Driving from Ma to Fl

[hegsag]

For those that have driven from Massachusetts to Florida ... what time do you usually leave MA? I'm trying to plan and am not sure what is the best time to leave. We will be travelling during the weekend so we don't have to worry about commuter traffic. TIA

 

[buzz2400]

you would be better to post this on transportation board. I live in ct (around bridgeport). I drove to florida one year. Very long drive. I would highly recommend getting up very early in am (like 4) and start. We stopped around nc/sc border and the second day drive was brutal. Try and go as far as you can the first day.

 

[eeyoresmom]

We've driven from cental MA many times. Are you traveling on a school vacation week?

 

[hegsag]

We are driving on a school vacation week. I'm nervous because it is a far drive but we just couldn't afford airfare for all plus a rental car fee...Keeping my fingers crossed it's not too bad!

 

[MKCP5]

we've done it several times and left at varying times. Our standard seems to mostly be get out of Ma by 4am on a weekday or 5 on a weekend. We also go over the Tapan Zee not the GW and it works well for us

Good luck!

 

[pyrxtc]

Are you going straight through ? We leave about 5 pm and get to NC by morning - 14 hrs. We then nap and leave again about 11 pm which brings us into WDW about 9/10 am. That leaves us time to stop for gas, food, and pee stops. Plus we are leaving from middle NH so depending on where in MA you are, it will cut few hours off the first time I posted.

 

[eeyoresmom]

You will have a lot of traffic on 95 through the Notheast ( MA all the way through DC) even on the weekend because alot of other families will be doing the same thing you are. We always leave central MA on Thursday or Friday around 3-4 am to get through NYC before the bulk of rush hour traffic. We usually make it through the rest of the trip without too much traffic until the next day coming into Orlando on I4. On the way home however, we usually don't plan as well and usually take Sat and Sun to drive home. The traffic on these days around NYC has always been a nightmare at the end of a NE school vacation week ( no matter what time of day ). We always seem to have a 3 hour longer drive on the way back home. We don't let this stop us from driving though. We just plan for a bit longer trip on the way home and plan to be hung up around NYC ( which stinks 'cause we are sooooo close to home by then! )

 

[tiggger1]

We usually leave around 9am ish. We drive till 1ish and do a quick lunch/bathroom break then stop for the night 8pm-ish ( with a few quick stops for bathroom breaks). We leave at 8ish the next morning. One time we drove straight to Orlando and got there at midnight and the other time we stopped at 6om( the kids were crazy!) and stayed in a hotel and only had about 4-5 hours drive the next day. But we had planned for a 2 1/2 day drive anyways

 

[3boymthr]

We left from MA on Friday at around 5PM. Stopped for the night in NJ at 10:30 PM then left there at by 8 AM were in SC on the GA border by 9 PM and in our room by 2 PM on Sunday.

Driving back it took two days at 13 hrs each day. We left by 9 each day and drove until 11 PM.

Our drive times were compromised slightly on the return as I got an unexpected visit from a friend so we had to stop every 2 hours for about 10minutes.

The good news is the speeds down south are much higher than up here.

We live right near Gillette Stadium and our total mileage driving mostly Rte 95 was 1307 each way.

It took a lot out of me as DH was sick and I did 90% of the driving.