Comments on: There’s No Place Like Home

By: DB

DB — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 05:34:56 +0000

The Disney trip was included in the SD rental car estimate. It is fairly easy to base in SD and round trip to/from Anaheim (via rental car or train). I spent about a year traveling between DFW & SAN so I got to know the area fairly well. Nice place to visit, but I would NOT want to live there.

As for travel agency services, my fees would have negated all of your savings so you probably don’t want to do that.

By: Dyer

Dyer — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:16:20 +0000

East or west home is the best

By: Owen

Owen — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:09:49 +0000

Being a business man, I do spend less time with my family for outing. When I read this post, I come to know i have missed my happiness in the past. We should spend at least weekend with our family

By: Geeding

Geeding — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 04:42:40 +0000

My . . . what interesting comments.

I think DB made some great observations and calculations, and I don’t think he included the Disney trip unless that’s part of the San Diego car rental. Also, who trusts the IRS? But seriously, I did check out flight info a month before the trip and I couldn’t find anything as affordable for the time frame we wanted to fly. For our next trip, I’m hiring DB as a travel agent. It would be great to have mroe comments like this.

Rev Hart -
I don’t have total numbers of gallons but that is the correct engine and we have a something on our instrument panel that informed us we averaged a little over 21 mpg.

Paul -
Yup, same exact commercial and I think each provided a local phone number.. I love the way it ends as he pulls in a floor and you see a half wood half carpeted room and a cute little dog jumps in.

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 22:29:53 +0000

I remember when Empire Carpet was only a local commercial, they started here in Chicago and instead of a 800# they had a 312# and I can’t remember which, but the first 2 numbers were represented by letters, such as call Hudson-3-2700. I wonder not that Empire has an 800 number if they are just a national chain, sending out sub-contractors. Let me know if your comercials have a little balding cartoon man with glasses. If so it’s the same company, and I thought I was the coolest guy when at the age of 6 when I met the real actor who did the commercials here in Chicago. Yeah…. Im OLD

By: MamaToots

MamaToots — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:26:16 +0000

Better than the Big Texas would be the drive through northern New Mexico………….some of my favorite scenery in God’s beautiful creation! Some things are PRICELESS!

By: littlepastor

littlepastor — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:05:26 +0000

…That might be the greatest blog comment in the history of ever…

By: DB

DB — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:42:50 +0000

Okay, the IRS reimburses mileage at 48.5 cents. That means that they have determined that you consume 48.5 cents of fuel, wear and tear and depreciation on your vehicle for every mile you drive (and independent research has determined that your costs are probably higher). Your 2916.7-mile trip cost you $966.51 of wear and tear ((2916.7 miles * 48.5 cents = $1414.69 W&T) – $448.09 gas = $966.51).

So, out of curiosity I did some experimentation to see if you should have flown (things are slow at work and I am bored out of my gourd).

I examined flights out about 30 days (assuming you planned this trip out ahead of time). You can get a flight on Orbitz from DFW-LAS-SAN-DFW on the days of the week you left each for your drive (i.e. leave Dallas on Friday, leave Vegas on Monday, etc) for $319 per person.

A rental car in San Diego (since nobody needs a car in Vegas) would have cost you about $80 plus $100 in gas (estimate obviously). Add in a couple of airport to hotel to airport cab fares in Vegas ($40).

That brings us to a grand total estimate for flying:

Airfare: $638
Rental: $80
Gas: $100
Cab: $40
Total: $858

So, you would have saved $556 if you would have flown rather than drive. However, you would not have experienced the Big Texan in Amarillo and you cannot put a price on that!