U.S. travelers went on nearly 459 million domestic business trips in 2016, and that number is projected to grow to more than 478 million by 2020, which shows that despite the increase in use of technology such as videoconferencing, business people continue to travel. That sounds like a large number, but consider this: of all the domestic trips taken each year, only about one-fifth are for business, with the rest for leisure travel. Whether you are traveling for business or for pleasure, you have some choices when it comes to your transportation.
Of course, the vast majority of domestic trips are taken by car. This is usually done for two reasons, either convenience or cost. Convenience often comes into play when the trip is either too short to make flying feasible or your destination is in a hard-to-reach place that makes driving more convenient. If your destination is three hours away or less, it usually makes sense to drive, because even with a direct flight, you wouldn’t save much time when you include the time of driving to the airport, checking in and going through security and then waiting to get baggage on the other end. A 30-minute flight can easily take you two hours or more when all is said and done. The other reason people choose to drive is cost. It can be hard to find competitive flights to many places, and when you have several people traveling, it can be much cheaper to drive, even when you figure in overnight stays in hotels.
When you do need to fly, you want to find the most competitive flights you can. Ways to do that can include using online sites to compare fares, traveling on a day of the week that is less traveled, such as a Tuesday, and traveling to a larger airport. Flying is usually necessary when you have a short travel window, such as when you have a business meeting far away and need to return in the same day. Flying for leisure travel makes sense when you want to save time and can get competitive flights that make it not too expensive.
Other methods of travel for domestic trips usually are for leisure purposes. The other main methods of travel are by train and bus. However, they usually don’t have schedules that make them very convenient, so they only work for people who have flexible schedules, which are usually leisure travelers.
