Do you prefer to drive to your vacations or fly?

[billymach4 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close billymach4]

I think we have opposite coast envy. LOL!

Just today I was looking around online at Boston and Cape Cod and then WOW! Who knew you could get to Maine so quickly from Boston (as it shows on Mapquest anyway) Then there is NYC. I could do a couple of weeks and see so many places I have never been.

I just brought it up to the family...it didn't go well-what about Hawaii they scream! (I already have 1/2 our trip for summer 2010 booked) Blah!

I very much enjoy reading about your visits when you come here Billy....gives me fresh eyes about my own home state. What's up next? Have you been up North? San Francisco? You need to see the Northern Coast, Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur. Yosemite maybe.

I will be seeing my own state this summer. Bass Lake (near Yosemite) and the Gold Country-Angels Camp. I'll thoroughly enjoy it-but it won't stop me for looking for my dream East Coast vacation either

Well California is a no-brainer vacation for me and the family. I get no resistance whatsoever. Seems like we are hooked. With CA being so large there are so many destinations as you have mentioned. Will definitely be visiting the Northern areas in the future. I have always wanted to pan for gold, and I want to visit Wine Country. For me California is one big Costco as well. After all that is where they started. I go to Costco to get my gas, Pizza, and booze. You can't find any Costco's round here that sell booze. I mean hard liquor. Must be a NYS thing that liquor has to be sold in liquor stores.

[Hobbitess Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hobbitess]

We drive. Loved flying as a kid but I thought there was too much waiting and fussing around BEFORE 9-11, so not at all enthused anymore. Plus I like to haul a fair chunk of stuff with me and I like to be able to stop and check something out if so inclined.

We also travel with five kids, so it's generally cheaper to drive even the way we do it. My dad thought nothing of driving 12 hours or more at a shot, but we rarely do more than seven in a day, then we hit a couponed hotel with a good pool or something else the kids like (on the way out - the way home they're not always interested in anything that active but are happy to zone out in front of the tube). And we like to do stuff like drop by the Parthenon if we're going through Nashville and otherwise check in on old favorites as we go.

[summervaca Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close summervaca]

Flying is fine and it gets you to your destination quickly, but I have to admit, my family of five (kids ages 13,12,and 10) loves to drive! We make the trip from Minneapolis to various Florida cities once or twice a year and it works out great. Of course, my husband does most of the actual driving.

[mas Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mas]

My mantra used to be, "If it's more than 300 miles, it's a plane ticket, or no go."

This winter I spent a month down in Florida and then a week in Galveston. I drove down and had a great experience. I really didn't miss all the hassles involved with airports and while I thought I would have problems driving more than a few hours at a time, I found out it wasn't a problem, at least for me. I will still fly on trips of roughly two weeks or less, but will definitely consider driving for the longer (time) trips in the future.

[SteveChapin Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close SteveChapin]

For me California is one big Costco as well. After all that is where they started.

Actually, they started in Kirkland, WA (that's why their house brand is "Kirkland."). I only know this because I'm spending 1/2 my time living in Seattle these days...it's just like Syracuse, except the snow in NY is rain in WA (oh, and mountains).

I'd like to drive, but SWMBO doesn't appreciate quality time in the car the way I do, so we fly. We'll drive to things within 6 or 7 hours, but unfortunately most of our timeshare usage involves sunny beaches in the interminable winter here in Syracuse, so we fly. We'll see if I can talk her into marathon drives to Florida now that our oldest is reaching driving age.

sc
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[somerville Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close somerville]

If the drive is longer than 3 hours, we prefer to fly.

[jamstew Member Find all posts View Profile Close jamstew]

12, 15, 16 hours in a car? WOW! NO way-I'm in a plane.

It might be different if I lived in an area where you actually got somewhere in 6 or 8 hours. In 7 hours, I'm still in the same state. If I go the other way-I'm in Arizona but still.....I envy those of you on the East coast that can be in several states in several hours.

Same here. I can't get out of Texas in less than 4-5 hours going east, a lot longer going any other direction!

[jamstew Member Find all posts View Profile Close jamstew]

I can't drive more than 6 hours in a day (and that's really stretching it). Since I usually vacation in Florida and travel solo, it makes no sense economically to drive. I have a TS on the Texas coast, about 5 hours from home, and I do drive there. I also have one in Hot Springs, and, if I were going to use it, I'd drive since I could spend the night at my daughter's, which is about halfway. Other than that, I'm flying.

[calgal Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close calgal]

We drive some and fly some. Our cutoff seems to be around 8-10 hours. We have found getting packed and to the airport in time to add enormously to our stress level at the beginning of the trip. Driving feels less pressured, so we prefer it for shortish trips. We drive Bay area to So. Cal 1-2x/year. We save so much on airfare and the obligatory minivan rental (family of 6) by driving, another reason to prefer the drive.

[eal Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close eal]

flying - what a pleasant difference!

We live in Calgary and spent a week in Kelowna last year, driving 7 hours to get there along the mountainous TransCanada Highway - scenic but somewhat stressful.

This year we flew to Kelowna. We left the house at 2:45pm and checked in to Manteo Beach Resort at 6 pm.

The flight was great, security was smooth (you don't have to take your shoes off for domestic filghts in Canada - I HATE that!)

I'm sold!

[JWC Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close JWC]

We live in Calgary and spent a week in Kelowna last year, driving 7 hours to get there along the mountainous TransCanada Highway - scenic but somewhat stressful.

This year we flew to Kelowna. We left the house at 2:45pm and checked in to Manteo Beach Resort at 6 pm.

The flight was great, security was smooth (you don't have to take your shoes off for domestic filghts in Canada - I HATE that!)

I'm sold!

You don't have to take your shoes off in Mexico either.

[Hoosiergal Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hoosiergal]

We usually drive, unless it is the west coast - they we'll fly.

We just drove 19 hours on Friday to Orlando to stay at The Fountains, (including about a 3 hour stop, waiting for a tow truck & a blown fuse).

Even so, I's still rather drive.

Bev

[fendervo4 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close fendervo4]

With traveling with two to four kids we can't afford to fly. So it is all done in the minivan. Last summer we drove straight to Florida from Missouri about 19 hours. It must not have been very bad because we are getting ready to do it again in about 2 weeks. After a week in FL we are going to drive to VA for a week and then back to MO. My head is already hurting just thinking about it.

[PHILL12 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close PHILL12]

We own in Lake Tahoe which is about a three hour drive for us and this is great. This short drive plus we love Lake Tahoe made buying there easy choice as we go there every year. We have made exchanges and still went up to our timeshare each year on bonus time.

When our daughter was young we went to Mexico,Hawaii and Flordia and took two seven day cruises so we did plenty of flying and I do not miss it one bit.

During high gas prices we use two tanks of gas the whole trip so it doesn't matter the price to us.

When we traveled to Vegas or LA for daughters softball fast pitch tournaments we flew couple times. We found that it took us six to seven hours driving. Time we drove to airport hour and a half plus wasted time getting on plane and paying to park plus tickets we saved hassle time and money. Also we can leave anytime we want to go home.

To us owning this close to home gives us the best of both timeshare options to drive or exchange and fly!


PHIL

[pcgirl54 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pcgirl54]

Beach locations are our thing and sadly to get to warm waters we need to fly. If we drove it would be 11-20 hours south of New England. Due to time constraints we fly but I prefer to drive.

If we do mini trips to Maine or NH we drive much like the rest of you since it's 2-4 hrs. In earlier days with little ones we did drive 10-14 hrs and think nothing of it.