Drive or fly?
On recent family vacations to North Carolina's outer banks we've taken a plane. What about this year?
Plane: There's some hassle involved with baggage transportation, such as travelers who forget they can't bring big bottles of shampoo and sunscreen except as sacrifices to the TSA gods. Just did a price check on 2 adult tickets... about $1,000. Plus a week's car rental once we get there. Not that we USE the car much once we get there, it's just a long way to walk (a good 300 miles) to get to the house from Norfolk, VA airport.
SUV: This runs about $650 even if we pick it up a day earlier (June 4) and drop it off a day later (June 13) to allow for the 1,100 mile travel time. 2,200 miles at 20 miles a gallon at $3 a gallon is $330. Still cheaper than the plane tickets alone. We could probably even check in to a hotel each way for a night and come out ahead. It's a hassle to do 18 hours of driving each way, and little fun to take on the hills or the blackness of the eastern terrain. But the SUV would let us bring along fun stuff like the guitar.
Seems like SUV is still the winner. I could see us driving 9 hours a day with a hotel stop in between. That'd keep us driving in daylight and make for more leisurely meals and bite-size driving shifts.
I'll continue to mull.
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