Vacations: fly or drive - Essay Example

Up, Up and Away Every summer millions of Americans take the road or the skies to undergo the annual ritual of going on vacation. Historically, the decision on whether to fly or to drive was easy. That was because the default ride was parked right there in the garage. Whether it is the SUV, the minivan or station wagon, families have traditionally hopped on to these vehicles and taken the long and winding road. But times have changed. If you ask me, flying may prove to be the better choice but let us take a closer look at both options.

First, travelling by road would offer lots of bonding time among family members. My family recently went on a road trip that took 9 hours one-way. Sure there was lots of time where they just dozed off. But there were also long stretches when because of that little toy called iPod Touch, we were able to sing together and play games. As for flying, because it would be faster, bonding time would be limited. However, from our experience, we still managed to squeeze in some time for fun activities.

Just the same, advantage goes to driving. Next consideration would be travel time. Obviously, flying would be faster. Vacation time would normally be limited; thus, I would like to maximize my time in the place where I want to spend my vacation. I would have more time to go around and see the places of interest and immerse ourselves in the local culture. Driving would offer the possible extra bonus of seeing interesting places in-between your town and your destination. However, those places would usually be few and far between.

And most of the time, it would just be vast areas of land and lots of sleeping. Advantage: Flying. Let us now look at how it would affect my wallet. Let us say we have to travel around a thousand miles to our target area. With fuel at around $3 per gallon and with our SUV not exactly a fuel miser, fuel costs could easily rise to a couple hundreds of dollars round-trip. As it may take 3 days one-way, add lodging costs of around $400 and food costs of $300, my total cost could easily top $1,000.

Meanwhile with flying, I get to avoid lodging and numerous meals that add up. In its place, however, would be the plane tickets, airport fees and taxes. After summing up everything, I would think flying would be more expensive. But I think the nominal dollar advantage of driving would be marginal. I also have to consider the unaccounted opportunity cost of having plenty of dead time spent on the road. By flying, we would earn precious extra days being in our intended destination. Advantage: Flying.

Last point to consider would be the possibility of accidents. I know this could come across as very negative but let us face it, accidents do happen. And between driving and flying, statistics would be heavily stacked against driving. There are so many cars with varying maintenance conditions, so many drivers with varying health and alertness conditions; in other words, there are so many variables that need to be in perfect harmony for the road trip to be safe and smooth. On the other hand, flying also has its risks.

But statistically, the probability of accidents happening is far less for airplanes. Advantage: Flying. Given the above considerations, it brings me to conclude that while driving may have its charms, flying would bring us to our destination more safely and give us more time in the area, be it the beach, the park or another city. Even if I have to shell out a couple more bucks, I would still fly. Besides, for my wife, it would be more glamorous!