Hybrid Road Trips
What is a hybrid road trip you ask? It could be described as a combination trip or a road trip- only better. If there’s an area you’d like to explore by car, but its too far away, a great solution is fly to a starting point- rent a car-drive a portion- and fly back home. It is also great for seeing areas that don’t have an airport nearby. Flying is convenient and time-saving but so much can be missed when traveling exclusively by air.
In August 2018, my mom and I took a hybrid road trip in the Northeast with the end goal of attending a family wedding. After the destination wedding was moved from Vermont to Maine, following the purchase of our non-transferable plane tickets, we stumbled upon this idea of a hybrid trip. We adjusted our travel plans the best we could and flew into Albany, NY to begin our 6-day extended road trip to my cousin’s wedding in Portland, ME.
Three days of driving through the Northeast is beautiful, and traveling by car provided freedom and flexibility as we maneuvered our way from New York, through Vermont and New Hampshire and continued to the coast of Maine.
We mapped out a route as we went, watching for interesting sights, restaurants and lodging along the way.
We were able to attend the horse races at Sarotoga and stop at Lake George while still in New York. We visited friends and even rode horses at Pond Hill Ranch in Castleton, VT. We spent a night in New Hampshire after dinner and shopping.
We arrived at our final destination of Portland, ME. We spent a couple days with family and taking part in wedding festivities. At the end of the weekend, we turned in the rental car and flew home from Portland (We ha been able to change our return flight)
I’ve also planned for this type of trip when heading to Costa Rica in 2019. We rented a car and traveled to many locations around the country- all in a week’s time. That trip is a-whole-nother post but it was based on the same idea of flying to a far-a-way location but then exploring the region by vehicle to get a more local experience.
