I prefer driving just because I don’t like flying. When time permits, I’ll choose driving over flying. But my tolerance for long drives is decreasing as I get older. I find it harder on my eyes than when j was younger and I tire more easily.
Flying from Austin to Philadelphia last week was painful. I admit I have long legs, but really?? My knees hit the seat in front of me. I just couldn’t get comfortable. And people seem to be getting ruder. Repeatedly the last few months, as soon as the plane stops at the gate, some guy (always a guy in my experience) jumps up and walks forward in the aisle! What happened to waiting your turn? And these were flights that were on time, so there was no reason to push in front of others.
@greenwitch, there was something of a line at one of my boardings with precheck, but I noticed it moves a lot faster. No shoes or jackets off, no need to take computers out of bags. @MaineLonghorn , I have noticed that people who don’t fly a lot don’t really know the unspoken “rules” about how to deplane (a row at a time, unless someone is really just sitting there and not moving…). I kind of hate it when they make an announcement to let people with connections go first – who knows who these people are? And I am sure some people just jump up to get off first even if they don’t. I’ve never actually seen that announcement work in practice…
I used to prefer flying, but, now I’m not so sure. I don’t like car trips in the Northeast where we live (i also don’t like DH’s driving). S2 went to college and now lives in DC and the trip driving there from CT can be awful. We usually flew down for parent’s weekend. It made a 3 day weekend much more enjoyable than spending 2 of those days driving.
But now, we’re more likely to drive or take the train (which has its own issues). S2 still prefers flying to the train when he comes here to visit (he doesn’t own a car).
S1 lives 3000 miles away, so we have no choice but to fly. Between getting to the airport early for security, a layover, getting a rental car, and driving to his house, it’s easily a 12-13 hour trip.
In general, I prefer driving when possible these days but I agree with @greenwitch about the I-95 corridor.
One thing that makes driving less fun though is areas of crumbling infrastructure. Yes, I’m talking about you CT and parts of MA and NY! I’m envious of the highways in much of Europe.
@doschicos, yes! It’s interesting when we make our trip south going through NY, PA, WV, VA, NC, and finally SC. The best roads, by far!, are in WV. Beautiful state and lovely highways, on our route at least. We are only on 95 for an hour or so at the end of our trip and that stretch is not bad.
Opted for driving over flying on two major miles trips within last month.Very glad.
I figure that by time I drive to airport, get there early for security, flight time, land, rent car and add in delays I’m way better off driving if it involves 10 hours or less. Borderline on 12 hours but have opted to drive then too. At least I can leave when I want.
I’m more relaxed (worth it totally), no deadlines and cheaper. And I can pack food and clothes to my heart’s content. Stop on a whim. See some of the country. Have my car when I get there.
And if I get stuck in traffic at least I’m not in a sardine box.
I have a 6 hour a day driving rule. Any longer than that and my hips regret it. We take two days to drive our son to college in Ohio. For his breaks, he flies home.
Our D offered driving from LA to SF alone and back. We told her we preferred she fly, so she did. If she had a companion, fine, but otherwise we’d be concerned she’d get too fatigued alone and isn’t used to driving long distances solo.
On the other hand she and S drove together LA to Tahoe and then across the country to DC, stopping where they chose. If it’s a leisurely drive vs needing to be somewhere, one way vs round trip, how long you will rest between trip legs, all factor in to whether driving or flying is preferred for us and loved ones.
@MaineLonghorn I’m only 5’4" tall and my legs hit the seats in front of me…all the time in steerage.
Re: road trips…I love them with a friend and lots of stops. I hate them with my DH, or alone.
Driving right now back to CO from TX. Did the down trip in one day about 16 hrs we switch drivers every 2 hrs between us. Back we are going 10 hrs and stopping at the Great Sand Dunes Park for one night. I don’t have a driving time limit to fly but we did draw the line at a 20 hr drive trip in the future and are flying. Living out west here you get used to driving long distances. Got a new car that is really nice driving and riding.
“S1 lives 3000 miles away, so we have no choice but to fly”—that is really far no chance I would drive that one.
two ideas
- fly on a private jet ( from a a local secondary non commercial airport…no security lines or waiting on the runway to taxi…–how much would that be 40-50 thousand?)
or - exchange the kid for one that lives closer by!
p.s. both suggestions were of course sarcasm.
I like road trips and I don’t mind flying. I think your original metric is about right at 7-8 hours. If it’s three or four of us, I’ll stretch that to 10-12 because to the cost savings. Anything that requires an overnight will usually result in a flight. If I was retired I wouldn’t care but I can’t give us a day and half + travel each way of vacation time.
If I have two weeks and we’re meandering through stops that’s different than a trying to get to family or other destination for a week.
My boyfriend and I prefer driving vs flying. We drove from Radford VA to Fairbanks AK. It was so much fun! Plus we still like each other so it wasn’t bad 
. We only drive 8 hours per day though, my boyfriend gets really exhausted if we drive longer than that. Plus you have more freedom in a car vs a plane. We are road trip veterans now! We are driving to Lubbock TX since I’ll be starting grad school. We have a pretty good system.
This is one of my favorite places of all time. =D>
We are going to meet two friends in Trinidad, CO. We are all driving about 3+ hours from 3 different cities to get there. It should be interesting! This city seems smack dab between the 3 cities.
I enjoy the sensation of flying- the turbulence, ears popping, and the views out the window. It rarely makes sense for my family, though. We live near an international airport, but definitely not a particularly large one, so very few flights are direct, cheap, or any faster than driving with layovers. With time driving to the airport, going through security, waiting at gate, potential delays, layovers, etc., a lot more time goes into flights than many people remember to count.
We have family ~10 hours away by car, and have never flown even with airports within 20 minutes of both us and them. With 2 parents and 3 children for a 2 week vacation, it just doesn’t make sense to buy 5 round-trip plane tickets plus extra baggage fees (never mind having to leave out bikes, boogie boards, anything TSA prohibited) and overpriced airport food/drink when a few tanks of gas for the entire family round trip are probably less than the plane ticket price for 1. In the mini-van we drive, there’s generally a decent amount of space for each of us to spread out too-- definitely more than the airplane.
On a vacation to Orlando a few years back, we left for the airport to catch a 9am flight for a trip that should have taken no more than 3 hours total. There was a scheduled brief layover and change of planes, which ultimately delayed our arrival in Orlando until just before midnight. While in line waiting for our connecting flight, the guy next to me complained that if he had driven directly to Florida from his home in the Carolinas he would have been in Orlando already. I am sure others have similar stories.
And Orlando is so busy - you wait in lines forever, even to rent a car. I have H’s sister and family there so we go a lot, and not to visit parks. It can be crazy!
It would be so nice to fly but the expense! It’s more expensive to fly shorter distances, go figure. I drive to my mom’s . 6 hours. Just doable.