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I am planning to go to Vegas to meet up with long lost cousins who will be there only at a specific time window (October 10 afternoon). I am looking up flights, and I am completely unfamiliar with them, and see that it says it takes 6 hours!!?? I thought it would be like 2 hours tops. I feel so constricted if I fly because there are flights that only leave and depart at a certain time and I don't even know where I'm meeting them, I'd have no car, etc.
I do have an option to drive, and that would take 8 hours. I hesitate to drive because I would be alone and I'm female and what if it's too much wear and tear on my car (2000 Lexus RX300) and what if it breaks down, etc., etc.
Last time I flew from SMF to Vegas, it took 2 hours on America West.
Return trip took much longer, but my shuttle was an hour late, I got stuck in security and missed the plane, and had to wait for 2 hours to take a plane to PHX, then wait a couple more hours to take the plane to SMF!
But I am trying to decide, flying vs. driving? Also, I was just made aware of the rental car option, so I am going to look into that as well.
I have a vacation house about 50 miles outside of Sacramento and travel there from Vegas via car quite often.
I think you are underestimating the time to drive to Vegas. The trip by car will take about 10 hours if driving over the Sierra Nevada and about 12 hours if driving down the Central Valley and up through Barstow. That's a lot of time to be in a car and driving by yourself. That's, of course, assuming you are trying to keep close to the speed limit.
And I might mention that CHP has a number of unmarked cars patrolling on I-5 and 99. So, unless you are using a radar detector, you really need to keep it to around 10 miles over the speed limiit or less. Going down via 395 or 95 (in Nevada) you will encounter many small towns that have speed limits of 25mph as you drive through them. These are known as "speed traps." In other words, money makers for the sparsely populated counties in that area.
If you are not going to be in Vegas for long, I would definitely suggest flying. However, if you are planning a week or more, driving miight be the best thing. Outside of the Strip, public transportation is not very good in Vegas. And if you are going to have to rent a car, you will incur pretty high expenses unless you can use points for a discount.
If you can afford, fly non-stop to LAS by Southwest. Rent a car from the airport (it is cheap). If you know how to play priceline or hotwire, you can save $$.
Don't drive alone to Vegas. It is faaaar from Sac.
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