Hi fellow travelers! I hope you all are exploring! I wanted to post on a question that I have tangled with myself, should we fly or drive when we go on vacation? Now, most of the time we fly because you get there so much faster (and there are some great programs that offer airline benefits that I will discuss in another post this week). But, if you really considered all the pros and cons of flying vs. driving which one would win?
Let’s consider the pros of taking a road trip, I know one benefit is that we don’t have to then rent a car in the city we are traveling to. Before kids, renting a car was simple, we could get a small $10/day vehicle and it was fine, now we have two car seats, more luggage, and it just seems like we need an SUV everywhere we go. If we are staying for a week the price can be astronomical, more than $300. The thought of having our own vehicle with all of our kids paraphernalia already in it sounds great! Another benefit is that we can cut airline tickets and fees out of the price of our vacation, there are some airlines that have great ticket prices, but not during the busy times of year like spring break and Christmas and not on weekends. This makes it harder to create a fluid vacation, we have to leave during the week and come back during the week, which doesn’t fare well for my husbands paid time off. Road tripping it means we can leave any day of the week and come back earlier or later than we had planned if we need to. It also keeps us from buying travel insurance, in case someone gets sick or we can’t fly the day and time we planned. The last benefit and probably the most exciting, is that we can stop and see landmarks and places we may have never knew existed while traveling by car. A road trip makes you think of the old days when families just let the open road take them on an adventure they hadn’t planned, it was spontaneous, magical and sometimes in our haste to just get somewhere as fast as we can, we miss out on what is in our own backyard.
Now, let’s talk about the cons of a road trip, because trust me there are a few. First, driving long distances can put wear and tear on your vehicle, which is an expense down the road, plus all the miles you can accrue. And depending on the year and month, gas prices may be expensive, so you are doling out some change, especially if you have a gas guzzler. The last and quite possibly the worst problem, is that if you are traveling far and you have energetic kids who get restless after you have left the driveway, you are in for some tantrums for that whole 12 hours. I, myself have such kids and let me tell you that it can make a road trip seem like a horrific idea. But, we have been given some DVD players by a very sweet friend and that seems to make the time pass, plus, they fall asleep and we can get a good 2 hours of peace and quiet. It’s important to stop and take breaks, it will make the kids feel less cooped up and you for that matter.
Alright, now it’s time to take to the open air, what are the benefits of flying? I would think quite a few right? Well, maybe in the old days when less people flew and airports weren’t small villages of chaos. But, there are some pros, for one you can get where ever you are going in a short amount of time, unless you are flying abroad, then you are pretty much in for it. But, if you are headed to Arizona, California, Florida and other vacation spots then you can get there in 2 or 3 hours easy. You also are able to earn miles and points through frequent flier programs, which gives you more vacations in the future!!! But, alas, that’s where the pros end, remember the small village of chaos? Yeah, that is a con, I dread going to the airport, especially with small kids, we have to get there 2 hours before our flight, check in our stroller and car seat and luggage and be asked thirty questions about what we are carrying on or checking. Then, we have to wait until our flight boards, which means the airport is my kids’ personal playground for an hour and I am running up and down the terminal trying to catch them. You know the other passengers are praying those kids aren’t on their flight. Once we board, then I am jamming my daughters car seat into the smallest chair created and stuffing her in it, knowing that at any minute she is going to throw a fit. Once we actually take off, I have every Disney movie ever made on my tablet ready to go and about twenty packages of gummies which I will let her eat if it keeps her quiet for two hours. This is not an ideal vision for me, not to mention if the plane is delayed, you have a connection, or the weather bounces the plane to the point where your son asks if we are going to crash…loudly.
So, the question remains, should we hit the road and let our trusty automobile take us into the land of adventure? Or, become airborne and let the wind carry us quickly to our vacation destination? I think I will try the open road this time and see what sights and landscapes we can explore on our approach to vacation wonderland. But, you decide, leave me a post on your thoughts about traveling by car or plane and check out my blog in April when we actually take a road trip from Denver, Colorado to Phoenix, Arizona by way of Route 66 and see if I change my mind!
Let’s consider the pros of taking a road trip, I know one benefit is that we don’t have to then rent a car in the city we are traveling to. Before kids, renting a car was simple, we could get a small $10/day vehicle and it was fine, now we have two car seats, more luggage, and it just seems like we need an SUV everywhere we go. If we are staying for a week the price can be astronomical, more than $300. The thought of having our own vehicle with all of our kids paraphernalia already in it sounds great! Another benefit is that we can cut airline tickets and fees out of the price of our vacation, there are some airlines that have great ticket prices, but not during the busy times of year like spring break and Christmas and not on weekends. This makes it harder to create a fluid vacation, we have to leave during the week and come back during the week, which doesn’t fare well for my husbands paid time off. Road tripping it means we can leave any day of the week and come back earlier or later than we had planned if we need to. It also keeps us from buying travel insurance, in case someone gets sick or we can’t fly the day and time we planned. The last benefit and probably the most exciting, is that we can stop and see landmarks and places we may have never knew existed while traveling by car. A road trip makes you think of the old days when families just let the open road take them on an adventure they hadn’t planned, it was spontaneous, magical and sometimes in our haste to just get somewhere as fast as we can, we miss out on what is in our own backyard.
Now, let’s talk about the cons of a road trip, because trust me there are a few. First, driving long distances can put wear and tear on your vehicle, which is an expense down the road, plus all the miles you can accrue. And depending on the year and month, gas prices may be expensive, so you are doling out some change, especially if you have a gas guzzler. The last and quite possibly the worst problem, is that if you are traveling far and you have energetic kids who get restless after you have left the driveway, you are in for some tantrums for that whole 12 hours. I, myself have such kids and let me tell you that it can make a road trip seem like a horrific idea. But, we have been given some DVD players by a very sweet friend and that seems to make the time pass, plus, they fall asleep and we can get a good 2 hours of peace and quiet. It’s important to stop and take breaks, it will make the kids feel less cooped up and you for that matter.
Alright, now it’s time to take to the open air, what are the benefits of flying? I would think quite a few right? Well, maybe in the old days when less people flew and airports weren’t small villages of chaos. But, there are some pros, for one you can get where ever you are going in a short amount of time, unless you are flying abroad, then you are pretty much in for it. But, if you are headed to Arizona, California, Florida and other vacation spots then you can get there in 2 or 3 hours easy. You also are able to earn miles and points through frequent flier programs, which gives you more vacations in the future!!! But, alas, that’s where the pros end, remember the small village of chaos? Yeah, that is a con, I dread going to the airport, especially with small kids, we have to get there 2 hours before our flight, check in our stroller and car seat and luggage and be asked thirty questions about what we are carrying on or checking. Then, we have to wait until our flight boards, which means the airport is my kids’ personal playground for an hour and I am running up and down the terminal trying to catch them. You know the other passengers are praying those kids aren’t on their flight. Once we board, then I am jamming my daughters car seat into the smallest chair created and stuffing her in it, knowing that at any minute she is going to throw a fit. Once we actually take off, I have every Disney movie ever made on my tablet ready to go and about twenty packages of gummies which I will let her eat if it keeps her quiet for two hours. This is not an ideal vision for me, not to mention if the plane is delayed, you have a connection, or the weather bounces the plane to the point where your son asks if we are going to crash…loudly.
So, the question remains, should we hit the road and let our trusty automobile take us into the land of adventure? Or, become airborne and let the wind carry us quickly to our vacation destination? I think I will try the open road this time and see what sights and landscapes we can explore on our approach to vacation wonderland. But, you decide, leave me a post on your thoughts about traveling by car or plane and check out my blog in April when we actually take a road trip from Denver, Colorado to Phoenix, Arizona by way of Route 66 and see if I change my mind!