Travel options to Tampa

[DawgAudit]

What's your choice? Long *** drive or expensive *** flights?

 

[Xenomorph]

Anything south of.. say, Memphis.. is a really easy drive. You probably don't even save time by flying if you live an hour or more from an airport.

 

[Bulldog Bruce]

13 hour drive from Olive Branch. The only troublesome area is Birmingham (as long as you don't do the Atlanta route.) I have done it a few times because of relatives in that south Florida area.

 

[patdog]

There is a cheap direct flight from JAN to Sanford Orlando airport. Downside is you can't come home until Jan. 3 because they don't fly every day, and the airport is almost 2 hours from Tampa. And it's Via Airlines, which is probably not going to be a luxurious flight. But that is an option.

 

[PBRME]

I will take flying any day over being locked inside a car for longer than 5 or 6 hours. After about an hour I’m going stir crazy and yelling at the ******** blocking the flow of traffic because they don’t know how to use cruise control.

 

[Apoplectic_Objurgator]

$50 bucks one way from biloxi to orlando

 

[DawgAudit]

My dad lives in the Memphis area, I live in the Jackson area.... That's a long *** ride. Though, the two other times I drove to that area (Orlando) I had young children with me. Should be a lot easier just me and my dad.

 

[xxxWalkTheDawg]

You can drive it in a day easily from MS. Hell, in 2010 I left after work heading to Jacksonville and we made it to Tallahassee to stay the night.

If you just don’t like to drive. Book a flight out of Tupelo to Nashville and take a non stop Southwest flight to Tampa. Flight from Nashville to Tampa should be less than 2 hours.

 

[Clarence Boddicker]

Anything south of.. say, Memphis.. is a really easy drive. You probably don't even save time by flying if you live an hour or more from an airport.

^^ Don't listen to this guy for travel advice

I am not saying that driving isn't an option, I've made that drive many times. But flying absolutely saves you time and it's not an 'easy' drive. At all. And there's nothing to see along that drive.

 

[xxxWalkTheDawg]

My dad lives in the Memphis area, I live in the Jackson area.... That's a long *** ride. Though, the two other times I drove to that area (Orlando) I had young children with me. Should be a lot easier just me and my dad.

united flies from Memphis to Jackson. Just take that and fly out of Memphis with your dad.

 

[Chris Mannix]

Book flights for me and the wife out of Jackson. Little bit more expensive than I wanted to be honest. That being said a grand is much better than being locked in a car for however long.

 

[TrueMaroonGrind]

Anything south of.. say, Memphis.. is a really easy drive. You probably don't even save time by flying if you live an hour or more from an airport.

There is a direct Southwest flight from Memphis to Tampa. Takes less than 2 hours. Even if you have a 3 hour delay, it is 100% better than the drive if you can afford it.

 

[57stratdawg]

There are direct flights from BHam, NOLA and Memphis on Southwest. I haven’t checked prices, but I’m guessing a round trip is $300-$500.

If it’s a part of 2 going, I’d fly. If it’s a family of 5, I’d probably drive.

 

[Digging dog]

I chose the expensive a** flights. Drove to Disney 7-8 yrs ago from Madison. Buying the tickets only hurt for about an hour not 26.

 

[syncsite]

Try PIE, its St Pete Clearwater.

 

[johnson86-1]

10.5+ hours from Jackson. Even if you can't get a direct flight, should be able to shave a few hours each way off travel time.

I don't mind driving at all, but that's still a lot of time saved by flying.

It is a pretty easy drive, at least once you get to I-10. Boring, but easy.

I'll probably just make the drive.

Another good option depending on where you are is driving to New Orleans and doing Spirit airlines direct flight.

 

[memphisbulldog]

There is a direct Southwest flight from Memphis to Tampa. Takes less than 2 hours. Even if you have a 3 hour delay, it is 100% better than the drive if you can afford it.

I bought mine from SWA day before announcement (I had 24 hours to cancel) for $260 round trip. Not sure if they've gone up since or not. Nonstop.
I

 

[kired]

I’ve driven from Tupelo for all 3 Gator bowls, St Pete bowl, Orange Bowl, and 2 Disney trips. I usually break it into two days with a stop in Dothan or Tallahassee. But also flown down to Orlando from Memphis - very nice if you don’t mind spending a little extra money and don’t mind Ubering or renting a car to get around.

 

[Palos verdes]

Nonstop flights

MEM - TPA - Southwest $$ Daily

JAN - MCO - Frontier $ 4-5 DAW

JAN - SFB - Via Air $ 4 DAW

GPT - SFB - Allegiant $ Twice a week

BHM - TPA - Southwest $$ Daily

MSY - TPA - Southwest, Spirit $ Daily


SFB = Sanford/Orlando
MCO = Orlando

 

[goodknight]

Have car will travel!

 

[HumpDawgy]

If you want to break up your trip either there, back, or both, a good half way point is a place called Defuniak Springs FL. It will break up that boring stretch of I10, usually has some cheap motel options, and there is a small little winery right off the exit. I usually drive the 11 hour trip home to MS, but have stopped here a couple times and it seems pretty safe.

 

[Maroonthirteen]

13 hour drive from Olive Branch. The only troublesome area is Birmingham (as long as you don't do the Atlanta route.) I have done it a few times because of relatives in that south Florida area.

From Birmingham, which direction do you go? Through Atl? Or South through Montgomery Troy etc?

ive driven to Disney twice from Memphis. I took The Montgomery, Troy etc to I10. That was brutal through lower Alabama.

 

[Shmuley]

We took that flight recently. Decent flight on very small plane. Kind of cramped quarters even if only 1/2 full. Very much low-cost focused with limited service. My guess is that Via's JAN to SFB route will be terminated soon for lack of demand.

 

[patdog]

Yeah. They're not off to a great start. And with Frontier coming in with direct flights to the main Orlando airport, I think Via's days in Jackson are numbered.

 

[EarlDawg]

GTR to Tampa $623, i just got it