Thank you George....

[cjolley]

That's right, 2 days to get there, and 2 back!!!! There goes my week of vacation......

Wouldn't it take two days to drive also?

[ND66]

Only if you’re a Sunday driver.

Did it twice already with my wife napping and me driving, and vice versa. I was doing the majority of the driving.

We did stop quite frequently too. Not for too long, accept for dinner and breakfast, those were the long stops, 1~1 ½ hours each.

Something around 1200 miles one way.

.

[Gurm]

Wouldn't it take two days to drive also?

About a 20-hour drive. If you push and do it all in one shot...

But with gas prices the way they are, it's cheaper to fly.

[cjolley]

When I turned about 45 those marathon drives started to gain a real "been there, done that" feel to them.

Assuming the family is going though, how could flying be cheaper than driving?

Unless you're driving Doc's van that is.

[DukeP]

In theory, Driving 1 person to a destination can easily be more fuel consuming than flying.

Our old single engine plane uses around 1 liter of gas per 8 kilometers (around 18.8 MPG). That sounds easy to beat, but for longer destinations, the direct route saves a pretty huge amount of miles traveled (and theres no red lights in the skye).

I would guess a modern airplane to have FAR far better fuel economy (our engine is a 6 litre V8, yielding 100 HP. It was build in 1936 at B&W in Denmark).

(Oh. And in most places in the world -aviation fuel is extemp from taxes).

~~DukeP~~

[ND66]

We have 3 kids, so we’re talking 5 tickets to fly.

Our Honda Odyssey averages 25MPG on the Expressway. And that’s driving on average 70~75MPH.

From our doorsteps in Chicago to Orland DIS resort - 1280 Miles - we used around 55 Gallons of fuel.

I think I’m done flying on vacation for a while……

The only good thing in all that driving, Odyssey seats are very comfortable, just like the 1st Class seats on the airplane comparing them to any other minivans out there.

.

[Gurm]

Well, when we fly to Orlando to see my parents, we get the $60 each way super saver fare. The baby flies free, so that's 4 seats... $500ish.

That's cheaper than gas down and back, at today's prices. $4 per gallon, 25mpg highway, 1250 miles. That's... 100 gallons of gas down and back, which works out to $400.

So it's cheaper... but this assumes no wear and tear to the car. In reality, I'd need to change the oil before and after, which adds nearly $75. And I'm putting 2500 miles on a car. And in reality nobody can drive straight through without stopping, so add in $50+ for a room... add meals... it's pretty much a no-brainer.

[ND66]

.....And in reality nobody can drive straight through without stopping....

Really?!


Also, I hadn’t seen a round trip ticket from Chicago to Orlando for $120.

There is a possibility I may get a better deal from Midway Airport, on the other side of the city from me. But, once I add the transportation and/or parking fees for a week, I’m not saving that much.

O’Hare, I’m 5 minutes away driving, anyone could drop me off including my neighbors. Or, I just simply could take our CTA train.

The car cost???? It costs me to own it anyway, and I don’t have parents down there to borrow me a car if I need to go somewhere, hallo car rental $$$. We usually combine a beach vacation with DIS vacation, we do need a car.

And, I do change the oil by my self, and the brakes, and more……


.

[High_Jumbllama]

Two words can almost certainly make driving straight through possible Gurm.

.
..
...

Astronaut diapers.

[Fat Tone]

In most of Europe we wouldn't be trying to compare over those distances. If we (brits) go to another country (apart from northern France) we tend to fly, or else make the journey a part of the holiday. The longest I've driven in the UK in one day was London to Aberdeen (~550miles) by sharing the driving, returning the next day. Certainly wouldn't want to do that too often!

[ND66]

Two words can almost certainly make driving straight through possible Gurm.

.
..
...

Astronaut diapers.

I assumed it was stopping and getting a room, and continue the next day based on this:

....so add in $50+ for a room... add meals...

But then again, it just reminded me of the NASA love story......

Hey, I'm not saying it‘s a pleasure drive. But it's cost effective and I can squeeze couple extra days of my vacations.

.

[Jammrock]

In most of Europe we wouldn't be trying to compare over those distances. If we (brits) go to another country (apart from northern France) we tend to fly, or else make the journey a part of the holiday. The longest I've driven in the UK in one day was London to Aberdeen (~550miles) by sharing the driving, returning the next day. Certainly wouldn't want to do that too often!

The farthest I've gone in one day is from Kansas City to DC in 17 hours, by myself, with only 2 stops for gas. ~1100 miles.

[Tjalfe]

I did this drive, with some friends over 2 days

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=d&saddr=toronto&daddr=st+john%27s&hl=en&geocode=&mra=ls&sll=43.64855,-79.38535&sspn=0.807861,1.664429&ie=UTF8&ll=48.719961,-62.885742&spn=23.607948,53.261719&t=h&z=5

it took us some 20 hours to just get to the ferry, which was 5 hours delayed

with the price of domestic flights here, I am not sure if flying is really much cheaper. especially as we had 4 adults in the car

[cjolley]

My longest "non stop" drive was SF CA to OKC OK.
1630 miles

Age: about 23 at the time.
Car: a 63' 4 door Rambler Classic with a 6cyl and no AC.
I had just rebuilt the engine for the trip.

Maybe that's why I feel that way about those drives now.

[Dr Mordrid]

A friend and I made a 'grand circle' trip from Ann Arbor (we both at the U of M at the time) to St. Louis, Chicago, North Dakota, Seattle, San Francisco, LA, San Diego over to San Antonio Texas to New Orleans.

After about 4 days in New Orleans my friend took ill with what looked like the flu & dehydrated, so I took him to the LSU Medical Center who re-hydrated him then recommended he go home and get himself into the U of M hospital.

I drove him from New Orleans back to Ann Arbor non-stop save for gas & fast food, over 1,100 miles, in less than 18 hours.

Thank God for freeways and my very hopped-up Fiat 124 Coupe (European performance parts etc).