Drive or Fly: With Small Children, We’d Choose Fly

A television station in Atlanta did a story comparing the pros and cons of driving versus flying. With gas prices climbing every day, here is a logical conclusion they came to: It’s worth it to fly because of the following:

Small Children: It can be more convenient to travel by airplane with small children (especially infants) for several reasons:

1. They ride in the car every day, but a plane trip is special.

2. Less time spent traveling means less chance for a cranky child.

3. There are new locations to play in (at the airport), whereas a drive means the child is stuck in the backseat the entire time. (There are only so many DVDs.)

4. No stopping to “look at stuff” – an airplane trip is a set time and has set stopping points, while a car trip can be detoured for any number of reasons, making even a four-hour trip twice as long.

5. Airport bathrooms all have changing tables. Some service stations don’t. Some also don’t pay close attention to bathroom cleanliness – at least, not as much as most airports do.

6. For infants, sitting on a parent’s lap means the parent can occupy the child; in the backseat of a car, the child is confined to the safety seat.

The thing about airplane versus automobile travel is that airplane travel still has that expensive “feel” to it, while car travel is more something that “everyone” does. However, as gas prices continue to rise with no relief in sight, the time may be growing nearer and nearer when $1,000 for a family trip to Florida by plane is the cheaper option.