BellaOnline Forums Money Abundance & Wealth If gas prices hit $4 will you travel this summer?

I think we're staying close to home too.

Honestly, I don't think it will effect our travels, other than, perhaps, locally. One trip, I'm flying, and already have the tickets. The other trip is to take our son to a summer program, and that is written in stone. We don't have any other summer vacations planned -- we just took a shortish vacation recently, so won't miss it, anyway. And ds is going to college in the fall -- so that trip also is planned, and barring not getting any financial aid (which would mean he couldn't afford to go there), that is really not a negotiable trip.

Well - I just read that gas prices have hit a record high average $3.50 a gallon nationally - is this going to have an impact on your Memorial Day or summer travel plans?

Even airfare has gone up significantly.

Down the street from me here in Los Angeles it is $3.85. I saw on the news they said NJ is the lowest.

We have litres here so I did a conversion. Unleaded fuel went to just over $6.00 a gallon here this morning.
Whilst we have already had the summer holidays here the rising cost of petrol does make us (my family) rethink how we use it.
We all have pushbikes. My daughter has one with a trailer on the back for her two children and will bike to the shops and the park now instead of taking the car. Three of my sons bike to work. One catches the train part way and rides the rest.
I only use the car if I am going out of the city.
All my children live in the city so family get-togethers on holidays are easily accomplished on the train.

Sikpiksie

Tomorrow April 22, 2008 is Earth Day - Skipiksie you've given us something to think about.

I live in Florida - there is so much here to see.....I do not really travel anyway that much........so - no one will make a lot of money off of me.

I should add here that I live in the heart of the city, and I live alone, so it is easy for me not to use the car! It would not be so easy for people, with children, living further out. Also our state is very isolated from the rest of the country so if we are travelling interstate we either go by train or fly.

Sikpiksie

Has anyone else considered downsizing the car because of the rising fuel prices?

I am looking at buying a new car and am seriously considering a hybrid. Not just because it's better for the environment but it's also better for my hip pocket!

To take a trip to a friends place, 250kms from me, at present costs me around $80.00 in fuel. In a hybrid car fuel for the trip would be around half that.

Sikpiksie

Gas prices here in the Los Angeles Area topped over the $4.oo a gallon mark. We have tended to drive less when gas went up. To and from work, simple changes like running all errands in one loop. But, we did find gas for 30 cents a gallon cheaper in the high desert and topped off our tank, we were out for our annual camping trip. This summer I expect to go travel to Idaho for the annual family reunion. My car already gets 38 mpg's on the hwy, and up to 42 mpg's. Can a Hybrid acually beat that? I remember the gas crisis and odd/even days in the 1970's, and we bought smaller cars and got rid of tuna boat, gas guzzlers. It's now GREEN to be CLEAN. This is something that we have been working on since the late 60's and 1970's, that got put on the back burner in the 1980's.
*Now that it's HIP to go GREEN, thank goodness for being AWARE.
Do all you can, but DO visit family and friends. Life is short. I treasure the visits with my 86 year old in-laws, and my 80 year old dad. I cannot imagine the day, that the price of gas will keep me from taking a trip to visit my family when they are in their 80's, because there is no price I won't pay to see my beloved Dad, and my husband's wonderful, Healthy Family. We are not to become hermits!

I have fixed my backyard, patio up so that it is my own little vacation spot. Don't get me wrong. I've been doing my part for the earth since 1972. I'm glad to see it's cool to go green. But at what cost?