wrote:
On Tue, 18 Mar 2014 19:44:42 -0400, F*O*A*D wrote:



Even a long, slow boat ride down the ICW is better than a long, slow
drive down I-95. The beauty of the view from 35,000 feet is that within
the United States, it doesn't last very long. It's a six hour flight to
Jackson Hole. How long is the drive? 40-60 hours? Of course, if one
is "retired," time has little meaning.


I am retired and I still like to fly.
The difference I we like to fly up front.

The strange thing is, going some places, it is not even that
expensive.
I just bought tickets for Montana (3 months out) and the difference
between coach and 1st class was less than $300 if you booked a coach
seat and then took the upgrade option. Our baggage fees would have
eaten that up. I am not even sure why Delta does that. If you just
booked 1st class to start out it was almost $700 more.
Maybe it is just because we are booking early and those upgrades are
limited.

There also seems to be a heluva deal on renta cars at Hertz if you
book and pay in advance. $555 for 2 weeks in a high end SUV.
That was better than anyone else by at least $100 (Costco, AAA, IBM
discount etc)

Renting a house in Montana is another thing altogether. They are
damned proud of those houses ($400 a day and up so far)
We may end up burning some of my wife's credit card points at hotels.
She has a ****load

As you say depends where you fly. We looked at business class to Tahiti,
NZ, and Australia. Was $7000-$10,000 more than the $4000 we paid, cattle
car. When I traveled in the 1980's to Asia and Oz for business, was about
50% more for business on Pan Am, not the 400-500% now.