Lainey

I have not flown in almost 10 years. Rick and I have been OK with that, quite content with our road trips in the S.

I was trying to see if my sisters (four of them) and I could get together for a sisters weekend. With Mom gone, there isn't much reason for the southern sisters to head to MA. Our logistics aren't great. Two live in SC, one is now in VA and two of us in MA. At first I thought of driving to some 1/2 point and meeting up. Meeting at the home of the VA sister would have meant 8-9 hours of driving for my local sister and me, about 6 hours for the SC sisters. A destination in MD would have been about equal distance for SC and MA sisters, and a short drive for the VA sister.

Rick thought that was a lot of driving for a weekend, suggested we fly. Local sister was already planning a trip to SC in May, suggested we could meet there, so I did a little checking to see if it could work out.

I knew flights to and from Myrtle Beach left much to be desired, and the price is steep. Worse still, the schedules are not flyer friendly at all, and cost more $ if you want decent flight times. Spending $600-700+ for a flight for a long weekend is not in my usual vacation budget. I would stay at the home of one of the SC sisters, which I would enjoy, and that helps cut the cost of the weekend trip. However, I'm not sure I'm ready to spend that kind of money to be abused by the airlines for a weekend trip. I am starting to think a road trip, when we have more time, might be the better way to catch up with my sisters, though it may not be all of the sisters together at the same time.

So do you travel by air only when necessary these days, preferring to hit the road instead?

trapper

I had enough of airline service crap while working and haven't been on one since I retired almost 20 years ago. With the increased BS involved with flights now days I have no desire to ever fly again.

Morris

Lainey, just saw on the news yesterday how airfares were way down. They quoted a round trip flight from Chicago to some other major US city, like Dallas, or LA (don't recall the 2nd city) and it was eighty dollars! Another was round trip to Paris from the US was 400.
These are major airport flights, it's always more expensive to fly from smaller airports of course.

Lainey

Yes, my sister found flights to Baltimore for cheap money. I could fly there, meet up with VA sister then drive to SC with her. 5-6 hours. This is just not sounding like something I want to do with vacation time.

There are no direct/non stop flights from Providence to Myrtle Beach. You also have to watch which flights you select as you can end up with layovers lasting hours. There is Spirit Airlines out of Boston, but they only have one very early AM flight and the return flight arrives very late at night. No interest in that either.

Kyras

I drive if it's somewhere I need my things, like a four hour drive to Kennedy Meadows but if I'm going to my daughter's I prefer the 80 minute flight to a 6.5 hour drive.

Zippy

Spirit is no gem either, but they are usually cheaper.

We have become so disenchanted with the airlines that we have nearly stopped flying. Have you looked at the train?

MAGGIEMAE

Fly all the time and no issues but we do have Trusted Traveller (NEXUS) cards so Security is not usually a problem

dlq04

When we do fly we always take a direct flight. Our last flight to FL actually wasn't bad because we met another couple who live just 10 minutes from the airport, had a nice lunch with them, left our car at their house. They dropped us off and picked us up when we returned. We picked a day where we breezed through TSA. Family picked us up at the other end. Not much we can do but suck it up when it comes to the cost when you have really long distances to go - flying is cheaper than meals and motels for us when its a long haul.... 500 and 600 miles days are a thing of the past for us.

Lainey

No on the train. This is supposed to be a quick trip, long weekend, just to catch up with sisters. I'm not going to use a week's worth of vacation time....some of us ARE still working.

I've looked at flights for November and in May. Both time frames would have four out of five sisters in SC. However, I've just about canned the idea. It's too much rushing around, too much time in airports and too much $ for too little time together.

Maybe we'll make a road trip next spring that coincides with others, or in the fall on our own time frame.

boltonblue

The hassle not the cost of air travel has steered us away.
and I was a former road warrior for a while but stupid TSA morons, excessive bag fees, long lines and incredibly cramped seating, killed it.
I didn't get reincarnated as a steer to get led to slaughter through gated channels.
F^%& 'em I hope they choke on their jet fuel and die.

it was a big part of the reason we drove rather then flew to wisconsin.
I only fly when I absolutely HAVE too.