Fly or drive to DC (with a toddler)?

[noodleoo]

It looks like my H's family want to do a retirement party for his dad in DC this summer. We would be traveling down with our DD, who will be maybe 15 months at the time. We recently flew to FL with her and it was okay, but she was in the infant seat which I think made it a little easier. It was exhausting trying to keep her contained and happy during the flight, but to DC is a lot shorter. We would stay with his sister, but we would need to rent a car for the trip anyway. My H thinks it might be easier to just drive (it would definitely be cheaper, I think). It is tough for us to get to Logan since we don't have anyone who can drive us. So we end up driving, parking at H's work and taking a cab to the airport. Add that to getting there early for security, etc, a flight to DC probably takes at least 4 hrs. Google says the drive would be 7.5 straight, obviously longer with stops, etc. 

Anyone done this trip? Recommendations either way? I'm thinking driving will be easier and cheaper, but much longer. I can't decide what I prefer. 

[elfinia7]

I've made the drive to DC several times (albeit sans baby) and it's not a tough drive but it is long. And I imagine with a baby, even longer for much needed stops. I suppose part of it is how well your baby does in cars. Some kids are great with long car rides and some aren't. That will probably be what decides it for you.

[pinkroses]

That drive sounds miserable to me.  Depending on what time and day you leave, you're going to hit traffic in CT/NYC, then all through NJ, Philly, and Baltimore.  We recently decided to fly vs drive to see my ILs, with a similar driving time and similar aged baby, because at least when flying we have time to let him run around at the airport, can nurse him on the plane, etc. 

[5kcandlesinthewind]

I would fly, for sure. What about checking flights from Manchester? They may go to BWI, but if you're renting a car anyway it won't matter really.

[drloretta]

Fly

[LoveTrains]

I do not drive to DC. I fly or take the train. Farthest south I drive is philly.

[vtdiamond]

I would fly. We visited my MIL last year in PA and decided to fly vs. drive. Yes, it's a lot of stuff to shlep, but the thought of the drive with a ton of stops and meltdowns was too much for me. I like that with flying you can get up if you need to with the baby and they are entertained to look around at all the new things. Next time I fly I am going to get the Cosco Scerena car seats as I've heard they are really light and great for travel.

[hw77]

Hi, I would drive especially if you'll need to rent a car anyway.

We have made a few trips to Baltimore and our approach is to leave late afternoon so that most of the drive is occurring when the baby is asleep.

If your child is still taking 2 naps a day then I'd say leave at 6am and you'll be down there by early afternoon and likely miss traffic.

[soxin2]

I say drive, but I have 3 kids and personally dislike flying, so I am quite biased.

[soxin2]

Oh. And I've done the trip at different times of day, including overnight.

[Awkward]

Mar 23, 2016 11:35:31 GMT -5 5kcandlesinthewind said:

I would fly, for sure. What about checking flights from Manchester? They may go to BWI, but if you're renting a car anyway it won't matter really.

This! Southwest flies into BWI, American flies into Reagan direct from MHT.

[hw77]

Yes I'd look at Jetblue or SW into BWI. But by the time you drive to the airport, park, go thru security, chill, get on the plane, fly, rent the car and then potentially drive from BWI to your destination you are looking at a solid 5 hrs so whats 2 more hours and you can control when you come and go let alone much cheaper. without a kid and living within $20 cab or T of Logan I always flew but now its not worth it.

Good luck

[noodleoo]

Wow, I'm kind of surprised most people say fly! I was totally against driving initially but then H got me thinking maybe it wouldn't be too bad ( hw77, he basically said exactly what you did!). Great idea to look into going out of MHT. That might be easier than Logan.

I'm not sure how DD would do in the car. The furthest we've gone is 1.5 hrs to Western Ma and we usually time it during nap time. I was thinking we could go at like 7 PM which is when we put DD to bed and hopefully she would sleep the whole way. We could split the driving and H stays up pretty late anyway so I think it wouldn't be too bad and we'd hopefully avoid all the traffic.

Thx for the advice. We will see how much the tix are looking and then decide. At least DD is still a free lap baby, once we have to buy 3 tix driving will be even more attractive.

[lizlemon19]

That is about the distance I say better to drive. At least in a car, you can pack more of your own stuff including drinks, snacks, etc. no waiting in line at the airport, can stop if needed. I would leave around 4/5 am.

[5kcandlesinthewind]

I'd do the math to see, but it also would depend on how long I'd be there. If it's just a couple of days, I would fly for sure. We drive to western MA fairly regularly with my son, and if he sleeps the whole time, we're golden. But I've driven with him where we've had to stop a couple of times to feed him or change him, or just give him a break because he's woken up and the 90 minute trip has taken 2 1/2 hours. I cannot imagine spending 8+ hours in the car with him to then turn around a couple of days later and do it again. He would lose. his. mind. But your daughter may be better about the car - Ben just cannot stand to be contained that long.

[magdala]

We go down to Baltimore from Cambridge twice a year to visit his family. We have done this for years. It is a 8.5 hour drive with leaving on a Thursday evening and returning for a Sunday evening. This includes routine traffic. Now that our DD is mobile, we don't drive anymore. We drove down last fall when DD was 16 mos. After 3 hours of daytime driving, she was done with naps and wanted out of the car. She screamed bloody murder when we went to put her back in the car. We had three hours of crying and ranting from her. We still refer to that as the drive from hell. She was very good on our last flight at the holidays. She was happily sitting in our laps coloring, reading stories or watching something on the iPad.

There are car services that will drive you from your home to the airport and meet you there for the return. I used them regularly when I was single and living in Attleboro. Be sure to have new books, coloring books and videos on the iPad just for the flights. DH downloaded (bought) a couple of episodes of Elmo's world and the Pixar shorts from (I think) Amazon. We picked up books from the local library for the flight.