Miami to Orlando, the civilized way

Miami to Orlando is around 235 miles, nearly all of it on Florida's Turnpike, and I make the run door to door in about three and a half to four hours. Compare that honestly with flying: the drive to MIA, security lines, the flight, the airport shuttle circus at MCO, and suddenly the private car is faster for most families, and immeasurably calmer. You leave from your driveway and arrive at the hotel lobby, and the luggage is touched exactly twice.

Theme-park families are my regulars on this route. The magic of a chauffeur on a Disney trip is what does not happen: no car-seat rentals, because I install the right seats before we leave; no fighting for a rental counter with two exhausted children; no parking fees stacked on resort bills. I drop you at the door of your resort, whether that is inside Walt Disney World, at Universal Orlando, or a vacation home in Kissimmee or Lake Buena Vista. Same service for the return leg, timed to your checkout.

It is not all mouse ears. I drive executives to conventions at the Orange County Convention Center, medical trips to the hospitals around Lake Nona, students moving up to UCF with a trunk full of dorm life, and connections to MCO when an international itinerary routes through Orlando instead of Miami. One fixed fare from $129, quoted precisely before you book, tolls included.

We stop when you want to stop. The Turnpike service plazas at Fort Drum and Yeehaw Junction are famous mostly for existing, but they do a fine coffee stretch. Some families ask for a proper lunch break, some want the express run while the kids nap. Your trip, your rhythm; I just keep the wheels turning and the cabin quiet.