crunching numbers...

while balancing my checkbook from the drive south, i thought this was interesting:

many people i know always ask "why on earth do you *drive* the 1100ish miles from NJ to TN every year instead of flying... wouldn't flying be simpler and cheaper?"

the usual suspect reasons are:
* i love driving, it's my stress relief.
* if i drive, i can visit family and friends along the way (e.g. i can visit my grandma in chicago, old profs in indiana, my aunt in pittsburgh, and many other friends along the way that i wouldn't see if i flew instead.
* my family lives on the fringe of town in a neighborhood with no sidewalks or safe place to walk... when they're all gone at work all day most days, if i didn't have a car, i'd be stuck at home the whole time instead of able to run errands, go to the library, etc., etc., etc... there's only so long i can deal with hyper parrots singing up a storm before i need a break.

but here's the deal sealer...

despite all my arguments which totally work for me (the 2nd out of the 3 above is the one that gets most people to say "ok, i guess that makes sense").... most people still comment "isn't it cheaper to fly, especially with all these rising gas prices?

the answer is actually no.

cost of gas for me to get from NJ to TN in the past two days: $126.48 (and i still have over half a tank left in the car)
double that and you get to $252.96

on the other hand, looking at expedia for round trip tickets between newark and memphis a month in advance, they start at $324 round trip and go up from there. this does not include taxes or the round trip train ticket from the train station near my house to the airport.

summary: driving STILL saves me $100ish dollars for the round trip, plus i have mobility while i'm home, and the ability to see people along the way.

not bad, just thought that was interesting.

the end.