Puerto Rico. 3.5 hour direct flight from DCA, BWI, or IAD. No passport required. Rent a car at the airport. Drive off to stay at the Eybdham Rio Mar or the Caribe Hilton if you want to stay in San Juan. Great for a long weekend.

Savannah (obviously not north of GA, but quick flight)

Which airline?

Montreal may be a good fit.

Agree Portland, Maine

Which airline and airport? I said St. Louis, which has a direct flight from IAD on United on a commuter jet that I've been on long ago. We didn't fly directly to St. Louis when we took our kids.

If the credit is with United, I'd look at their flight map and see what interests you. Other airlines may have something similar. https://www.united.com/en/us/destination-map

We've also flown direct to Nashville for a long weekend (3 nights), took a cab to a downtown hotel (got there before lunch) and didn't rent a car. We took the hop on/hop off bus one day and walked the others, but we like to walk. Nashville tour and museum entry fees add up, though.

Also did similar with San Antonio. You can bike or Uber to the missions from the River Walk, but we walked everywhere else. Even with the time change and longer flight, it was a great 3-night trip. It helps going that direction that you still arrive in the morning even with a 3.5-hour direct flight. So I wouldn't rule out going a bit further if there's somewhere that interests you that gets you there by lunchtime.

Not north of Georgia, but New Orleans.

Anonymous wrote:Chattanooga is fun but not sure about direct flights

Are you traveling with kids? It’s a compact walkable downtown with a great aquarium, kids’ museum, art museum, lots of shops and restaurants.

Anonymous wrote:We all have some flight credits that are about to expire and we’d like to sneak off for a quick summer getaway. I need your recommendations! Here are the parameters:

3-4 day trip

Direct flight

Prefer something E of Chicago and N of Georgia so we don’t have to spend forever on a plane and deal with time change

Easy to get around by car or public transportation right from airport

Nice things to see that won’t eat up the budget

Decent hotel options

I know it's not east of Chicago, but St. Louis is great with kids and also just a one hour time difference. Splurge on the City Museum.

Charleston

Chattanooga is fun but not sure about direct flights

Chicago is pretty quick and it’s not much of a time change and lots to do.

Boston, Pittsburg, NY, charlotte, Toronto

Louisville if you like whisky and do tours.

Anonymous wrote:Toronto, Chicago, Detroit, Portland ME, Burlington VT

But if you want a nice hotel in the summer in a place that's not ungodly hot, it's not going to be cheap.

We don’t mind being hot and we have a decent budget for lodging. I just don’t want to pay for things like theme park entrance or ridiculous museum fees a bunch of times, if that makes sense.

Toronto, Chicago, Detroit, Portland ME, Burlington VT

But if you want a nice hotel in the summer in a place that's not ungodly hot, it's not going to be cheap.

We all have some flight credits that are about to expire and we’d like to sneak off for a quick summer getaway. I need your recommendations! Here are the parameters:

3-4 day trip

Direct flight

Prefer something E of Chicago and N of Georgia so we don’t have to spend forever on a plane and deal with time change

Easy to get around by car or public transportation right from airport

Nice things to see that won’t eat up the budget

Decent hotel options