Drive or Fly?

We are coming to NY Memorial Day week (watch out )

we were planning on renting a car and driving BUT then DH mentioned yesterday that maybe we should fly

so, if you had a 11ish hour trip with a 3 year old and a 9 month old, would you drive or fly....monetarily, flying is much more expensive cause we would still have to rent a car

I looked up jet blue flights and it would be about $650 to fly

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Because you'd still have to rent a car after, I'd drive...

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I always pick flying

B/c honestly, driving (even in your own car) really isn't that much cheaper anymore. Gas is , traffic, tolls, etc, etc...

Can you fly Southwest to Islip?

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Hey Stephanie

I always SWORE up and down that I would never, ever, EVER do that drive again until we move back North. But flying has become much more expensive now that we can't have Ryleigh sit on our laps (too tall, even though she's still of age).

We're going up to NY in April for SIL's baby shower, and we're stayiing for a week...so I think we're going to drive. As the OP said, it'll be better to have the car with us this time.

BUT, there's no way we'll be able to do that drive in one swoop--we plan to stay overnight somewhere in VA or MD so that we can rest for the night and have a shorter drive the next day.

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For me, I would choose to fly unless the ticket prices were ridiculous/unaffordable.

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Message edited 2/17/2010 1:23:35 PM.

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Drive and save the money. Maybe drive overnight (you and DH can take turns driving) so the kids will sleep.

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fly.

I can handle 2 hours (give or take) on a plane, better then I could 11 hours in a car with 2 kids.

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Posted by pinkandblue

I wanted to do that but then what happens when we get to NY? Dh and I would need to sleep and the kids will be wide awake

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Definitely drive! Significantly cheaper and much more convinient. Also, eventhough the flight is shorter- once you factor in all of the time that it takes up... getting to the airport, security, check in, etc.... i dont think its such a huge difference.

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You are going to rent a car in Charlotte and then drive it up here? So is it REALLY cheaper? KWIM?

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Steph, You know we've done this trip a 1000 times, flying and driving.

With just DD, I would drive, hands down. We always stop and stay at a hotel overnight when we drive, Harrisonburg, VA is about the half way point and is a decent area to stop.


We just did the drive for the first time with 2 kids and the trip up was not great and I swore I would never drive it again. We had to stop 20 minutes out of the gate and then about very 60 minutes. DD spiked a fever on the way up and whined sooo much (she is usually an awesome traveller). 200 miles into the trip I was ready to turn around. We didn't and it got better the next day.

However, the trip home was much much better. We stopped in Harrisonburg VA overnight again and got about 125 miles/2 hour intervals between stops.

McDonalds will be your friend on the drive. Most of the ones we stopped at were remodeled. All had diaper stations and all were conducive to a toddler getting energy out. Since you are going in May, you can also stop at rest stations and VA has some of the nicest rest stations and you can let Miki run off steam and stretch which is so key when traveling with toddlers.

We are planning a trip up over the summer (my nephew to be's Christening) and we are going to fly just because this last trip up was so stressful. Miki and Kevin will be a little older than our two were so that may make a difference and I'm sure no one will suddenly get sick on your trip.

Driving is great because you have your car when you get there, you don't have to deal with the hassle of checking strollers and car seats and dragging kids around the airport. However, the benefit of flying is that it is all over in a couple of hours where as the drive drags on for 11 hours, possibly over two days.

Either way, I would take a dvd player for Miki (we have one if you want to borrow it).

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when DH & I go to visit my inlaws, we always spend a night at my sister's (MD) or my brother's (VA). I said break up the trip...

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Fly. Driving 11+ hours???? No way!

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I would drive. Last summer we drove from NY to NC and my DS was 22 months and my DD was 10 months old. We left at 5am in the morning and did the drive in one day. It actually went very well. I like that we were able to just throw everything we needed in our minivan and just go. This was easier for me than flying.

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We are going to drive from NY to my parents house in Savannah over the summer....so my vote is to drive!

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We are going to FL next month. We were going back and forth sooo many times! Our DCs are the same age.
We decided we are driving!

We also have an extra pair of hands/driver...My dad is coming with us since he has a house 20 mins. away from where we will be staying with my inlaws.

We are planning on leaving at DCs bedtime (8PM) and just rotating drivers.

We'll stop as many times as we need to.

Flying is $$$. A Friend told me that going thru security can be a PIA.
Even though it is faster, you can always face delays (and I cannot picture DS being "stuck" in an airport), and I honestly worry about their ears. DS gets ear infections and I'm terrified he'd be screaming on the plane when the ears pop.