Donna’s youngest brother Scott and family live near Seattle and we have visited them there a couple times now and we both have come to enjoy the northwest. We didn’t visit them in 2008, instead opted to remodel our bathrooms, but this year we are planning a visit. As much as we like the northwest there is one part of the country we enjoy more, the southwest, which we last visited 20 years ago and now we have a chance to kill two birds with one stone. Scott’s wife Beth annually helps out at a cattle auction in New Mexico in April so we are sketching out plans for a visit to that area down where poor ol’ Bug Bunny keeps making wrong turns in, Albuquerque.
Do we drive or do we fly?
Flying nowadays is such a hassle and that is after you have wrestled with mystical flight planning. We can fly from Charlotte (our preferred airport) on Delta, but not non-stop. We would have to go through Atlanta (surprise.) So why don’t we fly from Atlanta, it is only a little further away than Charlotte? Yahoo Travel doesn’t offer that option. So I went to the Delta web site and found that I could do that, but it costs $200 more per person to fly fly 250 fewer miles.
Driving is our preferred method of travel, but from here to there the most direct way is 1,600 miles of mind numbing interstate. That translates into roughly four 8 hour days with more of the same in store for the way back, so we would probably rent a car (because the Miata is not really optimal for that sort of travel.) Even though we would have to rent a car in New Mexico if we flew, driving would probably mean a 2 week vacation instead of just a week for flying.
Flying and it’s shorter trip would mean the hotel and meals would be half the cost of driving, but 2 weeks and driving would mean we could do sightseeing on the way out and back.
What to do? What to do?
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 92
Drive you will a lot more fun and i do like KATE
As a person who has driven two days to Kansas and two days back for the last 19 years, I say fly. Yes there are rules about flying that are different than they were ten years ago, but it just took a little organization to avoid the hiccups at the x-ray machine. I placed all our toiletries in our checked bags and didn’t have to hassle with little bottles of everything. You can put anything you really need in the checked bags and use the carryon for extra clothes and stuff. Of course most of my experience with driving involved two boys at various ages and that was fun at times, but this past summer was so nice to stay a little longer and be gone for about the same amount of time. Have fun figuring it out. No matter what you do, you will be tired of traveling when you get home.
Check surrounding airports, Raleigh, Columbia, Charleston, etc. USeless Air flys out of Charlotte a lot, Delta sends everything through Atlanta.
You can try booking a trip from Charlotte via Atlanta, then chunking the Charlotte to Atlanta tickets and starting in Atlanta, but they would probably catch that and technically you’re violating their stupid rules and subject to a higher fare.
Anytime the drive gets over 5 hours, I prefer to fly. That way I can make use of my time.