My wife and I are traveling to Toronto on Wednesday to see her parents during the four-day weekend (extended a fifth day by my sneaky calendar-wrangling skills) and were trying to decide a few weeks ago whether to fly or drive.
The drive, at approximately ten hours, half of that through every tiny town in central Pennsylvania, is daunting, to be sure. However, when I checked on flights, ignoring the high cost for flying and getting a rental car during a holiday weekend, I still came to the conclusion that the drive was the smart way to go.
My calculations were like this: arrive to the airport three hours early to allow for extra holiday crowding, fly four hours (through Cincinnati or somewhere), then wait for luggage on the other end, get the rental car and you are at ten hours or close to it. Plus add in hassles with security, being pressed next to other cranky, sweaty passengers and having airport food, and what is the appeal?
When flying no longer saves time and costs much more than the alternative, you can count me out. Give me the open road, my own car, my own food and several hours across coal country. I’m good with that. I just hope the traffic isn’t terrible. At least the security lines on the way to my car are relatively short.
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
