Road trip-NY to Orlando

amother

Black

Tue, Jan 23 2018, 12:18 pm

I know it's crazy early to even think about the summer, but planning is part of the fun. And o totally need a vacation now, so why not start brainstorming!

I have a thought (its only a thought so far because I don't know if it's doable) to take a road trip down from NY to Florida with all my kids, ages 12 and down. We fill up a minivan now. Maybe I would try to get a bigger van for the trip so everyone has a bit more room to stretch. We would end in Orlando for 2-3 days and fly back home. But I really want to drive down, making stops in a few different states.

So, I need ideas of where to stop, how long is needed at each place, what to do there... I'm thinking drive 3 hours in the morning, spends until evening in one city, eat supper, and then drive another 2-3 hours to a hotel for the night. Is that doable? How many days will it take me?
Hotels I'll figure out once we have some kind of itinerary. (Even tho my kids would totally wish to rent an RV and just sleep in that. I don't know how expensive that is, or how complicated that would be, finding a big enough one, finding places to park...)

doctorima

Tue, Jan 23 2018, 3:02 pm

It depends how long you have for the trip. Google maps says it's about a 17-hour drive, so technically you could do it in 3 days, but for that many small kids, 6 hours a day in the car sounds rushed and not very fun to me, even if you break it up. There's a lot to do in some of the cities you'll go through, especially if you've never been to them before, so only having a few short hours in a place like Baltimore or DC doesn't seem wise.

If you have the time, I would try to break it up and spend about 5 days getting there, or else consider driving at night when at least the little kids will be sleeping; you and DH can switch off driving and napping.

thunderstorm

Tue, Jan 23 2018, 4:10 pm

Following . My DH plans on taking a road trip with my 3 older kids in the summer after I give birth for about two weeks . They really wanted to do the west coast but no flying . Want to hear all the east coast ideas.

amother

Aqua

Tue, Jan 23 2018, 6:34 pm

I've done it a few times, different trip each time.

I'd drive to Washington DC and spend the day there, then drive a few more hours closer to Richmond depending how far you want to go.

I'd do south of the border second day, we actually never went as we decided to do more driving each time.

Maybe Atlanta, it's out of the way, but there's fun things to do there, or Savannah is on the way.

In Florida, there's St Augustine, old interesting town.

Food wise, there really isn't anything between DC and Daytona Beach.

WE pack a ton of entertainment and snacks etc

amother

Black

Tue, Jan 23 2018, 6:47 pm

So I've done long trips with my kids already, think New Hampshire... We've done up to 6 hours driving, with only short bathroom stops. So we already have experience with car entertainment and food packing. Just really asking for now, where is interesting or fun to stop on the way. And how many days I should plan for the road trip taking us. Meaning how many places/cities will we stop? Can I do it in 3 days? If not I might have to figure out how to do it with a shabbos in the middle. My goal is to reach Orlando by Tuesday night.

benny

Tue, Jan 23 2018, 7:21 pm

We’ve done this a few times! Best best memories. How will you fly back? What will you do with your car? Unless you rent a car for this which is pretty expensive.

We stopped at luray caverns in va, colonial Williamsburg in va, we did an amazing ropes course and white water rafting place in nc, savannah Georgia, Atlanta Georgia, Tybee Island in Georgia

If you need any road trip tips we did this a few summers.

amother

Black

Tue, Jan 23 2018, 7:24 pm

benny wrote:

Yes, please.
Those destinations sound amazing.
I actually didn't figure out the car part yet.
So far all of this is just brainstorming

doctorima

Tue, Jan 23 2018, 7:31 pm

We've also done extremely long road trips (twice in excess of 10 hours of driving in a day), but it's not the same driving to NH in one 6-hour stretch and then being there and settled on vacation, as it is to drive 6 hours, then another 6 hours, and then another 6 hours (each of which may need to be 7 due to traffic and stops). "Are we there yet!?" is not fun to hear, especially if it's a refrain coming from all the kids in unison.

If you want to get there by Tuesday night, I'd recommend leaving Motzei Shabbos and driving down to the Baltimore/DC area to knock out a good chunk of the daytime driving hours when at least the little kids will be sleeping. You can then spend most of the day in Baltimore/DC, and mid-afternoon drive down to Richmond, which will leave you only 2 days of long driving after the kids had an enjoyable, non-draining Sunday.

benny

Tue, Jan 23 2018, 7:39 pm

Most days we drove 4-5 hours and We never did more than 7 hours driving at a time. It took us time to get there, but hey that was the point. We needed the mood to stay great. For us the purpose wasn’t necessarily getting to Orlando. It was the road trip itself so we were in no rush. Oh and we planned everything to a t beforehand. We had our destinations and hotels booked so we knew what to expect. Can’t show up somewhere with a bunch of kids and just hack it.

We had activities for a year in the car. And tons of food/nosh. Let me know if you’re interested in those details yet.

benny

Tue, Jan 23 2018, 7:51 pm

I just noticed your other post. We left 6 am Sunday morning and drove 5 hours to luray caverns, spent a few hours there and then continued another I think 3.5 hours to Raleigh nc. (We planned everything around having a minyan so we stayed on places with minyan overnight.) Monday we drove 4.5 hours to savanna ga, spent the night and half of next day there. It started raining mid afternoon so we left and drove to Jacksonville fl and they had fresh pizza there at the shul! Then we continued the 2 hours to Orlando getting there Tuesday night. We did other things on the way home.

We always put in the most hours driving the first day bec that’s when everyone has the most stamina. We also never drive through the night otherwise adults are exhausted and depleted and that’s not good for anyone’s moods.

mommy3b2c

Tue, Jan 23 2018, 8:06 pm

amother wrote:

There’s no food in Atlanta? There was when I was there. There’s also some food in Jacksonville. After Jacksonville the next restaurant is Daytona about 1.5 hours away.

And st Augustine is great!

DVOM

Tue, Jan 23 2018, 8:21 pm

My husband and I spent a week camping in the Outerbanks, NC before my oldest was born. I have the most magical memories of that trip. Some of the islands are only accessible by boat, with no cars on the island itself, only bikes and horses and feet. Miles and miles of quiet beaches, and huge sand dunes and the most gigantic beautiful seashells. If your kids are into this stuff, there are state campgrounds right on the beaches that cost only a few dollars a night for a campsite. We hope to take our kids someday.

amother

Papaya

Tue, Jan 23 2018, 8:26 pm

RVing is SO much fun. We've done it. But it is expensive (depending on where you rent and how big of a camper you get - campsites are typically inexpensive) and that's a lot of driving for an RV trip. Keep in mind that it can be hard to drive too if you don't have experience.

amother

Aqua

Tue, Jan 23 2018, 9:36 pm

mommy3b2c wrote:

There’s no food in Atlanta? There was when I was there. There’s also some food in Jacksonville. After Jacksonville the next restaurant is Daytona about 1.5 hours away.

And st Augustine is great!

Atlanta adds 3 hours to the trip, depends if that's in the plan.
I forgot about Jacksonville!Thanks for reminder as Daytona worked out food wise better for us.