Driving from New Brunswick

[east_coaster]

We drove from PEI in 93 and 2006. We drove to Manchester and flew with Southwest 3 times after that. Great airline. Direct flights.

If you are driving down considering taking 84 over from Boston and go down 81 to avoid New York, Philly and Washington. In laws take that route every year.

Thanks! That looks like the best route down.

 

[Zmack]

east_coaster Air Canada has a seat sale on today ,May 1. Canceled ones I had and rebooked and saved over $130 per ticket. With my travel points the three of us can fly from Freddy to Orlando round trip for $530 Cad .

 

[east_coaster]

east_coaster Air Canada has a seat sale on today ,May 1. Canceled ones I had and rebooked and saved over $130 per ticket. With my travel points the three of us can fly from Freddy to Orlando round trip for $530 Cad .

That is an amazing deal!! I checked for my dates, and it’s still up over $1,500.

 

[Zmack]

Mine were over $1500 also, but I had over $1000 in reward points witch really helped. But with the way

the way fuel prices are going ( I don't know how it affects aviation fuel ) I thought I should buy them

now.

 

[mshanson3121]

Fellow NBer!

Yes, we did this in June/July 2015 with our kids who were 5 and 8 at the time. We bypassed the major cities and instead took 81 to the 77 to 26. We split it up over 3 days. First day we drove to Scranton, PA. Was about 12 hours driving. Next day we stopped around Orangeburg, SC. I think it was around 10 hours driving that day. We also stopped and toured the Shenandoah Caverns that afternoon in Virginia. Then the 3rd day we slept in and drove the rest of the way into Florida, which I believe was around 5 hours. So, leaving from Woodstock, NB, we made it in 27 hours (driving, not allowing for breaks, gas etc...).

We used www.hotelcoupons.com and got great deals on hotel rooms. They were all directly off the highway, very clean, had full hot continental breakfast and had pools. Never paid more than $60 US for a night. We brought an electric cooler and packed snacks, drinks etc... so we had free breakfasts at the hotels, picnicked for lunch (sandwiches, fruit etc), and then bought supper. I think our total cost for the trip for hotels, gas, meals, tolls was right around $800 US. Could have been a bit less, but my husband kept up with flow of traffic which averaged about 80 mph, so definitely burned through fuel. I know at the time, it saved us I believe $600+ over flying, when we factored in the rental car we would have needed for 11 days.

One thing we did, too, was bring our soccer ball and football with us, so whenever we stopped at the rest stops for gas or to eat etc... we all got out and played a bit to stretch our legs. That definitely helped.

Would I do it again? My husband would, yes. He has no problem with driving. And... he's afraid of flying, lol. Myself... I'm torn. Honestly, the drive down was great. We had never driven farther south than Boston before, so we really enjoyed the trip - everything was new. Plus, we had the anticipation of DISNEY!!! The drive home I found killer. The first day was okay. The second day was hard - the kids were exhausted, tired of being in the car, starting to fight, there was nothing to look forward to, I wasn't feeling great (I left Florida with a sinus infection brewing and a pain in my leg), we took a wrong turn and ended up driving through the hell that is Hartford at rush hour. I remember sitting in a gas station in CT, wanting to cry, and wishing with all my heart we could have just hopped on a plane and been home! We pushed through hard that 2nd day and managed to get to Portland, ME. The third day, we did some shopping at the outlets at Kittery before we left, and honestly, it was better. We knew we were close to home, and we had reached that exhausted, giddy/silly stage of, "Who cares what the heck goes wrong now?!" which served us well as we missed a poorly marked on-ramp and ended up off-roading our SUV through a median ditch to get back onto it We all had a lot of great laughs that day on the drive home.

In a perfect world, DH would drive and kids and I would fly down and meet him. But that isn't exactly my definition of a "family" vacation, and it makes it far more expensive. So... yeah, I would do it again.

Tips we gleaned along the way:

- Plot your drive carefully to make sure you are not bypassing any cities near rush hour (we had an almost 2 hour delay by Columbia when we got stuck in the rush hour traffic jam).
- Pack as many snacks/drinks etc... as possible to save time and money
- Find hotels that offer free breakfast
- Allow a full day off the next day after you've arrived in Florida. Driving (whether you split it into 3 days, or drive straight through), is EXHAUSTING. You need to have time to recuperate. We didn't do that, and jumped right into Epcot the next day, and then went 4 days straight before taking a break. BIG mistake. By the end of that stretch, we had hit a level of tired that really did slow us down the rest of the trip.
- Likewise, allow a full day off the day before you leave, to get rested up for the return drive.
- If you have young children and you're packing stuff to entertain them, don't pack too much. I think we packed half the toy room, lol. It was a mess everytime they had to climb in and out of the backseat.
- If your kids eat chicken nuggets in the backseat, make sure they were all eaten and not left unnoticed on the floor of the car. Because otherwise, when you find them 2 days later after they've been sitting in the scorching heat of a Floridian summer, you will find a pile of maggots.

 

[Emmagic7]

Hi I’m a fellow New Brunswicker too We drove to Disney last year and we are doing it again this year.
We took our time driving last year. Stopped in wrentham to shop at the outlets, stopped in Virginia for a night and then a few days at Myrtle Beach(which we loved). We stayed at a Disney resort (movies) for a few nights and then checked into an RCI resort for a week. We had a great trip and I can’t wait to go back again this September
This year we are going to spend the night in Portland Maine, shop a little in Wrentham again, spend the night in Delaware the next night in Hardeeville and then to St.petes beach for a few nights. After that 5 days at POP and then to an RCI condo for a week. We plan on doing the parks and water parks.
The drive back home isn’t fun. We do it a little faster and it’s tiring.
Bring a DVD player, new toys that your kids haven’t seen, books hotels with a pool and that have free breakfast. I book the hotels on Expedia and cancel and book as they become cheaper.
Plan it all out and have fun!!

 

[east_coaster]

Fellow NBer!

Yes, we did this in June/July 2015 with our kids who were 5 and 8 at the time. We bypassed the major cities and instead took 81 to the 77 to 26. We split it up over 3 days. First day we drove to Scranton, PA. Was about 12 hours driving. Next day we stopped around Orangeburg, SC. I think it was around 10 hours driving that day. We also stopped and toured the Shenandoah Caverns that afternoon in Virginia. Then the 3rd day we slept in and drove the rest of the way into Florida, which I believe was around 5 hours. So, leaving from Woodstock, NB, we made it in 27 hours (driving, not allowing for breaks, gas etc...).

We used www.hotelcoupons.com and got great deals on hotel rooms. They were all directly off the highway, very clean, had full hot continental breakfast and had pools. Never paid more than $60 US for a night. We brought an electric cooler and packed snacks, drinks etc... so we had free breakfasts at the hotels, picnicked for lunch (sandwiches, fruit etc), and then bought supper. I think our total cost for the trip for hotels, gas, meals, tolls was right around $800 US. Could have been a bit less, but my husband kept up with flow of traffic which averaged about 80 mph, so definitely burned through fuel. I know at the time, it saved us I believe $600+ over flying, when we factored in the rental car we would have needed for 11 days.

One thing we did, too, was bring our soccer ball and football with us, so whenever we stopped at the rest stops for gas or to eat etc... we all got out and played a bit to stretch our legs. That definitely helped.

Would I do it again? My husband would, yes. He has no problem with driving. And... he's afraid of flying, lol. Myself... I'm torn. Honestly, the drive down was great. We had never driven farther south than Boston before, so we really enjoyed the trip - everything was new. Plus, we had the anticipation of DISNEY!!! The drive home I found killer. The first day was okay. The second day was hard - the kids were exhausted, tired of being in the car, starting to fight, there was nothing to look forward to, I wasn't feeling great (I left Florida with a sinus infection brewing and a pain in my leg), we took a wrong turn and ended up driving through the hell that is Hartford at rush hour. I remember sitting in a gas station in CT, wanting to cry, and wishing with all my heart we could have just hopped on a plane and been home! We pushed through hard that 2nd day and managed to get to Portland, ME. The third day, we did some shopping at the outlets at Kittery before we left, and honestly, it was better. We knew we were close to home, and we had reached that exhausted, giddy/silly stage of, "Who cares what the heck goes wrong now?!" which served us well as we missed a poorly marked on-ramp and ended up off-roading our SUV through a median ditch to get back onto it We all had a lot of great laughs that day on the drive home.

In a perfect world, DH would drive and kids and I would fly down and meet him. But that isn't exactly my definition of a "family" vacation, and it makes it far more expensive. So... yeah, I would do it again.

Tips we gleaned along the way:

- Plot your drive carefully to make sure you are not bypassing any cities near rush hour (we had an almost 2 hour delay by Columbia when we got stuck in the rush hour traffic jam).
- Pack as many snacks/drinks etc... as possible to save time and money
- Find hotels that offer free breakfast
- Allow a full day off the next day after you've arrived in Florida. Driving (whether you split it into 3 days, or drive straight through), is EXHAUSTING. You need to have time to recuperate. We didn't do that, and jumped right into Epcot the next day, and then went 4 days straight before taking a break. BIG mistake. By the end of that stretch, we had hit a level of tired that really did slow us down the rest of the trip.
- Likewise, allow a full day off the day before you leave, to get rested up for the return drive.
- If you have young children and you're packing stuff to entertain them, don't pack too much. I think we packed half the toy room, lol. It was a mess everytime they had to climb in and out of the backseat.
- If your kids eat chicken nuggets in the backseat, make sure they were all eaten and not left unnoticed on the floor of the car. Because otherwise, when you find them 2 days later after they've been sitting in the scorching heat of a Floridian summer, you will find a pile of maggots.

Hi I’m a fellow New Brunswicker too We drove to Disney last year and we are doing it again this year.
We took our time driving last year. Stopped in wrentham to shop at the outlets, stopped in Virginia for a night and then a few days at Myrtle Beach(which we loved). We stayed at a Disney resort (movies) for a few nights and then checked into an RCI resort for a week. We had a great trip and I can’t wait to go back again this September
This year we are going to spend the night in Portland Maine, shop a little in Wrentham again, spend the night in Delaware the next night in Hardeeville and then to St.petes beach for a few nights. After that 5 days at POP and then to an RCI condo for a week. We plan on doing the parks and water parks.
The drive back home isn’t fun. We do it a little faster and it’s tiring.
Bring a DVD player, new toys that your kids haven’t seen, books hotels with a pool and that have free breakfast. I book the hotels on Expedia and cancel and book as they become cheaper.
Plan it all out and have fun!!

Thank you both for such detailed responses! This makes me feel better about driving. I’m an over planner, and this gives me a lot of information to help me figure out what works

 

[isabellea]

Hi I’m a fellow New Brunswicker too We drove to Disney last year and we are doing it again this year.
We took our time driving last year. Stopped in wrentham to shop at the outlets, stopped in Virginia for a night and then a few days at Myrtle Beach(which we loved). We stayed at a Disney resort (movies) for a few nights and then checked into an RCI resort for a week. We had a great trip and I can’t wait to go back again this September
This year we are going to spend the night in Portland Maine, shop a little in Wrentham again, spend the night in Delaware the next night in Hardeeville and then to St.petes beach for a few nights. After that 5 days at POP and then to an RCI condo for a week. We plan on doing the parks and water parks.
The drive back home isn’t fun. We do it a little faster and it’s tiring.
Bring a DVD player, new toys that your kids haven’t seen, books hotels with a pool and that have free breakfast. I book the hotels on Expedia and cancel and book as they become cheaper.
Plan it all out and have fun!!

St. Pete Beach is our go-to beach place whenever we visit FL. Where are you staying? Our 'little house' (how our girls call the unit we rent every time we visit) is at the Gulf Tides Inn on 68th.

 

[Emmagic7]

St. Pete Beach is our go-to beach place whenever we visit FL. Where are you staying? Our 'little house' (how our girls call the unit we rent every time we visit) is at the Gulf Tides Inn on 68th.

We are staying at Alden Suites. It looks like it is directly in the beach. It’s not fancy but it was a pretty good deal when I booked it. We have never been before. Looks beautiful!!

 

[Emmagic7]

St. Pete Beach is our go-to beach place whenever we visit FL. Where are you staying? Our 'little house' (how our girls call the unit we rent every time we visit) is at the Gulf Tides Inn on 68th.

My husband wanted to stay in Clearwater but I found a better deal in st.petes. Have you been to clearwater too? Is there a big difference?

 

[DisneyRookie2007]

Hello from Riverview, NB..........Despite the possible cost savings in driving down, using up 1 week of my vacation for travel time is not my way of relaxing. I would consider driving to Maine or New Hampshire though and flying from there. So far though, being Air mile collectors, we just fly out of Moncton. Not including the air miles required for the flights, the out of pocket costs to fly (taxes) are only about $300 for the 2 us us....

 

[isabellea]

My husband wanted to stay in Clearwater but I found a better deal in st.petes. Have you been to clearwater too? Is there a big difference?

St Petes and Clearwater are not very far from each other so we often drive there for the day. The sand is nicer at Clearwater (less shells) BUT you're surrounded by high-rise condo towers. St Pete Beach is more like a beach town from the 60s with motels and low rise hotels. While at St Pete Beach, you absolutely have to visit Fort DeSoto State Park. The North beach there was once listed as the best beach in USA. It's really nice and very cheap to go (be aware that there's a 50 or 75 cents toll to go plus you pay parking). We also like to go at Pass-a-grill or Treasure island for a walk although we usually spend most of our time at the beach close to our motel. I know the stretch at 68th street started refurbishment work the day after we left last summer so there might be some work done in the area to prevent erosion.

If you like real Mexican food, there's a really nice mom and pop restaurant on Gulf blvd not too far from your hotel, Agave I think the name is and we love the pizza and spinach salad at the pizza shack (a real shack btw) at the corner of Gulf and 68th. Finally, you HAVE to get ice cream from Larry's on Gulf blvd.

Note: sorry OP for hijacking your thread!

 

[east_coaster]

Hello from Riverview, NB..........Despite the possible cost savings in driving down, using up 1 week of my vacation for travel time is not my way of relaxing. I would consider driving to Maine or New Hampshire though and flying from there. So far though, being Air mile collectors, we just fly out of Moncton. Not including the air miles required for the flights, the out of pocket costs to fly (taxes) are only about $300 for the 2 us us....

I'm with you, driving that far doesn't seem relaxing to me either. But the cost is so high right now! I checked Boston and found a decent price, but then checked parking and it was expensive! Right now we'll plan to drive, and if I find a flight that is within an acceptable rang, I'll book it.

 

[east_coaster]

St Petes and Clearwater are not very far from each other so we often drive there for the day. The sand is nice at Clearwater (less shells) BUT you're surrounded by high-rise condo towers. St Pete Beach is more like a beach town from the 60s with motels and low rise hotels. While at St Pete Beach, you absolutely have to visit Fort DeSoto State Park. The North beach there was once listed as the best beach in USA. It's really nice and very cheap to go (be aware that there's a 50 or 75 cents toll to go plus you pay parking). We also like to go at Pass-a-grill or Treasure island for a walk although we usually spend most of our time at the beach close to our motel. I know the stretch at 68th street started refurbishment work the day after we left last summer so there might be some work done in the area to prevent erosion.

If you like real Mexican food, there's a really nice mom and pop restaurant on Gulf blvd not too far from your hotel, Agave I think the name is and we love the pizza and spinach salad at the pizza shack (a real shack btw) at the corner of Gulf and 68th. Finally, you HAVE to get ice cream from Larry's on Gulf blvd.

Note: sorry OP for hijacking your thread!

Haha! No worries! This gives me good ideas if we ever decided not to spend all our time at the pool or in the parks

 

[isabellea]

Haha! No worries! This gives me good ideas if we ever decided not to spend all our time at the pool or in the parks

Clearwater and St Pete Beach are only a 2h drive from WDW if you want to add some beach time to your vacation!

 

[mshanson3121]

I'm with you, driving that far doesn't seem relaxing to me either. But the cost is so high right now! I checked Boston and found a decent price, but then checked parking and it was expensive! Right now we'll plan to drive, and if I find a flight that is within an acceptable rang, I'll book it.

Have you priced Frontier out of Providence? It's only about 45 minutes past Boston airport, and if you sign up for their email deals, you can normally get last minute sales for $25-35 one way.

 

[Emmagic7]

St Petes and Clearwater are not very far from each other so we often drive there for the day. The sand is nice at Clearwater (less shells) BUT you're surrounded by high-rise condo towers. St Pete Beach is more like a beach town from the 60s with motels and low rise hotels. While at St Pete Beach, you absolutely have to visit Fort DeSoto State Park. The North beach there was once listed as the best beach in USA. It's really nice and very cheap to go (be aware that there's a 50 or 75 cents toll to go plus you pay parking). We also like to go at Pass-a-grill or Treasure island for a walk although we usually spend most of our time at the beach close to our motel. I know the stretch at 68th street started refurbishment work the day after we left last summer so there might be some work done in the area to prevent erosion.

If you like real Mexican food, there's a really nice mom and pop restaurant on Gulf blvd not too far from your hotel, Agave I think the name is and we love the pizza and spinach salad at the pizza shack (a real shack btw) at the corner of Gulf and 68th. Finally, you HAVE to get ice cream from Larry's on Gulf blvd.

Note: sorry OP for hijacking your thread!

Thanks for the suggestions

 

[Ted in Halifax]

My usual searches of new England airports focus on PWM (Portland), MHT (Manchester), BOS (Boston) and PVD (Providence). I have never found bangor that cheap.

 

[east_coaster]

My usual searches of new England airports focus on PWM (Portland), MHT (Manchester), BOS (Boston) and PVD (Providence). I have never found bangor that cheap.

We’ve done okay out of Bangor, plus it’s a nice short drive from us. I found a cheap flight out of Boston, but I started pricing out a hotel (it was an early morning flight) and parking and it suddenly wasn’t such a good deal. I’ll keep checking!

 

[EastCoast Fanatic]

What does everyone feel is a good price out of maine these days for flights. I had the chance to purchase tickets out of BGR to MCO for 320 taxes in cdn for a trip in early December. I have purchased for cheaper in previous years out of PWM and BGR so I did not pull the trigger! Has anyone flown out of the states with there new basic economy fares?