Spring Break Dreaming....

Ah to be young again. It's the time of year when the first whiff of spring arrives at college campuses across the nation signaling its time to start planning for Spring Break. As a Junior at the University of Dayton (many, many years ago) I remember piling the guys into my vintage Chevy Malibu and heading to Daytona beach for the annual Dayton to Daytona trek. You could feel the excitement building as the frigid cold temperatures slowly melted away as mile after mile passed under the tires of the car, and that first magical refueling point where we exited the car sans coats to feel the first mild temperatures we had experienced in months.

If tradition holds true, most college students will be driving to spring break this year and with gas prices lower than they've been in years there should be plenty of cash left over for those .. ahem .. extracuricular activities spring break has become infamous for.

To help budget for the trip (and make sure your college chums are footing their fair share of the cost) I'm providing the cost of driving to the top spring break destinations from Universities across the country. And in the spirit of my old Chevy Malibu, I'm going to use a 1999 Chevy Malibu in the calculations.

Note that all costs are one-way. To see what it will cost you to drive your own car to spring break visit Cost2Drive.com.

• University of Dayton to Daytona Beach, FL: $62.82


• University of Michigan to Panama City, FL: $80.60


• University of Wisconsin to Fort Lauderdale, FL: $123.47


• University of Iowa to South Padre Island, TX: $111.78


• Boston University to South Beach, FL: $105.94


• Ohio State University to Key West, FL: $106.77


• University of Colorado to Laguna Beach, CA: $82.50


• University of Washington to Malibu, CA: $103.33


• University of Oregon to Mission Beach, CA: $88.69


• University of Illinois to Galveston, TX: $81.62

New York to Orlando

As its the dead of winter, for my first post comparing the costs of driving vs flying I've chosen a very popular route for this time of year: NYC to Orlando. Florida seems to be the destination of choice for New Yorkers as in January many of the routes entered into the 'galculator' on Cost2Drive.com included Walt Disney World as a destination.

To run the comparison I've selected 3 styles of 2008 model vehicles; a subcompact, a midsize and a SUV. The airfare used in the comparison was the cheapest airfare found by users of Kayak.com. The carbon footprint for the flight portion was found on the TRX Travel Analytics Website. All costs represent roundtrip journeys.

Here are the results as researched on Feb 4, 2008:

Driving a Subcompact: The vehicle used for the subcompact comparison was a Toyota Corolla. The cost to drive from New York to Orlando is $108.82 compared to the airfare cost of $159. Therefore, it's cheaper to drive even if there is only one person traveling. The carbon footprint for driving is 773.8 lbs vs. 636 for flying, making flight the 'green' winner for single passengers. Driving is the greener option for 2 or more passengers.

Driving a Midsize Car: The vehicle used for the midsize comparison was a Lexus ES 350. The cost to drive from New York to Orlando is $147.40, making it cheaper to drive with one or more passengers. The carbon footprint for driving is 1005.6 lbs, making flight the green choice for a single passenger, but driving the winner for 2 or more.

Driving an SUV: The vehicle used for the SUV comparison was a Ford Explorer (4WD). The cost to drive from New York to Orlando is $200.04 making it cheaper to fly with a single passenger, but cheaper to drive with 2 or more. The carbon footprint for driving is 1,420.1 lbs making flying a greener option for less than 3 passengers.