Driving from Mass to Florida.

[bike1964]

Rent a car for the way down and fly home? Might save a few bucks? Probably stick you pretty hard with a one way car rental though?:(

[firefly333]

lol my advice is to take the train, it goes straight down I95 from near where you are.

 

Good luck and start at least a day early in case of bad weather.

[vacruizer]

I usually drive through Scranton and head down the Blue Ridge Interstate 81. When you get to NC head down Interstate 40 and pick up 75 in Knoxville. Follow Interstate 75 straight down into FL and if you are going to FL or MI take the turnpike in Ocala. If your going to Tampa just head rightdown I75.

 

No troubles with NYC or DC or I95

 

I wouldn't go all the way west to Knoxville. If you are on 81 you can take either I-77 south to Columbia and then I-26 over to 95 or you can get off I-81 in Roanoke on 581 south which will turn into route 220. You'll eventually come into 95 in South Carolina. Time is about the same for both. If the weather is bad - take route through Roanoke and not I-77 as there can be very bad fog and multi-car pileups on I-77 at Fancy Gap mountain.

[sam1148]

Is flying completely out of the question?

 

Southwest flies into FLL, where the Freedom is based.

 

The flights are affordable.

 

Factor in the stress of driving, length of trip, food, hotel overnight on the road, loss of time when arrive...and the 'dog tried feeling' from driving from hours.

 

Yes, flying is a hassle these days..but you only have to put up with it for a couple of hours compared driving that distance.

[JTRose123]

Is flying completely out of the question?

 

Southwest flies into FLL, where the Freedom is based.

 

The flights are affordable.

 

Factor in the stress of driving, length of trip, food, hotel overnight on the road, loss of time when arrive...and the 'dog tried feeling' from driving from hours.

 

Yes, flying is a hassle these days..but you only have to put up with it for a couple of hours compared driving that distance.

 

$800 round trip for the both of us. Add in the fact I'd have to pay for a hotel for the night before, because I wouldn't trust taking an early flight, and not having some sort of delay. Plus cab fares. You're looking at 950+.

 

Taking my car, packing a bunch of food and snacks that I already have in my house, paying only for gas and tolls, and a snack here or there. I'll also get an oil change in Florida before driving back, and we're still talking less than $200. (It cost me $17 to fill my tank, and I get 400 miles a tank).

 

Driving is no stress. Neither is being tired. I'm in the military, I'm used to it.

[sam1148]

$800 round trip for the both of us. Add in the fact I'd have to pay for a hotel for the night before, because I wouldn't trust taking an early flight, and not having some sort of delay. Plus cab fares. You're looking at 950+.

 

Taking my car, packing a bunch of food and snacks that I already have in my house, paying only for gas and tolls, and a snack here or there. I'll also get an oil change in Florida before driving back, and we're still talking less than $200. (It cost me $17 to fill my tank, and I get 400 miles a tank).

 

Driving is no stress. Neither is being tired. I'm in the military, I'm used to it.

 

Did you look at SouthWest's site flying from Manchester NH. (Depends on where you live in MASS).

SW doesn't show up in Travocity, websites for fares..you have to use their site only.

 

One way.

 

1150 9:35am 1:20pm Nonstop 3:45 $321

$301

$125

Still tho...I'd count on arriving the day before. And having a hotel in FLL. And remember you save basically a day of travel..because I wouldn't trust driving in Feb with out major delays and anything that shuts down airports will shut down the roads.

[bleuiz]

lol my advice is to take the train, it goes straight down I95 from near where you are.

 

Good luck and start at least a day early in case of bad weather.

 

Last President's Day break I took Amtrak myself to Florida from Penn Station............over 24 hours..........VERY LONG...........

I would have taken Autotrain but the cost was the same as flying (vacation week)

If given my druthers, I would stay with Autotrain........short drive and nice short train ride.............

[UCSD]

no, they are 3 or more going through DC and down 395 to 95.

I would recommend skipping 95 all the way from Phil to Richmond. Anytime of the day or night.

 

I always think about doing this, driving to the port, but then I remember the drive home.

I usually drive to MA/NH for holidays and going back home is the worst.

grab two more to make it four, you will have lots of fun.... and to share the cost of fuel.

[JTRose123]

Did you look at SouthWest's site flying from Manchester NH. (Depends on where you live in MASS).

SW doesn't show up in Travocity, websites for fares..you have to use their site only.

 

One way.

 

1150 9:35am 1:20pm Nonstop 3:45 $321

$301

$125

Still tho...I'd count on arriving the day before. And having a hotel in FLL. And remember you save basically a day of travel..because I wouldn't trust driving in Feb with out major delays and anything that shuts down airports will shut down the roads.

 

Would still be 680 roundtrip, I checked Southwest.com the other day.

 

I don't think people realize the purpose of this thread. I don't want to be convinced otherwise. I've flown before, I've driven before. I want to drive this trip. I was just looking for some fun suggestions.

[lincolndog]

WE also will be driving we have a 23 hour trip. Planning on going straight through. Six of us in the car. Also open for fun suggestions!

[vacruizer]

Would still be 680 roundtrip, I checked Southwest.com the other day.

 

I don't think people realize the purpose of this thread. I don't want to be convinced otherwise. I've flown before, I've driven before. I want to drive this trip. I was just looking for some fun suggestions.

 

We are driving to Port Canaveral from VA in three weeks - about an 11 hour drive for us. We made a huge cruise playlist for Dh's mp3 player for the ride with anything cruise related - Buffet, reggae, soca, all the silly dance songs they play onboard, party songs, anything to do with sailing or ships, etc. That should help for the ride down.

 

Other than that the only thing I can think of is to play the old license plate game! I am dreading the drive - I am really not a good car trip persona and I swore I'd never do it again after we drove to Tampa for a family reunion a few years ago. But Dh doesn't want to fly this time after a bad experience over the summer and flights are very expensise - we booked this as a last minute cheap trip so we will make the drive. Even with hotels it will still be way less expensive to drive - especially since gas prices have come down and my car gets 45mpg on the highway.

 

I think the excitement will keep me going on the way there - it's the drive back that I'm not looking forward to since I know we will be tired. I never seem to sleep much that last night onboard and then up early for the debarkation thing.

[cancan]

Try books on CD's. They are great and really help the time go faster.

[Guest JJWW]

Well,while your headed down south stop in M.B. S.C.;)

Good cooking ,great entertainment.

CCL needs a port here !!!

[KroozFoolz]

$800 round trip for the both of us. Add in the fact I'd have to pay for a hotel for the night before, because I wouldn't trust taking an early flight, and not having some sort of delay. Plus cab fares. You're looking at 950+.

 

Taking my car, packing a bunch of food and snacks that I already have in my house, paying only for gas and tolls, and a snack here or there. I'll also get an oil change in Florida before driving back, and we're still talking less than $200. (It cost me $17 to fill my tank, and I get 400 miles a tank).

 

Driving is no stress. Neither is being tired. I'm in the military, I'm used to it.

 

Not a fun suggestion, but a reminder:

Don't forget you will have to pay to park your car at the port.

[VABeach]

Fly. You'll be worn out when you get there, and you'll HATE the drive home.

 

If you must drive, watch out for traffic on I-95 around DC.

 

There's always the train.....

 

Good luck.~ :)

[JTRose123]

Fly. You'll be worn out when you get there, and you'll HATE the drive home.

 

If you must drive, watch out for traffic on I-95 around DC.

 

There's always the train.....

 

Good luck.~ :)

 

 

Oh thanks, I never considered those other options. I was not aware that I could fly to Florida. Hm. Thanks so much for recommending them. Maybe I should completely re-do my plans in light of these new and thoughtful suggestions.

[JTRose123]

Not a fun suggestion, but a reminder:

Don't forget you will have to pay to park your car at the port.

 

Right. About 100$ for the week.

[gail811]

2 or more ;)

 

VIRGINIA I-95 requires three or more, it does change state to state and I forgot that when I replied...so sorry.

[sam1148]

Would still be 680 roundtrip, I checked Southwest.com the other day.

 

I don't think people realize the purpose of this thread. I don't want to be convinced otherwise. I've flown before, I've driven before. I want to drive this trip. I was just looking for some fun suggestions.

 

Okay..Get some CDs books on tape/CD's. Don't purchase them. You can get a library card and Ipod them.

I'd recommend "Salt:A History".."Skinny Dip" by Carl Hiassen. (Guy throws his wife off a cruise ship., she lives and makes her revenge.black humor, very Florida detective type book)....

 

And for Geek stuff..Original radio plays of Hitchhikers Guide.

 

For campy stuff on the road..stop at "South of the Boarder" when you see the signs on the drive. For AM radio at night..look for "Coast to Coast" radio when you travel. (UFO's, Bigfoot, Crazy callers and quite fun to listen to late at night).

 

Take a visit do you library, and get a card..and check out their CD's. Personally, I like the 'full cast recordings' more like radio plays..If you like Star Trek, there's quite a few of those. if you like history, "Salt" is great. And for science a "Short History of Everything" or "Physics of the impossible" is also good...all on audio.

 

You can also Download old style CBS mystery theater MP3 for free ...

 

http://www.archive.org/details/otr_cbsradiomysterytheater

[berls088]

I'm cruising on the Carnival Freedom on Jan 17th with my girlfriend. To save some money, and add some adventure to our trip, we decided to drive down to Ft. Lauderdale. (Ok, I'll be honest, we both hate flying.)

 

Posting here to see if any of you can office some god advice, funny stories, and anything that might make my trip that much better.

 

 

im going on a cruise a little after you and live in RI, and we were going to drive but then we thought of the one thing that made it a def NO...SNOOOWWWWW! odds are you could be driving in snow from RI to like New jersey or something...dangerous! tell me how it goes now that gas is $1.50!

[vacruizer]

For the parking you could try to find a pre-cruise hotel that offers a park & cruise package where you leave your car at the hotel for the week.

[Gina477]

Well, we drove down this summer with 5 kids and Hubby from NYC to Port Canaveral. Of course, you can see where the financial aspect came into play. There was no way I was going to pay for airfare for 7 people and then hotels, etc.

 

The drive down was pretty decent. We were worried because we were driving through Hurricane Fay. We made if from NY to GA the first night.

 

My advice, other than NEVER drive down with kids (ages 16 - 8) in the car. Have a GPS handy. This is great to locate the nearest anything!! Also, we were trying to be careful and follow the speed limit for almost the whole drive down. Big mistake! If you can, make sure you have the bait slightly ahead of you. If there are any traffic police, they will probably stop them first. We probably would've been in FL the first night if we had went a little faster.

 

Make sure to have some of those pillows for the neck that attach to the headrest. I bought some at Walmart on our way back home after having serious neck pain. Don't forget to have some Icy Hot or Ben-Gay or something for tense muscles.

 

Other than that, enjoy your trip!! You seem to have the food/snacks, games, music stuff covered.

 

Have a great trip! I wish I was going on a cruise in the Winter!!

 

Gina =D

[sam1148]

Oh thanks, I never considered those other options. I was not aware that I could fly to Florida. Hm. Thanks so much for recommending them. Maybe I should completely re-do my plans in light of these new and thoughtful suggestions.

 

Maybe you could try not be a dick to people offering suggestions.

[UCSD]

it will turn to be no fun if a ticket is given by state troopers... be careful.

[GoinCruisin]

I wish you luck! If it were in the summer, I would say go for it... but in the winter, especially in the winter we are having, it is going to be tricky... we NEVER have bad weather in the south at this time of year and we have already in NC had snow twice and sleet once... I would suspect by January things could be much worse and things SHUT DOWN in the south when bad weather hits (seriously, here we have 3 snow plows... interstates will shut down for days and travelers are stuck here for days)... so while you might think it's great to drive, Interstate 40 has been completely closed several times during winter over the past few years... as has I-95. We are just not equipped for winter. Now, we are also laying off about half of our our DOT staff right before winter... we had a freak snowstorm several years ago, 2 feet of snow.. might not seem like a lot to you northerners... but I couldn't leave my street for 4 weeks... if that gives you a clue how slow things are around here. SO... if there HAPPENS to be snow around the southern regions when you travel, expect to spend the night somewhere... the interstates will likely be closed because we tend to get ice first and the DOT will close the interstates... they are calling for a bad winter around here. If you are willing to risk it, I would at least suggest getting a dummy insurance policy that pays for anything.. I'm not sure there is one that would cover this situation so you may want to check... but driving in the height of winter time might not be covered... you northereners may have winter covered, but when we get it here (in January and February), we are ill equipped and the cities literally come to a stand still... we are actually ridiculed on the weather channel for how ill-prepared we are...LOL So you take your chances!!!! It is FAR different around here in Jan and Feb than up there... anyone will tell you that... when bad weather hits, you can be stuck for days.. we don't know how to handle it and we will gladly admit it (we love our good weather, LOL... but they are telling us this is a sign of bad things to come, we have already had record lows several times this season)... so if you are coming through the south, which you will be, in January, just know that you need to plan for a few extra days, just in case...