Driving to Miami, parking at peir?

[bottomfeeder]

I just had a couple more thoughts on this.

 

What about parking at the Des Moines airport? Or will you have someone drive you all to the airport?

 

Also, have you looked at flying out of Omaha or Cedar Rapids or Moline? Sometimes they have better prices than DSM, and wouldn't be a very long drive. Or even MSP--it's not a very long drive from Des Moines.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

I just had a couple more thoughts on this.

 

What about parking at the Des Moines airport? Or will you have someone drive you all to the airport?

 

Also, have you looked at flying out of Omaha or Cedar Rapids or Moline? Sometimes they have better prices than DSM, and wouldn't be a very long drive. Or even MSP--it's not a very long drive from Des Moines.

 

The cheapest in our area for airfare outside of Des Moines is Kansas City, about 3 hours away. Those flights are $1300 to $1500 round trip into Miami or Fort Lauderdale. Parking at the airport is about $14 a day to park right by the terminal and goes down from there the farther out you get. We could get someone to drive us if we wanted, but we parked there in February 2016 on our last cruise and it was right around $100, but we split it with a couple that went with us. I wonder how much money my kids have in their piggy bank? :confused: Kidding....

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Well, you don't seem to have any additional meals figured in to your flying cost, but that would be minor. I can't speak to your estimates for fuel, etc.

 

There are a lot of toll roads in the Orlando area but offhand I don't know if you would be taking them if you fly to Orlando or if you'd be taking them should you drive the whole way. Not a major expense but might make a slight difference between the options depending on route.

 

I can tell you that I lived in Iowa City for many years, and for about a year I drove back and forth between Iowa City and the Sarasota FL area as I was in process of moving/prepping house in Iowa for sale/etc.. My drive let me stay on 75 all the way to my town in FL whereas to go to the Ft. Lauderdale area you have to head to the other side of Florida and get on 95, and of course I started an hour and a half or so east of you in Iowa...but it was not a fun drive! I would either start early morning from Iowa City and stay one night on the way, just north of Atlanta, and get to my FL house early evening the next day...or I would take off a bit early from work and start around 3 or so from Iowa City and stay near the KY/TN state line and then have a very long slog the next day. Your drive would be at least 3 hours longer than mine, and generally if you have kids in the car with you then you'll need to make more stops...I stopped just a couple times a day to fill gas, use the bathroom and get food at McDonald's or Wendy's right off the interstate, and otherwise just drove.

 

All of that to say that I'm not sure I'd want to do that drive before and after a vacation. You'll be exhausted by the time you get to board your cruise, and you'll lose all your relaxed vibes from the cruise during the trip back. If the cost is anywhere close to fly, I'd definitely choose that option. :)

 

So you're saying my timeline of trying to reach the Florida/Georgia line is probably too aggressive on that first day? :p I'm prepared for that mentally though. I'm either stopping just north of Atlanta or just south of Atlanta if I can't make that the first day, but we'll get close to Atlanta I believe.

[Radcruiser68]

Yes I have used miamiportparking.com,.THEY JOY ROAD IN OUR CAR OVER 200 MILES AND BROKE THE HANDLE ON THE CAR. Now I use Premier cruise Parking port of Miami .Located @ 1400 Biscayne center 1415 NE 2nd Ave, They are like 10 min from port also with shuttles. they were great its in a colorful parking garage. have them scheduled for my Nov cruise.

 

 

Did they require you to leave your keys with them? Any time we have used a parking garage for cruises we park ourselves and take our keys on the cruise with us. We have never left from the Miami port though, so far always New Orleans. We have our first cruise from Miami later this year. I would be irate if that happened!

 

 

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[EnterCruise]

The cheapest in our area for airfare outside of Des Moines is Kansas City, about 3 hours away. Those flights are $1300 to $1500 round trip into Miami or Fort Lauderdale. Parking at the airport is about $14 a day to park right by the terminal and goes down from there the farther out you get. We could get someone to drive us if we wanted, but we parked there in February 2016 on our last cruise and it was right around $100, but we split it with a couple that went with us. I wonder how much money my kids have in their piggy bank? :confused: Kidding....

 

Hi...I normally just lurk here and have never registered to post until now. I work for Enterprise Car Rentals, so I just "cruise" this board to see what is being said about Enterprise. When I read most of this thread and Lido Deck's reply to you, I was surprised you didn't really read and comprehend it. It was a very creative and brilliant plan that solved all your problems and would save you thousands of dollars. You need to go back and read his post carefully.

 

What he was trying to tell you is both Enterprise and Alamo (Enterprise owns Alamo) are charging $4.95 per day right now until May 31st for up to a large car with unlimited mileage if you pick it up in Florida and drop it outside the State of Florida. Lido quoted you the cost for a week, but if you picked up the car after your cruise in Miami at a neighborhood location on May 20, as he suggested and dropped it in Nashville within 24 hours, your entire cost for the rental would be $7.89 with all fees and taxes. No, that is not a typo, $7.89 total. Well...that is including a 5% discount you would get if you joined our Enterprises Plus program. A large car (Nissan Altima) is big enough for your family and your luggage. That was for the return after your cruise.

 

What Lido suggested to get down to South Florida was for you to drive your vehicle to Nashville (about 650 miles), spend the night at a Nashville hotel that offers free parking, leave your car and fly to Ft Lauderdale the next day. He said you could fly from BNA to FLL for $72 per person, but I just checked and the price for that flight on May 13th dropped to $57 per person. The only remaining decisions are whether you would stay in Ft Lauderdale or Miami, whether you would rent another car at FLL and drop it at MIA the next day and then ride our free shuttle to PortMiami or whether you would take a shuttle, Uber, whatever.

 

You need to unclutter your mind from 7 pages of noise and read Lido Deck's post.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Hi...I normally just lurk here and have never registered to post until now. I work for Enterprise Car Rentals, so I just "cruise" this board to see what is being said about Enterprise. When I read most of this thread and Lido Deck's reply to you, I was surprised you didn't really read and comprehend it. It was a very creative and brilliant plan that solved all your problems and would save you thousands of dollars. You need to go back and read his post carefully.

 

What he was trying to tell you is both Enterprise and Alamo (Enterprise owns Alamo) are charging $4.95 per day right now until May 31st for up to a large car with unlimited mileage if you pick it up in Florida and drop it outside the State of Florida. Lido quoted you the cost for a week, but if you picked up the car after your cruise in Miami at a neighborhood location on May 20, as he suggested and dropped it in Nashville within 24 hours, your entire cost for the rental would be $7.89 with all fees and taxes. No, that is not a typo, $7.89 total. Well...that is including a 5% discount you would get if you joined our Enterprises Plus program. A large car (Nissan Altima) is big enough for your family and your luggage. That was for the return after your cruise.

 

What Lido suggested to get down to South Florida was for you to drive your vehicle to Nashville (about 650 miles), spend the night at a Nashville hotel that offers free parking, leave your car and fly to Ft Lauderdale the next day. He said you could fly from BNA to FLL for $72 per person, but I just checked and the price for that flight on May 13th dropped to $57 per person. The only remaining decisions are whether you would stay in Ft Lauderdale or Miami, whether you would rent another car at FLL and drop it at MIA the next day and then ride our free shuttle to PortMiami or whether you would take a shuttle, Uber, whatever.

 

You need to unclutter your mind from 7 pages of noise and read Lido Deck's post.

 

Thanks for the clarification on that. I will reread it and you're right. There are a lot of pages of information here to take you several different directions, but that's a good thing for other folks to see as well for ideas for them if they decide to travel down.

[loanshark]

I agree with the drive to Nashville / Flight to FLL suggestion. It's not just Enterprise that is offering the cheap car rental rates from Florida.

 

Enterprise owns National and Alamo, and all 3 offer the same shuttle from the ship to the MIA airport to pick up the rental car on the return.

[Organized Chaos]

The statement to stay off the roads at rush hour is meant to cover the gamut of snowbird inconsideration. If you have free time all day, go places then, not rush hour when working people need to get home. Also, get your tee times on weekdays, leave the course available to working people on weekends. Same with women booking hair and such on Saturday. Grocery shop during business hours. Go to matinee movies and performances. How about your dinner out a bit earlier? Heck, most snowbirds go to bed early anyway. Just asking for a little thoughtful courtesy. During bird season, we can't even have dinner out without a two-hour wait time.

Right, if only we could control everyone else's lives as much as you'd like to. Would you like it if people told you when you can go to all the places you want to go?

 

Did they require you to leave your keys with them? Any time we have used a parking garage for cruises we park ourselves and take our keys on the cruise with us. We have never left from the Miami port though, so far always New Orleans. We have our first cruise from Miami later this year. I would be irate if that happened!

I went to Premier's website the other day after it was recommended. There were several new reviews on their website dated 4/8 and people said they now keep your keys. Apparently it's a new policy. This facility is a garage (not a surface lot) and you still park your own car, but according to another review, they tell you they might have to move your vehicle. If it's a self-parking garage, I don't see why they'd need to move my vehicle. That makes me nervous. I was all set to pick this place until I read about this new policy. We won't use any of them that keep our keys.

 

You need to unclutter your mind from 7 pages of noise and read Lido Deck's post.

While I agree that user Lido offered some good information that might work for some people (key word some), I think it's rude to say the rest of the information in this thread is just "noise." You registered a CC account just to advertise for your employer. It's no wonder that's the one post you pick as the only one the OP should listen to.

[Organized Chaos]

To the folks that have driven before am I missing anything when I'm figuring trip cost here? Gas, hotels, parking, and food. I'm comparing some flights into Orlando to what we'll spend through Allegiant Airlines and that total cost is fairly close to what I'm figuring. I'm figuring $540 for gas, $200 for hotels minus the one we are staying in Miami as we'd be staying in a hotel regardless, $140 for parking at the port, $300 on food as we'll take some stuff on the way down with us to curb the cost some. So I come to a cost of $1,180 for the trip down.

 

The flight I'm finding flies into Orlando late at night on the 13th of May so we'd just pick our rental car up there, change our hotel reservations to Orlando and then drive to Miami in the morning. Rental vehicles through Allegiant's website are about $50 for that long of a rental. The only thing we'd have to do is figure out a ride from the port back to the rental car place upon our return to drive back to Orlando for our flight back to Des Moines. For the roundtrip and the rental to Miami it's coming up to $1,086. If I'm not missing anything I may change to this flight with that cost. Maybe I'm figuring too high for driving...........

I guess we're allowed to recommend particular smartphone apps in these forums since others in this thread recommended Waze. It's called Fuel Monitor. I have it for iPhone, not sure if it's available on Android. There are several apps of this nature with similar names, so you have to find the right one, but this is the only one I've found so far that has this particular feature. I don't use it for anything other than this. You can enter the specs of your vehicle (year, make, model, engine) so it knows the vehicle's gas mileage (approx.). You can then enter a trip into the estimation tool and it'll estimate the cost of fuel for that trip. For instance, you can enter your town as the starting point and Miami as the destination. You have to enter the price of gas, and obviously that changes over a long trip, but it still offers a nice estimate to give you an idea of what to expect. I know that gas here in IL is going to be much higher than anywhere else along the route to FL, so if it estimates fuel costs using IL gas prices, I know it'll actually be cheaper in the end. It's a handy little tool. It's an older app and I don't know if the developer maintains it anymore because its last update was back in 2013, but it still does what I use it for.

 

Speaking of apps, I think I'm going to install Waze for the first time and see what it's like.

[GTO-Girl]

 

Speaking of apps, I think I'm going to install Waze for the first time and see what it's like.

 

We love WAZE! We use this instead of the nav in our car. It has rerouted us around major wrecks on the interstate on more than one occasion.

[bottomfeeder]

We love WAZE! We use this instead of the nav in our car. It has rerouted us around major wrecks on the interstate on more than one occasion.

 

I do like Waze but in the little town and rural area where I live in the summer it got things all confused. I had a hilarious time once I realized it was giving me the wrong instructions, because I could not figure out how to get Waze turned off. I turned on my Google maps app on my iPhone and I had two different automated voices yelling at me out of my phone and giving me completely opposite directions! :D

 

Luckily the voices were a little bit different so I could figure out (usually) which voice to obey! And I was just trying to get to my local post office--but Waze kept bringing me to the same address in the next (wrong) town.

 

I think it's great for highway type driving though. I just turn it off when I get to the side streets. :)

[BIGREDIOWAN]

I agree with the drive to Nashville / Flight to FLL suggestion. It's not just Enterprise that is offering the cheap car rental rates from Florida.

 

Enterprise owns National and Alamo, and all 3 offer the same shuttle from the ship to the MIA airport to pick up the rental car on the return.

 

Would be great if I could get a return flight for cheap from FLL. I'd definitely drive to Nashville, leave my vehicle there, and fly from there if possible. I'm looking into that now.

[Organized Chaos]

We love WAZE! We use this instead of the nav in our car. It has rerouted us around major wrecks on the interstate on more than one occasion.

 

I do like Waze but in the little town and rural area where I live in the summer it got things all confused. I had a hilarious time once I realized it was giving me the wrong instructions, because I could not figure out how to get Waze turned off. I turned on my Google maps app on my iPhone and I had two different automated voices yelling at me out of my phone and giving me completely opposite directions! :D

 

Luckily the voices were a little bit different so I could figure out (usually) which voice to obey! And I was just trying to get to my local post office--but Waze kept bringing me to the same address in the next (wrong) town.

 

I think it's great for highway type driving though. I just turn it off when I get to the side streets. :)

I live in a rural area too, so I wouldn't use it often. I don't normally have to travel in areas that are congested, but when I do, I'll see if this app helps. We have a 2-2 1/2 hour drive this weekend for Easter, so I might try it out. If I like it, it'll be something I save for long road trips.

 

I normally use Google Maps or HERE. HERE was developed by Nokia and is a pretty good alternative to Google. They were recently bought by an independent company and renamed HERE We Go. One of the features I like most about it is that you can download maps for offline use. To conserve data or if you're in areas with low cell signal. We like to hike, so that feature has come in real handy getting us around places like the Smoky Mountains and down in the Ozarks of southern MO.

[Robbob533]

The nice thing you will notice are the police notifications and the hazard alerts. I will click the thumbs up if the hazard or police are still there and the gone button if they aren't. Also if you are in slow downs it will ask you. Then it will ask you to classify the slowness. Waze really helps a lot.

 

 

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[loanshark]

Here are the cheapest return options to Nashville that may be viable for you:

 

May 21 JetBlue 2:31p - 3:50p FLL-BNA $184 p/p non-stop

 

May 21 Southwest 10:20p - 11:10p Orlando - BNA $125 p/p

 

 

May 22 Southwest 7:45a - 8:40p Orlando - BNA $70 p/p

 

May 22 JetBlue 2:31p - 3:50p FLL-BNA $104 p/p non-stop

[Organized Chaos]

I installed Waze, but haven't tried it yet. The TOS popped up right off the bat, so I was reading the privacy policy. I really don't like the fact that it automatically saves my route history everywhere I go to their servers. It's the usual, "We need this to improve user experience" blah blah blah. If an app is going to track my entire route every time I use it, I'd rather have the option to opt out of a feature like that. Just my own personal hang-up.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Here are the cheapest return options to Nashville that may be viable for you:

 

May 21 JetBlue 2:31p - 3:50p FLL-BNA $184 p/p non-stop

 

May 21 Southwest 10:20p - 11:10p Orlando - BNA $125 p/p

 

 

May 22 Southwest 7:45a - 8:40p Orlando - BNA $70 p/p

 

May 22 JetBlue 2:31p - 3:50p FLL-BNA $104 p/p non-stop

 

Thanks for the information. I've been checking daily just hoping something will drop pretty low for coming back. There IS a flight back from FLL on the 20th on Southwest for like $62 a person, but it leaves at 10:30am or so the day the ship returns and that's pushing it to be able to make it I think.

[fatpaul]

Well - I tried off site parking in Miami - never again. Enough said.

 

 

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[LMaxwell]

Well - I tried off site parking in Miami - never again. Enough said.

 

 

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I try to be really frugal in vacation planning but have long ago accepted that offsite parking in Miami is almost always bad and not worth the small amount of savings compared to the total cost of the trip. The convenience and safety of the port parking garages beats any savings you get offsite. Nevermind the atrocious shuttle services and frequent damages.

[Organized Chaos]

Well - I tried off site parking in Miami - never again. Enough said.

Could you elaborate, please? Which company and which location, because some companies have more than one location and it's not always obvious it's the same company? Did they make you leave your keys? Details on their shuttle? It would be greatly appreciated.

[fatpaul]

Could you elaborate, please? Which company and which location, because some companies have more than one location and it's not always obvious it's the same company? Did they make you leave your keys? Details on their shuttle? It would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

Sure - Premier Cruise Parking - 1415 NE 2nd Ave Miami - no, I kept my keys, 4 shuttles - 1 was broken down, 1 driver called in sick according to our driver, so only 2 shuttles were being used. The wait was almost exactly an hour, in the weather. Thankfully, it was fairly cool/partially cloudy day. Fair mix of both senior and younger in line. No seating available, that I could see. I didn't waste my time waiting for their van when we returned, used a taxi. No complaints about their personnel

 

 

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[BlueHerons]

I live here and often cruise from Miami. I drive daily for my commute from Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale and you'd have to put a gun to my head and start clicking away before I'd choose I95 over the Turnpike, even though the Turnpike is a toll road.!

 

AMEN! My husband left a very good job in Coral Gables because the commute from Las Olas to there was soul sucking and we did not want to move to Miami.

 

A few in this thread have talked about how crazy I-95 is. I'm not talking about heavy traffic, either. NASCAR was mentioned at least twice and another one jokes about machine guns & helmets. There's no way to put this lightly, but are you Floridians a little soft when it comes to interstate driving, or what? .

 

This is the deal with 195 in South Florida.

 

We aren't dealing with people who speed.

 

We are dealing with people from other countries who are under the impression that driving laws are a suggestion.

 

And that car insurance is a luxury. Probably only one in five cars on I95 is insured and guaranteed any car over ten years old is not.

 

Did you know that law inforcement does NOT pull people over for speeding from Fort Lauderdale to Miami on I95 because the shoulders are so narrow, it will endanger the life of the officer?

 

If an accident happens on I95 the police/fire/rescue shut down the entire six lanes of traffic to clean up the mess. If it is a bad accident, they will shut down all twelve lanes of north and south bound I95.

 

There is virtually no speed limit on I95 between Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

 

Did you know that our law enforcement deals with on I95? Major drug trafficking, murder, human trafficking, etc.

 

The commute between Palm Beach and Miami is brutal. I would not wish it on my worst enemy.

 

I understand you don't understand this drive but your comments make you look foolish to us locals.

[Bkchero]

How about your dinner out a bit earlier? Heck, most snowbirds go to bed early anyway. Just asking for a little thoughtful courtesy. During bird season, we can't even have dinner out without a two-hour wait time.

 

Apparently you've never driven by or tried to eat at Perkins for the early bird special. There are plenty of bluehairs there eating before they go to bed at 7.

Edited April 24, 2017 by Bkchero

[LMaxwell]

AMEN! My husband left a very good job in Coral Gables because the commute from Las Olas to there was soul sucking and we did not want to move to Miami.

 

 

 

This is the deal with 195 in South Florida.

 

We aren't dealing with people who speed.

 

We are dealing with people from other countries who are under the impression that driving laws are a suggestion.

 

And that car insurance is a luxury. Probably only one in five cars on I95 is insured and guaranteed any car over ten years old is not.

 

Did you know that law inforcement does NOT pull people over for speeding from Fort Lauderdale to Miami on I95 because the shoulders are so narrow, it will endanger the life of the officer?

 

If an accident happens on I95 the police/fire/rescue shut down the entire six lanes of traffic to clean up the mess. If it is a bad accident, they will shut down all twelve lanes of north and south bound I95.

 

There is virtually no speed limit on I95 between Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

 

Did you know that our law enforcement deals with on I95? Major drug trafficking, murder, human trafficking, etc.

 

The commute between Palm Beach and Miami is brutal. I would not wish it on my worst enemy.

 

I understand you don't understand this drive but your comments make you look foolish to us locals.

 

Plus it seems like no one has working brake lights and once it starts to rain it's like bumper ice skating.

 

Bonus points for someone allowing you to switch lanes so you don't run over the ladders that seem to come off the back of some held together by bungee cord truck. (The truck is held together by bungee, the ladder was held on with nothing; or someone is riding the ladder to hold it down)

 

You also have a few of the chronically oblivious who go 45 mph and are rolling road blocks.

 

Motorcycles are fun; splitting lanes at 130 mph always seems safe.

 

I don't make appointments in Miami before 11AM, and I'm sure to be wrapped up and on the road by 2:30PM.

 

Carrying uninsured motorist coverage adds nearly 30% to my rates, but down here you'd be insane not to have it. I'd be not surprised at all if the amount of uninsured drivers was higher than you claim.

 

Like I said, 95 it okay down to about the middle of Palm Beach County; but you gotta bail before you get south of Boca or it starts getting bad.

[Organized Chaos]

AMEN! My husband left a very good job in Coral Gables because the commute from Las Olas to there was soul sucking and we did not want to move to Miami.

This is the deal with 195 in South Florida.

We aren't dealing with people who speed.

We are dealing with people from other countries who are under the impression that driving laws are a suggestion.

And that car insurance is a luxury. Probably only one in five cars on I95 is insured and guaranteed any car over ten years old is not.

Did you know that law inforcement does NOT pull people over for speeding from Fort Lauderdale to Miami on I95 because the shoulders are so narrow, it will endanger the life of the officer?

If an accident happens on I95 the police/fire/rescue shut down the entire six lanes of traffic to clean up the mess. If it is a bad accident, they will shut down all twelve lanes of north and south bound I95.

There is virtually no speed limit on I95 between Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

Did you know that our law enforcement deals with on I95? Major drug trafficking, murder, human trafficking, etc.

The commute between Palm Beach and Miami is brutal. I would not wish it on my worst enemy.

I understand you don't understand this drive but your comments make you look foolish to us locals.

Let me start where you left off...with a cheap shot. Apparently you didn't read this thread in its entirety so you don't understand what I have been talking about in regards to I-95. I understand you don't understand, but your comments make you look sanctimonious to us tourists.

 

Drug trafficking, murder, and human trafficking isn't caused by the FL tourism industry, so I'm not even sure what that has to do with anything.

 

Allow me to bring you up to speed. This thread began when the OP, someone who will be traveling to Miami from Iowa, was looking for advice on a driving route and parking. That's where the whole I-95 discussion began. From the get-go, FL residents, or those who travel in FL often, complained about how bad I-95 is. I merely pointed out that I've never found it to be as bad as many are portraying it to be. I also acknowledged that I certainly haven't traveled it as much as some of you. You speak specifically of I-95 in south Florida. If you had gone back and read what I've said (before getting all self-righteous and calling me foolish) you'd know that I made it perfectly clear that my assessment of I-95 referred mainly from Jacksonville down to Ft. Lauderdale. That's when I acknowledged, multiple times mind you, that it got bad. I'm fully aware of how bad traffic is in and around Ft. Lauderdale and down to Miami. I said, again multiple times, that I didn't find I-95 to be the horror show that was being portrayed; that is, until we got to Ft. Lauderdale. But even then it was more so just heavy traffic, not "bumper cars." The entire discussion revolved around whether or not it is worth it for those of us coming from out of state to take the turnpike over I-95. So we're taking into account much more than just south Florida. For example, in my case last year, it was worth taking I-95 from Jax to Ft. Lauderdale. It only cost me about $3 more in gas, as opposed to $20 in tolls. And 95 wasn't bad at all for a majority of that drive. Not until, as I said before, we actually got to Ft. Lauderdale.

 

Do you think you live in the only area in this country with bad traffic and bad drivers? Hate to break it to you, but you're little neck of the woods isn't that special. The fact of the matter is, your little "one in five" uninsured vehicle statistic and your so-called "guarantee" that cars older than 10 years are definitely uninsured according to you...those things amount to nothing more than conjecture. Be careful when it rains, you might drown with your nose up in the air that high. Look, you're not the only locals living in a high tourist area who are annoyed by tourists. Either get over it or move. Those tourists provide a ton of revenue for your city, area, and state. Much of which is funneled into things, such as infrastructure, that you get to enjoy. But feel free to contact your local and state officials to complain about the tourists who bring millions of dollars a year into their cities and state.