Do You Fly Or Drive???

We drive too. Takes 9 hours to get to my sister's for a visit first, then we usually leave from there to go to DLR. It has been years since we have gone straight to DLR. We always have too much IMPORTANT stuff to bring to fly. :lmao: Plus, it seems like flying takes just as long anyway.
 
We always fly. It's about a 10-hour drive each way. I was raised on the roadtrips, and I do love them, but not I-5.

When we fly, we can leave after work/school, get to the airport an hour before the flight departs, and be in Disneyland that evening. It isn't cheap-- 5 of us (2 adults and 3 kids) pay a total of $700-$1000 for airfare, but we don't have to give up 2 days to get there and back.
 

For us, the worst part of the drive isn't I5, it is the Bay Area. Coming home last trip, we missed the turn off for the Richmond/SR bridge and had to drive through SF! :scared1: This was bad because the signs point you off in some direction and then you never see them again. Our GPS got us out, of course, it was the GPS that got us in that mess in the first place. :confused: Anyway, that is what I hate most about driving. Flying is more fun though. :lovestruc
 
We only fly being north of North Dakota. Otherwise, a road trip would consume 3/4 of a 2-week vacation.
 
Ok, if you're afraid of flying, stop reading now. But per request, here's my scary flying story:

Like I mentioned in the previous post, we were coming back from our WDW honeymoon this past June; we took a late flight so we could spend the morning and afternoon at DTD. Well, we get to the airport and our 7:00pm flight ends up being delayed nearly 4 hours - no biggie. I had to be at work the next morning, but I'm used to flight delays.

So, we finally get on the plane and take off (btw, we're on the largest plane that AA flies - don't remember the number, but it's huge). It's about a 2 hour to 2 1/2 hour flight from Orlando to Dallas. We get about 30 minutes in to the flight and the flight attendants start offering drinks, snacks, etc. We hadn't hit ANY turbulance and everything was smooth going. All of a sudden, our plane literally fell straight down through the sky. The seatbelt sign was off, so a ton of people (including a baby near us) flew out of their chairs. The flight attendants were knocked off their feet on to the ground, and many of them got beat up pretty bad by the free-rolling beverage carts.

Because drinks were out, those went all over the place, too. You know in movies when a plane falls down through the sky, you see the liquid in cups fly straight up, crystalize, and then fall back down? That's really what happens; it was frozen when it came back down. Our pilot tried to pull the plane back up, we fell again; tried to pull it up for a second time, and we fell for a third time. I really did think this was it for us; everyone on the plane was crying - men included. There was one dad (also coming back from WDW) that was a good 20 rows in front of his kids and wife; he was yelling back at them to see if any of them were badly hurt - while he was crying at the same time.

Our pilot finally got control of the plane; by then, everyone was soaking wet from drinks, a lot of people were banged up pretty bad, there was glass all over the first class area where they'd been eating/drinking using glassware, and one of the flight attendants had gotten hit straight on by the beverage cart. (She had to be laid down the rest of the trip.) The ceilings and walls were dripping wet with drinks and condensation, too.

Oddly enough, they came on the speakers and said they hit a batch of turbulance that wasn't on the radar and that no airplane in front of us had reported. To be honest, I think we had a severe technical malfunction. The flight attendants came around with first aid kits, towels, etc. and we continued on to Dallas. Most people were crying the rest of the way back; keep in mind, too, that we still had over 3/4 of our flight to go.

One of the attendants told my DH and I that she'd been doing this for over 25 years, and she'd never seen anything like this happen. She also told us (with an hour left to go in the air) that they were damaging out our plane as soon as we landed. (Which is why I think there was way more than turbulance wrong; the walls/ceilings/floors could have easily been cleaned up.) That's not really something you want to hear while still in flight!

People were praying out loud as we landed; it was the scariest experience of my life. My DH broke in to tears as soon as our feet touched the ground in Dallas; he knew how scared I was and didn't let on to how terrified he was until we landed.

There were people that were supposed to be getting on connecting flights that were refusing to do so; they were all lined up at customer service demanding refunds for the last leg of their trip and a rental car.

It was horrible; and, about 2 weeks later, I had to fly back to Orlando with DH's family. They'd booked a cruise 2 years out and had paid for me to go, too, as a newlywed gift; they'd upgraded DH and myself to have our own cabin. Let's just say the whole night before the flight was horrible; I had a horrible panic/anxiety attack (first one ever) and cried the whole way down there on the plane. I didn't even enjoy the cruise because I was just dreading the flight home.

The whole thing was awful; I don't know if I'll ever be able to get back on to a plane without suffering from an anxiety attack or having to be doped up on something. And, my friend is in the airforce; I talked to him about what happened and told him about the whole drinks-turning-in-to-crystals part; he said he didn't really think I wanted to hear how fast and far we fell for that to happen, but that "you're lucky to be here." I still thank God everyday that we at least had an amazing pilot that was able to get control again.
 
Heatherbelle614!!! whoa, thats why i cant fly. I have flown alot but in the last year I had a bad expeirence too. not that bad though. I cant have fun on our trips because I dread the flying. I dont care how far away we are i will drive from now on. But i know I will have to again someday. That and the driving isn't that bad.
 
We also have had a bad experience flying with our plane plunging two different times, with people screaming and drinks and people getting knocked all over, but we continue to fly. I know that it can be hard to relax after something like that but we can't let that rule our lives. It was a one time experience and it happened about 15 years ago.
We will be flying again in just over a week and trust that nothing will happen!
 
We are fliers. Sometimes I think it would be cool to drive and stop and see things that interest us on the way, but that never happens. (doesn't matter what trip we take, we always seem to be in a rush to get there and back and we are always traveling with other people). I like getting to our destination in as short of time as possible. DD loves to fly, so being on a plane for a few hours is fine. She is way better on a plane than in the vehicle for a long trip anyway!:rotfl:
 
and we get there in less than 5 hours, so its not bad at all:) maybe one day we'll fly, but id rather stay on the ground if i can:laughing:

what do you like?

OK, gotta ask- how do you get there in less than 5 hours? Is that driving during the day or in the middle of the night? We also live in San Jose and it takes us 8 hours or more sometimes. We do fine until we hit the LA area and then we spend at least 2 hours in stop and go traffic before we get to Anaheim. We've done it on weekdays and weekends and it never seems to get any better. I wish we could get there in 5 hours or less!
 
For us, even though flying would be a little quicker, not by much. As I mentioned before, it takes about 10 hours to get there for us (9 1/2 if we are moving along at a good pace w/o hitting traffic).

If we were to fly.... it takes 3 hours to get to the major airport, 30 minutes to park/unload/check-in/etc., 1 hour wait until departure, 1 1/2 hour flight, 1/2 hour to de-board, 1/2 to pick up luggage, 1/2 hour - 1 hour to take shuttle/rental to hotel.

All in all, for us it would take almost 7 1/2 hours flying, or we could drive for 10 and have our own car, and have it be half the cost! We will definitely be driving!!! :goodvibes
 
We always fly. It's about a 10-hour drive each way. I was raised on the roadtrips, and I do love them, but not I-5.

When we fly, we can leave after work/school, get to the airport an hour before the flight departs, and be in Disneyland that evening. It isn't cheap-- 5 of us (2 adults and 3 kids) pay a total of $700-$1000 for airfare, but we don't have to give up 2 days to get there and back.

You're not that far away from us! :goodvibes We are up in Mount Shasta.
 
We drive, we are 6 hrs away so it's less $$ for us to drive. We've gone thru the Grapevine in January, two trips actually, Jan. of 08. :) It wasn't that bad, we were just careful to get thru as quickly and safely as possible. We were worried the second time because the weather was bad but we made it with no problems at all. We normally leave later in the evening or early morning.

We would fly if we could afford it but we can't, so we drive. We like it though, we have a DVD player in the van and we play games while we drive. It's a lot of fun for us.
 
We've done both. When we went the first time with our family in Oct. 06 we drove all 11 hours straight through. We did rest stops and food stops, but we didn't stay overnight anywhere. We stayed over by the Angels Stadium and it was an easy hop onto the freeway and off at DLR.

When DH and I went last Sept. we flew with reward points and flew into John Wayne - TOTALLY love that airport. We rented a car and stayed in Garden Grove.

When our big group went last March we flew into Burbank - TOTALLY hate the drive from Burbank to Anaheim, the airport was fine. We rented cars and stayed again in Garden Grove. Spent tooooo much time driving back and forth, but the hotel was nice.

This trip in Dec. we are driving and staying within walking distance at HoJo. We are also stopping over in Las Vegas. This way our little kids aren't so sick of the car and their car seats by the time we get to Anaheim. Plus airfare would have cost about $150 per person for 5 people, which isn't bad, but we can drive our car and get 40 miles to the gallon and spend under $200 dollars for the gas and hotel in Vegas both nights. So, for us, a good trade off. And my DH just can't pass up the deep fried twinkies in Las Vegas! :lmao:
 
I am not a fan of flying but will do it. My kids are too spooked to get onto a plane. Maybe someday.
 
i was just wondering...what do you all prefer...flying to DL or driving?

i used to fly all the time growing up, but now i totally loooove driving! i love all the stops we always make (buttonwillow!) haha, and how we're on our OWN schedual (never have to rush to the airport anymore, and if we decide to stay longer, its totally cool). i think roadtrips are fun and we always have a great time. and we get there in less than 5 hours, so its not bad at all:) maybe one day we'll fly, but id rather stay on the ground if i can:laughing:

what do you like?


I also live in San Jose, and we are driving in about a month. Please share your tips on how you get there in 5 hours! And the places you stop.

Thanks
 
OK, gotta ask- how do you get there in less than 5 hours? Is that driving during the day or in the middle of the night? We also live in San Jose and it takes us 8 hours or more sometimes. We do fine until we hit the LA area and then we spend at least 2 hours in stop and go traffic before we get to Anaheim. We've done it on weekdays and weekends and it never seems to get any better. I wish we could get there in 5 hours or less!

You can't get from San Jose to Anaheim in 5 hours period. I guess if you started past the 152? 156?? (the winding road past gilroy) you could make it in 5 hours but starting from San Jose going through Gilroy, over the Pachaco Pass onto the 5 then getting through LA in 5 hours? No you can't unless you drive like 100 miles hour or maybe go in the middle of the night. Let me know when you make your drive so I can avoid you driving like a bat out of hell.
 
We drive. It only takes about 9 hours. Wouldn't really save that much "time" by flying.

We leave between 4 - 5pm and get there by 3pm.
 
You're not that far away from us! :goodvibes We are up in Mount Shasta.

Kewl! I imagine there isn't a direct flight from Redding, eh? We used to fly out of Chico, which was great even though you have to go through SF, but United is not nearly as reliable as it used to be. Last year our United flight out of Chico was cancelled altogether, all other flights were booked and they told us we'd have to leave the next day. After making it clear we didn't like that option, they did finally shuttle us down to Sac and onto a SW flight that went directly to SNA. We had a similar problem coming home ("weather", though the October skies were perfect). We lost a whole day at DL due to the cancelled flight and I was miffed that we didn't get to use all the days on our hoppers :upsidedow

BUT we learned that it is really very easy to go down to Sac airport and fly SW into SNA! So that's what we're doing this time. We'd never had a problem out of Chico until about a year ago, and since then we've not had a single flight work without incident, sigh, and that includes 6 trips. When the hassle far outweighs the convenience, it's better to find an alternative! If not for SW in Sac we'd be driving, too.
 




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