Which is least-bad for a 1500-mile trip in Feb: fly or drive?

January 27, 2021 7:30 PM

I am moving from Texas to California (~1500 miles) in late February. I can't figure out, based on current information, which is least-bad: flying or driving. I have a few pros and cons for each and I'm genuinely torn. Can you provide any insight on which is safer?

Helpful to know:
-I am definitely going to move in late Feb; no putting it off to a later date
-I won't have gotten any dose of the vaccine by then (sadly)
-my stuff will be packed and moved by professional movers, courtesy of my job
-I will have a 6-pack of N95 masks
-my car is not covered under the moving allowance from the job
-the job will cover either a one-way ticket or the equivalent (about $200) if I drive
-I would not be able to take fewer than 3 nights on the road; the flight is direct and about 3 hours
-it's Houston to San Diego

Pros to driving:
-I'll be able to take all the stuff that the movers won't. I'll also have my car, my dumbbells, etc when I arrive in CA
-I value the psychological transition between lives that a road trip provides
-Petty AF but: I've never been to New Mexico and though I know it's under lockdown, I'd try to safely get a meal or go to White Sands, etc. without putting locals in danger

Pros to flying:
-I can avoid the sketchy motels that I can't avoid driving in one stretch of West Texas (too long of a stretch for me to drive through it)
-I get there quickly and avoid winter weather
-My family would pay to transport my car so I don't have to worry about costs

I need to decide ASAP so I can let the new job know whether I want them to purchase a plane ticket. My main priority is COVID-19 safety, for others and for me. All the stuff I can find on this is from summer, and the world has changed and so has the contagiousness of the virus. What is the least-bad option here?

posted by librarylis to Travel & Transportation (20 answers total)

You have more options and control over your personal exposure with driving, even though the window of potential exposure is longer. Also, fun sights to see. I'd drive it if time isn't the big crunch
posted by iamabot at 7:37 PM on January 27, 2021

If it were up to me, I'd drive. You can always scope out places where you're thinking of stopping, and be outdoors for most of it. The motels will be the longest indoor stretches, and the cheapness of the motel might not have a lot to do with safety--a room with a door to the outside might actually be better than one that opens to an interior hallway, especially if you can open both the door and window and air it out. I expect most of the way, you'll be facing pretty mild weather in February.

Last time I drove through on I-10, I didn't stop at all in Texas Canyon (in Arizona), and I wished I had.
posted by pykrete jungle at 8:01 PM on January 27, 2021 [1 favorite]

Personally I'd drive, but I'd also be OK doing it in 3 days/2 nights (probably stops in Ft. Stockton and Tucson or something), and my natural inclination is to driving anyway. But, my rationale pandemic-wise is that I'd feel a lot more in control of my exposure if I drove. The only thing I'd be doing differently from what I'm doing now is sleeping in a different room on a bed that perhaps someone else has slept on (but I could bring my own pillow and linens at least). I wouldn't be sitting in a building or relatively small tube for 5+ hours with other people. In fact, I might spend less time in actual close contact with people by driving for a few days than I would being in an airport and plane.
posted by LionIndex at 8:01 PM on January 27, 2021 [1 favorite]

I did a driving trip for business purposes from the Midwest to the Bay Area during some of the worst of it. I do Internet datacenter work, so I wasn't involved in meeting with people or anything stupid like that, mostly just checking in at the front desk to the datacenter. Actually less risk than being at home.

You have an immense amount of control over your exposure when you are driving. There is basically no hazard involved with being in your car and rolling down the road. You can be safe during refueling by not pulling up next to other cars, and using hand sanitizer. I've been driving around with a 64oz refill-sized bottle of Purell in each car and it is absolutely the most awesome pandemic purchase, no needing to rely on often-empty dispensers, or having to use stinky, tacky, sticky low-grade hand sanitizers from doubtful sources. One squirt and you can do your hands, wrists, forearms, ... the refill pump puts out a generous amount.

For food, three days might be manageable with some nonperishable groceries in the car.

Fast food through the drive thru at major chains is likely to be somewhat safer than other food options, in my opinion. Most of the workers seemed to be gloved, and there are extra plastic guards to reduce airflow. I scoped out a few other drive thrus and enjoyed a few places where they seemed to be gloved and taking things seriously (closed lobby, etc).

Hotels are probably the riskiest bit. The better quality hotels (I prefer IHG but of course there are several major chains) all have reservation by app, so you do not have to dink around at the front desk any longer than absolutely necessary. Have your information and credit card on file. Ask if a first floor room is available to avoid elevators. I found that elevators were one of the crummiest things, because people would invariably barge on in even when there was a "one party per car" sign.

Don't discount the potential value of a pillow and sleeping bag and just sleeping at a rest stop in your car. Lots of people seem to be doing this.

The areas of the country that don't believe in COVID are a real problem. This seems to correlate to rural and/or strongly Republican areas.

I hope there are some helpful bits for you here.
posted by jgreco at 8:02 PM on January 27, 2021 [7 favorites]

If driving is an option for your schedule and you're not stopping at restaurants and stores then it's certainly safer.

There are indeed some pretty sketchy trucker motels on the 10 in West Texas. But you have a couple of options to avoid them.

1. Make it to El Paso. There are some innoffensive, know-what-you're-getting mid tier business hotels right by the airport (Marriott, Radison, Wyndham, etc.)

2. Add about an hour or three to your journey (an hour if you're coming from Austin/Houston/San Antonio, more if you're coming from Dallas because it's kind of doubling back a little) and stay at one of the boutique hotels in Marfa (e.g. The Saint George or The Thunderbird). The Thunderbird has the advantage of being a converted motel, so the door opens onto your room with no shared spaces/hallways.

Both El Paso and Marfa have had extremely tough times with covid, and Marfa in particular has a conflicted attitude to tourists right now, but if you're just passing through and don't do any tourist stuff then I don't think you're the kind of person they're worried about and they'd be glad of the business.
posted by caek at 8:02 PM on January 27, 2021

Everything I've read suggests the flight itself isn't what's dangerous, it's the airport. This of course, was based on the time before all of these new variants, but if you've got a N95, plenty of hand sanitizer, and avoid traveling at a peak time, you'll probably be ok. (I know a few people who have had to move long distance during all of this, and this is what they did, and none of them got COVID - this is just a handful of data points though).

I'm not an epidemiologist, but from what I've read, the risk of a car accident seems to be around as high as you getting a serious case of COVID (though again, the new variants make this hard to really know). I'd say do whatever option feels the least stressful to you. From what you wrote, it sounds like you want to drive, so drive!
posted by coffeecat at 8:04 PM on January 27, 2021 [1 favorite]

If close contact with other people is your main concern, you can make a very rough estimate of how many people you'd come into contact with. Let's say, driving, you interact each day with workers at one or two fuel stops, two to three meal stops, and one or two hotel workers to check in and out—that's a minimum of 6 people each day, for three days 18–20 people (which you could reduce by stocking up on grocery food to make your own meals, and carrying fuel in a jerrycan). Flying, you would be the close contact of all of the other passengers on your aircraft, plus others at the airport; it's bound to be a far larger number.

A risk you haven't put down in driving is the real risk of car accidents; which is low, but far higher than the risk of an aircraft crash (which is close to 0).
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 8:11 PM on January 27, 2021 [1 favorite]

Two thoughts from someone not super familiar with the geography: is it possible to get an airbnb or vrbo property overnight, or to just camp? We have to deal with some family stuff (good stuff!) in another state for a few days and will be renting a little cabin so as to avoid ...other people.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 8:17 PM on January 27, 2021

Just north of I-8 in San Diego County is Anza-Borrego State Park, where you can basically camp anywhere (as long as you're off a road and not on top of any plants).

Also, you may want to keep an eye on the weather - it's a fairly rare occurrence, but snow can hit the mountains east of San Diego and close I-8 for a time or make it chains-only. It's been a dry year so far though.
posted by LionIndex at 8:23 PM on January 27, 2021 [4 favorites]

I've driven back and forth to see my kids and grandkids twice since August, about 1,000+ miles each way. I've stayed at somewhat dodgy motels on a couple of those trips. I brought my own pillows. I used clorox wipes on all surfaces in the room that I might touch, doorknobs, remote, lamp, toilet, sink etc. I also have a big bottle of hand sanitizer in the car which I use religiously whenever I get gas or groceries. I have not caught the virus.
posted by mareli at 5:43 AM on January 28, 2021 [1 favorite]

Given the choice, I would prefer to drive and sleep in the car (though it will be cold) or in Airbnbs. But I think if you can wear a properly-fitted N95 the entire time at airports, on the plane, and in transportation to and from the airports, that should be relatively safe. You could add a face shield to the N95 for extra measure. When I was forced to fly earlier in the year, I saw a lot of people with masks down while they were eating and drinking (or because they just weren't being careful at all). It was scary, but I do think your chances would be pretty good if you have the best mask yourself. It's helpful that it's a fairly short flight. If you do fly, don't plan to eat while you're in transit and limit drinking as much as possible (also so you can avoid the bathroom as much as possible).
posted by pinochiette at 6:18 AM on January 28, 2021

Personally, I would drive that trip. You know your own limitations best, but some months back I took a trip of almost exactly the same length and did it as two very long days in order to minimize hotels. (Each hotel means dealing with the checkin staff, passing people in the narrow hallway, etc.) That's trading risks, really -- reduced covid exposure risk in exchange for higher driving-tired risk (which is actually probably a lot riskier overall) -- but it is worth thinking through the different ways you could structure a trip like that and what the costs/benefits of each would be.

My experience is that on long highway trips it is easy to minimize up-close interactions. You pump your own gas; you can either bring a cooler of food or stop at drive-through windows; and most (but not all) motels have decent procedures in place by now.

The two people I know who have flown most recently had opposite experiences. One had a mostly empty flight with great spacing between people; the other had a packed flight with everyone jammed in just like the old days. It might be worth seeing what flights on the airline and path you would be taking are looking like.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:27 AM on January 28, 2021

It's a 22 hour drive. I'd save your family the money and drive. You may choose to find 2 places to stay overnight. That allows you to stop for naps or scenery. We've learned that Covid is rarely spread on surfaces, so staying overnight would feel far safer to me than being on a plane or in airports.

If out aren't accustomed to long drives, get podcasts, good music, and interesting snacks to help with the driving and staying alert
posted by theora55 at 8:08 AM on January 28, 2021

I would drive. Sigoth and I made a similar choice when we moved from central Idaho to Southern New Mexico. We called ahead to make reservations at motels in smallish towns; we spent two nights on the road. We arrived here a few weeks ahead of our household stuff, but I pulled a small U-haul trailer carrying the essentials, so we got to camp out in our living room for a while.

Looking at the map, you could take Interstate 10, then Interstate 8 (just before Tucson). I like Tucson well enough, but there's no need to go that way. I like the idea of avoiding heavily populated places right now.

It sounds like you plan to drive 500 miles per day. That means about seven hours of driving time (counting rest stops) each day. Days are short in February. Four nights on the road will have you driving about six hours in daylight. Either way, the interstate is fast, 70 miles per hour in most places. I doubt you'll have any problems with the weather, but be advised that winter driving, even in the beautiful southwest, sometimes has its challenges. I apologize if I sound over-instructive.

We took care, using personal sanitizers and masks every time we had to stop for gas and at the motels. Drive-through places fed us well enough, and we carried a small cooler with apples and cheese for lunch breaks.

Flying used to be fun. That went out the window years ago, and now, with the pandemic, the notion of sitting in an airport waiting-area or jammed into a tiny seat on a crowded aircraft makes me queasy.

Either way, have a good trip.
[had to make an edit]
posted by mule98J at 8:53 AM on January 28, 2021

If you drive (which I would do), I would try to avoid going into any rest stops/gas stations to use the bathroom unless absolutely necessary. I made a drive through a similar area of Texas in September and the lack of precaution taken outside the major metro areas was appalling. I peed by the side of the road anytime I had to go (as a bonus, it also made my trip much shorter - I will probably continue to pee on the side of the road after COVID). I know this isn't a possibility for everyone, but wanted to throw it out there!
posted by vakker at 12:40 PM on January 28, 2021

I would personally drive (done it twice during COVID, no big deal either time) and take I40 instead of I10. I10 sucks. I40 is perfectly fine, and you pass through larger cities at a more regular basis. Larger cities have basically the same regulations across the entire US.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:58 PM on January 28, 2021

I was on a plane in August (to and from San Diego, as it happens), when covid rates were lower, and even then it was nerve-wracking. I wouldn't even consider it now or in the near future. It makes me recoil a bit even now: the people in the airport who removed their masks or pulled them down, the people on the plane who let them sag or took them off to have leisurely snacks when the flight attendants weren't around. I managed to get a row to myself on the plane, but even having someone across the aisle was anxiety-inducing (especially when the guy sneezed) and back then at least they were keeping middle seats open and planes less full. Sitting in arm's reach of several people for three hours during a period where virus transmission is probably going to be quite bad sounds very alarming -- planes may have good air filtering, but if the person sitting next to you is exuding virus, it's probably not going to be enough. Even with an N95 (the effectiveness of which can be compromised by imperfect fit), it would be way outside of my risk tolerance. The car trip is not risk-free, of course, but the risks seem less concentrated and more able to be mitigated than the ones you'd face flying. Good luck, and welcome to San Diego!
posted by kite at 4:59 PM on January 28, 2021

take I40 instead of I10. I10 sucks. I40 is perfectly fine, and you pass through larger cities at a more regular basis.

Thus adding 5 hours to the trip for the ability to cross two passes over 6500' in elevation in February, as well as LA traffic.
posted by LionIndex at 6:46 PM on January 28, 2021

Thus adding 5 hours to the trip for the ability to cross two passes over 6500' in elevation in February, as well as LA traffic.

They have gates in New Mexico but I've never seen snow covering the road, and you don't hit LA traffic- you go south towards San Diego in Barstow, where I40 ends. LA traffic is kinda bad, but not that bad. Or cut south to Phoenix from Flagstaff, skipping the worst part of California (Kingman AZ to Barstow, barely even has highway exits).

And when driving like 25 hours to begin with, an extra 5 is no big deal. I'd even recommend going 1.5 hours more north to Las Vegas over the Hoover Dam (though you now have to exit specifically to see the dam), you don't drive over it anymore.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:39 AM on January 29, 2021

Response by poster: Thanks, all! This was helpful to hear. I haven't fully made up my mind but y'all have convinced me that driving can be safer.

For the benefit of later readers, I'll note that I did actually take a Southwest flight from Houston Hobby to San Diego in mid November and then back in late December and never got COVID. But I white-knuckled it the whole way (mask, face shield, mid-week flights, and all) and they've stopped saving middle seats, so no thanks. The risks are probably equal but driving allows for more control of them.
posted by librarylis at 4:13 PM on January 31, 2021