Comments on: Ask The Readers: Did You “Staycation” to Save Money on Gas?

By: Jackie Yang

Jackie Yang — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:19:58 +0000

As a Chinese here,”Staycation” is really new word but not new in idea.For me,that is a bridge to explain this cultural point to the English beginners!That is fun!

By: Shane

Shane — Fri, 30 May 2008 21:40:05 +0000

Yeah, i’m totally feeling the effects. But what I’m doing is slowing down on the freeway and that’s cutting down my gas consumption a lot. I calculated it out at http://www.slowdowntosavegas.com/

By: Ryuko

Ryuko — Thu, 29 May 2008 01:01:39 +0000

Staycation? haha. I spent so much $ on gas this weekend that I couldn’t even afford to vacation at home. I just sat on my ass and surfed the web. At least I was able to go surfing… :p

By: Dividend Growth Investor

Dividend Growth Investor — Wed, 28 May 2008 17:30:16 +0000

There were a lot of people on the roads during this memorial day weekend. Luckily for them however, they were just walking, rather than driving :-)

By: Anitra

Anitra — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:48:48 +0000

We’re not much for vacationing to begin with, but I can see exactly ONE change in our vacationing plans that is related to gas prices… We’re treating my mother-in-law to a special trip to an undisclosed location in July (about a 4-hour drive)… We’re going to put five people (me, husband, his brother & sister, and “mom”) in one sedan to get there and back. If it weren’t for high gas prices, we might drive two cars down instead.

By: Maria @ Financial-Tip

Maria @ Financial-Tip — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:25:22 +0000

@ Emily– that link doesn’t work for me.

By: Maria @ Financial-Tip

Maria @ Financial-Tip — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:24:21 +0000

We stayed home over the weekend, and have put off visiting friends and family because of gas prices. We won’t be going to several wedding we were invited to this Spring, either, because of travel costs. Good poll.

By: Emily @ Taking Charge

Emily @ Taking Charge — Wed, 28 May 2008 14:34:22 +0000

We actually just commissioned a Roper poll that found out that the majority of Americans will be cutting back on visiting friends and family due to gas prices. Almost two thirds said they’d cut back on driving for enjoyment, and a fourth for work (more poll results here: http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/gas-card-price-poll-1277.php. Really sad that we’re having to cut back on fun activities because of this. My family is about a three hour drive away, and I haven’t been home in a while because gas is so costly, and then once I’m there, I have to do a lot of driving to see everyone. I’m going to Europe for two weeks this summer, but fortunately I’ll be taking trains and buses most of the time.

By: Joseph Sangl

Joseph Sangl — Wed, 28 May 2008 13:27:14 +0000

I loaded up the family in a gas-guzzling SUV and drove over a 1,000 miles for Memorial Day.

Time with my parents is short. High gas prices (or the latest so-called crisis) will always be around.

Because we PLAN for our vacations and SAVE money for them, we are able to just go and not worry about it.

But I would have preferred to pay $0.69 for a gallon of gas instead of $3.86!

By: AkiraSabine

AkiraSabine — Wed, 28 May 2008 07:44:10 +0000

I don’t like to go out unnecessarily coz going out means spending money. The fuel, the parking tickets, the food, entertainment. I can do a lot at home surfing and learning from the net.

By: Experts on Credit

Experts on Credit — Wed, 28 May 2008 00:44:45 +0000

I didn’t feel like spending extra money to celebrate three days off, and the gas prices were just a good excuse.

By: David Carter

David Carter — Tue, 27 May 2008 21:11:26 +0000

I didn’t really have a staycation, more of a workcation. Not very fun but it helps pay the bills.

By: Mary Sue

Mary Sue — Tue, 27 May 2008 20:55:19 +0000

I grew up in Napa. You don’t want to go to Napa. The motels in Napa are overpriced and skeezy, the wine tasting prices are outrageous, and the campgrounds are waaaay out in the middle of nowhere.

I suggest Fairfield. It’s the gateway to the Solano Wine Country (Wooden Valley Winery in Fairfield puts out my favorite wine ever), and if you ever went to the old Nut Tree you have to see the way they’ve revamped it.

By: Sabrina

Sabrina — Tue, 27 May 2008 20:29:07 +0000

It cost me $72 to fill up my tank last time. I’m going to do as much biking and walking as possible.

By: PT

PT — Tue, 27 May 2008 20:21:49 +0000

It’s not affecting our plans for travel, vacations, just my plans for current/future automotive purchases. Is it dumb to keep a big SUV that I don’t need right now?

Oh, and yes, punch you like Tyson’s Knock Out.

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Tue, 27 May 2008 19:58:26 +0000

Tom, can I come to your party next year? That sounds just about my speed.

By: tom

tom — Tue, 27 May 2008 19:53:17 +0000

I hope everyone was able to “chillax” on their “staycations”!! I want to punch both of us in the face.

We flew down to Texas to my parent’s ranch. We had a huge BBQ with a whole pig, brisket, chicken, ribs, and lots of beer. I’m now recovering from getting toasted in the pool. So to answer your question, no, gas prices are not keeping us from traveling.

I hope everyone had a great weekend even if they had to cancel plans!

By: The Travelin' Man

The Travelin' Man — Tue, 27 May 2008 19:14:43 +0000

I don’t know if I would call it a stay-cation, because I didn’t really do anything special (hey….maybe that’s what a vacation should be!), but I did abort plans to go to the ACC baseball tournament, in part, because of gas prices.

I probably would have gone had Carolina been able to advance to the championship game on Sunday. But, since their fate was sealed late Friday, it was an easier decision to make. $100 round-trip for gas to see two college baseball games (the tickets for which would have cost less than $25) just didn’t seem all that smart.

I didn’t go see Carolina when they played at FSU or Miami this year, either. In years past, I would have gone in a heartbeat.

However, the price of gas is not just marginally higher this year – gas is a full dollar a gallon more than last Memorial Day – up more than 30%. When you consider how much menu prices have gone up, hotel rates have gone up, and day-to-day expenses have gone up, we need to realize that this is not the same 2-3% inflation that the government keeps telling us. For those of you in fortunate positions to “not have to worry” about cost increases – good for you. Unfortunately, you are in a real minority. I work hard, too…I just prefer to keep more of my money than fritter it away on things where the expense cannot be justified.

By: Mrs. Micah

Mrs. Micah — Tue, 27 May 2008 18:40:57 +0000

(amused by Buffy reference in the comments)

We decided not to go anywhere, but it was more a mix of:

a) our families never did anything on this holiday

b) gas prices in general…we would have had to budget for a trip and we wanted to use the money elsewhere. Less an OMFG the gas prices are so high! and more that it would be money at all. ;)

c) we find weekend trips kinda stressful. we’re homebodies.

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Tue, 27 May 2008 18:19:15 +0000

Eh, Jeremy wants to punch me in the face, must be Tuesday.