FlyerTalk Forums - So how many are driving now instead of flying?

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- - So how many are driving now instead of flying? (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travelbuzz/593705-so-how-many-driving-now-instead-flying.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by etch5895

I, for one, don't like driving long distances. An hour and a half in a car bugs me, especially with aggressive and ignorant drivers. My luck usually involves traffic that makes a painful drive even more so.

I'll keep flying.

I'll also vote on the flying side, though in my case it's all for leisure. I can see where time-pressed short-haul biz travelers might drive rather than fly up to X miles (X for me would probably be around 240 or so), but I'm no fan at all of driving longer hauls. Besides the boredom and the tedium and the gas prices, some rural interstates are downright dangerous. There are far too many stretches in parts of the country like the South that are still 2-lanes per side with too much car and truck volume to allow proper following distance but everyone trying to do 70 and up despite that. Florida has been notorious for that, but other states have it as well. You also have fewer states with separate car/truck speed limits, due either to industry lobbying or some twisted view of how it would be government interfering too much in peoples' lives.

Some interstates, especially the east-west trunks like I-20, really fill up with trucks at certain times. Parts of the country like the Plains and much of the west still have room to space everything out, but in parts of the South and East you get a dangerous mix of too many cars and trucks and too much aggressive weaving or sleep-deprived driving -- even outside the cities. The death numbers aren't dropping like they should because these and other human factors are canceling out gains from road-engineering improvements.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FliesWay2Much

For the OP -- Have you considered using AMTRAK for your longer hauls? I suspect you can get some pretty good deals on rail passes outside the US. You could cut your driving down on the longer legs and pick up a rental car when you get to your destination.

I was thinking about this also.

AMTRAK is a decent alternative for some of the OP's trips: Chicago to Minneapolis is easy -- leave Chicago around 2pm and arrive Mpls around 10pm -- time for dinner in the dining car and a few cocktails in the lounge. The ride is pretty alongside the Mississippi. For the price of an air ticket, the OP will probably be able to buy a roomette, which provides plenty of space for luggage if the OP is travelling alone (the other seat becomes extra luggage space).

Chicago to Omaha is also easy -- the Zephyr leaves Chicago just before 2pm and arrives Omaha at 10pm. Again, plenty of time for cocktails, dinner, and a nap. These segments are highly likely to be on-time as the trains begin these journies in Chicago.

Omaha to Dallas would be better served by air, or by car (I-29 to I-35). There is a daily train from Chicago to Dallas, but it does require an overnight.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FliesWay2Much

I think this goes far beyond toothpaste and make-up. It's a matter of freedom and of a government civil aviation security bureaucracy completely out of control fighting the last war. There's also an environmental issue that hs been created. I don't want to participate in the act of needlessly throwing away -- to find their way into a landfill somewhere -- tubes of toothpaste with just a fraction used, bottles of mouthwash barely used, tons of cosmetics barely used, etc. Since the Department of Homeland Security has screwed up the environment on a massive scale (Gulf Coast) I would expect they really don't care about filling up landfills with barely-used liquids.

Are you kidding? Do you really think bottles of expensive perfume is going to make it to a landfill? The 1st day of these new rules here in Atlanta the news was talking about how much "loot" was confiscated. Then I heard something about where the money was going from the sale of that "loot". I think the people who work at the airport are having a field day.