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ya got it backwards..fly to your destination and drive back home at a leisurely pace sightseeing along the way..fly down to Miami (too cold anywhere above FL), spend a couple of beach days, then drive a rental down to the Keys, back up along the west coast of FL, stop at the Dali museum in St. Petersburgh, head for New Orleans, spend a day in the French quarter, head up Natchez Trace, then over to Nashville and or Memphis, wind your way over to get on the Blue Ridge Parkway, stay in one of the rustic heated cabins..take your time and plenty of pics, make some memories..
We spent Thanksgiving in St Petersburg, and visited the Dali. Loved it! I checked one way tickets around the 20th, and everything I saw was super expensive!
Your problem with going to Florida is that it's the holiday period and everyone else has the same idea. Expect to pay a fortune for lodging en route and when you arrive.
Oh yea, you can also expect horrid traffic on I95, driving with the other lemmings.
Depending on where you are in the DC area, you could go 81 S to 77 S (go through the Charlotte area) and take 26 across SC to 95 S. I have to say that it's going to take a lot longer then 18 hours from the DC area to get to the Keys. It's 8 hours from our house in the Charlotte area to Orlando. It's another 6 hours at least to Key West from Orlando. We made the drive once to the Keys from Orlando. My IL's lived in Orlando and we went with them to Fort Lauderdale/Miami and then on down to the keys.
It's been a few years since we made the drive at Christmas time down to FL. It wasn't bad when we did it 8 years (I realize it's been awhile but it might not be as bad as you think) ago.
We were in FL (went on a cruise out of Port Canaveral/did disney/attended a wedding in Saint Augustine)last year and traveled on 95 in FL Labor weekend. It was not as crowded as we thought it would be and we drove home on actual labor day and went up 95 and it was piece of cake.
Have you done the whole Virginia thing before? There are tons of things to see there from Wmsburg/Jamestown/Yorktown trio, the Hampton waterfront - or lit up boats or something in that area. Then you have the Appomattox courthouse, the Lurray Caverns, Shenandoah Valley. Lots of beauty. Not too far. I encourage anyone to NOT visit Memphis unless it's May. Then GO!! But...well, the Peabody is pretty at Christmas and Graceland but... Memphis in May is the time to go.
Hey, the Corvette Museum is fantastic as is the Mammoth Cave if you're in that part of Kentucky. it's convenient to the interstate if you're just passing through.
Avoid AirBnB in South Florida. It is constantly on the news down here for people scamming tourists out of their money. When moderate hotels are charging $300 per night, be very leery of AirBnBs for $85 per night.
I would do the trip to the keys. Key West is a blast at Christmas just know you'll pay a fortune for a hotel if you can even find one this late. Seriously, rooms will be in the $400 range.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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We drove down to South Florida every Christmas when we lived in DC. And we still do it now that we live in NC. Like Stealth said, driving overnight is the BEST. We have done it every which way (after work, early morning and overnight), and have found that doing it overnight and having the roads empty and the kids asleep works best. We have two drivers, and if we get tired we stop at the Florida welcome center and catch a few zzz's in the car. We usually make our hotel reservations in advance, but you can still find something reasonable. I looked last week!
The Fort Myers Beach/Naples area is nice as is the East Coast from Palm Beach to Miami. We've done it all - except not Key West yet. The hotels there are outrageously expensive over Christmas! Lots of nice places in Florida. Eleven days is plenty of time. We'll be heading down on the 22nd. Hitting the West Coast near Sarasota for a few days and then headed to Boca until New Years. The only depressing part of the trip is driving back up north at the end of the vacation! We usually spend the night on the road on the way back - in Savannah or somewhere else.
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