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High gas prices and the hassles of air travel may put a damper on many vacations this summer, but don't expect the Fourth of July weekend to fizzle out. Despite the likelihood of a long-term travel slowdown, millions of Americans will take to the roads and skies over the holiday.
Will you take a trip over the Fourth of July, or have you pulled back on your vacation aspirations? How much have gas prices affected your decision? What about increasing costs and fees and declining service in air travel? Join the discussion.
#1 - Tue Jun 24, 2008 10:01 AM EDTWho can travel - we can't afford to buy groceries or gas to get to work! You have got to be kidding - air travel? We'll be lucky to drive 2 hours to see our family at a backyard BBQ. Just the fact that you would have this question for discussion tells me that you are not in tune with the majority of America. This summer vacation plans include canning garden fruits and veggies and watching the stars.
#2 - Sun Jun 29, 2008 7:53 AM EDTTraveling? You have got to be kidding. I can barely afford to commute to and from work (80 miles round trip). I carpool as much as possible. I've given up eating out for lunch. I've given up eating out for dinner. I, long ago, gave up my Starbucks indulgence - in fact I probably caused their need to close stores. I'm in central CA - $4.60 for the cheapest gas is the norm. I'm not going to travel. I'm not going to buy fireworks (what a waste of money and ozone). If I'm feeling really rich I'll buy some hotdogs and grill in my backyard. For fun, I'll watch TV or watch the neighbors fireworks.
I sold my big car and bought one with better fuel mileage. I'm frugal and watch my spending but this is getting out of control.
#3 - Thu Jul 3, 2008 2:42 PM EDTSame here N-356625. Im going to see if I can set a new record for how long I can sit on the couch for. Also try to master the art of watching grass grow when ever the temp gets below 5000 deg out side. Damn South Texas heat. Have a good 4th everyone.
#4 - Thu Jul 3, 2008 2:45 PM EDTMy wife and I are planning on riding our bicycles about 50 miles to visit my Mother and sister on the fourth. We'll hang out with them on the fourth and ride back on the sixth. Some of our weekend bicycle trips involve driving to a location, leaving our car and riding from there. Other times we just ride from our home in Indianapolis to another town in Indiana 50 or so miles away. Next weekend we plan on riding to Bloomington, home to Indiana University. It's great, healthy fun.
#5 - Thu Jul 3, 2008 2:55 PM EDTWear LOTS of sunscreen and bring along tons of water. Heat stroke on the 4th of July sure is not a festive activity! :-)
My home is on the beach, during the winter it is bad, but during the summer you coudnt get me to leave it!!!
#6 - Thu Jul 3, 2008 3:01 PM EDTWaahh, it's Bush, Cheney and Halliburton. Waahh, Big Oil is forcing us to decide between filling the tank and heating the home. Waahh, there will be no vacation for us this year. Waahh, greed, greed, greed.
Honey, are you ready? On the road again, Just can't wait to get on the road again, George Bush is makin' music with Exxon, And I can't wait to get on the road again. Yeeeha!
#7 - Thu Jul 3, 2008 3:43 PM EDTWe cancelled a trip from Ks to Michigan last month due to gas prices. This is the first Summer in 20 years we have stayed home. People who are traveling anyway are telling the oil companies and government that high gas prices are fine with them.
#8 - Thu Jul 3, 2008 3:54 PM EDTI never travel during the big holidays, i.e. Christmas, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day and the 4th. Our family get together when all the dust settles. We don't have that herd mentality where everyone has to travel on the same days. It makes for driving in less traffic, thus less chance of accidents. Gas prices are usually cheaper. Driving bumber to bumber for hundreds of miles makes no sense to us.
My husband and I own two vehicles. One being a Dodge Durango, the other a Mitsubishi Eclipse. We also have 3 children; 8 years, 6 years, and 8 months all in car/booster seats. We usually take time during the summer to visit my parents out of state, a seven hour drive. If it were legal to strap a kid or two on top of the Eclipse we might have figured a way to go but , obviously, that is not an option. Are we staying home? Absolutely! Have we changed our travel plans? Yes! It is much more important to us to put food on the table, keep a roof over our heads, than fill our vehicles with gas for frivilous trips. A phone call or email will have to do. Instead of a long haul trip, we are taking the camp trailer ten miles from the house for a weekend repreive. I think we might be able to swing that.
We have been cutting back where we can but what happens when there is no where else to cut back? I really feel for those families that are on the verge of losing everything because they can't afford to put gas in the tank but have to just to get to work. Instead, they skip utility bills or house payments. We live fairly simply compared to most. We do not have cable tv or several cell phones on a family plan. Our dinners consist of one main dish and maybe a salad or bread, nothing else. I know I am dreaming, but I hope things change for the better sometime soon.
#9 - Thu Jul 3, 2008 4:22 PM EDTI am 54 and have NEVER even thought about the price of gas. I just went somewhere whenever I wanted. and never even cared what it cost. I have no children and make a very comfortable living. In other words, my finances are in very good shape. And while I am not making any major changes I am now very aware of what it cost to travel ( both by air and by car ) and am rapidly reaching the point where I will have to start making cutbacks. This has never happened to me before - I am starting to feel the pinch of higher costs for everything from gas to food and am going to have to start making cutbacks. I feel our economy is in very serious trouble and fear it is going to get much worse over the next 12-18 months. Things will be getting much worse before they start to get better.
#10 - Thu Jul 3, 2008 4:43 PM EDTIs this question a joke or a complete lack of knowledge of living in America. I think....yes, it's called ignorance. Shame on you for asking this question, and how insensitive for Rob Lovitt from MSNBC to bring this up. Note the smug, I'm on a beach right now, don't have a care in the world, picture next to his, I'm high on crack, article.
#11 - Thu Jul 3, 2008 4:59 PM EDTTHE ONLY VACATIONS WE WILL EVER BE TAKING AGAIN ARE TO SEE OUR SON IN AMARILLO AND OUR PARENTS IN NE OKLAHOMA. WHEN IT COSTS $150 TO $200 JUST FOR GAS WE WON'T EVEN BE ABLE TO DO THAT VERY OFTEN. WE HAVE EVEN CURTAILED THE 5 MILE DRIVE INTO ARDMORE UNTIL WE CAN DO SEVERAL ERRANDS THERE. I WILL BUY ITEMS I NEED AT THE LOCAL GROCERY STORE AND DOLLAR STORE HERE IN LONE GROVE, OKLAHOMA. WE PRETTY MUCH EAT AT HOME NOW RATHER THAN GOING OUT TO EAT TOO! I HAVE LESS MONEY NOW THAN I DID WHEN I WAS RAISING KIDS. GAS, TAXES, INSURANCE, GROCERIES, UTILITIES ETC ARE EATING US ALIVE , PLUS WE ARE DOING EVERYTHING WE CAN TO HELP OUR WIDOWED AND SINGLE MOMS OUT TOO.
#12 - Thu Jul 3, 2008 5:09 PM EDTI wish I could hit the road for the 4th of July weekend, but I am stuck in sh!t hole Hawaii island of Oahu. Why shouldn't gas be (4.27 here) people act like it don't even phase them, keep jacking it up!
#13 - Thu Jul 3, 2008 5:12 PM EDTMy family & I are travelling to Little Rock for the fourth, however, the airfare is being paid by a company my husband is interviewing for. I will be able to stay with my sister & her family while we are there which will save some $$.
#14 - Thu Jul 3, 2008 5:34 PM EDTLike most working folk, I too have cut way back-what other choice do we have. No vacation away from home in the near or likely far future. Get grocery stop over with after work, park the car and don't get into it until the weekend or vacation is over. There are no meals out, no latte stops, and very few visits with the grandkids. I no longer have a full dinner at home-back to meat a few times a week and making dishes that can stretch for a few days. I use email to keep up with friends-we dont visit back and forth much now and I buy second hand books from the college or public library sales for under a buck. My car gets 35 MPG so that is the best I can do there. So like most average Joe's--you bet, life has changed. My next worry is how to heat the house this winter and how I feel about 60 degrees to watch TV in the evening. Guess it will be one jacket for indoor living and one for out door temps. The golden years-well that hit the toilet big time ! Chances are they will flush here in the next 12 month !
#16 - Thu Jul 3, 2008 6:05 PM EDTEven though we have a Honda Civic our vacation will consist of watching baseball on TV, eating barbacued ribs at home and doing sporting type things in the bedroom. Not a bad 3 day weekend now that i think about it.
#17 - Thu Jul 3, 2008 6:25 PM EDTWe just drove from San Antonio to Northern Indiana. There were few cars, vans, pickups on the highways. The other vehicles that were on the highways, were mostly commerical... Tractor-trailers, construction crews, salesmen, etc. all business related travel. We seen very few people on vacation. I don't know where these "experts" are getting their information, but I think the Corporate controlled news media of today are feeding the American Public a bunch of Corporate approved news bull.
#18 - Thu Jul 3, 2008 7:20 PM EDTMaybe it is just wishful thinking on Exxon's part?
First time ever not travelling on the Fourth. Or for my birthday! Scary.
#19 - Thu Jul 3, 2008 7:31 PM EDTI think the oil companies should share that wealth like they do in the middle east countries(Arabia,Kuwait,etc.....) all the people benefit from the sell of that oil over there, I wonder why?
#20 - Thu Jul 3, 2008 8:24 PM EDTI think the oil companies should share that wealth like they do in the middle east countries(Arabia,Kuwait,etc.....) all the people benefit from the sell of that oil over there, I wonder why?
#21 - Thu Jul 3, 2008 8:25 PM EDTPure greed is why. The oil company executives are Americans in name only.
I would also like to know where these "exsperts" get there info..seems every one I have talked to is not going anywhere this wkend..I have to work it..overtime to pay for the higher prices that the gas has caused..so no vacation for me this yr ether. Guess they only ask the rich ppl where they are going huh?
#22 - Thu Jul 3, 2008 8:32 PM EDTWhy shouldn't gas be as high as it is, people continue to pay it like it don't even phase them! I won't be hitting the road, I am stuck in Hawaii on the island of Oahu which is not paradise at all. Gas is 4.27 here. Can't wait to leave this place and get back to America!
#23 - Thu Jul 3, 2008 9:00 PM EDTwe need a nationwide strike. if 80% of the people didn't buy gas or any other product or report to work for 1 week, we could bring big business to its knees. they are gouging us because we allow it to happen and until middle-class america decides to band together and do something about it, it will continue indefinitely. we have lost our pensions, insurance, and every other benefit that was available to our parents and now, the only thing left, home equity, has been taken from us. but what can we expect from a country that was founded under the circumstances that ours was. the taking started long ago. if you don't believe it, ask a native american!
#24 - Thu Jul 3, 2008 10:27 PM EDTThe problem with that is these idiots wont join our strike bandwagon. They are perfectly happy shelling out the big bucks to make their frivolous road trips. People talk strike all the time, but it never happens. The day it does is when our voices will truly be heard.
LIE LIE LIE...millions of people will not be taking to travel the roads this weekend. Sure, it may be over a million but not by much. AAA has reported Americans this weekend will be the smallest numbers to travel on this nations highways IN HISTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get it...in history. The Saudies have keep oil production the same (# of barrels) until now. They have agreed to boost production by 200000 barrels. Going by this and the report from Tripple A (AAA) that the smallest number in history will be on the highways proves that big oils statement "its about supply and demand" is a bold face lie and a HOAX!!!!!!! Take a look at can Congress stand by while Americans go broke while Big Oil has the speculators in their pocket spreading rumors that oil will go up thus resulting in the prices going up when as reported in 2005 that production cost fluctuates between $1 and $10 for a barrel of oil we paid $60 then and now over $140. Congress needs to take care of Americans rather than their own stocks in big oil. I personally have decided if those in congress and the White House wont respond then its time to get someone in Washington that will!!! We have floods, tornados, wild fires, run away gas prices, Iran / Israel problems to name a few and Congress takes a early vacation last month...JUST WHO DO THEY CARE ABOUT THE MOST???
#25 - Thu Jul 3, 2008 10:34 PM EDTIt is pretty obvious who they care about...the corporations and their Republican lackeys. The rest of us peons can go eat cake.
They sure did not care about the average jane and Joe like you and me. All they care about is getting to their fancy vacation homes in their brand new fancy cars and SUV's. I find it truly sad how things continue to get worse and worse for us and the sky seems to be the limit for them. Maybe it is high time for a modern day Robin Hood?
I swear, American's sure are stupid(Obviously the ones out driving this weekend). I mean I am one of them, but this holiday weekend could have really told these greedy lousy pieces of trash oil people that we will not stand for the rising cost of fuel any longer. People could have just stayed in town, but NO the idiots are out driving in force on their trips out of town. We will never escape these horrid prices because apparently some idiots are fine with the rising cost and more then willing to pay whatever price the oil exes dictate. I for one am barely making it trying to get all the bills paid and get my mortgage paid after just losing my job on Monday. Something really has to change.
#26 - Fri Jul 4, 2008 12:23 AM EDTYou're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead. |
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