Help and travel ideas needed.
The first week of April my 12th grader is off for Spring Break and we need to travel to multiple cities to see the colleges she's been accepted to.
We would be flying from Southern California to St. Louis and staying 2 nights. I can get reasonable airfare for that leg. ($178/1-way, each) We'd stay 2 days in St. Louis.
The next stop is Nashville which is about a 5 hour drive/300 miles from St. Louis. The problem is that if I drive it one-way, the car rental drop fees are pricy (1-way out of state rental= $150 dollars for a 1 day rental/Budget + gasoline $50?). One-way airfares from St. Louis to Nashville are about $150/each with stops to change planes in places like Houston, Chicago, or Atlanta. It would looks like it would take longer to fly than to drive between St. Louis and Nashville.
Next problem is that the airfares are higher from Nashville to Philadelphia ($178/1-way, each) than if I drive the car back to to St. Louis & fly to Philly from there ($137/1-way, each). If I drive back to St. Louis that means another 5 hours driving, but I avoid the expensive "drop fees" and could get better airfares. A weeklong car rental in St. Louis would $140 for the week (Hertz), but I am wondering if they charge me their God-awful $70/daily rate if I only keep it 4 days with pickup and return in St. Louis.
Next stop, getting us to Philadelphia. After doing some research, driving it is definitely out of the question. Mapquest says its an 18-hour drive and 1,130 miles. I will have a hard enough time trying to do a 5-hour drive alone, and the kiddo is too young to legally drive rental cars and help out.
I looked into trying to use Amtrak to Philly and that is even worse -- over a 24 hour train ride (have to go through Chicago) and would cost about $165 each.
I guess I'm wondering if anyone knows any other travel alternatives I should consider. I probably need about 2 days in each of the 3 cities. Plus, there is the exciting possibility that on April 1st we might hear a positive outcome from New Haven, Connecticut and have to make a stop there. But it looks like we can go between New Haven & Philadelphia using Amtrak ($57/each, 3 hour train ride). It's a long-shot, so it seems better to forgo doing airfares to New Haven because it may, or may not happen. The other 3 locations she already has firm acceptances to, so I'm okay with booking non-refundable, non-exchangeable discount fares to save some dollars where ever we can. We will need every single dime and nickel when she starts college in August.
Thanks, in advance, for any help or advice you can give me. This is not an area of the US I've never traveled to.
--- Rene
The first week of April my 12th grader is off for Spring Break and we need to travel to multiple cities to see the colleges she's been accepted to.
We would be flying from Southern California to St. Louis and staying 2 nights. I can get reasonable airfare for that leg. ($178/1-way, each) We'd stay 2 days in St. Louis.
The next stop is Nashville which is about a 5 hour drive/300 miles from St. Louis. The problem is that if I drive it one-way, the car rental drop fees are pricy (1-way out of state rental= $150 dollars for a 1 day rental/Budget + gasoline $50?). One-way airfares from St. Louis to Nashville are about $150/each with stops to change planes in places like Houston, Chicago, or Atlanta. It would looks like it would take longer to fly than to drive between St. Louis and Nashville.
Next problem is that the airfares are higher from Nashville to Philadelphia ($178/1-way, each) than if I drive the car back to to St. Louis & fly to Philly from there ($137/1-way, each). If I drive back to St. Louis that means another 5 hours driving, but I avoid the expensive "drop fees" and could get better airfares. A weeklong car rental in St. Louis would $140 for the week (Hertz), but I am wondering if they charge me their God-awful $70/daily rate if I only keep it 4 days with pickup and return in St. Louis.
Next stop, getting us to Philadelphia. After doing some research, driving it is definitely out of the question. Mapquest says its an 18-hour drive and 1,130 miles. I will have a hard enough time trying to do a 5-hour drive alone, and the kiddo is too young to legally drive rental cars and help out.
I looked into trying to use Amtrak to Philly and that is even worse -- over a 24 hour train ride (have to go through Chicago) and would cost about $165 each.
I guess I'm wondering if anyone knows any other travel alternatives I should consider. I probably need about 2 days in each of the 3 cities. Plus, there is the exciting possibility that on April 1st we might hear a positive outcome from New Haven, Connecticut and have to make a stop there. But it looks like we can go between New Haven & Philadelphia using Amtrak ($57/each, 3 hour train ride). It's a long-shot, so it seems better to forgo doing airfares to New Haven because it may, or may not happen. The other 3 locations she already has firm acceptances to, so I'm okay with booking non-refundable, non-exchangeable discount fares to save some dollars where ever we can. We will need every single dime and nickel when she starts college in August.
Thanks, in advance, for any help or advice you can give me. This is not an area of the US I've never traveled to.
--- Rene