At a national level, Memorial Day is a time to honor those who serve. In the finance world, it launches an array of retail promotions, quarterly earnings reports, and an upcoming jobs report. And for families, there’s travel. Ah, travel. Both tantalizing and sometimes – let’s face it – torturous. The AAA predicts a surge in travel this weekend, with a staggering 44 million of us on the move. That figure exceeds pre-pandemic levels and nearly matches the highest number of travelers since the agency first began tracking data a quarter century ago. Guess our collective wander lust is alive and well.
For All You Road Warriors
Of the 44 million Memorial Day travelers, 90% will opt for the road. It begs the question: how does your gas mileage fare? Back in the day, a stiff tailwind would push Ford’s Model T to 21 miles per gallon. By comparison, “light duty” vehicles in the U.S. now average 25.7 mpg. Still, consumers have a ways to go in order to weather the wild ups and downs of our gas prices in recent years. Analysts predict a gallon will cost you around $3.57 this weekend, on par with this time last year. With travel times being more than 80% longer than normal in some areas – we’re looking at you, Tampa and L.A., – our gas mileage will suffer as we idle and inch along our HOV lanes, fast food drive throughs, and clover junctions.
Be not discouraged! There are tried-and-true survival tips out there, including traveling outside the traditional windows of Friday outbound/Monday return, keeping an eagle eye on real-time re-routing options, seeking off-the-beaten-path destinations, and having a line-up of sweet tunes to keep passengers in a party mood. Beyond that, check out a meditation app for deep breathing techniques. (Upside: it could also help with the in-laws?)
"Travel makes one modest: one sees what a tiny place one occupies in the world.”
– Gustave Flaubert, French novelist
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