How much does travel time affect where you go?

[toni]

I'm just curious as to whether or not people limit where they go to based on how long it takes to get there? Specifically now I'm looking at perhaps visiting a different island in the Caribbean, yet many of them are 3 stops and 12+ hours (not even counting in the 1+ to get to the home airport, and waiting on security,etc). I love St. John, yet want to see other places too. In my head it's hard to wrap around that I'd be losing basically 2 days of daylight back and forth on a vacation.

Just wondered how others dealt with it? Thanks for any feedback

[LysaC]

Travel time has a huge impact on where I go.

I do not want to fly more than 4 hours. Why- I hate, hate, hate to waste my precious (only 2 weeks) paid vacation time on a long travel day. And, I have flying anxieties too .

Also, I hate driving anywhere more than, like 2.5 to 3 hours. I get major antsy pants, major bored. I don't know how people, like sales people, drive 6 hours straight to a desitnation. I would go freakin nuts.

[PA Girl]

Ditto what Lisa said. 4 hours on a plane is just about all I can take and that is on medication.

I travelled much long distances when I was younger but don't have the desire to do so currently. We will venture further when our son gets older but right now, I am happy to stick with proven winner locations.

[augie]

If I want to get to the destination badly enough, I just factor in the travel time as part of the "cost" of visiting there.

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[theshopper3]

Toni,
I feel that if you want to see a place bad enough you will endure the travel time, it is just part of the adventure.

We have always dreamed of going to Australia, we have very good friends that have lived there for 23 yr & we have never made it. Well this year they were over for a visit which they do every few yrs due to having a widowed parent still living here.
I don't know why, but I just thought this is it, we are going, life is to short. We are smokers so at times this can be one more challenge but to our surprise we survived the 14 hr of travel time.

Just my thought, & we have already planned to return again in a few years.

The Shopper

[iowaguy]

St. John is 3 flights and about 12 hours away for me----but its well worth it to me. I can get to Mexico much more easily, but I don't enjoy it as much when I get there. However, a full travel day is about all I'm up for. I would love to go the South Pacific some day but its a long trip.

[theshopper3]

Iowaguy,
I felt the same way, beleive me.
I tried to break up the flights to make it a little easier, which I feel it did, however we did lose a few days.
If you can beleive this we had 11 flights in 18 days.... What was I thinking.

The Shopper

[California Girl]

St. John is 3 flights and about 12 hours away for me.

Me too! So hating to "waste a day" we usually fly the red eye. I have a terrible time sleeping on planes, but I'd rather do that, than miss any more daylight time on-island than I have to!

I will endure a long flight anywhere if I want to go bad enough!

[cypressgirl]

I've been going to STJ for more years than I can remember (probably the Rum) but I've never been able to get there in less than a full day. I might get up at 3:00 and arrive at 3:00, but it's a loooong day. Like Iowa Guy, I can get to Mexico really quickly....2hrs. to Cancun, 2.5 or so to Caymen. I haven't been in years. Maybe I should reconsider. My neighbor just got back from Mexico, had 4 other couples, and full staff with chef, great villa, for not much $$. I may have to reconsider that for a future trip, but still make time for my favorite island. I've been to Europe a few times, and loved it, but I really don't handle long flights too well. Too much back pain, no sleep (in spite of Ambian or whatever), so I'd rather avoid those kinds of trips. I'd like to see more of the U.S., so maybe that's on my horizon. Lot's to see and do right here. You guys have shown me some great photos I need to check out in person.

[Ron in South Texas]

I have an 8 hour non-stop from Houston to Honolulu next June. We'll see how well the back holds up. Usually, a 4 hour flight is my limit. Packing pain pills in the carry-on.

[Pete (Mr. Marcia)]

It's basically a full day of travel for us, too. That is why we stay for 2+ weeks...if that makes any sense.

[vi lover]

Honestly - that's the only reason we've not been to Hawaii. We can get to St. Thomas in 10 hours versus around 16 hours to Hawaii. I don't want to spend 2 full days just getting there and home again.

Summer vacation with the entire family has a 12 hour drive-time limit. Any further and we just won't go. The good news is that the east coast and Orlando are all within 12 hours.

[sherban]

Ease of travel is important to us, we usually fly out of CLT and we can get to STT or AUA in under 4 hours.

I flew to Hawaii once...it was beautiful but why spend that much time in a plane when we have so many options closer?

I've been traveling since I was young and have done many 8-10 hour drives and some long flights (just did a 24 hour flight to India this summer...).

We prefer short/direct flights for sure.

[chicagoans]

Travel time is the biggest factor, second only to cost and sometimes tops cost as the main issue. It's all due to limited vacation time and school schedules, and with DH owning a business he can't take off more than a week at a time in the summer.

Hawaii and STJ work because of direct flights from Chicago. For now, I haven't figured out how to make places like Bequia or other multi-leg destinations work for us.