Living in Key West, generally speaking flying somewhere involves either paying a shit ton of money, driving up to the Miami or Lauderdale airports to fly out, or getting very lucky with a good fare out of Key West.
For my impending vacation, I did not score a good fare out of Key West, so am flying out of Lauderdale. For my most recent trip, in September, I rented a car each way between Key West and Miami. For this trip, I am considering whether it might be easier (and about the same cost) to simply drive the Jestermobile up to Lauderdale, leave it in the long-term parking ($15/day x 8 days = $120). Compare that cost to the price of a rental car ($34-57 each way x 2 ways = $68-$114). Sure, if I get a good deal, the rental car is better economically. But you have to figure in gas (in my truck, I can gas up whenever/wherever I want, don't have to return it full, and whatever gas I pay for but don't use on the trip, I get to keep), not to mention the hassle of picking up and returning the rental, which almost always involves inconveniencing a friend. So I am weighing all THAT.
What I want to know from the Lauderdale folks is if leaving my beloved Jestermobile in the long term parking is a good idea of if I can expect to come back to a broken-into truck with various things missing. I have flown in and out of Lauderdale a couple times, but not recently, and have never really taken notice of the area around it.
So, the other factors aside, how safe is the Lauderdale airport long-term parking?
EDITED TO ADD: Wow. While I can get a decent rental for only about $34-36 going from Key West to Lauderdale, coming BACK the cheapest is $70. I guess the rental companies prefer their cars to be left in a higher volume market. So this really does make the economics of the situation a wash either way.
For my impending vacation, I did not score a good fare out of Key West, so am flying out of Lauderdale. For my most recent trip, in September, I rented a car each way between Key West and Miami. For this trip, I am considering whether it might be easier (and about the same cost) to simply drive the Jestermobile up to Lauderdale, leave it in the long-term parking ($15/day x 8 days = $120). Compare that cost to the price of a rental car ($34-57 each way x 2 ways = $68-$114). Sure, if I get a good deal, the rental car is better economically. But you have to figure in gas (in my truck, I can gas up whenever/wherever I want, don't have to return it full, and whatever gas I pay for but don't use on the trip, I get to keep), not to mention the hassle of picking up and returning the rental, which almost always involves inconveniencing a friend. So I am weighing all THAT.
What I want to know from the Lauderdale folks is if leaving my beloved Jestermobile in the long term parking is a good idea of if I can expect to come back to a broken-into truck with various things missing. I have flown in and out of Lauderdale a couple times, but not recently, and have never really taken notice of the area around it.
So, the other factors aside, how safe is the Lauderdale airport long-term parking?
EDITED TO ADD: Wow. While I can get a decent rental for only about $34-36 going from Key West to Lauderdale, coming BACK the cheapest is $70. I guess the rental companies prefer their cars to be left in a higher volume market. So this really does make the economics of the situation a wash either way.
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