Should You Drive or Score Cheap Tickets for Your Next Trip?
Choosing to fly or drive on a trip depends on several factors as well as your priorities. For the most part (though there are exceptions), it’s almost always cheaper to drive, particularly if you’re traveling as a family, and it’s almost always faster to fly.
Consider the following before checking the oil or booking those cheap tickets for a flight.
1. How many people are traveling together? If three or more people are traveling together, driving usually wins out in terms of costs. Also consider how many drivers you have. The more qualified drivers, the less time any one person has to spend behind the wheel.
2. How far away is your destination? For cross-country trips, unless seeing the scenery is important, flying wins out. This is particularly true if you only have a few days at your destination. For destinations under 700 miles or so, compare time spent driving to flight time plus the time spent getting to the airport, plus time going through security, and the possibility of bad weather or cancelations stranding you at the airport. Sometimes, door-to-door times for flying can be just as long as for driving, particularly if you don’t live close to an airport or have layovers or connections.
4. For long drives, don’t forget to factor in the cost of possible hotel stays. If you’re flying, factor in possible rental car costs.
5. Consider your sanity. If you’re traveling with children, consider how well they generally do on car rides. While tiny kids can have trouble on planes, school age kids often behave fine on planes, especially if they have a handheld game system or something to keep them occupied. It may be well worth the cost of plane tickets if the alternative is listening to your kids fight in the back seat for ten hours.
Random Posts
Posted in News