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Old 08-09-2018, 07:59 PM
 
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I am curious how many retired people prefer to drive over flying when long distance travel is needed? I am a new granny and the twins are 800 miles away. Flying has become such an unpleasant experience but driving for a day and a half doesn't appeal much either. Do you fly or drive?
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Old 08-09-2018, 08:16 PM
 
Location: Sacramento
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Depends on the trip. If I go to see the kids by myself I fly, they are 400 miles away. If going with my wife and kid (adult mentally handicapped daughter) we drive.

For other trips, we usually use 1000 miles as the cutoff point, above that we fly and less than that we drive.
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Old 08-09-2018, 08:19 PM
 
Location: Midwest transplant
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800 miles I would be flying.....Less than 400 I'd consider driving. I'd rather get there quicker, spend more quality time in a place and then get home. My preference is to be away 4 nights with 1/2 day travel on either side. I agree, air travel is no longer the experience of many years ago, but with advanced planning and price shopping~I make it work.

If I had unlimited time to travel~and could pace a trip to driving 300-400 miles per day, I'd drive. After 6 hours in a car, I'm toast.
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Old 08-09-2018, 08:42 PM
 
Location: Western Colorado
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I'll drive. After being strip searched years ago by TSA and put on a cattle car with wings, I'll never fly again. Anyway when you drive you get to see the World's Largest Ball of Twine, the World's Deepest Hand Dug Well, stuff like that.
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Old 08-09-2018, 08:42 PM
 
Location: The beautiful Rogue Valley, Oregon
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Depends on the trip - am I taking the dog, what am I going to be doing, how long am I going to be gone? We've recently done trips across the country that were mostly just leisure travel (museums, architecture, history, music, dining, etc). Those were both over 2,000 miles and we were boarding the dog, so we definitely flew. If a trip would be a multi-day drive, unless I am towing the trailer and camping, I am going to fly.

When we go down to visit our son (800 miles, give or take) we are bringing the dog and often as not, tools to help him remodel his house. Those we drive and usually straight through, a little over 13 hours.

Hawaii, Europe, Mexico we also fly, although that is probably self-evident.

Sure, air travel can have its unpleasant side, but we have Global Entry and Precheck, and, other than standing in lines and having to walk thru the scanner instead of the metal detector every now and then, it's not bad. We fly at least 4-5 times a year, we have been to this rodeo before and we know what the rules are - although the "security theater" and inconsistency of it of it make me roll my eyes (I can't bring a pocket knife but I can carry a glass souvenir cup that I could break and put a sharper edge on than I could ever achieve with a pocket knife).

Although since we fly out of a small airport and must make connections, dealing with the canceled, late or rescheduled flights can be irritating, but it's not life-threatening.
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Last edited by PNW-type-gal; 08-09-2018 at 08:52 PM..
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Old 08-09-2018, 08:45 PM
JRR
 
Location: Middle Tennessee
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I still like to drive plus my wife has no problem with selling me at the wheel for a bit if needed, so we haven't flown for quite some time. Luckily, with our move to Tennessee, we are pretty much within a two day drive from anyone we would want to visit.

Still have the goal of driving Route US 52 someday from the beginning in Charleston SC to the end at the Canadian border in North Dakota. Just meander along, stopping when we feel like it and visiting relatives in Ohio, Wisconsin and South Dakota along the way.
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Old 08-09-2018, 10:14 PM
 
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What price does your wife set when she sells you at the wheel?😁

I know, autocorrect, but thanks for the laugh.
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Old 08-09-2018, 10:39 PM
JRR
 
Location: Middle Tennessee
8,125 posts, read 5,577,844 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by upnorthretiree View Post
What price does your wife set when she sells you at the wheel?😁

I know, autocorrect, but thanks for the laugh.
Usually I am pretty good about proofreading my posts, but I sure missed that one.
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Old 08-09-2018, 11:26 PM
 
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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800 miles is a very long day driving (even for me... as a youngster, I had a 863 mile daily trucking route in Mtn states )

If the roads are rough (ice), or I was busy or tired...
I would probably fly. (Which I do often to SFO, ~ 800 miles from me = $59 each way at usual fare.)

I have passed TSA (7x) this month, no 'ordeals' yet... (nor for previous 80+ flights this yr).

I have only been on one flight (in my lifetime) where Sky Marshalls had to intervene.
I LUV flying. Kinda like Magic when you become airborne !

Good time to catch some Zzzz.
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Old 08-09-2018, 11:44 PM
 
1,002 posts, read 1,191,659 times
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I agree, it depends on how much time I have to spend. We live in Florida, family is NY and Ct.
When we lived in NY and spent time in Florida we took the Auto Train to Florida. Pick up the train in Va and get off in Fl. I sort of liked that, it was relaxing.
We did it because we were spending a month and didn't want to rent a car for a month.

We have driven to Florida without the Auto Train when we wanted to stop in various Southern cities. We took our time and would do the trip over three days. That becomes expensive because you have to spend the night in motels and meals.

Now, we fly to NY and rent a car for the two weeks. Its costly between the airfare and car rental. We stay with our daughter so no hotel expenses.

New York to South Florida is a long distance. We would only drive using the Auto-train. I'd rather fly and rent a car when we get there.
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