With Gas Prices Rising, Get Your Travel Bargain Now

Gas prices are now at over $4 a gallon all across the U.S. Even if you don't drive, you're still feeling the pinch, since high transportation costs also affect the price of food and of course, travel.

To combat the strain on the consumer's budget, people are reducing their vacation budgets and planning more "stay-cations" where they stay closer to home instead of taking a more traditional vacation. Some people are choosing not to travel because they can't afford it, and that's the smart thing to do.

But if you CAN afford it and you're choosing not to travel this year to wait for the prices to come back down, that is definitely NOT smart! Because all signs point to the prices NEVER coming back down. The days of cheap and abundant flights are over. The days of cheap oil and gas are over. What we took for granted for so many years is now coming to an end.



The reasoning behind this belief is explained in the book called "The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century" by James Kunstler. This book first came out in 2005 and is a terrifying prediction of a world that has run out of oil.

Kunstler's theory is based on the fact that the reserves of oil in the world have most likely hit their peak in production, which means the limit on the supply of oil is becoming more and more evident. Meanwhile, the increasing demand for oil in other countries is only accelerating the eventual depletion.

Many people think that high gas prices are just a temporary problem. Surely, the electric/hybrid cars will end our dependence on foreign oil, so even if the oil runs out one day, by then we won't need it anymore.

However, Kunstler believes that no amount of solar, wind or other alternative sources of energy will ever be able to fully replace our mass consumption of oil. Our way of life will have to change drastically to cope with a society that has very little, and as a result, more expensive oil and gas at their disposal.

We already see people driving less. There is talk of a four-day work-week to help allieve the transportation costs of the American worker. And we are slowly seeing the price of food rise right along with the price of oil.

Why would food prices be heavily impacted by the price of gas? Because our society is built around the shipping of food hundreds and thousands of miles away from where the food is produced to where it is sold to the consumer.

Kunstler predicts that things will get so bad that people will have to start growing their own food to survive. He believes that America will have to revert back to an agricultural society, the way people lived before the Industrial Revolution and cheap oil changed the world.

Skeptical? Even if food prices are so drastically affected by the cost of oil, that's still years away, right? Wrong-- CNN reports in the article "Inflation Hits Hard in Hawaii" (6/19/08) that Hawaiian residents are already paying $6.50 for a gallon of milk and $8 for a jar of peanut butter, since 80% of Hawaii's food is shipped in from the mainland.

The writing's on the wall, the signs are there--and that's why the time to travel is NOW! Don't wait another year or two years to take that dream vacation because chances are the cost of airline tickets will have skyrocketed so high, you won't be able to afford to fly anymore.

We are already looking back fondly at the days when gas was $3 a gallon. Just think how smart you'll feel when you tell your friends in a few years, "I'm glad I took my dream vacation in 2008. Back then, you could actually still afford to fly."

I truly hope that we never have to experience conditions as extreme as Kunstler suggests. However, we cannot ignore the facts either. Sadly, there may come a day when only the wealthy can afford to fly. So in my humble opinion, it's best to "Bon Voyage" now while travel costs are still within reach!