Am I Being Logical? To Fly Or Drive...

fly, but she must blow you every day for a week. Or twice a day sex for a few days. Maybe that anal experiment you wanted.

Point is, you can negotiate to your favor. Fly or drive? Who gives a fuck, so long as you negotiate something you really like.

(or not doing dishes, or something special she can do for you; whatever that is)
 


My wife has family in Florida and we make the trip once or twice a year. We drive almost every time.... note I've got 4 kids and that makes driving more cost efficient. However it's also less stressful.

Why?

Flight costs about 200 a ticket and we usually waste 3.5 hours just getting on the damn plane. Hour drive, security, etc... Usually a child is being a pain in the ass at this point.

Then we have the several hour flight. Usually several children are being a pain in the ass at this point.

Then we wait in rental place to get car.... that we have to pay for. Usually a child is being a pain in the ass at this point.

Then we have to drive to her Mom's house. Where the airport of course is no where near. Usually I'm being a pain in the ass at this point because I'm sick of the wife/kids/plane/rental place/and the crappy rental minivan that will have something wrong with it.

Driving is easy. We leave just after dinner time. I drive until I'm tired. Find a place to sleep for a few hours (sometimes a hotel - depends on how the kids are holding up). Then my wife finishes the last leg of the trip. Usually there just after lunch.

With a 1 year old plan on more rest stops for changes/feeding/stimulation outside of the car. But there are a ton of them so you shouldn't have an issue.

Ohh 1,100 miles works out to about a single plane ticket in gas btw.... so you are right.

Tack on a hotel stay and you still haven't gotten to the cost of your two tickets. Plus you can carry all the baby shit you need comfortably.

On a side note - vacationing with a one year is no fun period. Hope you aren't planning on having fun since they tend to not like the break in the routine and they REALLY don't like it Florida in the middle of the summer when it's hotter than shit. If you and your wife are looking forward to 'beach' time it's really gonna be hard on the kiddo.
 
I should note as well that my kids are great in the car rides. The older ones help the little ones, etc... Your wife may very well be making the right call if the kid isn't good on longer rides.
 
You're trying to be logical with a woman? Might as well be talking to the wall.

Driving = storage space, saved money -- WRONG

Driving = an adventure road trip and quality time with the family -- YAY
 
We took my son to San Jose, CA by plane instead of driving 4.5 hours. In hindsight, we should have driven.

It was a pain in the ass to carry ALL the baby stuff (milk, diaper bag, stroller, AND car seat) through security, then get a rental car, drive to the hotel, etc.

It probably took us the same amount of time as driving when you factor in how long it took me to install the car seat in the rental car.

My little guy was a champ flying. He didn't scream like most kids do due to the altitude. We fed him M&M's the whole time and he was happy.

For the type of trip you're doing, definitely drive. ESPECIALLY if you can only fly by making a connection. Direct flight, I'd consider flying. A connecting flight with a kid is a pain in the ass.

You'll need to get a luggage cart to go from one gate to the other, and the plane that will fly you into West Palm Beach is probably going to be a small prop plane that will be louder and more cramped.

I might be over-thinking this all, but I really think you'll be more comfortable and happy driving.
 
Allegiant Air has direct flights from Toledo and Youngstown to Orlando. Its over $100 cheaper per ticket to fly from Toledo. Personally though, I would drive down, take my time, no rush, and plan out the trip with with some sightseeing and other fun stops along the way so its not just a long car ride but can be a enjoyable part of your vacation itself.
 
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I live in Kentucky ( Louisville ) so not far from you. I have 3 kids ( 10 yo and twin 6 yo ). We have been to Florida multiple times and hand around the Destin area a lot and go to Disney too.

Takes us about 11-12 hours total drive and we always drive this trip.

My recommendations:

1. Leave when the kids are going to bed
2. Get really fucking simple directions, maybe get GPS too for when you encounter road construction/detours
3. Spend the time they are asleep driving ( wife and kids )
4. When they wake up, hopefully you will almost be in Flordia, minus any stops you take for break/eat
5. Take a break every 4-5 hours.. your legs and body will thank you.

Only bad thing is, you'll be tired as fuck when you get there since you didnt get to rest, but beats kids whining or the wife bitching the whole trip. Plus, if you got really simple directions you could wake your wife and make her drive 5 of the hours so you can rest as well going down there. Also, this means you prob need to sleep the day before the trip so you can be up all night.

I have never flown with my kids/wife anywhere. Mostly because going thru security, sitting on the plane with them extended hours, and losing our luggage we bring would be a nightmare for me. They are a bit older now so it might not be too bad to fly with them now, but all the times we drove I did what I outlined above.
 
Dayum, you could make a "Flying vs. Driving" ebook out of all the effort in this thread.
 
Drive buddy, it will be brilliant.

The wife and I are going to drive UK to Australia with our 2 year so my opinion may be biased.
 
This thread is awesome.. Thanks everybody for the input. After going back and forth with the old lady last night I think we finally came to a decision. We're going to drive but she wants to leave at bar time for some reason. We've got two days to drive so I don't know what her rush is.
 
YOU - drive and bring all the gear. Send her and the kid on the plane a day or two later and pick her up at the airport.

Alone time with the windshield is a good opportunity to think out and strategize your online ventures. Bring a voice recorder to keep track of ideas. You must have a buddy you can crash with for a night and have a few drinks with along the way. Load up your iPod with your favorite shit.
 
Fly of course! It would be more a hassle if you drive.

Drive = 10 hours of agony.
Fly = 1 hour of agony.
 
omg12 said:
Fly of course! It would be more a hassle if you drive.

Drive = 10 hours of agony.
Fly = 1 hour of agony.
Click to expand...
As has been illustrated in the thread, flying is a lot more time-consuming than that.

You have to pack everything down to the smallest possible size: extra time.
Don't forget most airlines make you pay extra for just about all your luggage now.

You have to figure out how to get to the airport. Are you going to park your car in a lot there? That's like $7-14 a day depending on how close you park.

You have to get to the airport early to park and take the shuttle. You have to check your baggage. You have to wait in line to go through security. You pray you don't get picked for extra attention.

You have to walk to your gate, which for me is usually the furthest terminal, because that's how I roll.

You wait to board. You board, waiting for everyone to figure out how to put their carry-ons in the overhead bins when they're full. You have to lock yourself down in the seat and hold it in case you need to use the bathroom until you're in flight and the seatbelt sign goes off.

You have to struggle with everything because plane seats are small and uncomfortable. Need to change your darling child? Good luck with that.

You finally land, after your neighbor passengers have complained about your crying baby because it's doing what babies do. You finally de-plane, ignoring the glares.

You pick up 127 pounds of luggage, and make your way to the car rental shuttle. You wait. The shuttle arrives and you get to the rental office and you fill out the paperwork and pay through the nose for a rental van, which of course doesn't have all the stuff in it that your van does. Did you bring your child car seat, or are you going to rent one? Either way: pain in the ass.

Finally, you're on the road to your destination. Figure 3 hours from start to finish to get on the plane, an hour or so in flight, and another hour and a half to de-plane and get a rental.

Do that in reverse for the return trip.

As opposed to car travel. Load up the car with everything you might ever need, not worrying about making it light, not having to decide which stuff is more important.

Stop to pee? Sure! Listen to music, stop for food, stop to change the kid, stop to look at a pretty sight, stop to walk around, stop to change drivers, turn up the music to drown out the screaming child, play a video for the child, feed the child... not having to worry about people bitching and glaring at you for propogating the species.

Yes, it's still faster to fly, but not 1 hour versus 10 hours. More like 5+ hours flying versus 10 hours driving, and flying, you end up with a strange car and half the stuff you really want to have with you.
 
Personally, I would fly. But, as someone who fucking hates people who bring their little stupid baby on flights (which always ends up crying any annoying everyone on board), please just drive. Unless you know your baby won't throw a shitstorm somewhere over the Carolinas.
 
i'm torn:

a) keep your crying 1 year old off my flights
b) how much is your time worth? is that ~40 hours of driving (r/t including your little hop in the middle) really cheaper than flying on 2 coach tix?
 
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