ADVICE TO TOURISTS ARRIVING TOMORROW!
 

Fast advice pleas! We fly into Orlando from Ireland on Saturday. We pick up a car at the airport and drive to Nashville, arriving there on Monday. Will we have problems getting gas along the way? Will we have problems getting accommodation - are hotels/motels along the way booked out by people who had to leave hurricane areas? Should we head in some other direction where we will have less chance of problems?

There are reports that motel space north of Alabama and Mississippi is tight, so I'd recommend an availability search (on travelocity or some such) a.s.a.p.

Otherwise, my next question is how long you are going to be here. People can still get gas pretty easily here (but are paying prices that rise twice a day), but there are many indications that we will be facing shortages in the next weeks. Consider MPG frugality and cruising range when you rent a car.

You may have trouble finding gas in the south. The major pipeline is running at about 25% capacity at the moment but it is slowly being restored. We are experiencing gas shortage in NC. I imagine you will find motel space, but it is a major holiday week-end and Nashville is a major destination these days. Good luck. It's a difficult time.

I'd worry more about hotels than I would gas (though I'd start looking at 1/3 of a tank).

Not only will you be competing with displaced folks from Katrina, but a few cities/towns in the southeast will be fully booked for the first weekend of college football. For example, hotels/motels in Tallahasee (northern Florida) are kicking refugees out of rooms as the football fans come in.

I recommend picking where you're going to stop and making reservations before you leave. Should be able to do it on line. Good luck.

I live in Tennessee between Nashville and Memphis. Regular gas is at least $3 per gallon and some areas are restricting the amount of gas purchased to $20. Within a particular area, some gas stations are out of gas completely, but the ones that do still have a supply are experiencing really long lines (some places 30 minute or more wait). I know the trip from Orlando to Nashville is really long, so it might be a complete headache to have to wait in a long line every time you need gas. Not sure on the hotels, but Nashville is busy especially on Labor Day weekend. I know I live in a rural area and people from the Mississippi coast are here in our hotels (which makes me think they are having trouble getting accommodations in bigger cities.) Unless you have your heart set on Nashville, you might try the East Tn-Smoky Mountains-Gatlinburg area (but things might be completely booked there, too, because of the holiday weekend). But, I would say, definitely don't try to travel west of Nashville at this time.

Ditto to what everyone else is saying. Gas was around $3.19/gallon up north this morning, and will probably rise further by tonight. to put it in perspective, it was $2.59 just 2 days ago. Parts of the south are showing prices up to $5 a gallon on the news. Also, it's a major holiday weekend in the US and a lot of people travel, let alone the hundreds of thousands of displaced people from the Gulf Coast. You may want to head north of Nashville, and definitely try to get some reservations before you leave...not a great idea to come to the US on a holiday weekend without reservations if you are heading to big tourist destinations, especially with everything going on in the lower half of the country.

Id suggest staying in Florida instead of driving up to Nashville, traffic will be bad this weekend because of the holiday and with gas shortages you may encounter alot of problems.

Florida has some lovely little towns and you might have fun at some of the Disney parks.

Also Orlando has become a shopping meca, LOTS of outlet shopping and some upscale stores.

I would pick a few places you want to see and get online to book hotels ASAP.

YOu might try www.hotels.com so you can easily compare location, amenties and rates.

Have a lovely vacation.

It's a long drive and perhaps not what you wanted but Williamsburg, Va hasn't seen gas shortages yet and there will be plenty of hotel rooms. Maybe others can comment on gas availability along the coast through Georgia, South and North Carolina.

I was also going to suggest staying in the Orlando area, going to the amusement parks, theme-show restaurants, eco-tours, taking maybe a couple days for the beach, touring the space stuff, etc. If you really want to spend time that you didn't plan for, maybe a (last minute for cheap) Caribbean cruise?

This is a Labor Day weekend, when most folks have Monday off. It's the unofficial end of summer here in US. Millions hit the road for the chance to enjoy the long weekend. The roads and motels/hotels will be very busy and when you add the hurricane effect into the equation? then maybe it's not the best time to drive up.

Here is my suggestion. If you are set on Nashville, why not fly there? I just checked www.southwest.com and they're showing availibility for tomorrow at $180 per person on a one-way, non-stop to Nashville. After your stay in Nashville you could rent a car and drive back to Orlando during a regular weekday when most heavy traffic will be gone and the gas supply will be back to somewhat normal.

Thank you all for replying. We now have a better picture of the situation. If we find things are not great by tomorrow evening regarding the availability of gas, we may well stay in Florida. We know the area quite well as this will be our fourth time there! This was to have been our third Labour weekend in Nashville but if it's not to be ......

It sure is hard to get good information about gas. Here in Naples, Florida several stations closed yesterday out of gas, and the word was -- including on TV-- that none would be delivered until next week. I lined up yesterday at one open station with many others. But today, the stations that were closed yesterday were indeed open and selling gas, so I'm not sure why we were told none would be delivered. I suspect you'll have no major problems. We all scream at the current price, but if you're from Ireland it will still seem like a bargain to you!