Please talk me into driving - fed up with airlines and Amtrak!

[mieuxmew]

I have always flown to Disney from NJ. I know how to plan this. Now I need help from experienced traveling DISers!

This summer we are planning a trip to Hilton Head. We are going at the end of July (Sat 7/28-Sat 8/4). We live in Central NJ. I am off Friday before and Sun after. I am trying to decide if we should, fly, drive or take train.

Drive - 14 hours drive with 2 seven year olds! Need some help convincing me this is doable! Have never driven this far (have driven 6-8 hours, though straight)! Washington DC traffic is bad on Fridays and extends well into Richmond, VA. I am not sure if traffic is better after that, as I never drove that far! Any advice on when to leave? Drive straight through or stay somewhere overnight? HELP!!! Driving is by far cheapest option. Other options are a lot more money that I think would be better served spending it on a trip to Disney World this fall. I know a lot of you drive all the way to Disney, and many of you take I95. PLEASE help me!! What time to leave? Stay over at hotel part way? It will be my husband, myself and our 7 year old twins, so my husband and I can share the driving.

Plane - Savannah (SAV) is 1 hour drive from Hilton Head. Can fly from Newark airport direct to SAV but airfare is $550++ per person!!! Philly airport is better - mid $200-300, but all are basically connecting flights with 1-4 hour layovers! Not very convenient! Could fly to Myrtle Beach Sat am and drive 4 hours to Hilton Head, but I have a feeling Sat am traffic by the South Carolina shores might be bad. Car rentals our of MYR are terribly high (SAV $200 vs MYR $350). I am calculating flying to be $700-1000 more than driving considering gas, hotels, luggage, rental car, parking, etc. Still a lot of money to still drive 2 hours to airport and 4 hours after leaving airport! I don't mind paying for convenience, but none of these flights seem very helpful considering the prices!

Amtrak - 14 hour train to Savannah. Not a lot of time or money saver over flying here! Just not driving or fighting with traffic. At least they don't charge you for luggage!

Guess driving is best option. I am begging for help here, as I have never taken on a 14 hour drive with 2 kids! Someone please talk me into this! I know a lot of you drive much farther along this same route to go to Disney! Besides I want to save the money so I can justify going to Disney this fall ;-)
We just love those Mickey head pumpkins and MNSSHP!

THANK YOU!!!!!

 

[poodlecamper]

We used to drive 700 miles (from CT to SC line) with 4 kids--first time , they were 11, 9 and 6 (twins!). We would leave at 1 am, drive straight through to the first rest stop in VA, have breakfast (7 am) and continue on with breaks . We missed the worst traffic (NYC , NJ, Baltimore). The kids slept all the way until the breakfast stop.(first had a station wagon, then a Dodge caravan, everyone had room to lie down) We were young then, no more early am starts for us now! We also packed a cooler so drinks and non-sugary snacks were in the car. This was the days before DVD players and hand held games, so it's easier now to keep the kids entertained on the road. Good luck---I prefer to drive , find flying expensive and annoying.

 

[BC1836]

I have always flown to Disney from NJ. I know how to plan this. Now I need help from experienced traveling DISers!

This summer we are planning a trip to Hilton Head. We are going at the end of July (Sat 7/28-Sat 8/4). We live in Central NJ. I am off Friday before and Sun after. I am trying to decide if we should, fly, drive or take train.

Drive - 14 hours drive with 2 seven year olds! Need some help convincing me this is doable! Have never driven this far (have driven 6-8 hours, though straight)! Washington DC traffic is bad on Fridays and extends well into Richmond, VA. I am not sure if traffic is better after that, as I never drove that far! Any advice on when to leave? Drive straight through or stay somewhere overnight? HELP!!! Driving is by far cheapest option. Other options are a lot more money that I think would be better served spending it on a trip to Disney World this fall. I know a lot of you drive all the way to Disney, and many of you take I95. PLEASE help me!! What time to leave? Stay over at hotel part way? It will be my husband, myself and our 7 year old twins, so my husband and I can share the driving.

Plane - Savannah (SAV) is 1 hour drive from Hilton Head. Can fly from Newark airport direct to SAV but airfare is $550++ per person!!! Philly airport is better - mid $200-300, but all are basically connecting flights with 1-4 hour layovers! Not very convenient! Could fly to Myrtle Beach Sat am and drive 4 hours to Hilton Head, but I have a feeling Sat am traffic by the South Carolina shores might be bad. Car rentals our of MYR are terribly high (SAV $200 vs MYR $350). I am calculating flying to be $700-1000 more than driving considering gas, hotels, luggage, rental car, parking, etc. Still a lot of money to still drive 2 hours to airport and 4 hours after leaving airport! I don't mind paying for convenience, but none of these flights seem very helpful considering the prices!

Amtrak - 14 hour train to Savannah. Not a lot of time or money saver over flying here! Just not driving or fighting with traffic. At least they don't charge you for luggage!

Guess driving is best option. I am begging for help here, as I have never taken on a 14 hour drive with 2 kids! Someone please talk me into this! I know a lot of you drive much farther along this same route to go to Disney! Besides I want to save the money so I can justify going to Disney this fall ;-)
We just love those Mickey head pumpkins and MNSSHP!

THANK YOU!!!!!

First things first: join the "For 2,000+ Mile Round-Trip Drivers Only!" thread!

All the best.

 

[went503]

I have always flown to Disney from NJ. I know how to plan this. Now I need help from experienced traveling DISers!

This summer we are planning a trip to Hilton Head. We are going at the end of July (Sat 7/28-Sat 8/4). We live in Central NJ. I am off Friday before and Sun after. I am trying to decide if we should, fly, drive or take train.

Drive - 14 hours drive with 2 seven year olds! Need some help convincing me this is doable! Have never driven this far (have driven 6-8 hours, though straight)! Washington DC traffic is bad on Fridays and extends well into Richmond, VA. I am not sure if traffic is better after that, as I never drove that far! Any advice on when to leave? Drive straight through or stay somewhere overnight? HELP!!! Driving is by far cheapest option. Other options are a lot more money that I think would be better served spending it on a trip to Disney World this fall. I know a lot of you drive all the way to Disney, and many of you take I95. PLEASE help me!! What time to leave? Stay over at hotel part way? It will be my husband, myself and our 7 year old twins, so my husband and I can share the driving.

Plane - Savannah (SAV) is 1 hour drive from Hilton Head. Can fly from Newark airport direct to SAV but airfare is $550++ per person!!! Philly airport is better - mid $200-300, but all are basically connecting flights with 1-4 hour layovers! Not very convenient! Could fly to Myrtle Beach Sat am and drive 4 hours to Hilton Head, but I have a feeling Sat am traffic by the South Carolina shores might be bad. Car rentals our of MYR are terribly high (SAV $200 vs MYR $350). I am calculating flying to be $700-1000 more than driving considering gas, hotels, luggage, rental car, parking, etc. Still a lot of money to still drive 2 hours to airport and 4 hours after leaving airport! I don't mind paying for convenience, but none of these flights seem very helpful considering the prices!

Amtrak - 14 hour train to Savannah. Not a lot of time or money saver over flying here! Just not driving or fighting with traffic. At least they don't charge you for luggage!

Guess driving is best option. I am begging for help here, as I have never taken on a 14 hour drive with 2 kids! Someone please talk me into this! I know a lot of you drive much farther along this same route to go to Disney! Besides I want to save the money so I can justify going to Disney this fall ;-)
We just love those Mickey head pumpkins and MNSSHP!

THANK YOU!!!!!

What part of Jersey are you in. I live in VA and have family all over Jersey. I could map you out a nice route coming a little more inland and miss the whole DC Richmond traffic. A little bit longer but a smoother drive and could actually save some time if you were to be stuck in traffic along 95.

 

[Tony NY]

you might want to take route 13 to chesapeake bay bridge Virginia its an 6 hr drive form Staten aif you do the drive at night it not so bad and my brother drove from his house in VA beach to meet up with us last yr he said the drive was about 12 hours .. You might want to look in to that as a way to skip 95 traffic in DC and Richmound ...

I have done the drive on 95 to orlnad and DC was the worst than the BQE at 7am lol

 

[sharadoc]

First things first: join the "For 2,000+ Mile Round-Trip Drivers Only!" thread!

All the best.

Yep - come on over! We'll talk you through it! There's lots of us who do it multiple times a year. We have lots of suggestions to make it easy for you. Our first drive my DD was 7 turned 8 on the trip. DVD player, video games magazines, etc. and frequent rest stops.