Flying or Driving to travel for surgery?

[Justin]

Wow, that's insane! I got my ticket to Germany for $400 ROUNDTRIP.

You might want to try farecast.com for airfare. I'm headed out the door...

[fuzzy]

Well, Justin you got one heck of a deal!! Are you in NY? From West Coast more likely 8 to 900 for a regular somewhat discounted ticket on a non stop flight. Frankfurt is a lot cheaper then Munich.

Katie, how long do you stay at the hospital or in the area after the surgery. If you stay there 2 weeks then I would drive. Take pillows and take breaks.

I made a 7 hour drive in a Mercedes E Class at 1 week out (my wife drove and she tried real hard!) and it was torture! I constantly had to beg my wife to not go so fast no more then 55 and steer gently as it hurt and those german autobahns are sooo temting. Mercedes cars are somewhat stiff if you have a larger american car and on the american roads at the slower speeds you will not have the problem. If you have small stiff car or a pickup then consider flying. Depending on your condition stop regularly and take a exercise walk as you can handle it. Slow and careful and just enough to loosen things up. I did't want to fly and I did not regret it even though the drive was painful. I love airplanes but not the cattlecar kind and all the nuisance that goes with them these days. 8 hours is long but you are in your own space. If you can break it up into 2 days even better. Don't drive fast stay in one lane dont pass more then nessesary and make an gently ride (note to the friendly driver!).

Thats a big surgery. My respect to you. I hope you will do really well.

[Katie]

Justin, are you kidding me? Wow, you really did get a deal! I have checked both Air Canada and United, and the second one was only three hundred cheaper...just over $1400. And I checked lots of dates, etc. and going as cheap as I can. I'll try the other one you suggested tomorrow. We are only an hour and a half flight away

fuzzy, you are so cute I will probably be in hospital two weeks total, as the surgeries will be three to four days apart, then recovery time afterwards. We haven't ironed out the small details yet. I hope I do really well too, thanks

We got a used Chrysler Pacifica three years ago and love it..it is so comfortable, even with 250,000 kms on it already. I think it has Mercedes parts in it, but they must be the softer parts

We can easily break the trip into two or even three days, although it will be nice to be back in our own bed as soon as possible. As this gets closer, I'm getting more scared, as everyone does, I guess. Time to check with the good doctor and get some more details cleared up.

And I never ever go anywhere without my nice soft pillow My youngest daughter travels all over the world in her job and has the same habit...she visited us last summer and had her beat up pillow under her arm

[Maria]

Since the airfare might be costly what about renting a van or even an RV and either fixing the back of the van up with a mattress and/or having the RV there with a bed in it.

Just throwing suggestions out there that you may have already tossed around

[Justin]

Fuzzy made some really great suggestions about driving.

Katie, if you can break up your trip over a few days that sounds like a great idea. The airfare sounds really expensive.

I'll look into some car storage places for you (my twin brother that lives in NYC is in town for the weekend and might have some good leads).

PS: you might want to look into a monthly pass at a local garage, as it is much cheaper (~$300). Central Parking Monthly Rates

[Katie]

Maria, that is a very smart idea. And what makes it even better is that we could put a mattress in the back of our vehicle Everything folds flat and it would hold a double size air mattress or foamy.

Dr. J, that is brilliant too! A monthly would be so much more affordable at those prices, and if by chance I had to stay longer, then we would not be stressing about it in that department. Thanks to both of you.

[Katie]

Justin, the other thing about flying, when I went to that supersaver website, was that almost all of the flights were five to seven hours because of layovers...that's almost the full time required for driving! Sheesh