How far to you / or would you travel to your UK airport?

[Camac]

We have a 5 hour drive from Swansea to Gatwick so we are going up the night before and staying in the Sofitel. After the difficult drive back last time, even sharing the driving it was very hard, this time we have booked a driver to take us and bring us back.

I found that if you try to take public transport or use airport transfer companies the cost can really add up (£250+ from Swansea return) and particularly with public transport the timings do not suit our flights.

At Christmas we are using an ex-police driver who will drive us up in our own car then return it to our drive way. He will drive our car up the night before we return and stay at his daughter's house in Crawley so he will be fresh to drive us the five hours back to Swansea. Much safer and all for £80 plus petrol!

Camac

 

[Cyrano]

We are an hour north of Aberdeen without being on any rail line. So options are drive to Aberdeen and then internal flight to London.
Exploring option of 4 hour drive to Glasgow and then flyglobespan

 

[Claire L]

Gatwick is our preferred airport just 50 minutes away but with the Virgin Clubhouse at Heathrow the 1 1/2 hours travelling time doesn't seem so bad anymore Would only ever travel from Gatwick or Heathrow.

Claire

 

[Nubbedy]

This time we travelled 5 hours from South wales to Gatwick - would have been quicker but for roadworks on the M25!

Didn't mind at all on the way up. We went day before, did day before check in and stayed in Gatwick Hilton, so we just saw it as an extension to the holiday. However, on the way back it is a nightmare, and no fun at all (especially if DS stopped you sleeping on the flight home ), even if you are sharing the driving. You would have to weigh up the costs, next time I would tack another day in Gatwick area hotel on the end, and get some sleep before driving home.

Sara.

 

[Hilary]

Swansea here, too, so another one with a 5 hour trip to/from Gatwick that we try to avoid if possible!! We prefer to pay a little more to fly from Cardiff (hour and a half away) if we can, but Orlando flights only run through the summer (May to October). We've also managed to get flights from Birmingham and stay with family nearby.

If we fly from Gatwick, we drive up the night before and on our return we book a day room to have a few hour's sleep before the drive home. The first time we went to Orlando we knew no better and drove straight back - never again! It just wasn't safe.

I can't believe the number of people who tackle this drive straight from a long flight with little or no sleep. I think it's well worth the £50 it costs us for a day room, even though we really just want to get home as quickly as possible.

Camac, I'll PM you to find out more about your police driver - he sounds like a great find!

 

[basas]

Not in the UK…but we regularly travel 8 hours by car to fly, as we prefer flying out of the Twin Cities. The tough part is on the way back, but we usually spend the night half way. Fortunately, our flight is only 3 hours!

 

[angel659]

Hi

We normally fly from Gatwick, which is about 1 hour and 15 mins away. We are going to NYC in March so we will be flying from Heathrow, which will be 2 hour drive. We are quite lucky really.

 

[catherine]

We normally fly from Manchester and have a travel co. pick us up and tke us to an from the airport. However several years ago we couldn't get a flight to Florida from Man. so we decided to fly from Gatwick and hire a car for the trip down and back. NEVER again, it was horrendous!!! For the drive down the weather was awful, it rained that hard, that the road was barely visible. The drive back was even more miserable. By the time we had picked up our luggage all that we wnated to do, was fall into thr mini bus that we normally hire, instead we had to mess around getting our hire car and then drive home. Driving with jetlag is the worst experience. We had to keep stopping because we felt like we were going to fall asleep!! The only way that we would fly from Glasgow, si if we could get a connecting flight from Liverpool or Manchester.

 

[paulfoel]

It takes us about 4 hours to drive from S Wales to Gatwick. We could fly from Cardiff but have always found the scheduled London flights cheaper than the regional charter flights (for equivalent service). we always stay over the night before but the drive home on our return can be hard work

we've even flown LHR-MIA and had a 4 hour drive the other end rather than fly from CWL.

Tracey - Hi from Newport.

We never fly from Cardiff either. Like you said, you can get cheap charter flights from Cardiff but nothing decent.

We always used to drive to Gatwick as well. Bit of a pain driving all the way home after the overnight return journey.

Last few times we've flown from Bristol with Continental. Much closer and very good service with Continental and decent price too.

You have to stop and change planes at Newark on the way over, but it no hassle at all (although consequently the journey is a little longer). This year on the way back the plane stops at Newark before continuing to Bristol.

To be honest, its quite nice to get off and have some food and stretch you legs etc. Another advantage, is that you go through immigration at the point of entry (i.e. Newark) which tends to be quiter than Orlando ! Then, of course, you arrive at Orlando as a domestic flight so no immigration etc.

 

[paulfoel]

We normally fly from Manchester and have a travel co. pick us up and tke us to an from the airport. However several years ago we couldn't get a flight to Florida from Man. so we decided to fly from Gatwick and hire a car for the trip down and back. NEVER again, it was horrendous!!! For the drive down the weather was awful, it rained that hard, that the road was barely visible. The drive back was even more miserable. By the time we had picked up our luggage all that we wnated to do, was fall into thr mini bus that we normally hire, instead we had to mess around getting our hire car and then drive home. Driving with jetlag is the worst experience. We had to keep stopping because we felt like we were going to fall asleep!! The only way that we would fly from Glasgow, si if we could get a connecting flight from Liverpool or Manchester.

RED BULL !!!!!

 

[paulfoel]

We are 25 mins from Manchester Airport so are quite lucky. We always stay at an airport hotel the night before though as I get so stressed on the day we travel, it helps if we are already at the airport

Has anyone ever found an airport hotel that is both cheap and clean ????

It seems they;re all either expensive or grotty...

Stayed in a real 'pit' near Gatwick one year !!!

 

[paulfoel]

Tracey - Hi from Newport.

We never fly from Cardiff either. Like you said, you can get cheap charter flights from Cardiff but nothing decent.

We always used to drive to Gatwick as well. Bit of a pain driving all the way home after the overnight return journey.

Last few times we've flown from Bristol with Continental. Much closer and very good service with Continental and decent price too.

You have to stop and change planes at Newark on the way over, but it no hassle at all (although consequently the journey is a little longer). This year on the way back the plane stops at Newark before continuing to Bristol.

To be honest, its quite nice to get off and have some food and stretch you legs etc. Another advantage, is that you go through immigration at the point of entry (i.e. Newark) which tends to be quiter than Orlando ! Then, of course, you arrive at Orlando as a domestic flight so no immigration etc.

Oh yeh - last year we were supposed to change at Newark but missed our connection so the airline shelled out for a hotel and food etc. and we had to wait for 24 hours.

£20 or so for a hire car and a spin around Manhattan etc which is about 30 mins away. An added bonus to the holiday !

 

[Katies Dad]

Thanks everyone its so hard to decide what is best. It is driving back that is the worrying bit (when its Manchester we get picked up). Even allowing for hotel, parking and petrol still think we will be about £650 - 700 better off!! Its a hard decision. We have flown Virgin before and they were great, their price is just for Economy seats with Globespan its Premium Economy, if we did their Economy then we would save about £950 - £1000.
If we went for 14 days then would have our choice but like to add a bit extra on as its so far, but can`t do 21 days because of work.