HH looks awesome, but airfare is outrageous!

[Sammy]

I would love to take a trip to the HH resort with my family, but I can't believe the price of airfare to get there! Are there any "tricks" (ie: flying into smaller airports) to getting there more affordably? Driving would be the absolute last resort....I get sick just turning the corner.

 

[chunkygal]

Not sure, but flying to atlanta or macon ga is a do able4 hour or so drive. We drive there all the time. Savannah is very close also.

 

[pumpkinboy]

Flying into HH's little airport is outrageously expensive, but you would most likely want to fly into Savannah GA or maybe Charleston SC (tho farther away). If you want to do it most cheaply, fly to Atlanta and drive for forever (at least for a New Englander: "4 hours?! I could drive to Canada in 4 hours!"). You are gonna have to change in Atlanta anyway, your best bets will likely be MHT-ATL-SAV or BOS-ATL-SAV.

Not nearly as cheap as flying to Orlando tho, is it.

 

[Macnjac87]

Hi-

How far are you from Boston? You could fly from Boston to Jacksonville for around $210 (with one stop) and renting a car and driving the 3 hours north to Hilton Head.

We live on Long Island and drove last year. Ran into serious car trouble and vowed never to drive there again. Well, we got a new car since our trip in July and now we are driving down again in 3 weeks!!! Its about 16 hours from the eastern end of Long Island. We will leave at 2 am on Friday, and drive until SAntee, SC, getting there about 3pm, then spend the night, get up early and get to HH before lunch. Its challenging to say the least with the 3 kids in the car!! But, we really can't wait!!!

Check around different cities nearby HH and see what you come up with for airfare.

It will be worth getting there, believe me, HH is truly a gem.

 

[ClarabelleCow]

Another option is Delta from Hartford, CT. Not sure how far that is for you, but you could do BDL-ATL-SAV for $255.00 still alot, this was a sat-sat in August, we are thinking about it!

 

[vernon]

Considering you'll have to hire a car anyway, I'd have thought driving was an option that's seriously worth considering both financially and also time wise. I would say it's definately sensible to plan an overnight stop for each journey, but it can be achieved reasonably easily.

 

[RumpleMom]

A friend's family who gets queasy very easily swear by the "Sea-Bands" that you wear on each wrist. It's an accupressure kind of thing. Our local pharmacy sells them, no prescription needed by the way and costs only a few dollars.

 

[pumpkinboy]

Originally posted by vernon
Considering you'll have to hire a car anyway, I'd have thought driving was an option that's seriously worth considering both financially and also time wise. I would say it's definately sensible to plan an overnight stop for each journey, but it can be achieved reasonably easily.

Just FYI, vernon, for us Yanks, driving is always an option, if not always a preferred method. It is really hard to pry Americans out of their cars (something that is recently becoming more true in the UK and Europe of late, but has long been true here). Here in the Boston area, we get lots of out-of-state tourists (since this is after all "the cradle of Liberty") who feel the need to drive in our very congested urban area, when more sensible locals prefer to walk it; I politely give them directions to the nearest parking garage and instruct them that everything they want to see is within an easy walk (downtown Boston is smaller than some of the larger Malls in this country after all).

Of course, the distance from Nashua NH to Hilton Head SC is roughly 1,800km as the crow flies, or the equivalent of London to Naples. And yet, so many of us will drive it.

 

[Lesley]

You could also look into flying into Columbia SC or Charlotte NC. The drive is about 3 hours from Columbia...which would make it 4 or so from Charlotte. Airfares in and out of Columbia tend to be high though.

Closest would be Savannah or Charleston. Atlanta would be probably about the same as Charlotte. Oh, yeah, and Jacksonville isn't a bad option either!

 

[KLR-wlv]

I live in Charleston - and the airfare in and out of here is rediculous. Savannah is usually always cheaper. That would probably be your best bet.

 

[mikeymars]

I hear Sammy: I'm currently researching air for our August trip to HH (from the NYC area), and the best fare I have been able to find (which hasn't changed in weeks), is $243 (non-stop round trip from LGA to Savannah on Delta). Given the deals we've historically gotten for flights to Orlando, having to pay almost $1K for air for a family of four to someplace closer than Orlando is annoying to say the least.

 

[vernon]

Just FYI, vernon, for us Yanks, driving is always an option

Thanks, but I'm aware of the US's addiction of driving, I've done from Pittsburgh to Orlando ( about 1,500 kms) and in Australia I drove from Sydney to Brisbane and on to Bundeburg ( 1,400 kms) so I know what it requires.

 

[rsschneck]

We fly from such a long way away that flying into Savannah is cost prohibited. Flying into SAV for us runs between $450 - $500 each ticket. We purchase 3 tickets!

We flew into ATL this past July for $278 roung trip (we have friends that we visited in Atlanta for a day). This next trip we are flying into Raleigh, NC for $267.50 each ticket. We have friends in Fayetteville, NC that we will have dinner with and are staying at a Holiday Inn for about $50.00 with an indoor pool and 2 free breakfasts included.

Once we get enough frequent flier miles together we will use the to fly into SAV for another HHI trip. The cost of the plane tickets is one big factor why we don't own any points at HHI!

 

[Halle]

We are flying from Rochester NY to SAV, August 1, after weeks of checking I got roundtrip tix for 227.00 on Delta. We too connect in Atlanta, from Rochester it was more expensive to fly to Atlanta and not continue on to Savannah. We have also flown into Atlanta and Raleigh and driven to Myrtle Beach. It was about 6 hours to Myrtle Beach from both of those airports. Good luck with the fare search!

 

[pumpkinboy]

Originally posted by vernon
Thanks, but I'm aware of the US's addiction of driving, I've done from Pittsburgh to Orlando ( about 1,500 kms) and in Australia I drove from Sydney to Brisbane and on to Bundeburg ( 1,400 kms) so I know what it requires.

Ugh, those are some pretty long drives. In New England we are a little more used to closer distances, but of course "road trips" are a way of life, and a bit of a rite of passage. Of course, my kids (6 & 4) complain of the long distance to the grandparents' house in Maine all of 150 km from our house and DW doesn't like long car trips, so flying to Orlando is a must for us. We would not even do the 4 hrs from ATL to HHI.
My family once did Los Angeles to Portland Maine (3,750 km but we took a leisurely 8 days), and when I was 18, I hitchhiked from Vancouver BC to Portland Maine (3,600 km - 6 days, 12 rides). Of course when some our European relatives came to visit (just after their compulsory military service) they seem to be intent on a Greatest Hits of North America tour, bought a truck and did a big circuit of the USA; they put more than 10,000 miles on that truck before the summer was out but still sold it for a decent price.

 

[ripleysmom]

We're driving in August. I just let hubby know the other night that I am not spending $1100 (airfare and rental car) to avoid a 13 hour drive. We are used to driving to NC to visit my mom so it will only be a few extra hours.

 

[Macnjac87]

We drove from NY and thought it would take 13 hours (mapquest and other sites said so) but it turns out to be closer to 16 hours.

 

[VMS]

We leave this Saturday for our 3rd annual drive to HH -- about 14 hours for us. We will leave very early, and plan on stopping about 2 hours from HH, so we can check in early Sunday and get the whole day there. We have 3 kids (13, 10, 7), and none of the trips have been too bad. In fact, if you fly you miss out on all of those great South of the Border billboards! True Americana.

 

[mikesmom]

We have to go into Jacksonville if we want to use Southwest (and our free freqquent flyer tickets). I don't mind the drive, but we can't seem to get a decent flight that will get us in there before 8 pm at night. Arriving at HH at 11 PM or later is not my idea of a good time ! Not to mention the waste of points! However, I have booked 3 nites for our anniversary AND the Private Affair dinner in our room from Chef Gordon. I WILL find a way to get there if we have to walk

 

[msdis]

I toyed with the idea a week or 2 ago.BTW I found rates on Delta for about 230/pp