A friend of mine lives in the vicinity of Greensboro, NC, and I live in the vicinity of Cleveland, OH. He wants to visit, and not pay a lot to get here. I’m willing to pick him up anywhere within reason.
He can get to Columbus, OH, via Airbus, fairly cheaply, but what’s a cheap way to get to Cleveland from there? My suggestion is that he spends a little more, and flies to Akron/Canton Airport instead, where I can pick him up (almost 50 miles; that’s about my limit).
So how should he get here?
Is driving out of the question?
@1000 miles round trip (about 8 hours each way) at 25 mpg and $3.50/gal = $140. In this case, YMWV.
How much will it cost him from Greensboro to Columbus, roundtrip?
He can fly from Greensboro/Akron Canton, roundtrip for $200.
And, using travelocity.com, he could fly direct to Cleveland tomorrow, returning Tuesday, for $183.
How’s about some specifics here…
I’m going to suggest to him that he simply fly to Cleveland, or at least Akron/Canton. If I, myself, were making the trip, I’d definitely drive.
The drive from NC to Ohio is easy peasy. It’s approximately 2 roads! Pick an E/W highway and then take that to 77N and keep driving until you end up in Lake Erie! 
There’s lots of fun mountains inbetween (well, not really all that fun in the snow).
CAK is an awesome airport, by the way. Much “friendlier” than CLE - very easy to pick up and drop off. CLE is all “No parking in the red zone!!”
No, it’s no parking in the white zone!
Why pretend, we both know perfectly well what this is about.
It’s really the only sensible thing to do, if its done safely.
Is there a bus or train service from Columbus to Cleveland? I took a bus from Boston to Manhattan for less than the cab fare from China Town to Central Park.
Not to pile on here, but the shortest duration flight (UAL via Dulles) takes 3 2/3 hours if everything is perfectly on time. Add 90 minutes to drive to the airport in Greensboro and check in and, let’s say, an hour at the other end to get off the plane and get to your place (we’ll ignore baggage claim here), we’re up to 6 1/3 hours elapsed time to fly versus about 7 - 7 1/2 to drive. I’d drive just to be Master of my Own Domain here - if the second leg of the flight sits on the tarmac for an hour (and of course that NEVER happens :rolleyes: ) then from an elapsed time standpoint it’s about a wash.
Then again, I like to drive. I’ll be in lovely Cleveland in a few weeks myself.
There is Greyhound service between Columbus and Cleveland. I don’t remember the exact rates (and they’ve probably changed since, anyway), but the number $30 sticks in my head for some reason.
I’ve driven Greensboro to Youngstown (go Penguins!) and back many times. It’s delightful.
If driving’s not an option, there are both bus and train stations in Greeny-B.