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The summer travel season has me thinking and I’m curious. Do you prefer to drive or fly to your destination? Both have their pros and cons, but I generally prefer to fly.
Flying Pros:
~You get there fast.
~It limits the amount of stuff you can take with you (this could also be a con).
~No wear and tear on your car.
~You get there fast.
~Did I mention you get there fast?
Flying Cons:
~It can be way more expensive.
~You are in an enclosed space with people you don’t know. This could be bad if your kids hate flying and scream the entire time or bad if other people’s kids do this.
~You are at the mercy of the airline and you could be delayed.
~You miss out on that road trip aspect of traveling by car. No stopping at the worlds biggest ball of twine. However, this could also be a pro ;).
So what do you like to do? Fly or drive? And do you have a driving limit? Will you only drive, for say, 5 hours or less and then you fly? Pre-911, when air travel was much easier and didn’t require arriving at the airport hours before your flight, I’d always fly there. But now, it doesn’t really save any time and is just more hassle than it’s worth! But flying to Florida (2.5 hours) vs. driving to Florida (20 hours), well, I’m flying for sure!
I picked Drive since its so much easier with kids since I still need carseats, portacrib, diapers etc and flying makes it impossible to get all of those things without paying a fortune. However I don’t mind flying when its adults only. 😉
I don’t know that I have a driving limit. I would say 12ish hours a day is my limit so if over that then we need to make a stop. We drive up to boston from here once a year and we take two days up and then push through on the way back. We just pick something fun to stop at. One year we did Sesame Place and last year we did a day in NYC.
I think as the boys get bigger and require less stuff we might start flying more.
I do not like to fly. Okay, to be honest I HATE to fly. Not a fan. Irrational fear. But I fly because I like to travel (tequila does wonders). And I fly because I don’t want to spend a day traveling to get to where I want to go…I’m impatient…I want to get there…so if we go to Disneyland, it may only be a 7 hour drive but even with security and delays it’s usually only three hours travel time. Unless I’m having one of those days and I need to be at the airport about two hours before the flight so I can get my heart rate manageable before I board. Or take that fifth shot of tequila. Flying before the bars in the airport open is not an option!
I travel a lot so I have flown so many times I could never even try to count.. that is until I had a kiddo! I’m so scared to take C on a plane, with my luck he would scream and run all around! But we are going to visit family in Peru so I guess we will have to try it out. Too bad it will be a 7 hour flight! AHHH!
For me it totally depends. It’s true that flying is faster yet can be more expensive. We were planning to visit Florida last month to see family but airfare was too much. Plus given the time frame we had for vacation, driving would totally cut short any shot at a decent getaway. We opted to drive to Colorado instead and had a blast. Florida will have to wait for another time…
If it is not too far then I will definitely drive. If it is cheaper to drive than fly then I will drive. If i’m going on a short trip I’ll fly so that I’m not wasting time driving. We drove from Florida to New Hampshire a couple of years ago. It was a 24 hr drive and never again!!
Before kids, I flew everywhere… Now we drive. Most of our family is within 5-10 hours so driving isn’t too bad… And we have yet to venture off the East Coast. Maybe within the next few years we can plan a big mid or west coast vaca since we won’t need car seats, strollers, etc.
I chose flying. However, if it is under 4-5 hours, then driving is the way to go. I am not a fan of being in a cramped space for very long, so flying minimizes how much time haha
I would prefer to fly, but with a family of 7 it’s not the most economical choice. We pretty much drive everywhere unless it’s cross-country. Now, if it’s just me or my husband and myself, we’ll fly unless the tickets are crazy expensive.
Before security got so tight, I always preferred flying. Now we drive almost everywhere. We stop every two hours to switch drivers and stretch our legs, so can go 10 hours a day easy. And it’s nice to just throw things into the car instead of worrying about fitting everything into one suitcase.