Shut up, already.
If you don't want to go on vacation, then don't go, but quit blaming the price of fuel for the collapse of your vacation. Here's why your complaining is ludicrous:
I know someone who owns a spiffy 4WD Honda Element...oh wait, that's me! This gorgeous tangerine metallic vehicle, because it's a 4WD, gets worse gas mileage than its front wheel drive sibling, and considerably worse gas mileage than, say, a Civic. But the Element has tons more room and is a joy to drive, and really is just perfect for long road trips. Civics are tiny and cramped and not well suited to a long road trip.
I've been averaging 24 mpg on my recent road trips, and my summer vacation trip to Maine is 4076 miles round trip. That means I'll need 17o gallons of gas. At $4/gallon that's $680 worth of gas, which really does seem like a lot of money. But if gas were $3/gallon, the trip fuel cost would only be $170 less. That's it....$170 less for taking a trip of over 4,000 miles.
Really, folks.....you're telling me you're going to cancel your summer vacation over $170? You could easily save $170 by packing sandwich fixin's and soda and chips in an ice chest rather than eat at a restaurant or fast food place each meal. $170 is a few less t-shirts or crappy souvenirs...it could even be 2 fewer tickets to that fancy theme park. It's $34 per person in a family of five $42.50 per person in a family of four.
But truly, if a single person, a couple, or a family have enough money to consider taking a road trip vacation in the first place, I cannot imagine that $170 would be the deciding factor.
I realize fuel prices are ridiculous. I agree they are. But quit using them as an excuse. If you want to go on vacation, then go. If you want to find a reason not to, then join the blubbering masses. If you want to make an argument for other prices rising in stores/restaurants/hotels as the result of rising fuel prices, then I might think you a bit smart and be inclined to listen to your data. Otherwise, you're just part of the group of people 'freaking out' over this.
And so, I say again....shut up.
By the way, Mount Desert Island has a free Island Explorer propane-powered shuttle bus system that runs all over the island, so I'll be taking advantage of that perk and save the island and Acadia National Park from the fumes of my $4/gallon gasoline.
9 comments:
I know. I understand bitching about gas prices in general (especially for people with long commutes) but a vacation is something that is optional to begin with.
Either you cut corners elsewhere or you just don't go. That's how people used to do things before credit cards ruled the world--can't afford it, don't it.
PS. I don't know about the rest of the country, but in NYC, the hotel prices more than doubled in two years, and yet my plane ticket was only about $25 more.
Me again. Are you getting your mail from the previous store? You will be getting something from me (sort of) and I think it should have arrived by now.
You'll love the bus system, at least we did. Very convenient.
I'm dying to hear about your trip already!
Charles, I'm swinging by my old store today to pick up my fishies and transfer them to the new tank I've set up at my new store. I'll ask if I have a package for me when I'm there.
Martha, I leave in 4 weeks and one day, and I can't wait! I plan on taking tons and tons of pictures, even more than I did at Yellowstone and Glacier.
I disagree. It's not the $170.00 that's stopping people from going on vacation; it's the extra money that is spent every day due to the rising price of gas - their commutes to work, gas heating bills doubled, the increased price of groceries, etc. The extra money tucked away for vacations no longer exists. -blu
we never really vacationed growing up and i'm not a big fan of going anywhere. it's a lot of work to go somewhere and now that there's a baby bean in my life, my lazy genes kick in and i'd rather just stay home.
my only real gripe is that my electricity bill has doubled in one year (those greedy pigs at BG&E) and the gas prices have gone up a lot too.
last month and this month are bitch free for me because we haven't needed heat or air (mainly because i'm cheap and refuse to turn the heat on no matter how cold or put the air on no matter how hot. at this time of year i can get away with being cheap. but at some point, i'll be vetoed and one switch or another will be flipped.
i grew up without air and my mom and dad kept the heat at 65 during the cold parts of the year. but since i grew up without vacation, i'm not missing anything either.
now that it hink about it, maybe those people who are bitching should be sent to poverty boot camp and they'll get over it?
Jilly
hah, poverty boot camp...
blu, you definitely have a point
but my response is that people are claiming the single factor of price per gallon fuel for their family or individual vehicle is the culprit
jilly, we rarely traveled when we were young. My parents refused to finance a vacation on credit, so we ended up taking day trips (mom and 3 girls) to various state parks or places in and around Ft. Worth such as the Japanese Gardens and the Stockyards.
When I was younger, we used to go camping around the Northeast with a trailer. So much fun. I was really young so I don't remember much - but I do remember the crunching sound of the car on gravel when we finally reached the campsite. To this day, it's one of my favorite sounds. - blu
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