Flying Vs. Driving

[Tara]

Either way, the point remains, allowing some random person whose biggest claim to life is a HS (or GED) diploma to stick their hands down the pants of a child is still an extremely offensive idea to some people, including myself.

So by your reasoning, the fact that someone has only high school education (or equivalent) makes them more likely to pose a risk to children? Some random person with a degree in electrical engineering would be better? Perhaps a nice MBA student? FYI...Ted Bundy had a degree in psychology.

You keep making assertions about "hands in pants" - there is a big difference between someone putting their hand down a person's pants and simply running a finger along the inside of the waistline - finger outward to check the clothing itself, not to touch the body.

What I find extremely offensive is that you continue to equate a perfectly innocuous security procedure (which you have never personally experienced) with the horrors of molestation (something I hope and pray you HAVEN'T experienced).

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We live about 2.5 hours away and we will be flying up for one of our trips in a few months.

You'd rather show up at the airport 2 hours ahead of time and take a 30 minute flight than just drive 2.5 hours? Seriously? I've found that anything short of 400 miles you're breaking even AT BEST by flying, time-wise on average.

 

[wuzzy6]

We've been struggling with the decision for a while now, but we've finally settled on driving. It's a 24 hour drive, which we will split into two days. It is going to be less expensive for us to drive - no question.

As for "time at Disney," driving actually works to our benefit, and here's why... we will get into town on Sunday evening and spend the night close to WDW. (We're staying 1.8 miles from SSR!) We will be up bright and early Monday morning, check in at our resort, then hit the parks early! (If we flew in, we wouldn't even arrive at MCO until noon - nevermind the time it takes on the ME, etc.)

Besides, to us, the road trip is a lot of fun!

It's definitely a personal choice - nobody knows your family better than you do!

 

[maxiesmom]

To simply turn a blind eye to dangers presented to you, your family and your belongs is, IMO, quite naive.

I have seen those video clips before. And having watched them again I don't see any hands in pants, or anything perverted going on.

It is your choice to not fly because of the pat downs. However, I am not turning a blind eye to anything. I would much rather the TSA be doing everything they think necessary to assure my family is safe on airplanes, rather than being so worried about being politically correct that they let some things skate by, just to save face.

 

[sharadoc]

Travel time aside, there is NO reason you have to subject yourself to strictly fast food (or picnics) on a road trip. The REAL food we eat along the way is one of the treats of a road trip IMO.

Agree! I always research and plan stops along the way that are local and homemade food restaurants. We've found great diners, barbecue restaurants - nothing fast food. My trip binder always has menus or google map pages on potential restaurants. Roadfood.com is another great source as well as our 95 Exit Guide.

Stopping often enough also helps your legs. That extra 5-10 minutes walking around a rest stop doesn't affect your arrival enough to skip it!

 

[rotlex]

We have driven from PA for our last 4 trips. We are a family of four, myself, my wife, DD 9 and DS 3. We love the drive. We love being together and starting out trip that way. Helps us to slide into the trip slowly, and really enjoy the anticipation.

As far as costs? Even with gas prices, a one night stay in Georgia on the way, we average saving $7-800 over flying. For us, that's either savings, extra spending money, or, an upgrade to a deluxe at times.

 

[RobinHoodGirl]

Of all my trips I've taken I've only gone once by car and that's cause I was traveling with a friend and her family and she has a fear of flying...

I'd rather sit on the plane for 2 1/2 hours than do the 17 hour drive any time! But part of this is also because I don't know how to pump gas (It's scary for a Jersey Gir ) and I can't get there on one tank

As for Magical Express - I LOVE it!! Drop my bags off at the airport and then don't see 'em again till they're in the room (or drop them off at the resort and don't see 'em till baggage claim at home). Free trips to and from the airport. And on my last trip we never got out ME tags, which worried me, but I told the CM at the counter what the bags looked like, our flight info and our hotel and they got there with no problems!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

But part of this is also because I don't know how to pump gas (It's scary for a Jersey Gir ) and I can't get there on one tank

My sister's family went up your way a couple years ago & my brother-in-law tried to pump his own gas. The station attendants FLIPPED OUT

 

[RobinHoodGirl]

My sister's family went up your way a couple years ago & my brother-in-law tried to pump his own gas. The station attendants FLIPPED OUT

My boyfriend is trying to get use to it (He's from Denver)... but having to pump gas is a big factor on my method of travel. As long as I can get back into NJ before I run out of gas I'm willing to drive

 

[Gumbo4x4]

My boyfriend is trying to get use to it (He's from Denver)... but having to pump gas is a big factor on my method of travel. As long as I can get back into NJ before I run out of gas I'm willing to drive

There's really nothing to it. Only thing I run into is the occasional weird payment method. 99% of the places around here you have the option of paying at the pump or going inside to pay AFTER you find out how much gas you need. I find it weird when you have to go inside to prepay.

Attendant: "How much gas would you like to purchase?"

Me: "Enough to fill it up".

 

[PrincessRhi]

You'd rather show up at the airport 2 hours ahead of time and take a 30 minute flight than just drive 2.5 hours? Seriously? I've found that anything short of 400 miles you're breaking even AT BEST by flying, time-wise on average.

I don't do it to save time or money, I do it to preserve sanity. I hate driving (yes, even 2.5 hours) and would fly each visit if it were up to me. It's not, and I'm with someone who loves the drive, so he justifies flights based on cost. I love heading up to Disney, but when we're going a few times a month, sometimes I dread the drive.

Who gets to the airport two hours in advance for a domestic flight? I can understand if you've got a family or don't know how to go through a security line or if you're really neurotic about missing your flight. We hit it at 45 minutes. Since we're already checked in and carry on bags for the weekend, the only thing we have to do is go through the security line (at PBI, it takes 15 minutes tops-- my experience living in Boston and flying out of Logan is also similar thanks to being a platinum mile member). Sure we're only saving an hour. But the sanity that comes along with it is priceless for us.

 

[PrincessRhi]

I've never actually looked until now, I was just guessing based on only needing a HS education. tsa.gov has starting salary at $29,131.00 a year, so $13 bucks an hour.

Either way, the point remains, allowing some random person whose biggest claim to life is a HS (or GED) diploma to stick their hands down the pants of a child is still an extremely offensive idea to some people, including myself.

I'm sure most have only the best of intentions but if you've seen the headlines over the past year, tsa doesn't have the best record for employing "above board" characters.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=tsa+emplyee+attack

Not to mention when it was discovered agents had this image as the screen saver:

Not exactly "professional".

Actually your point only reinforces your ignorance on the subject, and quite frankly, makes you look like an uppity ***.

I don't know where you're getting this TSA agents are only HS grads BS, when most I know have at least a bachelors. And the ones who are touching your kids are making way more than $13/hr-- it's more like $45/hr because they're the ones with seniority, who get preference in government jobs. The ones making $13/hr are off filing paperwork or checking the bags. They're not around people.

But hey, according to your logic, only people who make $10/hr are the ones touching people's kids inappropriately, so by default... my paltry stipend while finishing my PhD in neuroscience (which comes out to about $14/hr) should put me first in line to get some grabs in.

Hopefully that sounds just as absurd to you as I feel typing it. Because that's how I feel after reading what you wrote.

 

[Keegansmommy]

I hate driving with a passion! For us it was about $100 more to fly than it was for us to drive (estimated cost).

We'd have to rent a vehicle, pay for gas, hotel there and back for one night, and food. Plus then there's the 18-20 hour drive so that's 2 days of vacation spent in the car. We're tired and cranky by the time we arrive...and tired and cranky on the drive home. No thanks.

We fly out of Detroit Metro. I love that in a few hours we're in Orlando and enjoying our vacation. Granted we've had some hiccups along they way at the airport, but I've had way worse stories about driving. Plus we don't NEED our car once we get there so we don't have to worry about that at all.

 

[maxiesmom]

I never dreamed that my husband would be interested in our family of four flying to WDW for our June trip (we made the 20 hour drive OK a few years ago). But now he wants me to look into it for a few reasons: we no longer have a family member's home to stop at overnight on the way down, so there would be an extra motel fee; we have one car that might not do well on the trip, and the other doesn't get great gas mileage (and the predicted summer gas rates are scary); our kids are a bit older than last time (they'll be newly 5 and 9 for the trip) and will be more argumentative and cranky on the trip.

I just popped over to the AAA fuel estimator. And for my Chevy Cavalier to from Grand Rapids Michigan to Orlando and back is $400. I sure as heck wouldn't want to fit a large family into my car and drive to Florida, we would all be miserable! And they were estimating the price of gas at $3.68 to $3.78 a gallon. I can't find gas for less than $3.85 a gallon by my house.

If my little car takes over $400 in gas now for a trip, I shudder to think what a large car or van would cost. Add in the cost for hotels and food and you are looking at over $600 easily for the drive.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

I just popped over to the AAA fuel estimator. And for my Chevy Cavalier to from Grand Rapids Michigan to Orlando and back is $400. I sure as heck wouldn't want to fit a large family into my car and drive to Florida, we would all be miserable! And they were estimating the price of gas at $3.68 to $3.78 a gallon. I can't find gas for less than $3.85 a gallon by my house.

If my little car takes over $400 in gas now for a trip, I shudder to think what a large car or van would cost. Add in the cost for hotels and food and you are looking at over $600 easily for the drive.

The estimate for our Honda Odyssey minivan is $489 which is still WAAAYYYY less than the cost of flights for 6 and renting a van in Florida. We also drive straight through and pack a cooler of food, so we don't really incur any expenses other than gas and an occasional snack that's not in the cooler.

We've driven from Chicago for the past 6 years and it's not the end of the world. We stay for 2 weeks so we have plenty of time to unwind and enjoy the parks. The drive home is a little harder, because we're not anticipating being at Disney, but it's definitely doable.

 

[scrappinaway]

In the past year, I have done both and we are near you (from NW Indiana). We drove last May, left Indiana around 8pm and drove straight through with stops only for gas/food and we made it to WDW by 4pm the next day(lost one hour due to the time difference). DH and I took turns driving and it wasn't too bad even with 2 five year olds and a 4 month old. We had a big conversion van, so plenty of room even with 6 of us, 3 adults and 3 children.

Just got back about a week ago and we flew SW this time. It was just 4 of us (one being a lap child) and airfare was under $700 for all of us, so flying was a no brainer this trip plus I am not going to chance driving in February. We used ME and had great service.....took us about 1.5 hours from landing to being at the POP. We did have free dining, but did bring a suitcase with snacks since SW allows 2 bags.

I just checked SW for June flight prices and they are considerably higher than when we booked plus don't forget parking fees at the airport also. If you have excellent credit, you may want to apply for a SW Visa if they are still giving away 50,000 points or something like that.

I was going to post about the 50000 points. We did this for our trip this year, and it saved us a ton. I was able to get three tickets for my August trip....they cost me $15 for the federal taxes!!!!! The dollar amount would have been.....$886 Not only am I not going to have to pay the projected high gas prices, I, being the only driver, don't have to drive on my own for 20 hours. We were so excited about the promo that my husband just applied for the same card and we have 50000 more points on the way.....I don't have a link but I'm sure if you search "Chase southwest" the offer should pop up....

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I don't do it to save time or money, I do it to preserve sanity. I hate driving (yes, even 2.5 hours) and would fly each visit if it were up to me. It's not, and I'm with someone who loves the drive, so he justifies flights based on cost. I love heading up to Disney, but when we're going a few times a month, sometimes I dread the drive.

I'd much rather be stretched out & comfortable in my own car than packed in like sardines with 147 strangers. To me, saving time is the ONLY reason to fly (well, that or when you have an overseas destination you CAN'T drive to ). But, to each their own, I suppose

Who gets to the airport two hours in advance for a domestic flight? I can understand if you've got a family or don't know how to go through a security line or if you're really neurotic about missing your flight. We hit it at 45 minutes. Since we're already checked in and carry on bags for the weekend, the only thing we have to do is go through the security line (at PBI, it takes 15 minutes tops-- my experience living in Boston and flying out of Logan is also similar thanks to being a platinum mile member). Sure we're only saving an hour. But the sanity that comes along with it is priceless for us.

I spent at most 10 minutes getting through security in STL about a month ago, but 80 minutes getting through security in San Antonio on my return flight. The line at the other terminal was non-existent