Trip to Florida Louisianna and Tennessee

Nelly 21

Hoping for a bit of help with this years holiday! People on Boards have been so helpful in the past! Our plan is to fly to Chicago and from there take a flight to New Orleans or Orlando. We are planning on driving around taking in Orlando, Tampa, New Orleans, Nashville and maybe Dollywood. (Not too sure about Dollywood as we are travelling in Nov/Dec but I've heard that part of America is beautiful!). Then fly back to Chicago.

We've been to Nashville and Orlando before and have already done some touristy things there but love those places so want to go back!!

Can any one advise on maybe what places to see along the way, places to avoid?

We'll have maybe 2 weeks till we fly back to Chicago.

Also we toyed with the idea of driving all the way from Chicago down to Orlando and back up again taking in places on the way down but then thought we might save time flying??

Any help with this would be great!

iusedtoknow

Nelly 21 wrote: »

Hoping for a bit of help with this years holiday! People on Boards have been so helpful in the past! Our plan is to fly to Chicago and from there take a flight to New Orleans or Orlando. We are planning on driving around taking in Orlando, Tampa, New Orleans, Nashville and maybe Dollywood. (Not too sure about Dollywood as we are travelling in Nov/Dec but I've heard that part of America is beautiful!). Then fly back to Chicago.

We've been to Nashville and Orlando before and have already done some touristy things there but love those places so want to go back!!

Can any one advise on maybe what places to see along the way, places to avoid?

We'll have maybe 2 weeks till we fly back to Chicago.

Also we toyed with the idea of driving all the way from Chicago down to Orlando and back up again taking in places on the way down but then thought we might save time flying??

Any help with this would be great!

Not too familiar with the area, but practically speaking - do not drive it. The weather on the Plains that time of year is brutal, and if you aren't used to driving in snow and ice (I'm not talking the .5 inch every 5 years we'd get in Ireland) then just don't do it.

Also leave some leeway on your flights to/from Chicago. There can be delays at that time of year due to weather in that end of the US.

The weather is the south will be perfect touring weather (especially in New Orleans. Nashville will be chilly at night

Nelly 21

We were in Chicago last year around the same time and the weather was fairly cold!!! Time wise I suppose it would be good to fly. And better to be safe than sorry! We have about a week in Chicago so we wont be panicking over time! I hadnt thought about flight delays, good to factor that in!

iusedtoknow

Nelly 21 wrote: »

We were in Chicago last year around the same time and the weather was fairly cold!!! Time wise I suppose it would be good to fly. And better to be safe than sorry! We have about a week in Chicago so we wont be panicking over time! I hadnt thought about flight delays, good to factor that in!

It isn't just from/to the cold places. I was stuck in Seattle where it was cloudy but well above freezing for 6 hours waiting for a flight due to the knock on of the planes coming from the east coast.

whenever I travel anywhere in the US in winter I never plan anything major for the day I'm supposed to arrive, as there isn't a 100% certainty you'll get there.

castlebarian

Just back from a trip of the deep south. Was fun but alot of driving and not alot in between citys. Best citys were

1 new orleans
2 nashville
3 atlanta
4 panama city beach (florida)

We visited other citys but wouldnt go rushing back to them . Alot of people told us we should have checked out austin , tx aswel but that can wait for another day .

We came upon alot of accidents on the highways and that was in the summer. The worst part about driving was all the trucks on the highway. Fuel is cheap so if there is a few people and someone doesnt mind driving it might be the cheapest option but peronally if i was doing it again i would pick 3 citys and just pay the extra and fly between them if you book in time internal flights might not be that much more expensive. The car for 10 days cost us 1300 dollars but that was all in and drop off in another state.

InTheTrees

castlebarian wrote: »

Just back from a trip of the deep south. Was fun but alot of driving and not alot in between citys.

Glad you enjoyed New Orleans.

billy few mates

I'm in Panama City Beach at the moment or the Redneck Riviera as the locals call it. Nice enough place, beautiful beaches but it's more aimed at the Americans rather than foreign tourists. There are some nice places along the way through Pensacola to Mobile Alabama but the main i10 is quite a boring featureless drive.
Believe it or not internal flights are actually quite expensive between these small regional airports, you can fly between major cities for about $50 each way but it could cost $400 between the smaller airports. There are no trains here anymore so your only options are expensive flights or long boring drives at 55-60 mph.
N'Warlins is nice (Bourbon St is Temple Bar), PCB is nice, Atlanta is very nice and a lot of the beach resorts in South Carolina are really nice.

Nelly 21

So we have more or less finalised plans! Flying into New York (due to cheap flights and having family and friends there). Driving south as soon as we get there towards Tampa stopping somewhere random to sleep. Staying 5 nights in either Tampa or Clearwater. Then driving to New Orleans, staying for 4 nights then driving to Nashville for one night (have been there twice before, really just want to stop there and experience the nightlife again!). Then driving to New York for a few days.

So any tips for Tampa/ Clearwater or New Orleans would be great! I've been researching quite a bit for it! Travelling close to the end of November so I'm assuming it won't be too warm?

Remorqueur

Nelly 21 wrote: »

So we have more or less finalised plans! Flying into New York (due to cheap flights and having family and friends there). Driving south as soon as we get there towards Tampa stopping somewhere random to sleep. Staying 5 nights in either Tampa or Clearwater. Then driving to New Orleans, staying for 4 nights then driving to Nashville for one night (have been there twice before, really just want to stop there and experience the nightlife again!). Then driving to New York for a few days.

So any tips for Tampa/ Clearwater or New Orleans would be great! I've been researching quite a bit for it! Travelling close to the end of November so I'm assuming it won't be too warm?

Not sure you have time but the Jack Daniels distillery an hour and a bit from Nashville is worth a tour

Nelly 21

Really hoping to fit in as much as we can to will def look into it! Thanks for reply!!!!