Tampa 2021 – Transportation

Getting to and from the airport would be the toughest part of the logistics of this trip.

Tampa Rental Car

Rental car prices during this trip were not cheap. Even though I booked the rental car as early as I could, it was almost $100/day for a compact SUV.

In addition, since I was paying a cash rate at the hotel, I would also have to pay for parking. As a Hyatt Globalist I get free parking on points stays, but not on paid stays so that would add $35/day to the cost of the car.

As the trip got closer, I realized that using Lyft to get places would be a lot cheaper. Since there were dozens of restaurants within walking distance of the hotel we wouldn’t need a car to go get meals. Not having a car could limit some of the things we would do, but it was a short trip and there would be plenty of other things we could do so I ended up canceling the car rental a few days before the trip.

This is why I ALWAYS book refundable car rental…

Getting To/From Newark

Getting to and from the airport was going to be a little more challenging. We knew when Tomatico’s soccer game was on the Sunday before our flight. Luckily it was a morning game so the plan was to quickly head to NYC after the game. We would pick up my wife’s brother in Brooklyn and then drive to New Jersey to meet her other brother for dinner before heading to our hotel in Newark.

At the airport hotel, rather than parking at the hotel, I would take the car to park at the airport terminal itself. The thinking is that the airport parking is billed in 24 hour increments and the cost would be the same whether we parked the car Sunday night or Monday morning. The hotel was going to charge for parking overnight Sunday so it just made sense to park the car in the airport early.

Additionally, it would vastly simplify things in the morning when getting to the airport. We could use the airport shuttle at the hotel to drop us off at the terminal rather than trying to figure out where to park the car in the wee hours of the morning.

On our return flight, the car would be at the airport. We would drive it to my brother in law’s apartment, drop him off and head to our hotel near LaGuardia. After a night there we’d head back home first thing in the morning to get to the soccer games.

While the plan wasn’t the simplest, it should work and be a balance between convenience and economy… hopefully.