Driving at March Break

[hardis5]

I think this is pretty much exactly what we are going to do. I was thinking leave at 5am, maybe 4. My only concern is whether we should push to Savannah. I am looking to get to a hotel at 8pm at the earliest, just enough time for a quick swim and go to sleep. Also I was hoping for only 5-6 hours to drive on the following day so we can just drive straight to a park.

Driving as far south as Savannah (2-3 hours further than Columbia) you'll only have a 4-5 hour drive the 2nd day even if hitting Jacksonville and Orlando area traffic barring any serious accidents causing delay.

The wildcard in how far you'll be able to drive over that 15-16 hour period SB outside of accident delays will be the weather/road conditions until through the Virginia mountains. We've sailed south with dry roads in Ontario, NY, PA and the mountains and have had miserable drives through Niagara, NY and PA with the weather/roads finally getting better through the mountains. IMO if wanting to push the SB drive as far as possible day 1, personally I'd book a same day cancelable reservation for the Columbia or Orangeburg areas as fallback to a slower drive due to weather through the northern leg of the journey.

The fallback would not be for me as I'd drive to our destination without fail even if arriving 11 pm (and we've driven straight through start to finish a number of times both directions) but for the kids and/or grandparents, the long drives are extremely tiring. Straight through drives we always start early evening so the youngest/oldest get some sleep at the start of the journey.

 

[bankr63]

If you are pushing to Savannah, most of the big chains have hotels at Pooler GA (where the Outlet mall is) just off I-95. They mostly appear to be fairly new as development of that area is fairly recent. One thing to be aware of is that Savannah has one of the largest St Patrick's Day celebrations in America, and hotels are booked solid all around and the rates are astronomical. Watch your dates carefully.

Interestingly, 4 years ago we planned on stopping at Pooler, but had a late dinner there and then decided to push through, arriving in Orlando around midnight. It was a great decision as we woke refreshed the next morning, a little late, but already in Orlando, unpacked, and ready to go. Note though that our stopping decisions are always made on the road; we don't pre-book our accommodations and let our energy level decide when we will stop.