Ways to get to Florida from Boston without commercial air travel or amtrak for a broke person (Wilmington: spring break, hotel)

[Pear Martini]

My mom is getting operated on in Florida on April 11th.

My catholic university gives us a second spring break for Easter from April 4th-17th.


I really want to be there with her.

I'm deathly scared of flying and have avoided flying in 5 years but I will still consider it.

Plane tickets are starting at $500 for the week I'm off and these are the non-refundable ones. I simply can't afford that right now.

Amtrak is sold out.

I want to drive down there but my mother has said in the past that she would refuse to see me if I drove down there
(worries her, she thinks its dangerous for a woman, etc.)

Are there any other ways to get down there from Boston?

[Cantabridgienne]

Greyhound.

Your mother thinks it's dangerous for a woman to drive? Huh?

[Cliff Clavin]

Driving wouldn't be cheap either. You'd be looking at almost $400 round trip in gas alone. Add a hotel midway and food, and you're well over $500.

[Bruins_Fan]

Originally Posted by Cantabridgienne

Greyhound.

Your mother thinks it's dangerous for a woman to drive? Huh?

Long distance driving makes a lot of parents nervous, not all that uncommon. My inlaws still don't want their 35 year old daughter to drive alone to Philly for visits, and frankly as her husband, I'm not too keen on that idea, either.

I've done the Boston to FL drive a few times and there are some pretty desolate rest stops, etc. If I had a college age daughter, I certainly wouldn't want her doing that drive alone.

[Cantabridgienne]

But you wouldn't worry about a son? You are okay to drive to Philly alone but not your wife?

(I'm coming from a place where I was travelling alone in Southeast Asia by the time I was 21 so this is kind of a backwards mentality for me...)

[dragonborn]

It's not that the driving's dangerous...it's just a LONG drive. I've done it before and stopped twice on the way, in Wilmington DE and a hotel near Savannah GA. I probably could have done it in just one overnight stop, but I would have had to up the speed and most likely drive pretty much non-stop for a least 12 hours. As I recall, once you pass through Virginia, it becomes a lot more sparsely populated and virtually completely wooded. I chose to do it over 2 nights as I don't like night driving on unlit highways. It also didn't help that I was driving to the southern tip of Florida, because Florida itself is a pretty huge state, length wise. As for gas, one way was around $200-$250 plus wear and tear on the car.

[Cantabridgienne]

Oh for sure, I wouldn't do it either. My real advice would be to get some Xanax and just take the 3-4 hour flight. I like to fly, though...

[MassVt]

I guess that leaves Greyhound.

Please continue to check the airlines, while looking for deals; if you can adjust your arrival and departure dates, you might be able to lower the price.

I don't think that I could tolerate a Greyhound trip, or driving, that long a route.

[Cantabridgienne]

Which airport in FL would you fly into? Have you checked alternates within a reasonable drive?

[charolastra00]

That leaves Greyhound - which is not something I'd recommend if you can at all avoid it. A round trip refundable Greyhound ticket is over $400 and will take a day and a half with 2 transfers. That's a LONG time. I've been on several long Greyhound trips (Chicago to Boston when my train broke down, Myrtle Beach to Atlanta when Spirit Air went on strike). While Greyhound can be interesting in that you meet lots of people, it also attracts a very unsavory contingent. I would imagine it would be more frightening for your mom to be on Greyhound stuck on a bus versus in your own car.

Have you played around with the dates for Amtrak? I did Amtrak from Boston to Atlanta - it's long (almost 24 hours) but you can get up, walk around, and stretch out.