driveing from ilion/ utica ny

[stahshee]

has anyone traveled from ilion/ utica. how long? when is the best time to leave? where is half way can you recomend a half way hotel. mind you we have 4 kids from 2,4,8,13 . i am thinking columbus weekend?

 

[Alexander]

Hi! We've driven many times from Syracuse. We have left very early in the morning 3:00 AM and driven until about 8:00 at night. This got us to Pooler, Georgia.

However, with kids, we found, it's usually best to travel at night if you can. We have left at 3 or 4 in the afternoon, stopped in a few hours for dinner, put a movie on for DS and by about 9 or 10 he is asleep and hasn't gotten too bored in the car. He will sleep until about 6 or 7 AM and then we stop for breakfast somewhere in SC I think. At that point, he is refreshed and excited again, so we finished our drive.

This is very tiring for DH who does pretty much all of the driving except when I take over for a couple of hours about 2 or 3 AM.

My parents usually try to make it to about South of the Border (between North and South Carolina). Then they are a bit further than half-way and it makes the second day of driving shorter than the first.

I have a good friend who always stops with her family in Virginia. That is only about 9 hours and leaves the bulk of the driving for the next day during the day--UGH! This is hard with kids!

Figure on about 21 to 22 hours of good driving. You'll want to add in quick bathroom stops, and if you plan to stop for meals, stretching, etc. We can usually make it in 22 hours with very quick stops and keeping sandwiches in the car for eating.

Have fun on the drive, don't let it get you stressed out. My BIL did this and all he did for the whole week in WDW was dread the drive back home!