Free Hotel Room in Orlando, but lengthy drive to each dive site...

[Barnaby'sDad]

If her business conference runs from June 19 to June 23, why not join her for a day or two in Orlando at the end of her trip and then both of you can drive down to southern Florida for a few days and fly home from Miami or perhaps Fort Lauderdale/West Palm. She's going to be busy anyway and there's not much of interest to you around Orlando.

That will lose the advantage of the free hotel nights, but you can shop around for a decent place to stay at a reasonable price and it may allow you to save money (and precious vacation time) in other ways. The dive op you pick may be able to suggest a reasonable hotel option.

It will cover the price of airfare for her, and it should reduce the ground transportation costs and avoid spending so much of your limited time on the road. It might also shave a day or two off the pet-sitting fees at the start of the trip since you will still be home.

If you head down on the weekend at the end of her trip, it might even save a couple of vacation days for you.

If your girlfriend is a non-diver, there are lots of things of interest in southern Florida during the day, she might enjoy some relaxing beach time or a spa day and you can both figure out how to spend time together and still manage some good diving.

Just my opinion.

I want to be able to bring all of my stuff and come and go as I please, so I'm going to pass on flying down.

If I fly down, I have to rent a vehicle ($50+/day for something comfortable), rent tanks for all dives (including a pony bottle), not dive in the last 24 hours prior to the flight home, etc. It didn't cost me much (fuel wise) to drive down last time, so I wouldn't be saving anything (other than a few hours time each way) by flying down.

If I'm not burning the vacation days on the front end (ex. Thursday and Friday), I'll have to burn them on the back end (ex. Monday and Tuesday). I don't see a scenario in which I go down there for 4+ days and do not end up using 2+ vacation days.

She's a non-diver and she is not a fan of the heat, so she's going to be ready to leave when her scheduled trip is up. If I ended up staying past when she flies home, i'll be solo. That being the case, I should probably explore cheaper accommodation options. ex. Camping.

Edit: On the pet sitting fees and logistics...I could do what you suggested, delay my departure for two days, and just stick around for a few extra days. That's a good idea. Thank you.

 

[Damselfish]

I'd step back and question if it makes sense to go, all things considered. A "free" trip with your GF to Orlando sounds great on the surface, and might be if you actually wanted to go to Orlando. If any day trips could be made to work I might do it. But once you start looking at what are practically 2 different trips with little overlap, does it make sense? All you save is a couple nights hotel in a place it sounds like you don't want to be anyway, meanwhile you have all sorts of concerns about vacation time and budget and other stuff.

Seems you don't mind driving - possibly you could drive down there directly for a short dive-only trip at your convenience and maybe when the tide timing will work better, spend no more money, use less vacation time, probably do less driving. and get the same or more diving - without complicating things. If you wouldn't do that, why this?

I run into this often as my husband travels on business a lot. I look at his trips and keep thinking I ought to tag along more. And in some places, that we ought to tack some diving on. I'm looking at somewhat different issues but it comes down to the same thing - often logistics and things just don't work and the plan collapses under it's own weight. Sometimes I go, occasionally we manage to combine with diving - but more often I wind up saying nah, doesn't make sense.

 

[KathyV]

I'd step back and question if it makes sense to go, all things considered. A "free" trip with your GF to Orlando sounds great on the surface, and might be if you actually wanted to go to Orlando. If any day trips could be made to work I might do it. But once you start looking at what are practically 2 different trips with little overlap, does it make sense? All you save is a couple nights hotel in a place it sounds like you don't want to be anyway, meanwhile you have all sorts of concerns about vacation time and budget and other stuff.

Seems you don't mind driving - possibly you could drive down there directly for a short dive-only trip at your convenience and maybe when the tide timing will work better, spend no more money, use less vacation time, probably do less driving. and get the same or more diving - without complicating things. If you wouldn't do that, why this?

I run into this often as my husband travels on business a lot. I look at his trips and keep thinking I ought to tag along more. And in some places, that we ought to tack some diving on. I'm looking at somewhat different issues but it comes down to the same thing - often logistics and things just don't work and the plan collapses under it's own weight. Sometimes I go, occasionally we manage to combine with diving - but more often I wind up saying nah, doesn't make sense.

I get what you are saying, I am heading to Orlando soon on business and my husband had considered joining me, but we decided against it. I will be busy and he isn't keen on theme parks and diving would have been difficult to manage.

@Barnaby'sDad perhaps you should figure out what you will have to invest (time, money, and driving) on an Orlando trip with your GF and then look into how much it would cost to do a long weekend trip to Florida this summer with more time for diving.

 

[Steve_C]

Was in Orlando for work a couple weeks ago. Drove down for a couple days of diving. Coughed up for the hotel room. Stayed out by interstate.

As has been stated a million times on this board, it is supposed to be fun. Your 5 hours round trip assumes good traffic conditions. When I did it the highway was blocked up for several hours. Ditched the highway and counted on Waze to get me there.

 

[DeputyDan]

Don't know about where you live but here in Raleigh pet care can easily run $100 a day or more.
We are going to Alaska this year and it will be about $125 a day for pet sitting. (Multiple pets).

 

[uncfnp]

I realize its not an option for everyone but if you have friends with pets that also travel and live nearby, explore the possibility of mutual pet sitting. I did that for many years. When we both had small indoor pets, the pets would travel between homes. When they got large dogs, I would actually stay at their house and look after the animals. Wonderful solution to a difficult and expensive problem.

 

[Barnaby'sDad]

I'd step back and question if it makes sense to go, all things considered. A "free" trip with your GF to Orlando sounds great on the surface, and might be if you actually wanted to go to Orlando. If any day trips could be made to work I might do it. But once you start looking at what are practically 2 different trips with little overlap, does it make sense? All you save is a couple nights hotel in a place it sounds like you don't want to be anyway, meanwhile you have all sorts of concerns about vacation time and budget and other stuff.

Seems you don't mind driving - possibly you could drive down there directly for a short dive-only trip at your convenience and maybe when the tide timing will work better, spend no more money, use less vacation time, probably do less driving. and get the same or more diving - without complicating things. If you wouldn't do that, why this?

I run into this often as my husband travels on business a lot. I look at his trips and keep thinking I ought to tag along more. And in some places, that we ought to tack some diving on. I'm looking at somewhat different issues but it comes down to the same thing - often logistics and things just don't work and the plan collapses under it's own weight. Sometimes I go, occasionally we manage to combine with diving - but more often I wind up saying nah, doesn't make sense.

You are 100% correct on what you're angling at there. If I wanted to visit Orlando or hit sites within an hour of Orlando, it would make sense.

At the end of the day, what you're suggesting there is my idea of an ideal driving + diving vacation. That's essentially what I did in January. Straight shot from Northern Virginia to Fort Lauderdale in one day. It's uncomplicated, it's not stressful (for me), and it allows me the freedom to modify my itinerary on the fly, if I decide to.

I get what you are saying, I am heading to Orlando soon on business and my husband had considered joining me, but we decided against it. I will be busy and he isn't keen on theme parks and diving would have been difficult to manage.

@Barnaby'sDad perhaps you should figure out what you will have to invest (time, money, and driving) on an Orlando trip with your GF and then look into how much it would cost to do a long weekend trip to Florida this summer with more time for diving.

We'll be in the same boat. She'll have 10-12/hour days and she's not going to have much down time.

My difficulty with this trip is just finding something within an hour or so of Orlando that I would want to do. I looked at the dive charters within an hour or so of Orlando. Most seemed to have more snorkeling than diving. I'd like to swim with Manatees (I think it would be cool), but I'm not going to drive 10+ hours to go snorkeling.

She's not going to want to go down there on vacation (we've already discussed it). If that's something that I'm going to want to do, it's going to be solo.

Was in Orlando for work a couple weeks ago. Drove down for a couple days of diving. Coughed up for the hotel room. Stayed out by interstate.

As has been stated a million times on this board, it is supposed to be fun. Your 5 hours round trip assumes good traffic conditions. When I did it the highway was blocked up for several hours. Ditched the highway and counted on Waze to get me there.

Yeah...I have a lengthy commute. I stopped trusting Waze some time ago. I can only trust Google Maps as far as I can throw my phone.

Don't know about where you live but here in Raleigh pet care can easily run $100 a day or more.
We are going to Alaska this year and it will be about $125 a day for pet sitting. (Multiple pets).

We're looking at $50 or so per night for our regular pet sitter to stay at out house with the critters (one dog and one cat).

I realize its not an option for everyone but if you have friends with pets that also travel and live nearby, explore the possibility of mutual pet sitting. I did that for many years. When we both had small indoor pets, the pets would travel between homes. When they got large dogs, I would actually stay at their house and look after the animals. Wonderful solution to a difficult and expensive problem.

If we lived 1.5+ hours south, that would be an option for us. Lots of people that are members of our Greyhound group (where we used to live) do exactly what you're suggesting.

Everyone...thank you for serving as a sounding board. I'm going to go ahead and pull the plug on the idea of this trip.

 

[Steve_C]

I'd like to swim with Manatees (I think it would be cool), but I'm not going to drive 10+ hours to go snorkeling.

10 hours? The Rainbow river/Crystal river area is within two hours of Orlando. In 10 hours, you could drive there, swim with the manatees (if the season is correct), have lunch, drive back. have a cold one in Orlando.

 

[Barnaby'sDad]

10 hours? The Rainbow river/Crystal river area is within two hours of Orlando. In 10 hours, you could drive there, swim with the manatees (if the season is correct), have lunch, drive back. have a cold one in Orlando.

It’s 10+ hours from where I am in Virginia to get to Orlando. It’s then two hours each way to go snorkeling. I’m going to have to pass on that.

 

[Steve_C]

It’s 10+ hours from where I am in Virginia to get to Orlando. It’s then two hours each way to go snorkeling. I’m going to have to pass on that.

My bad. Thought we were starting in Orlando.