Drive or fly to Florida???

[Sauble]

My husband and I have planned a trip to Florida in October. We have the dates Oct. 1-12 off work so can go anytime during those days. We have a place to stay in Palm Bay (near Melbourne). The question we have is should we drive or fly to Florida? We live just 30 minutes north of Toronto. My husband has never driven to Florida so he is interested to see what that is like, however, I can get pretty impatient in the car.

Would it be cheaper to fly to Florida and rent a car or drive our own vehicle to Florida? Any recomendations on cheap flights or car rental places?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[tmli]

It probably would be cheaper to drive...the question is how much the extra time is worth? It would also depend on if you are driving straight through or stopping over night.

Flying out of T.O if you can get a deal the best you can expect is around $250 each. That will be hard to come by, but it is possible. I have a ressie with National for a 14 day car rental for $321 including taxes etc. That is full size. Depending on the length of your stay, you can average your car rental cost based on my prices.

Some are getting flights out of Buffalo for around $100 USD I believe. Based on those prices it wouldn't be alot more to fly than drive. Plus factor in the wear and tear on your vehicle.

Hope this helps, I have done both. I definitely prefer to fly but have driven to save money.

 

[Sauble]

tmli (Tracey)

I just sent you a pm. Thanks.

 

[Hockeychic]

I live about 45 min north of Toronto and have driven twice. Once the I-75 route in Feb and the 77/79/95 route in late October and the 77/79/95 route is much nicer in my opinion.

This time we are flying, I have 4 round trip tickets out of Buffalo for $770 canadian everything included. I have a park and fly across from the Airport in Buffalo for $89.00 US and a car rental for 11 days for $240.00 US for a compact. We have booked through Southwest.

It will be nice to jump on a plane and be in Orlando in 2.5 hours as oppose to approx 24 hours in a vehicle....each way!!!!

I am not regretting booking the flights...although I am nervous about flying think it is the best way to go.

 

[chrisann]

Which ever way you choose, make sure you add in all the extras. We were going to drive because we assumed it would be way cheaper than flying, but once we figured in the snacks and meals along the way, the gas and of course the time, with the specials evryone is having right now for that time frame(we're going in Oct. as well), it ended up being much cheaper to fly. Plus, when we arrive we won't be totally drained. If you could fly out Buffalo or even Detroit airports that would be very reasonable.

Good Luck!!

 

[Mortlives]

If we have the time, we drive. If we don't, we fly.

Driving to Florida can be very pleasant. The mountains are beautiful, although not too much fun in a snowstorm.

In October, you won't get the most interesting effect, though: watching the seasons change in fast-motion. Going from winter to spring to summer in the course of 2 days is fascinating to me. And then, watching the process in reverse going back.

If you do decide to drive, you might want to consider a CAA membership, so you'll have roadside assistance, as well as trip planning assistance.

No matter what you decide, I hope you have a great trip.

Ciao,
Mort.

 

[Sauble]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I checked flights on line and currently I can get a flight from Detroit to Orlando for $178 CDN per person (Northwest). It looks like parking at the airport will run about $100 for 9 days and car rental will be about $300. I calculated the cost to drive and it would be about $200 cheaper (even with 2 nights of hotel) to drive, but flying would be so much more convienent.

I will continue to crunch the numbers....

 

[LisaSt]

We always drive and we do it with 3 kids in the car. WEell worth the time and experiance.

 

[cdnmickeylover]

We are drivers as well. We save by taking snacks, water, pop etc. with us. We look at the drive as part of the vacation so don't mind it at all. For us (2 adults) it gives us a chance to get into vacation mode which I don't think flying would do. We also like the convenience of driving our own car in Florida rather than worrying about driving a rental car.

I have flown too but actually prefer to drive.

I agree with Mortlives that there is something about seeing it go from winter, spring & summer in two days that is fascinating.

 

[chico]

but it's a ways from Winnipeg!!

Has anyone driven from out west? I'd be interested in knowing what routes were like.

- Reid

 

[SandraC]

I love the whole flying thing. Waking up early ~ the limo to the airport ~ waiting for the flight ~ the excitement on the plane ~ being in the Florida weather and seeing palm trees in 2.5 hours!!!!!! I worked out the cost of the extra hotels, gas, wear on my car and it's about even for us to fly. We are two adult, two kids. S

 

[grover]

Would you be staying in detroit the night before your flight? If so you should look for a park & fly hotel- that way you just pay for the room and you don't need to spend a extra 100.00 on parking as well. Most hotels that do this will shuttle you to the airport
Grover in Winnipeg

Chico...we have thought of driving from Wpg but it seems so far-and our vacation time is precious! Mabey once we are up to 5 or 6 weeks vac I could do it! My dad who is a trucker of course thinks it is nothing-32 hours-ahhh easy-lol

Grover in Winnipeg

 

[Sauble]

Thanks so much for the replies everyone. My husband and I are now considering flying out of Toronto instead of Detroit. It would be so much easier as we only live 20 minutes from the airport and could get a dropped off so we don't have to pay for park n' fly. I know it would still be cheaper out of Detroit, but not by that much.

Does anyone have any advice or recommendations of cheap airlines from Toronto to Orlando? I did some quick searches on the net and the cheapest I found was $375 on West Jet. We are not leaving until October. Would it be cheaper to book the flight closer to then?

Thanks again.
Sarah.

 

[LisaSt]

With a family of 5 we have flown a couple times and driven even more times. We stop for the night on the way down and drive straight through on the way home. Our cost is usually around 350.00 Canadian for the drive there and home so less than the cost of 1 flight for an adult. Far better deal in our opinion.

 

[chrisann]

I just changed my flight with Spirit leaving Oct.4th and for the 3 of us it was $380 USD. We couldn't beat that if we tried!!

 

[SandraC]

I budget $400 per person for airline tickets. Just the cost of doing a great vacation. S

 

[Lezah]

We prefer to drive as the cost of airline tickets, and car rental is more expensive for sure. We take 2 days to drive and only stay once overnight. We drive I75 with the Along I75 book which is a godsend. We get the discount books at each state line and decide where to stay overnight that way. The drive down is the start of the vacation for us. My DH enjoys driving and does it all himself. We have a tv vcr combo which we put in the van for our DS9 which helps immensely. He is a great traveller. JMHO

 

[cottontail]

Hi: We drove down this past April and with the rise in gas prices here is what it cost, $230 u.s. to orlando and back for gas. We stayed one night each way, depending on where you stay the price can vary, but we always pick a hotel with a cont. breakfast for a fast start in the a.m. Our price was around 60. u.s in a country inn and suites, that includes breakfast, nice and clean hotel.
We always drive, but it is because I have a problem with flying, dh would love to fly, my son flew down and met us this past april.

Have you looked into the saturday departures from Mount Hope outside Hamilton, on Can jet. They just started flights from here to orlando in June I think, I don't know if it is cheaper but I think it would be much easer to get around than pearson in toronto.

Deb.