Fly to Ga from NJ or Drive down?

[PlatinumGold]

hmmm. when i bought these round trip tickets, 5 in all, I paid $250 / person, $1250.00 in all.

it's about 850 miles one way from Trenton, NJ to Atlanta, Ga. gas was $3.20 / gallon when i bought the tickets. 20 mpg means 83 gallons of gas (round trip) * 3.2 = $273.00 + you figure there are other costs, wear and tear on the car, buying snacks, buying entertainment stuff for kids, 1 night in motel yadda yadda, you figure you spend $500.00 dollars.

850 @ 50 mph (average including stops etc) = 17 hours. each way, + 1 night in motel each way.

ok, so it would have been stupid to drive right? to spend 34 hours driving and 16 hours in motel in order to spend 48 hours at my grandmothers place in Georgia?

flying means, i leave my house at noon today, get on the plane at 2 pm, arrive in ga at 4:30 pm and get to my grandmothers house by 6 pm. so about 12 hours traveling both ways.

 

[SunnyD]

Just drive if you have the time. It's a nice trip down 95. Excellent scenery this time of year.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
Just drive if you have the time. It's a nice trip down 95. Excellent scenery this time of year.

actually, 2 yrs ago when i made this trip, i did drive down. driving that distance with 3 kids is not so fun.

from now on when we do this, we fly.

if i were single or if my wife and i were just a couple, it would be a lot of fun to drive.

 

[EagleKeeper]

We used to drive that route when stationed in Ga to go back to the NE. (75 to Atl, and hope over to 95 at St Pete Va, then US301 to NJ)

1 day haul with decent kids & 2 adults to share the road load to get up to the NJ area.

Was at times able to make it to MA (leaving well before dawn), but was dead tired and did nothing for the next day.

 

[rodneyxiii]

Flying is the best choice. I drive down to NC once or twice a year and even that's too much. You and your family will probably be in a much better mood if you fly down.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: SunnyD
Just drive if you have the time. It's a nice trip down 95. Excellent scenery this time of year.

actually, 2 yrs ago when i made this trip, i did drive down. driving that distance with 3 kids is not so fun.

from now on when we do this, we fly.

if i were single or if my wife and i were just a couple, it would be a lot of fun to drive.

Oh, see now you didn't mention anything about kids. Yeah, you win.

 

[rodneyxiii]

Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
We used to drive that route when stationed in Ga to go back to the NE. (75 to Atl, and hope over to 95 at St Pete Va, then US301 to NJ)

1 day haul with decent kids & 2 adults to share the road load to get up to the NJ area.

Was at times able to make it to MA (leaving well before dawn), but was dead tired and did nothing for the next day.

My wife has always been skittish about highway driving. Since I'm the only driver, I vote for flying. It's about a 15 hour trip depending on the spped limit and stops for food, gas and bathroom. The last time I did that was 7 years ago and we only had one child then.

 

[KK]

We just made a 770 mile trip from outside atlanta up to above pittsburgh driving. 2 kids(4&2) and the wife. Left 6PM on Monday, arrived up here about 7AM Tuesday. Kids slept most of the way, so that was nice. Rained all the way till the middle of NC, then snowed in VA for alittle while. If it wasn't for the weather we could have cut an hour off the travel time. I rather drive then fly with 2 small kids.