Ideas for Best Way to Drive from Michigan to Bonita Springs FL in March?

[Sugarcubesea]

Need some help everyone.

I have been looking for a reasonable flight for over 7 months now for March 25 to April 1. I have the Hyatt Coconut Beach Plantation Booked but the cheapest airfare I can find is $1,047 per person for the flight. I have looked at flying from DTW - Detroit (the airport I normally fly from), GRR-Grand Rapids, FNT - Flint and they are all in the $1K range for round trip.

So I am resigned to drive down. For those that have made this drive, is the best route, to start early in the am and drive from MI to GA (thinking of trying to get to Locust Grove GA and spending the night.

I'm open to any and all suggestions and if anyone has any ideas on other airports to try to book out of, I'm open to that idea...

 

[moonstone]

It appears that Novi, MI is right near I-75, so the best, most direct route would be I-75 all the way to Bonita Springs! Locust Grove GA (just south of Atlanta) is about a 11hr, 20 min drive time (not including stops) from Novi according to Google Maps. Be sure to time your drive to avoid going through Atlanta on a weekday during rush hours. I hear Sunday mornings are good! From there you will just have an 8 hr drive to Bonita Springs.

We live north of Toronto and much prefer driving to Florida rather than flying. It is a 20hr drive (not including stops) to our condo in St. Augustine for us and we do it in a day and a half. By the time we drive to the airport to get there 3 hrs ahead of the flight time, after parking the car, fly down, get a rental car and drive to our destination we could be more than 1/2 way there if we were driving. Plus by driving we can bring as much stuff as we want and not worry about lost luggage or liquids in carry-ons. We (I) pack a lunch, drinks and snacks for the road and we look for a the cheapest clean motel we can find since we only spend about 8 or 9 hours in the room. With the high cost of airfare and rental cars, driving down is a no-brainer for us.


~Diane

 

[b2bailey]

Need some help everyone.

I have been looking for a reasonable flight for over 7 months now for March 25 to April 1. I have the Hyatt Coconut Beach Plantation Booked but the cheapest airfare I can find is $1,047 per person for the flight. I have looked at flying from DTW - Detroit (the airport I normally fly from), GRR-Grand Rapids, FNT - Flint and they are all in the $1K range for round trip.

So I am resigned to drive down. For those that have made this drive, is the best route, to start early in the am and drive from MI to GA (thinking of trying to get to Locust Grove GA and spending the night.

I'm open to any and all suggestions and if anyone has any ideas on other airports to try to book out of, I'm open to that idea...

I am shocked by this airfare.

 

[rapmarks]

Terrible price for airfare. 75 all the way and get in the hov lane to go through Atlanta. We always had more traffic north of Atlanta and south of Atlanta and kept a pretty good speed through Atlanta in the Nov lane. If you do have 11 hours to at,Antarctic, you will miss rush hours

 

[Snazzylass]

Son2 who lives in the Midwest was explaining to me last fall that airlines have changed their pricing model. Previously, it was rather flat, and let's face it, business travel isn't what it used to be. This may be what forced airlines to update pricing. For years, business travelers supported us vacationers.

He told me that airfare to FL is dramatically higher due to high demand this time of year. A friend here wanted to fly to Nashville for a family wedding and it was $1k per person from Phx. Nashville is another popular destination. I think of it as the new Las Vegas...very popular with the younger set. Funny, back in the day, it seemed flights to LV were cheap! Thanks, again to convention/business travelers.

 

[elaine]

Did you you try Tampa, Orlando, Miami, palm beach, Ft. Lauderdale? All except mco are 2-2.5 hrs.

 

[bnoble]

Spring airfare is definitely higher, and not just to FL. We are going to Oceanside for my son's spring break week at UCLA, and airfares have hovered around $1K-$1.2K round trip from DTW, unless I want to fly Spirit. I do not want to fly Spirit. I'm going to play the waiting game until 30 days, and then I'll take what I can get.

I did manage to catch a dip in prices to MCO for another March week. The Google Flights alerts were very helpful.

 

[Sugarcubesea]

I am shocked by this airfare.

@b2bailey, I have been shocked as well. Hubby got all excited found a flight on Allegiant, then added in the cost of 1 large suitcase for us and both of us bringing down our computers, (work computer for me and personal for him) and the flight was right up there...

I refuse to fly allegiant, as the one time I did for business I was stuck in the outbound location for an extra two days, the President, has never again tried to put me on that airline again to save money... I missed two important meetings that cost the company more money because I was not there in person

 

[Sugarcubesea]

Spring airfare is definitely higher, and not just to FL. We are going to Oceanside for my son's spring break week at UCLA, and airfares have hovered around $1K-$1.2K round trip from DTW, unless I want to fly Spirit. I do not want to fly Spirit. I'm going to play the waiting game until 30 days, and then I'll take what I can get.

I did manage to catch a dip in prices to MCO for another March week. The Google Flights alerts were very helpful.

Thanks, I'm going to set up more Google Flight Alerts

 

[bnoble]

One year we drove to Columbus to get to MCO via Southwest. Depending on how badly you want to avoid that drive, that's an option. CLE is also in range. Once you commit to two days each way, there's no reason not to consider staying overnight near another airport a little farther away to get there and back.

My mom snowbirds in Tampa, and I've helped her drive it when she doesn't have someone else going with her. It's an awkward distance. It's a hard drive to do in two days, (at least for me), but three days is longer than it needs to be.

 

[b2bailey]

Can you stay a couple days longer?

American
ROUND TRIP
DTW to RSW
Saturday, March 25, 2023 to Monday, April 3, 2023

$585 pop rt

 

[Kozman]

For what it's worth...I see a flight from Dayton, OH to Orlando for $148 on Expedia. Dayton is only a 3 hour drive from Novi. I live in Farmington Hills.

https://www.expedia.com/lp/flights/day/mco/dayton-to-orlando

 

[MrockStar]

Was going to suggest Alligiant, but see what happened on your two day delay. Sorry that happened. We love their direct reasonable flights to smaller airports and bags are free for retired military. YMMV.

 

[Sugarcubesea]

@Kozman thanks for the heads up about flying out of Dayton, OH, have been travelling for work so did not see this post till today...just set up a google search for that airport...

 

[pierrepierre]

Check out Alligiant airlines.......however at this point, it is Spring Break and you'd be lucky to find any affordable seats.

 

[rickandcindy23]

We like the drive. Enjoy it more than flying and renting a car, which all takes so much time. But this last trip we hit some pretty severe weather through Kansas.

We planned to go to Orlando again in April, and Rick is looking at another drive. He will be away from home a long time, if we drive, and he will worry about the yard the entire time.

I so want to move into a shiny new house with almost no yard, maybe just a big deck and rock all around it.

 

[louisianab]

It appears that Novi, MI is right near I-75, so the best, most direct route would be I-75 all the way to Bonita Springs! Locust Grove GA (just south of Atlanta) is about a 11hr, 20 min drive time (not including stops) from Novi according to Google Maps. Be sure to time your drive to avoid going through Atlanta on a weekday during rush hours. I hear Sunday mornings are good! From there you will just have an 8 hr drive to Bonita Springs.

We live north of Toronto and much prefer driving to Florida rather than flying. It is a 20hr drive (not including stops) to our condo in St. Augustine for us and we do it in a day and a half. By the time we drive to the airport to get there 3 hrs ahead of the flight time, after parking the car, fly down, get a rental car and drive to our destination we could be more than 1/2 way there if we were driving. Plus by driving we can bring as much stuff as we want and not worry about lost luggage or liquids in carry-ons. We (I) pack a lunch, drinks and snacks for the road and we look for a the cheapest clean motel we can find since we only spend about 8 or 9 hours in the room. With the high cost of airfare and rental cars, driving down is a no-brainer for us.


~Diane

I live on the other side of MI, so we go Indy to Louisville then onto 75. It's really the only way to go. We did the drive in 2021 to Sanibel and I did it about 10x as a kid on Spring Break.

 

[yodaDaenerys]

have you checked flying from cleveland, chicago or toronto? i've found those cheaper than DTW at times.

 

[Sugarcubesea]

We like the drive. Enjoy it more than flying and renting a car, which all takes so much time. But this last trip we hit some pretty severe weather through Kansas.

We planned to go to Orlando again in April, and Rick is looking at another drive. He will be away from home a long time, if we drive, and he will worry about the yard the entire time.

I so want to move into a shiny new house with almost no yard, maybe just a big deck and rock all around it.

@rickandcindy23, I was the same way when we had our big house, I was always worried about the house, something would break, the snow shoveling, grass cutting etc. We downsized last year into a condo in MI and I have never been happier, all those worries are now gone and I can enjoy the weekends a bit more...

 

[Sugarcubesea]

Check out Alligiant airlines.......however at this point, it is Spring Break and you'd be lucky to find any affordable seats.

I have been looking since I booked this trip last April, back in April and May of 2022, the prices were all at $1.5K-$1.7K, they have now dropped to the $1K price point or sometimes I see when I search I can get an 12 or 18 hour flight for $850 round trip at that point is when we said we would drive if we had to still pay that high of a price and it take that many hours...

 

[rapmarks]

I have been looking since I booked this trip last April, back in April and May of 2022, the prices were all at $1.5K-$1.7K, they have now dropped to the $1K price point or sometimes I see when I search I can get an 12 or 18 hour flight for $850 round trip at that point is when we said we would drive if we had to still pay that high of a price and it take that many hours...

Right. Suggestions that you drive three hours to an airport and then another three hours from the arrival airport just don’t make sense

 

[Quilter]

Just sent you a PM that I looked on Expedia and jet blue has $570 roundtrip.

Sorry, I thought it was your dates but Expedia changes dates to what's available and it was a day early in both directions. In fact, did a couple more searches via United and Southwest and it looks like prices are much different going mid-week to mid-week. Instead of the days on the road you could have extra days in Florida exploring things you haven't seen before. This is when those free nights from credit cards (like Hyatt) come in handy.

We live in Plymouth, MI and drive to our timeshare in Palm Beach Shores, FL. I was going to say we don't use 75. Years ago I decided to make the days on the road part of the vacation. It changed my outlook on such a long drive. Our daughter found a route through Ohio that we like so much better. 23; 35; 77; 26; 95 to 75. Time on the road is comparable. There are tolls. The scenery is beautiful. We have regular stops for food, starting with the Whole Foods in Columbus. 3 hours from home, perfect time for brunch, hot bar, quick in an out with no waitress or kitchen hassles. We can buy snacks to get us through to next stop which is Tamarack in Beckley. Delicious food and their marketplace is an interesting art gallery. We generally spend the night in the area. Savannah is another 7-1/2 hours. Have nice dinner and spend the night. The rest of the trip is about 7 hours.

 

[timeshare trader]

It appears that Novi, MI is right near I-75, so the best, most direct route would be I-75 all the way to Bonita Springs! Locust Grove GA (just south of Atlanta) is about a 11hr, 20 min drive time (not including stops) from Novi according to Google Maps. Be sure to time your drive to avoid going through Atlanta on a weekday during rush hours. I hear Sunday mornings are good! From there you will just have an 8 hr drive to Bonita Springs.

We live north of Toronto and much prefer driving to Florida rather than flying. It is a 20hr drive (not including stops) to our condo in St. Augustine for us and we do it in a day and a half. By the time we drive to the airport to get there 3 hrs ahead of the flight time, after parking the car, fly down, get a rental car and drive to our destination we could be more than 1/2 way there if we were driving. Plus by driving we can bring as much stuff as we want and not worry about lost luggage or liquids in carry-ons. We (I) pack a lunch, drinks and snacks for the road and we look for a the cheapest clean motel we can find since we only spend about 8 or 9 hours in the room. With the high cost of airfare and rental cars, driving down is a no-brainer for us.


~Diane

have you tried flights to orlando or miami, or tampa?

 

[moonstone]

have you tried flights to orlando or miami, or tampa?

Yes, we have priced them all. Orlando is usually the cheapest. We live about 2hrs north of Toronto and our condo and home timeshare is in St. Augustine Beach. So we have close to a 2hr drive (if no traffic/weather issues) to get to YYZ, park the car and get the shuttle to the airport, need to be there 3hrs ahead of International flights, then a 3hr flight, time to get luggage, a rental car, drive time to the condo or timeshare and we are looking at close to 10hrs. We spend about the cost of 1 airfare on gas, a motel in each direction, and meals, to drive down and back. We still prefer to drive so we can bring or take home what we want and save money to spend on more vacations. The time it takes to drive down isnt an issue for us since we are retired and consider the drive as part of our vacation.

~Diane

 

[Sugarcubesea]

@moonstone, we have made the decision to drive down, as we can leave when when we want on that Thursday after I work, I will probably go in early and leave early to get a head start. @Quilter gave me a nice route to try and places to stop at, so I'm now very excited about this drive