Gas prices play a huge role in travel plans, from where you go to how you get there, and how much you can afford to spend on activities on vacation.  Annoyingly, we have no way of knowing in advance what fuel prices are going to be, so it can be hard to accurately budget for a summer vacation.

I’ve already started to notice gas prices creeping their way back up from their sub-$2/gallon lows, and it makes me wonder just how much I’ll be paying to fill my tank this summer.  (In about three weeks, I’ll be setting off on a cross-country drive covering over 3,000 miles.  This has never been a more frightening question.)  Will airline fuel surcharges leap again?  I’m flying a lot this summer, too…

Average gas prices are up 10% over the past two weeks.  If this trend continues, it could be another painful summer at the pump, but experts say it won’t be like last year.  The main evidence for this theory is that oil demand is at its lowest since 1995, while supply is at its highest point in nearly 20 years — last year’s high prices forced many drivers to make permanent changes to their habits to save money.  While the demand continues to drop, prices should not rise as sharply as we saw last year.

Still, prices historically shoot up around Memorial Day, and remain somewhat inflated throughout the summer travel season, so travelers should brace themselves for some higher prices.  Gas probably won’t rise to $4 per gallon any time soon, but we can certainly expect it to remain above the $2 mark throughout summer.

If you’re renting a car during your travels this summer, ask about hybrids.  More rental agencies are offering these fuel-efficient vehicles, and if you can get one the next time you rent a car, I definitely recommend it.  I rented a Toyota Prius last week and was pleased to learn that this car really lives up to all its hype.  Not only did we average nearly 50 miles to the gallon (mostly freeway — it does even better in city driving), but this car was fun to drive, and has a surprising amount of trunk space, too.

Of course no one knows what gas prices will do this summer, but the good news is that it doesn’t look like they will climb to outrageous heights.  Still, it’s always a good idea to try to cut back on your fuel consumption no matter what the prices may be.  If you’ve adopted good, green habits into your regular routine, you should be able to apply them to your travel plans as well so that gas prices won’t cause any problems for you when you’re on the road.  Take advantage of mass transit whenever possible, and keep in mind that walking wherever you can is as good for your body as it is for the planet.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 12th, 2009 at 10:10 am and is filed under Going Green. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.