

Try to make the trip down and back part of the vacation, not something to endure to get to the vacation. If you can afford the time, plan some stops along the way. . .museums, parks, whatever your family would enjoy.

Good luck and have fun.

Peg

 

[anne60]

yes it has only taken me 2 hours to decide and start planning!!! I hope to leave Mass. around 3 pm on Friday and drive to Virginia (71/2 hours) spend the night and leave bright and early for remaining 830 miles!!! There are 3 of us that can drive so that should be do-able in one day? If we get tired we will not hesitate to stop and finish the rest of the ride on Sunday. Planning to stay somewhere near Quantico, VA, is that an okay area???

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

I'm trying to think what hotels are near Quantico. If you're going that far, you might also consider a little farther and stop in Fredericksburg. It's only about 20 more minutes and there are more hotel choices in that area, especially at exits 130 and 126. If you think you can make it farther south, there are hotels in Ashland north of Richmond (at exit 92, I think) or the Colonial Heights/Hopewell area south of Richmond (Colonial Heights is exit 54 on I-95, Hopewell is around exit 12 or 15 on the I-295 bypass).

 

[MickeyMonstersMom]

you might be able to find some Civil War battlefields along your route if you wanted to stretch your legs and have a picnic lunch break.

Lori

 

[Kermit]

What are your travel dates going to be? I would try to drive on any day of the year but the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We drove back to SC last year on that day. We were bumper-to-bumper all the way up I-95 into SC until we got off it. Not that air travel is any better that day. . .

 

[anne60]

In addition to saving $$, I also thought that traveling in the air during that weekend would be awful. We will be traveling home on Saturday and Sunday...we'll try to do 13 or 14 hours on Saturday, and have only 6 or 7 left for Sunday! I just informed my daughter she will be spending her 17th birthday in Disney world, and that she is going to get tons of experience driving!!! I did see lots of hotels come up in Fredericksburg..maybe we will give that a shot, although at 11:00 at night 20 miles can make a big difference! I just wanted to get far enough out of DC to not have to pay ridiculous hotel rates. We will only be there for about 8 hours. We have been to Richmond for soccer, but always fly down, so I am not that familiar with what towns are where.

 

[The Duchess]

We drove two years ago October with our then two-year old from Southern MASS. Going down was fun because of the anticipation.
We stayed over two nights on the way.

We're driving again this October with our now four-year old, staying in Fredericksburg, VA and Savannah, GA.

Coming home is kind of a downer, but I won't fly!

Go to www.interstate4U.com and you can get printouts of your route listing any construction you may encounter, mileage and every gas station, food place, state park, etc...for every exit along the way.
That way we know where the first Krispy Kreme is!!

 

[BWVDenise]

I believe there is a Comfort Inn in Quantico. My dh stayed there for business last year and said that it was very clean and comfortable.

 

[anne60]

Thanks everyone...that interstate4u site has now become my son's second favorite site (after the nike soccer in a cage game site). he is especially amazed at how many Cracker barrels and shoney's there are!!! I am glad that the Comfort Inn in Quantico is clean, that is all I really care about, since we will only be there for about 8 hours. Now, for the ride back. Does anyone know what towns are about 7 or 8 hours from Orlando on the way home??? By the way, we are all amazed at how big the carolinas and georgia are, state playoffs in sports must involve many overnight stays!! I am actually looking forward to seeing some of the south, even if it is just from a car window!! My son is insisting that we stop in Georgia so we can hear a real Georgian accent!

 

[The Duchess]

If you are staying over on your trip to Disney, make sure to check out pictures of the hotels you will be booking. Look for "Interior Corridors" as opposed to "Exterior"...safer! Try to stick with known chains like Hampton Inn, Doubltree, Marriott. A little more $, but worth it for the safety. We saw some scary places on our trips down! Also, look for hotels close to your major route...ie right off Route 95. You don't want to be driving around in the dark in a strange place looking for your hotel.
Most hotel web sites will give you a map.

We are staying in Florence, SC at the Marriott. It is about 8 hours/450 miles from Orlando.

 

[The Duchess]

anne60
Sorry, that's the Wingate Inn in Florence, SC., not the Marriott.
It's right off I-95.

 

[goofyforwdw]

We have driven a number of times and our route is below
We arrive in 24 hrs. We did pack dinner last trip and that save a lot of time . We got some fried chicken and sides stopped in PA rest stop ate dinner and were back on the road in 1/2 hour where as if we went into a resturant it would be over an hour. We did stop for breakfest but by then needed the longer break. We also had three drives and had a place to rest in the back of suburbian . Bring lots of water and snacks. We also let the kids use the laptop to watch DVD's If you want to spend the night if you make it to the end of 17 and begianing of 95 you will be in Fredricksburg VA. lots of hotel and food choices . Also look for a hotel with a indoor pool swiming really helps the body recover from the long car ride. Good luck.
Rt 90 to Rt 84 W exit 9
Rt 84 W to Rt 81 S (via 390) Exit 4
Rt 81 S to Rt 66 E Exit 300
Rt 66 E to Rt 17 N Exit 28
Rt 17 N to Rt 95 S Exit merge
Rt 95 S to Rt 295 E Exit merge
Rt 95s to Rt 4 Exit 8
Rt 4 to Magic Kingdom
We left at 1pm Had to let the kids got to school drove through and checked in at 12.30 the next day 1450 miles.

The first time we drove we took three days as the kid were very young ,then we cut it down to 2 days with a stay a South of the boarder and now that they can help drive we do it in the 24 hrs.
The drive home does take two days though as we are tired and not neary as excited Good luck and safe driving
Brenda

 

[The Duchess]

Route from Southern, MASS
Rt 58 to Rt 495
495 to 90
90 to 84
84 to 209 (PA)
209 to 33
33 to 22
22 to 476
476 to I95
I95 to 4 (FL!)

 

[ducklite]

That is a VERY busy travel period, and traffic will be heavy. This will cause higher incidents of traffic accidents, and many of the roadways you would need to travel will be very congested. I don't think 21 hours is realistic--it could be as many as 30. You also need to plan for the possibility of bad weather in teh northeast.

Anne

 

[JudithM]

We almost always drive to FL for vacation. We rarely make a hotel reservation ahead of time. However, if you are traveling duringa holiday period, then I would suggest you make a reservation. I know it is difficult to know ahead of time how far you will get.

We headed south one Saturday after Easter a few years ago without a hotel reservation. About the only place we cold find was a Best Inn which turned out to be THE Worst Inn - no heat, no a/c, no hot water, no 1st floor rooms. Before we left the next morning, I realized we were not the only guests without the above. I ended up having our room comped . We couldn't wait to get to WDW to get a shower!

Another time we left home the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We called ahead to a Hampton Inn in SC. Well, we drove through torrential rains & only made it to NC. When I called a Hampton Inn in NC they were able to cancel my SC reservation & make me a reservation with their hotel.