Higher Gas Prices Can't Really Be Stopping Your Travel Plans

The media is in "feeding-frenzy" mode over the latest rise in gas prices. In addition to blaming the President (as if he sets the international rate for a barrel of oil) they love to blame "big oil" companies. Now there are few times in life when I am excited to pay more for something, but when put in perspective we are not really suffering that much, are we?

On the news this morning an upset mother appeared because she was going to have to "cancel her summer vacation plans" because of high gas prices. Oh come on. If people really stopped to do the math on this one you wouldn't hear such ridiculous comments. The average summer vacation for most people driving to a regional destination is about a 1000 mile round trip. Let's assume you drive a car with average fuel efficiency of around 23 miles per gallon of gasoline. Last year, that summer vacation cost you about $0.25 a gallon less than it will this summer. So how much of a dent will this summer's increase to $3.07 (at the time of this article) per gallon of regular, unleaded gasoline put in your vacation budget? About $10.87. Oh, the horror! The math speaks for itself. 1000 miles at 23 miles per gallon means your family will burn about 43.47 gallons of gas on summer vacation. Multiplying 43.47 by the $0.25 increase over last year's summer gas prices results in a $10.87 increase to your trip's budget. I don't really believe people are going to stop taking vacations for $10.87. I spent more than that the last time I took my family to McDonalds!