Cost to Drive or Fly: Travel Budget

The dollar is headed for its biggest weekly decline in six weeks said Bloomberg while the British pound and Japanese yen are rising. The weakened dollar makes most overseas traveling expensive compared to local travels.

Did the devalued US dollar change your travel plans for the last few years?

Some travelers are getting a bit nervous with all the negative news about the European economy or the political turmoil of the Middle East. Whatever the reason we may have for not taking an international trip, traveling locally is not a bad idea. Because America has it all! We have good road systems, thousands of flights per day and ample accommodation for all travel budgets.

America has the sand dunes, desert, thousands of beaches from Hawaii to Florida, castles, mountains, Disney World and more.

Wondering whether to fly or drive?

If you are going to Hawaii from the mainland, you will need to fly or go by sea. 25 airlines fly into Honolulu Hawaii each week.

For other parts of the United States we have the options of driving or flying. If you want to find out which is better, drive or fly and to work out a travel budget, we have the tools to help.

Here are the steps with an example:

If you live in Seattle, Washington and you are taking your family of four including yourself to Santa Fe, New Mexico and you don’t mind driving long distances and you have 10 days for your vacation.

Drive time: 23 hours 20 minutes

Fly time: 2 hours 51 minutes

Unless you are a superhuman or you have another driver, you would need at least one night accommodation at the halfway point or a stopover of your choice. In this case using our halfway point calculator, we will stop at Black Pine, Idaho.

We found 15 hotels located within 63 miles of Black Pine, Idaho.

If you choose Hampton Inn Logan, you will pay $105 per night for four (not including tax).

You will also need to find out the cost of fuel and the type of vehicle you are driving including the year it was made and model.

Travelmath has an easier solution for you to calculate cost to drive or fly and help you work out a travel budget.

It is our cost to fly or drive calculator! If you type in Seattle, WA to Santa Fe, NM, the calculator will immediately let you know that flying is better than driving if you are alone (one traveler). We give you a fly or drive score, which is an estimate of the true cost of travel. The score includes factors like airline prices, fuel costs and we take into the account the value of your time spent traveling.

Time could mean money for some of us if we took extra time off from work to drive.

Our cost to drive or fly calculator will show you the round trip airfare is $493 per person and fuel cost for driving is $421. When you factor in time needed for driving and the accommodation required, it would end up costing more than flying.

However if you have four people, the cost to drive or fly will change. Now you have four people flying. Your total airfare would be $1972 and fuel cost of $421 plus one night accommodation of $105 plus taxes. It will still work out cheaper to drive.

One important feature when using our cost to drive calculator is you can change the number of travelers by clicking on the blue values. For example you can change 1 person to 3 people or 6 people. Play with it today.

Along with our useful cost to drive or fly calculator here are five tips to help you with your travel budget if you are driving:

1.   Check your vehicle and make sure it is in tip-top condition. A tuned-up clean engine will increase 4% fuel efficiency.
2.   Don’t load your vehicle with too many things. For example having a cargo rack full of things will reduce the aerodynamic because better aerodynamic will increase fuel efficiency.
3.   Bring your own snacks, drinks and food. Invest in a good cooler to store up food. Eating out will definitely hurt your pocketbook.
4.   Research the traffic conditions of the places you are traveling to. Avoid heavy traffic/rush hours.
5.   According to The Daily Green, every 5 mph reduce highway speed will reduce fuel consumption by 7%. If you reduce from 70 mph to 65 mph you save 14 cents.

Did this article help? For more detailed information on how to use Travelmath’s calculators, feel free to download our free report called Guide to Using Travelmath to Plan Your Next Trip.