Parents What's your criteria for driving vs flying?

[wallinbl]

We're faced with out of state meets for the first time this year, and are feeling our way through arranging travel. Was already surprised to find out that the group rates are already gone for Feb/March meets! I thought I was getting a jump on things to book the hotels now.

One meet is 11 hours away, the other 15 hours. My first reaction was to fly, but after looking at the cost of flights, the uncertainty of what day she'll actually compete, etc, I'm now on the fence. If it were me competing, I'd fly, because that long in a car is hard on a "old" person! Anyone have experience with longer drives to meets and whether they take a toll on the gymnast? Not to sound crazy or obsessed with scores, but it's a lot of time and money to go to the meets, so I wouldn't want to spend all that and then put DD in a position to not do her best.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

anything under 4 hours is okay on the body. 11 & 15? whew... high level optionals would not be a good idea. compulsories? i don't think it will matter one way or the other.

 

[htimcj]

For 11 and 15 hours we fly. We drove to Las Vegas from Idaho once and it was a LONG haul and in the winter.

 

[gymmiemom]

Lots of factors go into that for us. Our closest big airport is 5 hours away, so by the time I add that in, plus being at the airport early usually I just opt to drive. We are flying to Vegas this year because Allegiant flys out of our semi-local airport (1 hours away) for cheap, but if they didn't we would be driving.

If you live close to an airport I would fly, however. Long drives are hard on a person.

 

[2G1B]

either of those drive times would likely be a "fly" for us. 6 hours would be drive; but 15, no way.

 

[Ingwe]

Last year L9/L10 Regionals were in Mississippi. We planned on flying but getting a flight from where we are involved 2 layovers, close to $2000 round trip and in the end the travel time was 9 plus hours. We ended up driving. (12 hours) What we did was break it up into 2 days. We drove halfway and stopped for the night. Finished driving the next day and were there by 12:00 pm. She didn't compete until the late afternoon the following day. She did fine. I on the other hand did not fare so well. LOL!! That drive about killed me.

IMO I would fly and skip the long drive.

L10 nationals are in MS this year and if by some small miracle my Dd makes it, there is no way I would drive

 

[bookworm]

It has to be under 6 hours for me to drive....11 and 15 hours, no way...like you said, you want to put her in a position to do her best. Why not pick one of the far away meets and fly to that? I remember when we first started one of the parents wouldn't fly anywhere for "8 minutes of competition" but why put her in the sport at all then because it's always going to be 8 minutes of competition total...

 

[MeetDirector]

We will have 9 travel meets (counting regionals and Westerns) this year for our Lvl 9. All will be fly-away meets and we will turn them all into mini-vacations. As for driving, anything over 3 hours is a non-starter for us and we would never, ever drive on the day she competes. In fact, we won't fly on the day she competes. Is it a challenge, yes. I usually book a Friday out and a late Sunday return and then keep my fingers crossed. We already know about one meet that will have a Fri competition.

Good Luck.

 

[MaryA]

We did a team bus ride for a meet that was 10-ish hours away. Round trip the bus was about $150/person for a Thurs-Sun trip with about 50 people on the bus, and some people did find flights for about $200/person. But then they were also driving 2-3 hours to and from the airport, paying for parking, etc. In the end, the bus ride was one of the most fun parts of the trip for DD, and it wasn't too horrible in terms of adult comfort. You could see if there was interest in setting something like that up for your team for one of those trips. I suspect that, unless I could find really good rates out of a pretty close airport, I would probably drive to anything 8 hours away or closer. Though then I'd probably want to break it up over two days, so then I'd need to figure hotel costs into the total when I figure out whether it's cheaper or not.

 

[Faith]

Wow! Here am I thinking long road trips and distances were the norm for you Americans .

I don't think we'd ever fly anywhere in the uk, it's just too expensive. Mind you I think 6/7 hours is probably the longest we'd need to drive anywhere. Plus we have a really good rail infrastructure so that would be preferable to flying in most cases, just as fast and convenient.

I normally fly only if it's cheaper, and shorter than rail or road. Which it rarely is within the uk.

 

[MaryA]

Wow! Here am I thinking long road trips and distances were the norm for you Americans .

What is it they say? In Europe, 100 miles is far and in the US, 100 years is old?

I do think we do a lot of long road trips here in the US, but meets are during the school year and also (ironically enough) during meet season, so parents are reluctant to have kids miss too much of either school or practice, I think. Definitely jealous of UK's public transport systems!

 

[Bajanswife]

I'm envious of all of you that have the choice to drive! We have to fly to all meets except our own host meet, which is once a year.

 

[my4buffaloes]

We have never been presented with a reason to fly, our farthest away meet was 6 hours. The only way I can see us needing to fly is if dd made nationals at some point and it was far away. I think anything 10 or under I would drive, but again I have been put in that position yet.

 

[aksaunders]

We book our hotel and drive to 99% of our meets. We book the hotel stay for the duration of the meet and will modify it once we know when our DD will compete. If we are required to fly to a meet then the meet is probably in a "destination location" and we will turn the trip into a mini-vacation by going out a day or so early and flying home a day after competing. Good luck.

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

We have done team bus trips for 7-9 hours. Anything over 10 I would definitely fly.

 

[AlexsGymmyMom]

This year for our 1 out of state meet we are taking a train. From St Louis to Chicago you can get a 4 round trip train tickets for a whopping $162.00 total! I had to go back and put in the info again on the amtrak website because I couldn't believe it was sooooo cheap! Each way is approx 5 1/2 hours but having never been on a train I am really excited! Last year we drove to Florida with a couple other gym moms. It was the most exhausting trip ever! 13 hours non stop in a car! I will NEVER do that again! I will stick with the 6 hours or less we drive, anything over we will fly or take a train!

 

[MyBoysFlip]

We love to travel by train! If it works for the cities you need to get to try it. Still takes a lot if time but it is so relaxing. You can pack your own food and drinks and just sit back and read or sleep. I always check Amtrack to see if trips are possible. We have a 9 hr and possibly a 6 hour drive this year. We are making trips of both.

 

[GymBee97]

for an 11 or 15 drive I would definitely FLY and then rent a car. Usually anything in the 3 -4 hour range I will drive and do a hotel stay. Anything over that its a flight for me.

 

[GymBee97]

We love to travel by train! If it works for the cities you need to get to try it. Still takes a lot if time but it is so relaxing. You can pack your own food and drinks and just sit back and read or sleep. I always check Amtrack to see if trips are possible. We have a 9 hr and possibly a 6 hour drive this year. We are making trips of both.

Yes I love the train too. I grew up as an Amtrack Junkie since my Grandfather worked for them and back then we could travel for free with amtrack because we lived with him and my grandparents raised us.

 

[Fliptwisttumble]

I will drive for up to 6 hours, weather depending. Crappy winters has me look at the flying option for those 4+ hours away in the winter.

Fortunately, 5 of DD's 8-10 meets are within 2 hours, so that helps.

I used to take the train to university, but when I looked at that option for Toronto to Montreal travel, it was as expensive as flying and took as long as a drive. So that is out for now.