Travel Advice Please

[Dave Ireland]

Hey guys could you take a minute to offer some suggestions to me. We are booked and confirmed to play in Fort Myers, Florida next April in the Emerald Challenge Cup a 60 two man team event between Ireland and USA. A 5 day golf fest, 2 practice and 3 tourney rounds. We have to make our own way stateside, the rest is sorted once we get there. I'm looking at flights etc, our rental pickup is at Fort Myers RSW airport and the best (cheapest) fare so far is Delta, Dublin - Atlanta- Fort Myers. As an alternative and having some people in the airline business, we can fly Dublin - Orlando with Aer Lingus. Do you know of any regional carrier that offers flights from Orlando to Ft Myers or alternatively if we can reschedule our rental pickup, how far/long a drive is it from Orlando to Ft. Myers, well in actual fact we're staying in Old Naples if that makes any difference to the journey. Much obliged for any assistance

Dave

[cwo2lt]

It's roughly 200 miles driving, should take about 3 1/2 hrs. Delta/Commair, American Eagle fly from Orlando to Ft. Meyers but you should check that yourself. A lot of times the short distances like that are routed through a hub so you may fly to Miami or back up to Atlalnta before you go to Ft. Meyers!

If you have time drive down to Key West. It's a very nice drive over the Overseas Highway, the Atlantic Ocean on one side of the road and the Gulf of Mexico on the other. And Key West is a fun town.

[Eracer]

Originally Posted by Dave Ireland

Hey guys could you take a minute to offer some suggestions to me. We are booked and confirmed to play in Fort Myers, Florida next April in the Emerald Challenge Cup a 60 two man team event between Ireland and USA. A 5 day golf fest, 2 practice and 3 tourney rounds. We have to make our own way stateside, the rest is sorted once we get there. I'm looking at flights etc, our rental pickup is at Fort Myers RSW airport and the best (cheapest) fare so far is Delta, Dublin - Atlanta- Fort Myers. As an alternative and having some people in the airline business, we can fly Dublin - Orlando with Aer Lingus. Do you know of any regional carrier that offers flights from Orlando to Ft Myers or alternatively if we can reschedule our rental pickup, how far/long a drive is it from Orlando to Ft. Myers, well in actual fact we're staying in Old Naples if that makes any difference to the journey. Much obliged for any assistance

Dave

The Orlando airport to Naples is almost four hours by auto.

Airline tickets between Orlando and Ft. Myers are ridiculously expensive. You should fly into Miami instead. That's a two hour drive to Naples, and you should be able to find a round trip flight for under $1000.

I see that American has a one-stop flight from Glasgow to Miami flying Sunday - Sunday for $945.00 round trip.

[ualtim]

Originally Posted by Eracer

The Orlando airport to Naples is almost four hours by auto.

Airline tickets between Orlando and Ft. Myers are ridiculously expensive. You should fly into Miami instead. That's a two hour drive to Naples, and you should be able to find a round trip flight for under $1000.

I see that American has a one-stop flight from Glasgow to Miami flying Sunday - Sunday for $945.00 round trip.

I have done MCO (Orlando) to Naples in just over 3 hours (by car).

I would agree with Eracer, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, or even Tampa would be a better routing for a shorter drive than MCO.

Southwest runs MCO nonstop to RSW (Ft. Meyers) 4 times a day for $59 USD each way if you book your ticket in advance. Could be a good option if you get a deal on the MCO non-stop from Dublin. You have to book through Southwest's web site to get that deal.

[Dave Ireland]

LOL... thanks guys ...cwo2lt the idea of flying back to Atlanta to get to Ft. Myers is a real head scratcher !!.. but I take your point regarding driving thru Key West that would be a great side bar for the trip... we're looking at travelling on 18th April with 1st official practice round on 20th so a night in some motel surrounded by latin salsa dancers has got some appeal

Yeah Eracer I am astounded at the price of internal flights in US ... presently I can go Delta to Ft. Myers with a stopover in Atlanta for $750, but if I try to be a bit cute and fly to say St. Louis, Philly, Newark, Boston and try to ctach an internal carrier e.g Jet Blue down to Ft. Myers I'm lookin at the bones of $300. Btw is the the weekend of 18th April of any significance in US ? as it appears the flight fares increase for this weekend and return to their previous rates for the following week ..... it's hardly Spring Break weekend is it ? ... .. Florida for Spring Break nah we couldn't get that lucky could we ?

[Dave Ireland]

Originally Posted by ualtim

I have done MCO to Naples in just over 3 hours (by car).

I would agree with Eracer, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, or even Tampa would be a better routing for a shorter drive than MCO.

Southwest runs MCO nonstop to RSW 4 times a day for $59 USD each way if you book your ticket in advance. Could be a good option if you get a deal on the MCO non-stop from Dublin. You have to book through Southwest's web site to get that deal.

Nice one Tim, yeah I had a look at Southwest currently looking at $93 single trip excluding taxes ..will look at those other airports for direct flights. Problem is that most of Deltas flights from Ireland are hubbed thru Atlanta which I believe is a huge airport, us paddies have a problem finding our way out of the pub never mind a mofo airport

[ualtim]

Originally Posted by Dave Ireland

Yeah Eracer I am astounded at the price of internal flights in US ... presently I can go Delta to Ft. Myers with a stopover in Atlanta for $750, but if I try to be a bit cute and fly to say St. Louis, Philly, Newark, Boston and try to ctach an internal carrier e.g Jet Blue down to Ft. Myers I'm lookin at the bones of $300. Btw is the the weekend of 18th April of any significance in US ? as it appears the flight fares increase for this weekend and return to their previous rates for the following week ..... it's hardly Spring Break weekend is it ? ... .. Florida for Spring Break nah we couldn't get that lucky could we ?

Depending on the week in April, different states in the Northeast have an April vacation week which drive up the airfares that week. I know New Hampshire and Massachusetts due public school vacation around that time. Spring break for the young ones, not the college spring break that your thinking of.

Check out Southwest.com for the MCO-RSW flights for that week. Soutwest does not list on a lot of third party websites such as Orbitz, Travelocity, and Expedia. If you go though Atlanta, try airtran.com for ATL-RSW flights. Same deal as Soutwest, they do not participate in a lot of thrid party web sites.

[ualtim]

Originally Posted by Dave Ireland

Nice one Tim, yeah I had a look at Southwest currently looking at $93 single trip excluding taxes ..will look at those other airports for direct flights. Problem is that most of Deltas flights from Ireland are hubbed thru Atlanta which I believe is a huge airport, us paddies have a problem finding our way out of the pub never mind a mofo airport

ATL is the busiest or second busiest airport in the world depnding on how you define "busy" (passengers moved or aircraft operations.) Its pretty much guarenteed that if you flying Delta, you will be stopping in the ATL. It is an expensive week to travel with the Northeast holiday week. If your flexible enough not to have to travel on the weekends that week, you may be able to snag a better deal. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdays typically are cheaper travel times.

[Eracer]

Originally Posted by ualtim

I have done MCO (Orlando) to Naples in just over 3 hours (by car).

I'm going to need some personal info so that I can take out a $2MM life insurance policy on you...you wildman!

[ualtim]

Originally Posted by Eracer

I'm going to need some personal info so that I can take out a $2MM life insurance policy on you...you wildman!

417 to 75, 75+ most of the way, no stops. Heck, I can get to the port in FLL from here in under 3 hours. As long as your willing to pay tolls, you can get there fast.

Good luck on the insurance. I am a little over the height to weight ratio on their tables.

[Crossfire]

Eracer, were going half on that insurance policy on tim. He was driving slow to let me keep up on the way back to orlando and he was still doing 80+. Give a man a Vtec and who knows what will happen.

[Sandpiper3]

My only advice, dont use United Airlines, they broke my golf bag.

And unfortunately im flying them again at the end of this week. If they break another bag im guna have a shit fit.

[Eracer]

Originally Posted by ualtim

417 to 75, 75+ most of the way, no stops. Heck, I can get to the port in FLL from here in under 3 hours. As long as your willing to pay tolls, you can get there fast.

Good luck on the insurance. I am a little over the height to weight ratio on their tables.

No stops in Disney for you...or me.

[cwo2lt]

Originally Posted by Dave Ireland

a night in some motel surrounded by latin salsa dancers has got some appeal

If you're in Key West surrounded by salsa dancers you might want to do a package check before you get too excited about it!

[Eracer]

Originally Posted by cwo2lt

If you're in Key West surrounded by salsa dancers you might want to do a package check before you get too excited about it!

Been there, almost did that. Lucky the bartender at Sloppy's knew her, uh..him, uh...it - and warned me. Scary, scary, scary.

BTW Dave - Key West is a six hour drive from Naples. I believe there is a high-speed ferry that runs from Ft. Myers to Key West. Might be worth a look.