My husband and I have greatly stretched the mileage we're willing to drive to avoid flying. When we first started dating (1997), he was willing to drive 12 hours from NJ to Myrtle Beach to avoid the plane. Since he cheerfully does all the driving himself, I was OK with it. Started flying again when we moved to KS but we went back to driving 2 years ago (it's an annual trip) after I got another week of vacation. We just take a couple of overnights. We like the freedom not having to worry about packing/checking anything we buy in the outlet stores, and all the unknowns of waits in TSA lines and making connections. My husband is over 6 feet tall and fits better in our car than a Coach seat.

I rarely have business trips within the area; nearest frequent destination is Chicago (from KC suburb). I fly those.