Villagers heading home for summer.
 

Interested in opinions from snowbirds and/or full time Residents, if you had to travel 1000 miles at the end of the month, how would you do it? Air, automobile, other. What would you do, or what are you going to do? Maybe add short rationale.

Dorothy glass slippers or Star Trek advice not needed at this time.

Thanks

I would be afraid to stay at a hotel who knows how well they cleaned since last occupant. Would have to sleep in our car and not something we would want to do at this age.

Waiting for things to be better and will do a road trip out west.

I would not fly that distance except in an extreme emergency. Airports and planes are the problem. I myself need to drive 800 miles in a few weeks, a trip which I normally fly. I used to drive that distance in one day but that was 15 years ago when I was of course much younger. I do not want to be in an accident. I will need to opt for a hotel but I will choose it carefully, take my own pillow, towels and bedroll. It will be a stop where I can walk directly into the room from my car, no lobbies. I want to be careful but not paranoid.

Long drive
 

Drove 975 miles straight through 17 hours. Did not want to stop at motels. Left at 3:00 am arrived at 8:pm traffic was light the whole way back to PA

Have summer home on a lake in Maine .Were Still here for ????..also have class C motor home ..Plan is if and when for now Maine is still shut down
Fill fridge fill water tank..Stop for fuel and sleep where ever

I would not fly anytime soon unless it was absolutely necessary. Being trapped for over three hours in a germ tube, while breathing recirculated air, is a very bad idea. I am very shortly looking at a 2,750 mile round trip drive to/from our Villages home. When we headed up north from our Villages home on February 29th, we expected to return to the Villages in three weeks. For obvious reasons, we did not return. Even though I really don’t want to, I have no choice but to make the drive. Stuff at our home needs to be taken care of. I am sure there are several science projects growing in our refrigerator. I can only imagine what the weeds look like in our garden. Preparations need to be made for the long and hot upcoming summer and hurricane season. Our yard and birdcage needs to be cleared of items that could easily become projectiles in a hurricane and our A/C needs it’s annual maintenance.

I will make the round trip drive in the pick-up truck, with the cap on the back, and an inflatable mattress in the truck bed. I will have lots of good food packed in a big cooler. It will be a two day drive each way with a stop in a Wallmart parking lot to sleep in the back of the truck. Bringing lots of hand sanitizer, face masks, disinfect whips, and a spray bottle of bleach for gas and restroom stops. At least gas is cheap. Plus, after being in isolation for over two months, it will be nice to finally get out and about. I am very much looking forward to spending some time in the Villages. I haven’t swam a lap or played golf for wayyyyyyyyyy toooooooo loooong!

We have a Maine beach house rented for a week in August. Unfortunately, the Governor of Maine has said that out of state visitors are required to self quarantine for 14 days when entering the state. The order is in place through August. So technically, we can’t even go because we are there for less than 14 days. The Maine tourism industry is up in arms over the order, so hopefully it will be reconsidered?

We flew back to Ohio February 23rd, thinking we would return to TV 2 to 3 weeks later. We would always fly except once we brought a car to TV, 13 hour drive straight thru. We will not fly at this time, plan on driving returning early June driving straight thru.

The airlines took all the direct flights away, for now, direct flight was less than 2 hours. Once everything opens including Disney I expect the direct flights will return.

So we rent a car and drive, want to get back!

1000 miles on a direct flight is about 2.5 hours. planes are pretty empty right now, as are airports. They are not serving beverages, so buy a bottle of water after passing security, and have some wipes with you.. For most Village people, 1000 mile car trip is a long haul. At least a two day trip. Sleeping in a car is ludicrous. The few hotels that are open have new sanitized processes in place. Stay in a national brand, not a no tell motel for cheap. You might be overnighting in a state that hasnt opened restaurants yet, so you;ll be doing drive thru's at McDonalds or the like. If you're going straight up north from here, you could consider AutoTrain. My buddy that winters in Ft Myers takes that to Virginia and then drives to Central NY.. But I think thats one overnight in the train, and perhaps one when he gets off in VA. It might get down to whether you have a car in both places and if it makes sense to store one down here .. or if you have one waiting for you up there.. Me, not considering the car situation, wouldnt think twice about flying .. Fastest and safest, IMO. At the same time, I'm a veteran flyer, TSA, CLEAR, and flew throughout my business life. Hope this helps

We had the occasion recently to travel one state over (ESSENTIAL BUSINESS in case you were wondering) and the national brand motel we stayed in was extremely clean. We have stayed at this particular motel before. The scent of disinfectants was in the air and even the remote control to the TV was wrapped in plastic which at least gave the impression that it had been sanitized. The motel was only about 1/3 full. The "free" breakfast buffet had been discontinued for the duration but that probably only upped the cleanliness notch because when you think about it, during the non-pandemic times that would be a major breeding ground for all kinds of germs. I say, use your common sense, wash your hands and travel. Now, I wouldn't want to stay in a NYC hotel, a Detroit hotel, New Orleans might be iffy, etc., but the rest of the US hinterland is bound to be somewhat safe. No sense in hiding or driving when tired because that for sure is a risky behavior.

Leaving home for the summer in our motorhome. We will self-isolate to the same degree we do here except we will be in mountain air.

We're leaving in the morning for....well, I don't know where, for how long or how far... We'll not be staying in any hotels or doing any flying. We have to be in Vegas in late September, so eventually get out that way.

live in bedford nh . and I drive right thru . 1395 miles / no hotel:bigbow: :MOJE_whot:

Oh my! memason,

I saw that picture. Are you a country-western star? That is a gorgeous machine. I never much thought about motorhomes before, but could be that very soon the motorhome market, and all that entails, will be really hot. Have fun! :)

Boomer

Nice!
 

Nice looking rig. Drive safely and have a great trip.

If you do get serious about an RV, a fellow in my golf group has been looking far and near for months and he said LaMesa RV in Sanford has the best prices in the state.

New and Used Motorhomes & RVs For Sale - Huge Selection of New and Used Motorohomes!

That is probably the most widely circulated rumor on how an aircraft cabin air system works. It's almost as bad as the STD in The Villages rumor.

THE TRUTH ABOUT CABIN AIR

Filthy, germ-laden, rotten, disgusting, wretched, skanky, rancid, putrid, fetid, and fart-filled are just a few of the adjectives used to describe cabin air, and legion are the accounts of flyers allegedly made ill by microscopic pathogens circulating throughout a plane. In reality, the air is very clean.

On all modern aircraft, passengers and crew breathe a mixture of fresh and recirculated air. Using this combination rather than fresh air only makes it easier to regulate temperature and helps maintain a bit of humidity (more on the humidity in a moment). The supply is bled from the compressor sections of the engines. Compressed air is very hot, but the compressors only compress; there is no contact with combustion gasses. From there it is plumbed into air conditioning units for cooling. It’s then ducted into the cabin through louvers, vents, and the eyeball gaspers above your seat. The AC units are known to pilots as “packs.” That’s an acronym for pneumatic air cycle kit. Usually there are two per plane.

The air circulates until eventually it is drawn into the lower fuselage, where about half of it is vented overboard—sucked out by the pressurization outflow valve. The remaining portion is remixed with a fresh supply from the engines and run through filters, and the cycle begins again.

Studies have shown that a crowded airplane is no more germ-laden than other enclosed spaces—and usually less. Those underfloor filters are described by manufacturers as being of hospital quality. I needn’t be reminded that hospitals are notorious viral incubators, but Boeing says that between 94 and 99.9 percent of airborne microbes are captured, and there’s a total changeover of air every two or three minutes — far more frequently than occurs in offices, movie theaters, or classrooms.

Maine, except the counties near Portland and Penobscot county are opening under restrictions today. To come in from out of state you are still required to self quarantine for 14 days until August 1. As was said earlier, Maine tourism, Maine Hospitality is up in arms so hopefully things will change.

My wife and I drove 1400 miles
 

We drove 1400 miles in 23 hours. Only stopped for gas. Didn't even use their bathroom. Never want to do that again.

Travel
 

We just completed 1200 mile trip last week from TV back to Tulsa. As usual we drove but debated long and hard whether to drive straight through or stay in our usual Holiday Inn Express. We decided the risks of two 72 year olds driving 20+ hours with 6-8 of those during darkness was greater than staying at a hotel. We took our wipes, sprays, etc and wiped down the room before we unloaded. It was the right decision. The hotel setup is quite different with no buffet breakfast, lobby workers isolated behind plexiglass and no direct access to self
serve coffee. Breakfast is cold variety and ordered and picked up in a sack at lobby

Bigger fear is a bunch of seniors, who have never driven 8 hours straight, much less 12 or more. If I had to I would fly, with a 95 and multiple gloves. You might be safer than a drive you don’t normally do

We drove for 23 hours straight to get home, We only stopped for gas, we had packed food to eat on the way. We rotated drivers, it worked well, we actually found we were less tired then when we took the two days.

Travel
 

[QUOTE=Cheapbas;1762484]Interested in opinions from snowbirds and/or full time Residents, if you had to travel 1000 miles at the end of the month, how would you do it? Air, automobile, other. What would you do, or what are you going to do? Maybe add short rationale.

Flying to PA in two weeks. Not really wanting to but necessary.

We intended to fly but the flight was cancelled so we drove. Stayed in a nice motel. Very clean and food was served in take out bags. Also used the bathrooms in the gas station and fast food restaurant. Oh my! I hope that we survive!

We left April 30 for New England, we stayed at national chains that were all rated highly for cleanliness. Also stayed in rural areas with low incidence of cov-19
If you stay at national chains that get extremely high reviews for cleanliness and use common sense you should be ok

Our trip to N.J. is about 1100 miles. Breaking it up into two days always was ideal. We even talked about doing it in 3 days next time. Why not?

The recent developments have changed my thoughts. I can't think about staying in a hotel at all and I just can't get comfortable sleeping in a car in a truck stop. Maybe

at one time but that ship has sailed. Looked into renting a nice and functional Class A, B, or C but the units are used and they show it. No better than staying in a hotel.

What are we gonna do? At one point we were avid campers but it was a while ago. Well, I guess I have my mission set for today. Thanks for the idea. I think I can rule out The Charlie Daniels Class A. Too much for me to handle. We'll see.

Those posters who mention nice hotels. Could you please mention the name. Maybe you came up with a simple answer that isn't such a big commitment. Thanks.

Before all this crapola, I flew alot and always took wipes with me to wipe down the tray and armrests, and I was usually the lucky one to get the 300 pounder next to me. Frontier is actually fogging the inside of their planes and wiping down everything and they have state of the art HEPA filters. Good things are coming out of this mess. Hope Wins! Just be sensible and you will be fine.

We left TV eight weeks ago, much earlier than planned, and drove nonstop to our home in rural northern New York. We had originally planned to fly but that seemed inadvisable --- too much close contact there. For the same reason we decided not to make overnight stays, so we drove straight through with only a few short stops for fuel and rest, making it in 27 hours. One positive observation: the traffic is decidedly lighter at night, which was helpful as we passed through Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Long drive ...
 

I drive to Maine every summer. I usually make 2 stops on the way up. I'm re-thinking that. I may only make one stop. I'm packing sanitizer and cleaning everything I contact on the way up.
If guidelines change, I'll change my plans as needed.

Leaving in June
 

Leaving for N.H. in June. We usually take two nights but this time we will only stay one night at someplace that is half the distance which would be about 750 miles. We are taking some food and drinks, plenty of gloves, masks, wipes, hand sanitizer and bedding. We usually stay at Hampton Inn which we find very clean. The plan is to wear gloves when getting gas, wear masks in the hotel, disinfect all the areas in the room, put tv remote in a plastic bag and use it in the bag, wear mask when sleeping and remove comforter from bed and sleep on our own bedding and pillows. The Hampton Inns have a new protocol in place to ensure distancing and sanitizing of rooms also. We will share the driving and hopefully have an event less trip. We will have to quarantine for two weeks in N.H. so we are employing my son to get groceries for us. Don’t like driving that distance in one day but better than trying to drive straight through. It’s sad how our lives have been changed but no one said life would be easy. Don’t stop living but be careful out there. Stay safe!!

I fly back home to Seattle. Air is recirculated thru hepa filters that clean 99.8 of virus out of the air. Planes are almost empty as is the airport. Planes are faster and safer than driving. If you are driving a short distance you can always catch a 4 or 5 hour nap in your car. Just lay the seats all the way back. Not much different than napping in a recliner. I've done that when driving to Buffalo, not too bad really, just be in a safe place when you do it. Safe travels however you choose to go.

We travel in the comfort of our motor home 😉

I’m getting on a plane on June 2 with Southwest. Middle seats will apparently be empty. I’ll wear a mask in the airport and on the plane.....I need to see those grandchildren!!!

Nucky, I agree about not being able to "sleep" in my car, but I can "nap" there. When I had to cover a lot of driving in a short amount of time, I'd stop as needed along the way, which turned out to be maybe 3 hours of sleep at a time. Some of it was during the day and some at night, but even traveling alone I felt safe enough at rest/truck stops. Most car seats recline fairly comfortably these days. It would be a tiring couple of days, but all options have their drawbacks.

You might also consider renting a panel van/moving truck and putting an air mattress in the back. Easier to sanitize than an entire motor home, at least.

As for hotels, I'd hope that after rooms are sanitized, they aren't re-rented for a few days to allow any virus remnants to die. Occupancy rates seem to be low enough to allow it.

Hi Brian, small world. My husband and I recently sold our Bedford, NH home and retired to our home here. We absolutely loved Bedford. Just thought I’d say hello.
Andrew & Mary Gleason

Maine has a summer tourist season of 12 weeks
If they lose Memorial Day weekend it will be a economic disaster
They lost winter sports season doesn't economical look good
I was resident 20 years, became a frog now due to Maine guidelines not welcomed back .

Le Page is moving back to Maine.
Unfortunately Maine will have to endure another year of a lame duck

So, when are you snowbirds leaving?

I apologize has mentioned this as I don’t feel like reading through 3 pages of posts .....

For those traveling by car and plan on staying in a hotel or motel along the way , it would be prudent to check the place you plan on stopping overnight.

Reason I mention this is that a friend is making a sort of “emergency” trip to Vermont due to his mother’s failing and rapidly declining health and when he tried to book a room at a local hotel he was told that they were closed !! No, not booked up ..... just plain closed and not open for business at this time .....

He will be staying with a friend for a few days .....

Beautiful motor home!

You're lucky to have the class C to use. Wal-Mart's are a great overnight stop. Also if you're not familiar look for the Flying J truckstops. They have designated RV overnight parking and offer dump stations as well. Also overnight parking is allowed at the cracker Barrel restaurants. Safe travels!