10/06 9:00pm - I'm packing up my suitcase (small enough to carry on). I don't like to check a bag unless I have to so I get to squeeze some shampoo and conditioner into travel sized 3oz bottles and cram them in a little baggy. I do have to say though, the mini toothpaste tubes are very cute!
10/07 7:05am - Printing my boarding pass. Made sure I had a window seat! Although there may be some wing obstruction. No prob, I'll just have em zap any interfering pieces with their fancy laser guns.
10/07 5:37pm - Taking off for the airport. It's Friday and my brain is fried so I find myself singing along to songs by the likes of Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry, and this. Also, it's still up for debate whether cars come from factories or trees.
10/07 6:43pm - Finally found a spot in the airport parking lot and caught the shuttle.
10/07 7:13 - Got through security pretty quick, can't say the same for the guy in the line next to me who was struggling to understand the phrase "make sure there's nothing in your pockets."
10/07 8:04 - Finishing up dinner. It's so busy, I'm sharing a table with a random person. He gives me tips on how to board the airplane after you've been drinking.
10/07 9:03pm - Boarding the plane. Some kid was in my window seat but I didn't want to make a scene so I just sat in the aisle seat. The window wasn't ideally located anyway.
10/07 10:12pm - Landed earlier than expected. Almost home!
10/07 11:16pm - Final destination. We missed an exit and got a little lost, but made it eventually.
Total arrival trip travel time: 5hr 39min
10/09 9:53pm - Leaving the house after having ticket printing issues, I'll have to print it at the airport.
10/09 10:37pm - Arrived at the airport.
10/09 10:50pm - Printed my ticket and got through security all ready! Time for some breakfast (and caffeine).
10/09 11:34pm - Boarding. Warning! Rant incoming! So because baggage fees are so ridiculous people take on these large carry on bags. And because of this there's not enough space for everyone's bags on a full flight. Therefore they recommend that the people that are in the later boarding zones check their bags at the gate because by the time they board there won't be any space left in the overhead bins. So being in the second to last zone I decided to check mine (it's free of charge at this point). Then, in order to get my bag checked and scanned, I'm one of the first to board. I suppose I just find it ironic.
10/09 1:03pm - Landed! It was a somewhat interesting flight. Apparently we were being driven by The Boy Wonder (according to the pilot). Also, I learned that instead of working out a way to organize the multiple implementations of various algorithms out there, the open source software community is debating the "potential market demand for fire that can be applied nasally." Thank you, CACM, for that image.
10/09 1:34pm - I grabbed my bag from baggage claim, caught the parking lot shuttle, and located my car.
10/09 2:38pm - Mission complete! I survived the traffic home via windows down and sunglasses on. It's a beautiful day!
Total return trip travel time: 4hrs 45 mins
Total trip travel time: 10 hrs 24 mins (624 mins)
Estimated trip cost (airfare, parking, gas* to airport): $259.14
Estimated total trip time by car**: 16 hours (960 minutes)
Estimated trip cost by car*: $83.02 (407 miles)
So, I saved 5.6 hours by flying but spent an extra $176.12 ($31.45/hour). There are other factors to consider when deciding whether to fly or drive:
- Duration of trip. It might have been kind of crazy to drive all night Friday, visit for one day on Saturday and then drive back most of the day Sunday
- If you really don't like driving. It doesn't bother me (actually most of the time I rather enjoy it), but it's definitely a major factor for some people.
- Fuel emissions. Doing a tiny bit of web searching, the general consensus is, on a per-passenger basis, driving releases less CO2 emissions than flying. (Except for some crazy situations like driving a 15 mpg car from India to France.)
- Love of flying. OK, so I love watching out of the window of an airplane, although I don't think it would be an overwhelming factor for most people. But who knows?
- Some other point that I didn't think of.
* Assuming 31.3 mpg average given by my car and $3.19/gallon gas price given by the station across from my apartment complex.
** Google Maps says one way is 7 hours, 36 minutes. If memory serves me right, my trip down a few months ago took close to 7 hours exactly. I added an extra hour (each way) to account for traffic (especially since I would have left during rush hour).
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