Is It Worth It to Drive Instead of Fly?

Pull up a chair to the happy hour you wish your friends were having. Mix two money experts with some hot takes and a splash of nostalgia, and you get Rachel Cruze and George Kamel talking unfiltered about what’s going on in the world, pop culture, and how to afford a life you love.

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[gingabred]

As a hard rule in our house, if the trip is to hawaii, we're flying

[grsmith]

You also have to determine if you will need a car on the other side and the benefits of being able to bring all your own food

[hollylong]

Road trips always!! my kids love being able to sleep in their outfit for the next day, waking up at 4 AM taking their pillow and blanket to the car and starting a long road trip. We have some of our best memories from this time in the car together. My kids said one of the best things they can remember is watching the sunrise on road trips because they’re usually not up to see it.❤

[TShirtAndReeboks]

We pretty much always drive, and it's saved us a ton of money, plus it's part of the "memories" having a road trip!

[wellsdavidj]

With kids we have found that a 12 hour drive is about the limit they could take when they were young. Flying is just way too expensive

[maddywadsworth]

We always used to drive on our trips pre-Covid. After Covid, the cost of fuel plus the motel stops to and from our destination cost almost exactly the same as flying. So we just fly now and save the time!
Also driving can eat up your vacation days if it’s a long distance!

[katherinerhead]

We do trips to places that are 12-16hrs away (one way) often multiple times a year! Between having dogs, being able to bring more stuff, not having to worry if our daughter is quiet for strangers, needing a car, and sleeping in a car being more comfortable than an airplane, we don’t need many more excuses to prefer driving!

[Nanstark]

I dont want to fly after 8 am. My goal is to be on the first plane off the runway for the day. 6 am is the target takeoff time.

[ghfan]

It has to be at least a 14 hour drive before I’d even consider flying. We’ve even done 24 hour drive over 3 days to avoid flying. Flying is a nightmare and driving is fun. If the kids need a break, we do this wonderful thing called pulling over at a rest stop. If we’re in a plane, that’s not an option.

If we do fly, totally agree with George that it needs to be nonstop and reasonable time, although I’d consider 7-8am a reasonable time too. I did a lot of late afternoon and evening flights for work in the past, so I never want to do late flights again. The delays from the morning propagate and end up delaying the afternoon and evening flights even further.

[jake]

I drove to LA from Wisconsin, twice now!

[promisedjubileedaniels]

With a family, we drive because we want to see stuff! We make our trips double the necessary amount of time, so we can stop at anything cool on the way!

[janos]

My driving limit is something like 1000km. You can drive this in a day and check into a hotel at a reasonable time and still get dinner. Pack some breakfast the day before, start early, do a break every 2 hours, you get it done in 12 hours, but this is only for group travel where you can spilt the gas money but would have to buy multiple plane tickets when I am alone I would fly that.

[jenniferholmes]

We rarely fly. Mainly because we live in a tiny town where all airports are 1.5-3 hrs away. The one 1.5 hrs away usually has two layovers. The ones 2-3 hrs away usually just have one layover. Atlanta is 4 hrs away, and we can fly direct…but by then we’ve already driven for forever! All require us to pay for parking. Then we have to pay to rent a car at our arrival (though we once flew into Chicago, and did public transport the whole time). On top of that is paying for lodging and meals….

So, we normally drive. But then our families live 10+ hours away, and we’ve always driven to see them…before kids, and with kids. Now we have a kid who lives 17 hrs away (and went to school 20 hrs away). So yeah, we drive. And it’s not that huge of a deal.

[ajk]

Time is the most valuable thing there is.

[oneeverest]

Flying only for Hawaii. All others is driving in our RV with our three kids. 500-600 miles is easy in a day.

[floralee-hn]

It also depends on where you live and the expense of those flights.. being in Arkansas, 95% of flights are going to start at $250, if not START in the $300 range per person. So unless it’s a 10-12 hour+ car ride, it’s not worth it to fly.

[timmcdonald]

Oh, y'all are missing out. Long conversations with my wife on US Highways and State Highways. Take an extra day for the trip and see some country. Drive the Natchez Trace to the end, then take Hwy 10 on down. Follow US 1 down the Eastern Fall line and on out to Key West. Unless I am going to the Mountain States, West Coast or New England, I am driving and staying off interstates.

[jellyfish_adventures]

I drove from florida to canada. Some great audiobooks and made money doing deliveries along the way

[timfrederick]

Depends in the reason for travel and duration of stay. We visit my daughter in SC about and 8 -9 hr drive (comfortable, food, bathroom, gas stops. Stay 2 days and drive back, stat at an airbnb on a lake. If we fly we try not to check bags, use tsa precheck and global entry, which gets us in and out of the airports,

[js]

28 Hours is about our limit. Leave Edmonton, AB Friday night after work and into Phoenix Saturday night. LOVE IT. Shared driving with the kids.