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Holiday Travelers Hit The Road, The Rails, Or Just Take A Plane

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By KEITH MORELLI, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 21, 2007

TAMPA - James Brothers is taking the road less traveled this Thanksgiving, trading airplane seats for coach class on a train. Or maybe he'll get a sleeper car. Or just lounge in the dining car and watch the spectacular scenery go by.

"I'm catching all the family this week," said Brothers, 37, a supervisor at a Jacksonville hotel who was catching a train in Tampa on Tuesday as part of a trip that includes stops in Washington and North Carolina.

He saved hundreds and doesn't mind the 36 hours of travel, he said. Brothers is one of many holiday travelers interviewed Tuesday who were intent on getting to their destination in the most economical, efficient and enjoyable way possible.

Airports may be jammed with travelers but the U.S. Bureau of Travel Statistics says most people hop on the highway for Thanksgiving dinner - 92 percent going by private vehicle compared with 5 percent by air and 3 percent by train or bus.

A few more statistics about the holiday ride: Forty-four percent of those who go somewhere travel less than 100 miles from home, just over 2 percent go 1,000 miles or more, and the average distance is 214 miles.

David Myers, 42, was headed to Jacksonville and his girlfriend on Tuesday as he tapped on his laptop at the downtown Tampa Greyhound bus station. Myers, a Tampa mortgage broker, said he was taking his first bus ride to save him gas money.

"I'm hoping the trade-off in gasoline will balance out the five-hour ride," he said, figuring his $40 ticket was half the cost of car travel. "Gas is now, what, $3-plus a gallon?"

The Gross family of Tampa decided to fly to Philadelphia.

Dina and Steve Gross shuffled their four sons, ranging in age from 7 months to 6 years, through Tampa International Airport, trading the cost for a chance to get to their destination as quickly as possible.

Their objective, Dina Gross said, is Thanksgiving with family and a christening for Michael. Trips by air aren't easy, so they make the flight about once every two years. "We go once and it takes awhile to recover," she said.

The big Thanksgiving travel days at Tampa International are today, Sunday and Monday, when 60,000 arriving and departing passengers are expected each day, said spokeswoman Brenda Geoghagan.

Sixty flights are scheduled to go before 9 a.m. daily. A second cluster of departing flights is from noon and 2 p.m. A lull follows, then activity picks up again 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Book around these periods, she advised, and you can save time.

More flights are available this year compared with November last year, she said, with 270 departing and 270 arriving each day, compared with 250 last year. That's 2,300 more seats each day to the top destinations of New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston and Atlanta, she said.

Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at kmorelli@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7760.

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