Calling all Canucks-drive or fly to Florida??
 

Going next Feb/Mar for 2 weeks from s.w. Ontario to Sarasota. If driving we would probably take the 2 nights on the road going and coming back. With cost of 4 hotel nights, food, gas, wear and tear on car, losing 4 days vacation,etc. is it worth looking at flying from Detroit or Buffalo and renting a car there? What have your experiences been? Is driving a lot cheaper?

It's not difficult to calculate the cost. Motels along the way usually cost about $50-60 a room, and gas is $2/gallon, meaning about $130 if your vehicle gets 20MPG. You can find out the cost of a rental car down there, and you decide how much an extra day in Florida is worth for yourself.

Also, you can get there in 2 days by car (~700 miles each day), with just one night of hotel enroute.

Apparently, the more people going, the more economical driving is.

I think it is a little more complicated than calculating the cost of the gas, etc. along the way...you've already put your finger on it...up to FOUR of your vacation days are "lost" (as you put it) to the task of getting there and back. Are those four days WORTH the cost difference between driving down and back vs. flying and renting a car?

If they are then your question has been answered.

I always fly out of Buff. Connect through a
"non-winter" hub like Charlotte. You don't want to have to deal w/ the possibility of winter snow storms in Philly for example! Rent your car @ the Sarasota airport. Driving to Fla in Feb/Mar scares the heck out of me! If you encounter bad weather you cld end up losing more than 4 days. Plus it is tiring and boring driving when you cld be sitting on the beach in the sun sipping a cool one! :) :)

Yikes! I'd rather watch grass grow than drive to Florida. Did it once, and it will never happen again!

Seriously, if you'd rather fly but money is an issue, do some web searching. Buffalo to Tampa or Orlando are usually the cheapest routes to Florida. Book as early as you can because it seems like every resident of the city goes to Florida during Feb/March/April. Secondly, if you're staying in a condo, stop at the grocery store and pick up a box of wheaties and some milk for breakfast and a loaf of bread and cold cuts for lunch. Order a pizza for dinner once or twice. In other words, cut back a little someplace else to save money.

Like someone else said, you can spend four days in a car driving or have 4 more days in paradise.

Have a great time.

If you need to rent a car in Sarasota - we generally use Jack's Rent-a-car which is near the Sarasota Airport and has much better weekly prices.

phone number is 941-355-0700.

Go Calgary!!! If the Sharks couldn't be in the finals, I am glad that Calgary is there. They have Sutter and Kipper and I think they are overall a very good team.

I have a lot of admiration for Calgary fans too. We are Sharks fans and went to a Sharks/Calgary play off game in San Jose. There were quite a few Calgary fans there that had DRIVEN to San Jose from Calgary. Now you are talking about driving to Florida. You guys are hardcore.

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Have you checked out Amtrak AutoTrain? It departs Lorton, Virginia (near Washington, D.C.) at 4:00 p.m. everyday and arrives near Orlando around 9:00 the next morning. You take your car with you. We've done it twice and it can be economical if you book the trip well in advance. Saves you gas, wear and tear, plus the expensive car rental fees. Also, don't know quite where you're located in Ontario, but if you can drive to Cleveland, I just booked a flight on USA3000 Airlines from Cleveland to Tampa during Christmas week for $110.00 roundtrip. I think this airline also departs from Detroit so you may want to check them out. It may be even cheaper during February.

wow, even though Charlotte is a non winter hub, I've been stuck there many times due to either ice storms in Charlotte or blizzards in the Northeast.

It always seems like my flights originate out of either Philly or Pitt.

That's great to hear J_Correa. Flames fever has caught on all over Canada and it's nice to know we have some Americans pulling for us too! Go Flames Go!

It all depends on how many of you are going. We have 3 kids and for us it is much more economical to drive.

There are so many hotels/motels that are pretty cheap along the way.