Traveling to Denver in Sept. Fly or Drive?

Make a list, two columns, car and plane
cost of air
cost of gas, mpg on car
cost of food while in car
cost of rental
cost of hotels both by driving and flying
cost of kennels for animals left at home
cost of parking in extended parking garage at airport

It costs us way too much to fly home so we usually drive. 900 miles, even with kennel and hotel and 12 mpg.
If you drive pack, enough for the kids to do.

I am usually all for driving, but a trip like that screams FLY!!! It is going to cost you quite a bit in gas, food, and lodging for the two day trip, and in the end will probably equal the cost of the flight (or get pretty darn close). I cannot imagine a long car ride like that when in less than 4 hours you could be there, but that's just me!

This is a question with TONS of variables...
- What will the airfare cost you?
- What will the rental car cost you?
- Does your insurance cover a rental car? If not, you will have to buy the company's insurance.
- What is the gas going to cost you? I'm sure there's a website that can estimate that for you.
- Hotels and meals "on the road" are not cheap!
- Seriously... will the airline be charging you for luggage? I flew Delta recently and they tagged on a $25 fee for the FIRST bag! Jet Blue and some others don't.
- Will you be making a whole vacation out of it? Meaning, do you have a full week to travel so you can stop and sight-see on the way?

I was in a wedding in Savannah last month (my cousin) and ended up flying by myself for the long weekend b/c it was going to cost a small fortune to drive down for the wedding and a true fortune to fly us all down. In the end, my husband and I talked about it and I HAD to be there b/c I was a bridesmaid, but as much as he wanted to be there, he stayed home with our son. Even with that, it cost me $1000 to be there.

If you have a full week and you want to make a family vacation out of it, go for the drive! It may cost you less (but may not) and you get the added bonus of seeing some cool stuff along the way! If you are going to "push it" and drive through with potty/eat and sleep stops only, then fly.

fly. 2 days in a car will take 4 days off your vacation and 5 yrs off your life!

IF you have options - explore them....

IF You have time to travel - you can see a lot of things along the way....so you can make it a family vacation...it's about 16 hours from LA.......but you can go through las vegas, NV - Utah and western Colorado....there's stuff there!!

If you don't have time to travel and stop and smell the roses, as they say, fly and rent a car.....you would be able to spend more time with the family, i.e. brother, his new wife...etc...

depends upon which way you want to go!!!

If you could afford to fly, my vote would be to fly. Especially since the kiddos are older. I-40 can be long.....There really is not much in the Arizona desert to see. New Mexico and Arizona both have those forest fires going on. Two days of driving might make you all insane, before the big day.

We just did that road trip..we have a 5 year old son..drove to Vegas..stayed at the Tropicana..great restaurant in there..don't need to go looking..got upgraded to a suite b/c our phone didn't work and the bathroom wasn't clean..suite was nice..would stay there again..then from there we drove to Moab Utah..stopping at some cool spots along the way..Moab is AMAZING..so majestic..stayed at the Gonzo Inn....from there..we stayed in Aspen wish we would have stayed at Hotel Jerome..we opted for a cabin L'Auberge (sp?) ..went to some amusement park in Glenwood Springs..BUT..not recommending it..didn't really think that was great..though the caves they have there that you can go in are really cool..so hmmm...might have to take that back but the rides were eh... we loved Aspen and went to Maroon Bells ..a gorgeous mountain and lake in Aspen..if u opt for the road trip go for a walk around the lake there..just stunning.. then from there..to Boulder..which is just an amazing city..i ran all over the city one evening..found a stream w/ other runners running there..loved that run ..there's a great shopping street there..but i can't remember the name..i'm sure people can tell u..then from there Denver..only went vintage shopping there for a couple hours and headed to Santa Fe..that wasn't on our list of things to do but once u start a road trip u get into it and want to go for it..when in Santa Fe we went to the Bandelier ..one of my favorite hikes we took..caves in the mountains where the Pueblo people lived long ago...very cool..u can even go into the caves..then we went to Sedona Az..cute town..and we loved Slide Rock..its $20 to park in the lot there ..to go to this gorgeous river w/ swimming pools..u can park on the road above and walk down..
from there to Flagstaff..stayed at Little America..and went to the Grand Canyon..we really liked that hotel..great pool..and didn't want to be stuck in the park..happy we did that b/c my son got bored w/ the Grand Canyon b/c you mainly just drive around viewing it..ate at a cool little burger place that i saw featured in Sunset Mag this month Diablo Burger..
then we made the mistake of going to Laughlin on the way back..should have gone through Lake Havasu..

i'm going to say..take the road trip..you'll wonder why you live in LA..seriously so much beauty out there..if you want to see some pix i took email me on here w/ your email and i'll send some..my son still talks about our road trip ...now we want to do one up the California coast..miss being out there ..and you'd think you'd be worried about getting in an accident..but you wind up driving on 2 lane highways and not much traffic..its when we got back into LA that i started to worry on the road..
go for the road trip..and if you need ideas for hotels let me know..also pick hotels w/ pools..my son loved swimming at the end of the days..he actually was afraid of swimming and pools and so he got used to going into them..and is now taking lessons..
so again..road trip all the way!! will be a great adventure..i miss all those places and the little spots we stopped at in between

D.

I just had to make the exact same decision. LA to Denver: fly or drive? My kiddos are 9 and 6. When I factored in the cost of gas & hotel each way, flying was only about $200 more. Spending those extra 4 days with my brother and his new baby daughter was the deciding factor for us. So worth the extra $$. We leave Monday!

Good luck!

I would probably want to fly! What I would do is compare flight+add on luggage+rental car costs to the travel food+hotel+gas costs for driving. Also, you/husband will need to take two additional days off of work to drive, so factor that in.

We love road trips. It really exposes the kids to areas they would never get to see otherwise. Your kids are the perfect age for a road trip. We have taken many and my kids have a lot of experiences to pull from in social and academic situations. I vote for road trip!

If you are going for the "weekend wedding", Fly. If you have time to make it a vacation, drive. It depends on how much time you have.

Between you and Denver is the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, the antique train in Chama, New Mexico, Wolf Creek Pass, four corners, Sante Fe, New Mexico and all kinds of stuff. If you make it a vacation, look up Diners, Drive-ins and Dives web site. He goes to very interesting places to eat. I've been to several and they have always been good and intersting.

Good luck to you and yours.

No questions for my family of 3. If a drive is over 2 hours, we fly.

We make all business and personal trips via the air and renting cars. Easy peasy and your are not drained when you get there!

Check Southwest so see what options they have. Right now thy have some awesome rates, especially the web only deals that are 21+ days in advance.

I'd fly if you can. It would probbly be cheaper to drive, even with a hotel involved, but if you can afford, it fly! Driving that long with two kids makes me want to cry! ;)

Oh and I also agree that it's going to take so much time off vacation since you'll be spending it in the car!