Need Advice:Drive or Fly from Maryland

[jimz]

We are planning a trip February 1 to 13. We were going to drive, looks like 914 miles door to door. I am guessing $100 dollars for gas. We would leave here in the late evening are drive straight through, coming back I would stop one night.
I have two girls,9 and 5 years old,and the anti-whinning device know as a DVD player in the van. This is our third trip in 6 years, one flying and the last one we took the train,which wasn't bad except for the people that reaked of cigarette smoke from sitting for hours in the cancer induction box as well as the cell phones that kept ringing every hour or so ( I couldn't stomach the extra $1000 bucks for the sleeping car).Rambling,sorry.
I can get a flight for $707 r/t and rent a car around $200.
I would appreciate any input from experienced drivers, should we drive or fly for $800 more?

Thank you, Jim

 

[hawaii5o]

Would you be leaving out of BWI? We fly out of BWI and get really good airfare to MCO on Airtran, southwest or US Airways. We are going Nov 9-14th and for the 3 of us we paid $440.70 total. I always look online and wait for deals to come. You have to be fast for good flight times though.

 

[jimz]

We live 15 minutes from BWI and can get a ride there and back. Flying is statistically much safer than driving. Flying also means more park time or getting daughter back in school earlier.

Jim

 

[metivier]

In February? When there could be snow -- or worse, ice -- on the roads?

I vote for fly and use Magical Express to save you $200 for a rental car.

Karen
(inside the Beltway)

 

[katallo]

We are very close to BWI also! Since the airlines usually run great specials, especially Air Tran and SW, I'd fly. We are flying to Ft. Lauderdale in a few weeks and paid 180 for two roundtrip tickets. In February, you have to consider snow in Maryland and ice in the Carolinas.

 

[cranbiz]

I drive from Mass all the time. You are looking at a drive time of between 12-16 hours depending on your speed, traffic, construction, etc.

I think that you may be a bit off on gas, From Mass, in a full size pickup that got 18mpg on the highway, I spent a little over $300 my last trip and gas averaged $1.95 a gallon (July 2005)

Still, a savings of $700-$800 dollars is a very persuasive arguement for driving.

If you drive, take frequent breaks and hopefully you have multiple drivers.

I fly about as much as I drive, 2 1/2 hours is always better than 19-24 hours but $300 is better that $1000.

 

[laurabelle]

We've done both and flying wins hands down IMHO! It cost us $250 to drive(before the current gas prices) + hotel if you stop -we stopped on the drive home. SW often has $39 fares each way from BWI, download DING on their website. They haven't had any Ding fares for Feb. yet, but I bet they're coming. Last Jan. I got $29 each way...

 

[umaangel00]

I love to drive! It's so much fun to me anyways. We always drive everywhere from Michigan. I know flying is safer but you can not convince me of that!

 

[Luckymommyx2]

I agree with the majority here and vote for fly, especially going in February!! The flights on SWA (and AirTran?) are very inexpensive and comparing 1 1/2 flight or approx 20 hours driving with potty stops, eating, etc...well, there is no comparison for us. Good luck!

 

[happyatdisney]

As someone who has ALWAYS driven......and who just booked my first airfare ever for our trip at the end of November ......I would second those who commented about weather on your drive down.
I love the drive to FL, that is I DID love the drive until our trip last December during Christmas break. We left MD (outside Baltimore) early on December 26....forecast was for clear weather......no traffic, everything was great. That is, until we hit NC where a "small weather disturbance" evidently parked over I-95, and the air was just cold enough for, oh maybe 3/4" of snow. It was enough to stall traffic COMPLETELY for hours. No snow plows anywhere .......and people really did NOT know how to drive in the weather. It was unbelievable. SC was worse, it was just all ice there. I thought my family (who wanted to fly in the first place) was going to kill me. It was not pretty.

We had planned to drive to just outside Orlando, but barely made it to Jacksonville.........after something like 16 hours just to get that far.

So, if you decide to drive, I would really plan lots of extra time into the plan for bad weather.