One-Tank Getaways: Gas prices drive day trips
ONE-TANK GETAWAYS | Chicago families find fun closer to home
Eileen Laureano-Alicea wanted to give her kids the Mouse.
Instead they got the Bean.
(Richard A. Chapman/Sun-Times)
(Chris Sweda/Sun-Times)
fewer highway miles driven by Americans in April 2008 versus April 2007.
20%
ridership increase in trips of 300 miles or less on Amtrak from Chicago.
5%
increase in Metra ridership in the first quarter of 2008 vs. 2007.
11.8%
increase in weekend Metra ridership in first quarter 2008 vs. 2007.
25.3%
increase in weekend Metra ridership in first quarter 2008 vs. 2006.
4%
increase in CTA riders from January-May 2008 from January-May 2007.
550,000
fewer July 4 holiday travelers in 2008 than in 2007.
13%
increase in airfares over July 4th weekend from 2007 to 2008.
SOURCES: AAA, National Automobile Dealers Association, US Department of Transportation, CTA, Metra, Amtrak
The Addison mom had planned on a Walt Disney World summer vacation with her children, Sienna Marie, 7, and Sebastian, 4.
"I looked at the prices and said forget it," she said. "Money's really tight this year."
Since school ended, the family has visited Taste of Chicago, Millennium Park and Brookfield Zoo on day trips instead of going on their usual Florida or Caribbean vacation.
"Our trips are shorter," she said. "They still have fun, and Disney will still be there."
Laureano-Alicea and her family are the new breed of vacationers taking "one-tank trips," a travel-industry term for car trips of no more than three hours on a single tank of gas.
The one-tank vacations are another way families are dealing with eye-popping fuel costs and sky-high airfare.
"People still want to take vacations," said Jan Kostner, deputy director of the Illinois Bureau of Tourism. "Because of high gas prices, people are taking shorter vacations and staying closer to home."
Fewer people are traveling this holiday weekend than during last year's Fourth of July holiday, AAA spokeswoman Nicole Niemi said. Still, 40 million Americans are taking to the open road.
"We have seen people sticking closer to home and doing day trips," Niemi said. "From metro Chicago, there are quite a few places to get to in a day that feel like a getaway."
Fourteen members of the Gonzalez and Salazar families of Cicero were headed north Friday to the Wisconsin Dells, a destination that fit their gas budget.
They're camping and cooking out to keep costs down on what will likely be their only vacation this summer, Lizzet Gonzalez said.
"We really did think about the gas" before planning the trip, Gonzalez said.
With the stress of a depressed economy, a change of scenery can be more important than ever for maintaining sanity.
For many, leisurely car trips out West are simply out of the question. And wherever you're going, you're more likely to be eyeing a small car to get you there.
"There's been a huge, huge shift from SUVs and pickups to smaller vehicles," said Paul Taylor, chief economist at the National Automobile Dealers Association. "The manufacturers can't get them to the dealers fast enough."
Train and bus travel are on the rise. CTA ridership was up 4 percent and Metra ridership was up 5 percent for the first three months of the year, though officials can't link the ridership increase directly to rising gas prices.
For the first three months of this year, weekend ridership at Metra was up more than 25 percent over the same period in 2006.
At Amtrak, ridership on trips from Chicago to St. Louis, Detroit, Milwaukee and Carbondale is up 20 percent.
"Certainly we think the single largest portion for these riders is people trying to avoid the cost of using their cars and trucks," said Marc Magliari, an Amtrak spokesman.
"The primary competition for all of us is people driving. We're pretty well positioned to take some of the market," Magliari said.
For the Hansknecht family of Waukegan, that means taking Amtrak to the annual family reunion in Detroit instead of their car.
"It's slower, but it beats paying $4 a gallon," said Brandon Hansknecht, 15, who will be riding the rails for the second consecutive year.
Some destinations are trying to lure Chicago area drivers by sharing the cost.
Amish Acres, an Amish-style farm tempting visitors with a "Thresher's Dinner" in Nappanee, Ind., is offering a "Tanks for Coming" gas-holiday package of $20 to $40 in "Amish Acres legal tender."
The Two Sisters' Cottage in Union Pier, Mich., offers $50 to $100 gas cards for customers booking weekend or weeklong vacations.
Ann Dahm, director of membership and communications for the Harbor Country Chamber of Commerce in New Buffalo, Mich., said day-trippers and overnight visitors from the Chicago area are flocking on one-tank trips to her area's sandy shores and antique shops.
"Somebody who might have been planning a trip across the country or flying is staying closer to home," she said. "For sure we benefit from it. For us it's a big plus, and for them it is too."