This weekend we’ll be visiting my brother and sister-in-law in Northern California to meet their new child born on Pi Day. Against our better judgment, we have decided to make the 400 mile trip by car instead of by plane. Our baby can be a fussy one during car rides so we’re planning to drive during her normal sleeping time at 8 pm. Which means I probably won’t get much sleep this weekend. Yay me.

Sometimes ignorance is bliss. The good and bad part of being a budget nerd is that you are hyper aware of your spending. If this was a year ago, I don’t think we would give it a second thought to fly. After all, we make enough money and it wouldn’t kill us to fly a couple times. While we already saved $500 in our budget to fly up there, we decided it might be better to drive since we’re planning to visit a couple more times this year. I estimate that we’ll spend around $130 in gas, which is about $430 in savings.

We flew a few months ago for the baby shower, and Addie was great. She was quiet the whole time and we did just enough to keep her busy during the flight. Even though our baby did well on her first flight, flying sucks in general for the parents. Everything is a hassle – how are we getting to and from an airport, do we pack a carseat, how much can we pack without getting hit with fees, etc. On top of that, you’re constantly worrying about what could happen – that there might be a delay, or your child might be one of those kids who screams the whole flight. As soon as you step inside a plane, you’re literally counting the seconds until the plane lands. Sometimes driving is just easier. We figured that one day we would have to drive a long distance with Addie – so why not this weekend?

Is it worth it to save a couple hundred bucks on this trip? Will Glady and I survive? Will Addie cry the whole way?

to be continued….