Right now I’m working out how much I want to drive from here to Atlanta in February versus other and more easy ways to transit.
738 Miles from Dallas, 1111.5 from Midland.
I like to value my free time at $10 per hour.
The drive from Midland would be $160 in labor and back is $320, a From dallas we are in the 70s.
I can get a flight on Spirit Air for 77 from Dallas. That’s affordable.
Now, lets just go and look at how much travel costs mechanically versus psychologically.
Fuel wise, my vehicle gets around 27 miles per gallon. his means a there and back trip costs $329 on fuel alone. Federal Fuel Allowance, the amount the federal gov’t reimburses people is .53 cents per mile, but the government is inefficient by a factor of ten. Its probably only like 6 cents per mile. $13. If it was 25 cents per mile it would be $53.
So Right now a 111.5 mile trip is going to cost me, in just gasoline, around $300. Meaning a plane flight round trip Is going to have to be less than that. All full round trips via plane actually take 12 hours, meaning I could literally drive from Midland to Atlanta and theoretically get there before a plane. Counting luggage and security it would definitely be fast to drive. Also it is impossible to be delayed or otherwise miss a connection.
What’s it gonna be, driving to Dallas cuts the 173 round trip cost of tickets out. That is for sure the cheapest connection. It takes 5 hours to get to Dallas from Midland. That $88 fuel cost for there and back to Midland and Dallas makes this a cost breaking point of $230. A flight round trip of less than this makes it efficient. I can get a flight on AA from the Airport in Dallas for $192.
Amtrack has no return path. But there’s a catch: Greyhound can get me there for $89. There and back for $160. But I miss work for 2 days instead of 1. I’m going to miss Friday no matter what so I don’t count that on any travel plans.
The bus Ride back from Atlanta to Dallas is $43.
Midland to Dallas for 44, fly from Dallas to ATL for 90, and fly back for another 90 or Bus back for 40 then drive to Midland for 44.
Essentially, Drive and Fly 132 there(miss 1 day of work), and then return is either another 132 or 84(taking 20 hours longer) which is not worth it.
Or I can Slum hardcore, taking the Greyhound to Dallas for 40, fly for 65, then catch the Bus all the way back to Midland for 89.
This reduces my round trip cost to 105+89 = 194. This is now $106 cheaper than driving.
I need to mull over this for a few more days.
Though I arrive in Dallas at 6 and take the Train to the Airport at 6:30, it just makes me think that I’m running a serious risk having to make a connection from Bus to Plane
It really seems like the goal here is to make sure I get to dallass and catch the plane.
Drive to Dallas plus a flight actually gets as low as 88(round trip drive) + 91 round trip for a total of 177. This is half the cost. That’s a solid lock-in deal. Plus I could, theoretically, get back in time for work on Friday, essentially negating every barrier so far on cost.
Test Case Scenario 