This is one I really struggle with! Once a year, I go to Alabama for a cousins' reunion. And for the last two years, I have gone to Virginia over the holidays to visit with my son and his family, along with other family members from points North and South!
The cousins' reunion has been a tradition since 2009 that we all look forward to. Until the last two years, I drove down. Ten to eleven hours on the road for two days both going and returning. Yes, it was very tiring. . . and stressful, going through several large cities, which I seem to always hit during rush hour. Both my kids and my cousins had been after me almost from the beginning, "Why don't you fly?" One year, my daughter-in-law even sent me a proposed airline itinerary. I deleted it. No, I am too independent and territorial to deal with airline policies and procedures. My skin crawls at the idea of strangers going through my luggage. And, what do you mean, you are taking my carry-on bag from me at the airplane door to store underneath the plane??? The ground crews toss your bag around like it is a rubber ball.
And what about those huge, HUGE airports, crowded with people and little kids pitching temper tantrums right in front of you as you are desperately trying to get to your next gate in time to board your flight???
Last year, I was supposed to have a two hour layover in Philly on my return from Virginia, plenty of time to catch my next flight, right? WRONG! When all passengers were seated on the plane in Virginia, I noticed they had not closed the airplane door. What does that mean? Then the announcement came. . . "We are sorry for the inconvenience, but all passengers need to deplane and go to gate. . ." I made a quick call to my daughter-in-law (she has traveled all over the world extensively and knows all the ins and outs). "You aren't going to make your connecting flight in Philly. . . " NOT what I wanted to hear.
She did some research and called me back. "Okay, there is a flight to Rochester at 9:00 pm tonight. See if you can get on that one."
What? Twelve hours in a huge and crowded airport? I'll go nuts.
Although this year's flight went reasonably well (keyword here "reasonably") I still found myself thinking maybe I will drive next time.
In the end, I know, given my age and how my body and brain shut down once I get really tired, it is better for me to fly. And I've learned to accept the fact that things are going to go wrong and won't go smoothly. Once I learned that, it is somewhat easier for me to deal with that monster known as airline travel.
