Brian K wrote:
>On 8/10/2008 9:34 PM Sue Mullen scrawled...:
>>
>> Easy News wrote:
>>> Another thing, most of my relatives live in the Pittsburgh area so
>>> that would mean driving to Philly and catching the ship from there.
>>
>> First of all is there any reason that your relatives can't fly? If
>> they must drive to a cruise, you might also consider Bayonne, NJ or
>> Manhatten. The drive should not be a lot longer then going to Philly,
>> but would give you all a lot more options.
>>
>I agree. For the amount of gas, wear on the car(s), stops for food,
>maybe an overnight at a motel. (For some, it is very exhausting driving
>straight though.) Even if everyone has AAA, if car(s) has a breakdown
>of sorts time delays, unexpected repair costs could inflate the drive
>through to Philly budget. In the long run, unless a majority of your
>relatives can't fly because they are on constant oxygen, it's cheaper to
>fly.
It isn't the COST of driving that is the issue - it's the hassle of
flying. For as long as Bob can drive, we are driving (or possibly
taking the train). Because he refuses to fly now. We used to fly all
the time. Not now.
And really, for short distances of 300 miles or less, driving is
quicker. A 300 mile drive would take maybe five or six hours max
Pittsburgh to Philadelphia is about 300 miles and takes about 5 hours.
Pittsburgh to Baltimore is really closer - only about 250 miles and
takes about four hours. We used to do this trip when my son lived in
Pittsburgh and we lived in Baltimore.
Pittsburgh to NYC is about 370 miles and takes about six hours, so it
is significantly farther IMHO.
By the time we drive to the airport (and our drive to the airport is
80 miles and there's zero public transportation for us so that takes a
minimum of one and a half hours), and get there at least an hour in
advance, wait in line to check in, pay for checked bags, take off what
seems like all our clothing to go through security, put our clothes
back on, repack our carryon, wait for the plane (perhaps changing the
gate several times), and then fly (40 minutes for a short hop assuming
we take off on time and don't have thunderstorms someplace), and wait
for the bags to be picked up (probably 20 minutes to half an hour),
that adds up to about 3.5 hours minimum and we might as well save
ourselves the hassle of the lines, and the waiting and just go ahead
and drive where we can take whatever luggage we want without paying
extra.
We personally rent a car to do this because renting for one day or for
a weekend is way cheaper than parking for a longer cruise and we get
an economy car which is cheaper on gas than our own cars because all
our cars are diesels, and diesel is way more expensive than gas.
We just went to New Haven CT for my granddaughter's wedding. We
rented a car from Friday to Monday for $19.95 a day - a Ford Focus
which got about 35 mpg or better. It took us 7.5 hours to drive 355
miles (stopping for gas and to eat), and if we flew, it would have
cost over $300 each and would have involved two changes of plane and
we still would have had to rent a car when we got there.
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