Sooooo, will the rising gas prices affect your summer vacation plans?

[*anj*]

Have you changed your vacation plans this summer because of the rising gas prices? Will you stick closer to home to save money?

 

We had considered camping in Maine, but decided not to for a few reasons, including the cost of traveling from NJ to ME with a very heavily packed mini van.

Also, we have a friend who rents a cabin in VT for a few weeks every summer and sometimes dh takes the kids up for a few days. Again, if the price of gas continues to skyrocket, we could end up spending more on gasoline than anything else for such a trip.

 

What are your plans?

 

I think I'll submit a poll, so don't answer til I do!

[KS_]

We don't ever take big vacations anyway - so the cost of gas isn't a factor in that. We live a couple hours away from Yellowstone, and that is a favorite vacation spot, and we will be going there (in just about a week!).

[TraceyS/FL]

We haven't been on a "vacation" since October 2002!

 

OH well, someday!

[mommaduck]

What's a vacation?

 

No, seriously...the most we would do is go to the Jersey shore that is only 2hrs away.

[Old Dominion Heather]

We were going to visit friends in PA and go to Hershey Park, but we have scrapped all of that. We will be staying home this year. It makes me sad whenever I think of it. The freinds were the family of one of ds8's best friends who moved last year. We have been looking forward to it all winter, but with gas as much as it is, this trip just isn't going to happen, and neither is any other trip.:nopity:

[jacqui in mo]

We're going to CA for my inlaw's 50th wedding anniversary celebration in June. We decided to drive instead of fly but now we wish we had bought airline tickets at the time we were in the beginning stages of planning because the tickets then would have been cheaper than driving with the gas prices now.:confused:

[Just Me]

Instead of a big vacation, we will be going camping at a lake about 45 minutes away.

 

On the other hand, we haven't been camping as a family since the oldest two were very young, so I am excited about it. :001_smile:

[Holly IN]

We were planning on going to Florida. The rising gas prices scratched that plan so we will go next year and save up money for gas price jump for next summer.

 

We are staying close to home with a weekend trip to Ohio.

 

Holly

[Wendi]

We have been tossing around the idea of going camping somewhere. Dh wants to camp on the beach in California (there is a place our friends have gone, that sounds great). I suggested the Grand Canyon. The beach would be about 6 hours away; the Grand Canyon is about 4 hours.

 

There are some other options closer, though; maybe the White Mountains (2 hrs. away) or Flagstaff (2 hrs.). We'll probably end up staying closer to save $$.

 

Wendi

[mafi39]

We are going to Florida next week and have the money budgeted for gas. It will be our only vacation this year. We might camp a little this summer, but it will be close to home. If I wait for a vacation next year, gas will be up to 5.00 dollars a gallon, so we are going while we can!:)

[Kari C in SC]

I had planned months ago to take my dd to the homeschool convention in Florida (we live in SC now). My oldest ds will be driving to Florida as well. Lots of our friends will be there. My dh and youngest will be staying behind. The weekend after that, my whole family will travel to Virginia for my niece's wedding. There is no way I could cancel our trip to my niece's wedding. As far as Florida, I have been watching the gas prices. We really shouldn't spend the money to go. It will probably come from savings unless dh makes some really great commission in the next few weeks. I don't care though. My dd has been through a lot in the few months since we moved. She broke her ankle, had 2 surgeries, crutches for over 2 months. She is so excited about getting to see her friends. If we didn't have the money in savings, I guess we wouldn't go. Since we do, I am taking my dd for a much needed break. The only other thing we may do is camp fairly close to home this summer. Funny thing is that we have never taken our younger kids camping. We used to take the older one because money was never there for hotels, etc. Now our younger ones think it is the most exciting thing that the biggest vacation will be camping! LOL!

[Elm in NJ]

We are going to Raleigh, NC next Friday for a week. The following weekend, we will be going to Maryland and Virginia for a wedding. In July, we are driving to Chicago. It's painful with the gas prices, but I don't think it is going to get better.

 

Elmeryl

[Elisabeth in IL]

We're taking our trip regardless because we are heading up to Michigan for my grandfather's 97th Birthday party. How could we miss that!!!!! :D

[JennifersLost]

We drive cross country every year so I'm eyeing those gas prices with frustration, but....

 

we'll still go. We may stay at less fancy hotels. We will probably just eat the difference in cost - we do the trip in a fairly cheap way, anyway.

 

I just hope gas doesn't soar any higher while we're IN New York, making the trip home frustrating.

[Bee]

I'd rather just set the tent up in the back yard though because it's more private and we see more wildlife there than when we go camping.But dh wants to go so we will at least once.Last year we went camping once and decided to forego a second trip and went to Maine instead (very spur of the moment;"let's take the kids to see the ocean".)We won't do that this year because of rising prices.

[Mad Jenny Flint]

We are taking a trip within our state in June, and that'll probably be it this year... we go to Vermont about every other year, and we did that last year.

[lynn]

No, we are traveling cross country as planned. We are thinking about flying but that's the only change we are considering.

[Gamom3]

Gas is one and ds has a job now and can not afford to take off.

 

So, we will be staying here. I know by the end of summer, dh is going to be itching to go somewhere.

[Jennifer in NH]

The kids and I spend the summer in Maine and Dh comes up for weekends and about 3 weeks vacation. That part won't change, but what we do there might. We seem to drive more there because there is more to do...but this summer we may stick closer to our home away from home so to speak. Does that make any sense?

[Danestress]

My parents own a beach house about 4 hours away. We typically go back and forth a good bit over the summer. The gas situation has changed my way of thinking about that - not so much that the price went up, but that I feel a responsibility to lower our fuel use, as I think all Americans should.

 

So yes, we are going less. Once a month is what I would my mother, and this is a good deal less than the past few summers. Also, we are committed to all going in one car. In the past, the boys and I might go down a few days earlier than DH. Now if DH is coming (often he doesn't, because the poor lamb has a job) we are going to do it in one car.

[Jennifer in MI]

I voted changed our plans. We usually just go to my mom's and dad's over the summer. We prefer to travel off-season in the fall and winter and we've got baseball ALL summer long. But, this summer, with the gas prices so high, we're limiting our visits to mom and dad to once. My sister graduates from high school and we'll go to her party.

 

But, we won't be changing our fall/winter plans when we're driving to FL and taking a cruise!!

[8filltheheart]

We have made the decision to not go on vacation, but not simply b/c of vacation.

 

We drive a lot every day b/c our ds goes to a private school 20 miles away. We aren't going on vacation in anticipation of fall gas prices and the need to drive him to and from school.

[Quiver0f10]

Well we haven't gone on a vacation in 8 years, so nothing new there. But we are condensing our regular errands and trips into town as much as possible and have cut what we can out of the budget. I filled up yesterday and it was $95(and I had a 1/4 tank to start!). I just pray it last a week :glare:

[Rhonda in TX]

Every other year we go up to see my best friend and her family in Tennessee. (They come down here the other years.) It's a 10 hour trip, so it will be pretty pricey. However, we take very few vacations, so yes, we will go. If we travelled frequently, it would impact us more.

[Jenny in Florida]

We don't do big summer vacations, anyway. And this year we hadn't planned to do anything because we need these few months to recover financially as much as possible from the academic year that is concluding. Between my daughter's college tuition and the miscellaneous other costs of keeping her in school and the various tuitions and fees and expenses of my son's extracurriculars, we're kind of scraping these days.

 

I suspect that, with our daughter home, my husband may feel compelled to plan some kind of fun get-away, but we usually keep those things pretty local, anyway.