Lots of Americans (and Canadians, too,by the sound of it) drive out on vacation. How far do they go? Are we talking of thousands of miles a trip? How long for? ( We understand in Europe that it's against US federal law to take more than ten days holiday and we wonder what percentage of that is driving )

If they take a rented holiday home is that just for a week or so, or do they do what the French do (or did, if President Sarkozy has stopped them )? A French middle class family will often take a holiday home for months viz. the whole of the schools' Summer vacation. The mother is parked there with the children throughout and the father comes and goes. He does stay for substantial parts, because French holidays for workers are quite long.

I'm trying to 'get a handle' on the impact of gas prices on this style of life.It could be marked. Fuel in the US is very cheap now (by European standards),being lightly taxed, but was historically, a lot cheaper.

Europeans are not in the habit of driving thousands of miles across the continent and then thousands of miles back.It's possible, but why do it? For example,the furthest I have driven 'en famille' has been a trip from Antibes to the South of Italy (870 miles, 13 hours driving) and a trip from Antibes to Biarritz ( 520 miles, 8hours 20 mins driving).Both of those took several days: it was the journeying, not the ultimate destination, that mattered. The longest journey I'd regularly take, together with many other Britons in France,is the port of Calais to the Cote d'Azur, here Antibes , a trip of 750 miles which takes 11 hours 30 minutes driving (there are good autoroutes in France). If we can,Europeans take train or plane and then drive on in a rented vehicle suited to the trip, be it a hundred or more miles, from the airport or station. (Or we can put our car on the train for some journeys and travel with it).

Our 1,600 miles round trip would cost quite a lot at $9 a gallon. But it always did cost a lot. A big increase in crude oil price makes little percentage, or perceived, difference when the bulk of the pump price is the tax.

I've not traveled much in my life - we once drove from central Ohio to Atlanta, Georgia for a long weekend. That was a 10 or 12 hour drive as we weren't looking to break any speed records. Out of 4 days, we had 2 full days in Atlanta.

Cars were embraced by Americans and we built roads to get across the country as smoothly and quickly as possible. Personal automobiles are equated with personal freedom and not having to follow any time table set by train or plane schedules.

The formula for an American vacation is to drive as fast as possible to the destination and then cram as much "fun" into the week as possible. I've seen movies where, in the past, people did the French style holiday, but in my lifetime, more moms have had to go to work and getting that kind of vacation time isn't possible.

Also consider the amount of vacation time is based on how many years you've worked at a particular job and not many people stay in one job long enough to accrue much in the way of vacation time. Then the time an employee takes off can be up to the approval of a supervisor. My partner has been employed with the same library for over 30 years and he must submit his requests for time off months in advance and wait for his supervisor to decide if the time he's asked for is good for her and if she or the assistant manager want time off when he does, he is out of luck.

Though I've been on my job for about 4 years, I don't accrue time off. Taking a vacation would depend on whether or not I could afford to lose a week's pay.

These days I don't know any families that take more than a week off. It can be a challenge for mom and dad to get the same time off.

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Originally posted by Rakuchild:
The formula for an American vacation is to drive as fast as possible to the destination and then cram as much "fun" into the week as possible. I've seen movies where, in the past, people did the French style holiday, but in my lifetime, more moms have had to go to work and getting that kind of vacation time isn't possible.

You watch too many movies Raku . Sure I like to drive fast and do it whenever I can on the open roads, but I never “cram in fun”. I stop and smell the roses along the way and if fun happens, it happens. If not so be it.

I have three weeks off a year and take two in a row. Most people I know have similar time off. My bride has much more vacation time than I do, but she takes the three I have off anyways.

I have taken many long driving vacations. From New York I have gone to the Midwest (1,300 miles) at least a dozen times. I have driven to Florida several times, and many places in-between. I logged more miles between New York and Southeastern North Carolina than many people drive in their lifetimes.

The national rail system here (Amtrak) stinks. I tried it once going from New York to Chicago. It took about 22 hours via the ridiculous route they take. I can drive it in about 14 hours so that makes much more sense to me.

The last almost dozen or so years we have almost exclusively driven to our vacation destination. We did go to Jamaica (Montego Bay area) for a long weekend, but that was almost 8 years ago.

The reason we drive everywhere is because my bride and I both love our dog and want to bring him with us. Sure it is more difficult finding a nice place that accepts well behaved dogs but not impossible. My dog is very well behaved and listens very well, especially in unfamiliar surroundings. (He’s on his “A” game then )

I won’t put my best friend in a kennel, and I don’t really trust any friends, neighbors, or especially relatives to take proper care of him. He travels very well and most times you don’t even know he is in the vehicle unless you look. Just look at that face. I can't have any fun knowing he is miserable without me.


Gas is still a relative bargain in the US so I still plan on driving to my vacation destinations this year. I probably will drive about close to 5,000 miles during my vacations this year and I am looking forward to it. Then again, I like to drive.

OK, here's what we do, and what most of the people I know do, in the summer for vacations.
Most of the population of Canada live within 100 miles of the US border. That's where the jobs are. Besides, it's warmer here.
Traditionally, people in Ontario, at least, have traveled to cottages in the 'north' of the province to vacation. The map of Ontario is so big that 'north' means towards the top of the first side of the map! Turn it over, and the second part of the map is the true north, mainly Indian reservations and mines. You are only going there to vacation if you have a canoe and a gun. The gun is for the bears, not the natives.

The cottages people own, have often been in their families for generations, usually you have to drive deep into the bush to get to them. Sometimes they are on the edge of lakes, and often they're on islands. You abandon the car on the mainland, and take your boat across to the cottage.
To get to cottage country, requires at least a three hour drive north. As these areas become more commercial, people start to buy places further north. So a 6-8 hour drive isn't unusual.

Yes, it would be interesting to take in the scenary, look at historic places along the way. Stop at small towns and spend an hour or two at a nice restaurant. But this isn't like Europe. What you have between here and your destination is mile upon mile of flat, uninterrupted farmland. You actually take an out-of-the-way route to find somewhere to stop and buy a coffee.

When we drive up to the cottage, three hours north of here, the only thing we'll see for about an hour of our journey, besides other cars, are Mennonite farms and buggies.
We rent our cottage, on the edge of Lake Huron. The beach is beautiful, so we want to get there as quickly as we can. This is where we go: The Bruce Peninsula I linked you to that map, to show what a tiny spot it is on a map of North America. The distances are so vast here.

Now, in the winter, a lot of people drive down to Florida. I can see the cost of gas making people cut down on those trips. Maybe more people will fly there.
On the subject of flying within Canada; it can be really expensive. It usually costs my neighbour more to visit her son in BC, than it does for me to fly to the UK to visit my family. Train and bus travel isn't very convenient here, lots of changes to make to get to your destination, and it's not cheap.

Oh, I should add, vacation time is terrible here. With a full time job, you often start with a week, or less. It takes years to work up to getting four weeks off. Most families only take a week in the summer. I love the French idea of renting a place for the summer.

The Mrs. and I will drive approximately 260 miles to our next vacation destination, which will be for an extended weekend in Charleston, SC. Later this year we may go to the mountains for a week, which is less than two hours away regardless of where we select to stay. It's nice to live in a place where there are many vacation opportunities within a relatively short distance.

We have previously taken trips as far away as Costa Rica and the Canadian Rockies, but took an airplane to both!

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Originally posted by FredPuli:
( We understand in Europe that it's against US federal law to take more than ten days holiday and we wonder what percentage of that is driving )

That is totally incorrect. My family took a month long driving vacation al over the East coast. By the time we were done it was about 3000 miles back and forth from one state to another up abd down the seaboard and in land.

Sagus and I have driven from Pennsylvania on the Eastern seaboard to Oregon on the Western seaboard about 6 times (3000 one way).

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Originally posted by Sherasi:

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Originally posted by FredPuli:
( We understand in Europe that it's against US federal law to take more than ten days holiday and we wonder what percentage of that is driving )

That is totally incorrect.

Sherasi, it was a joke The point of it is that Europeans have more holiday time than Americans do. We don't seriously think that US law says anything of that kind

In looking up some statistics, I found many sites that say that the average American had about 12 vacation days a year, and about 6 paid holidays.

Fred, I don't think you appreciate the size of the US. If you drew a huge X across the country, from Seattle, Washington to Miami, Florida, and from Los Angeles, California to Augusta, Maine, each line would be 3000 miles long. Along our East Coast, the distance from Augusta to Miami is over 1600 miles. On the West Coast, Los Angeles to Seattle is about 1150 miles. We have 11 states larger in area than the entire UK.

Some areas for comparison -

Canada - 9,984,670 km² - 3,854,085 sq mi
US - 9,826,630 km² - 3,794,066 sq mi
UK - 244,820 km² - 94,526 sq mi

North America - 24,709,000 km² (9,540,000 sq mi)
Europe - 10,180,000 km² - 3,930,000 sq mi - (40% of Europe's area is Russia, with 3,960,000 km²)
European Union - 4,324,782 km² -
1,669,807 sq mi


Alaska - 1,717,855 km² - 663,267 sq mi -
Texas - 696,241 km² - 268,820 sq mi

Average Number of Vacation Days Around the World Per Year

Italy......42 days
France.....37 days
Germany...35 days
Brazil.....4 days
UK...........28 days
Canada....26 days
Korea.....25 days
Japan.....25 days
US...........13 days


Source: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0922052.html

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Fred, I don't think you appreciate the size of the US.

DG, I think Fred said he had traveled in the US, if I remember rightly. So I'm sure he does have an idea of the size of the distances between places.
I didn't know the average Canadian got so many days vacation. You were only joking, Fred, about the number of days Americans take, but in fact it wasn't far off.

DG, it may surprise you to know that we do know how big the USA and Canada are. Why, some of us have flown right across the USA, from sea to shining sea.Unlike the denizens of some countries , we don't think there is no other place beyond our country (either at all or to know about).

I drove the whole length of California once (and took a month.We don't all drive fast) .So I can find Lompoc CA on a map I once went looking for it because the name was mentioned in a W. C Fields' film ("When I was in Lompoc...").America is full of surprises:the town was surrounded by acres and acres of dwarf sweet pea plants, all in flower.

I digress.It doesn't matter how big the country is, the question was as to how many miles you drive on vacation, and why. We could drive from Antibes to Moscow,or Newmarket to Dubrovnik but we wouldn't

Holidays in Britain: Workers working 5 days a week must, by law, have paid annual leave of "4.8" weeks (24 working days)this year. The "0.8" can be carried over to 2009 and can be paid in lieu. From 2009 it's 5.6 weeks (28 working days) paid annual leave, none of which can be paid in lieu.In addition it is the usual practice to allow the 10 'bank holidays' (public holidays on weekdays) in addition , as extra paid leave.In general therefore workers get 34 paid days of leave now and 38 next year. They get Christmas Day too, the spoiled things

Amtrak? We've heard rumours European train services between cities are quick, some very quick. London to Paris (230 miles) is 2hrs 10 mins by train (it has to slow down under the Channel).Paris to Marseilles (480 miles) is 3hours 15 minutes (this train does 200 mph) and onwards to Antibes (600 miles from Paris) 4 hours 40.But even the regular express services are quick: we expect inter-city trains to do 140 mph

Air travel from Britain to mainland Europe is fairly cheap (very cheap booked well in advance).Cheap air travel has transformed life for a mass of British people.The mechanics of it are those of budget carriers elsewhere: the fares rise as the bookings fill the planes but even so, unless you book 2hrs before flying to Paris on a public holiday, they are pretty cheap.

Authorities on travel, including the American Automobile Association and the Travel Industry Association of America, say most people going on vacation end up driving; the figure has remained around 80 percent for decades. And while the fly-and-drive option remains a popular variant, motoring is still the No. 1 way to go for those venturing up to 1,000 miles from home base.

''Once, you saved up for a year or two years to go on that big trip,'' said Kathy Keefe, a spokeswoman for the Travel Industry Association. ''A vacation now is not considered like a special event or treat that you look forward to. Now it's part of our everyday lives.''

The average recreational trip is 3.4 days, she said, and most people tend to stay within their region. Americans may take three to five short trips a year, the long weekend being typical. - New York Times, May 15, 2001

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Originally posted by FredPuli:
( We understand in Europe that it's against US federal law to take more than ten days holiday and we wonder what percentage of that is driving )

Please, FP! Don't give them any ideas!! There is a group working in Ohio fighting to get legislation passed for workers to earn sick days.(Not all employers provide them and sick days are not considered a worker's right.)

I guess I'm speaking for those unpolled by the travel industry spokeswoman- most people I know consider a vacation a special event...even more so if it doesn't include a family reunion.

As a kid we went on 2 family vacatons - first day was all driving, days 2-4 were "go out there and have fun #@&(*!, I didn't work all year for you to play in the motel pool" and the 5th day was all driving.

I, on the other hand, enjoy Amtrak. I like riding the rails just to be doing it. In fact, my next vacation-next month-incorporates doing just that: Spokane to Seattle to Eugene, OR, all on Amtrak, overnight in Eugene, then Eugene to Portland and back to Spokane. I don't care when I get there; as long as I get to enjoy the scenery without having to do the driving, that's all I care about. I get three weeks' vacation plus two personal days, which totals 17 days per year. And I plan on using every minute of them!!!!

In the works for this fall is another trip involving Amtrak: first, fly out to my relatives near Champaign, IL; stay a few days there; take Amtrak from Champaign to Sacramento, CA; then fly back to Spokane from there. It's only in the talking and planning stage right now, but hope it goes off.

It depends on the Americans in question. Many fly. My in-laws are taking a cross country trip with truck and camper, on which they will likely get 8mpg. Yikes. We have a road trip planned later in the year, but the vacation part will be the places we stop, not the drive it takes to get there. We have driven to Charlotte NC and Bristol TN from Rochester NY, but I have also flown on many a vacation (including some to Europe!). But these days, usually we just drive about a half hour to a park bear here and camp. Or we stay home, which is rather economical. Lately, I don't even want to drive to the store.
I don't think most Americans would allow the economy to interfere with their driving habits. They would rather lose their homes than be inconvenienced travel-wise.
Some people fly. Some people like to drive. I think a lot of people feel it is their god-given right (so to speak) to burn gas and rubber on the open road.

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Originally posted by Jelp01:
I, on the other hand, enjoy Amtrak. I like riding the rails just to be doing it.

The trips sound great ! That's exactly the charm of rail travel.

Businessmen like it because they can plug in the computer and phone , or just work on papers, all through the trip.

Everyone else likes it because here's no getting out to the airport, no getting in from the airport, no waiting around to check in, no waiting for baggage, no having to arrive well before departure, no weather delays, no lengthy security checks,almost never is there a cancellation or delay on a main train. And the stations are right in the centre of the cities; get off the train and everything is close at hand.

And you can see the scenery go by 'from your armchair'.It's relaxing. You can eat,drink, sleep, read, walk about and never get told about the lighted walkways, the oxygen masks or the life vest under your seat, or ordered to wear a seat belt There are no refuelling stops.Try comparing that with driving.

I say 'see the scenery'. The French TGV trains go so fast that the scenery is a blur and the overriding impression is that you are in a plane which is heading for take off, but which never quite gets airborne.

You'd love Europe.There's a great variety of trains and trips and, of course, scenery.
There are various rail passes to get you all over national and international networks. That makes for big savings.Even without that there are enormous savings to be had by picking the right trains and fares. In Britain you may find that a first class journey may cost £40 return but also £120 return for the exact same trip!The second class fare is a lot less. The difference is only that the cheapest fare is to be had outside rush hours, you have to nominate the train you travel on, and the ticket can't be bought at the last minute, but only an hour or more in advance .Similar 'discounts' are available Europe wide.Train travel on mainland Europe is a lot cheaper than in Britain. Our fares are the highest in Europe.

To my initial surprise , there are other Americans who think like you about rail. They come here to enjoy it. I have, by contrast, met North Americans who have never travelled on a train in their lives. One told me, in all seriousness, that she was worried that a train from London to Paris wouldn't be safe. Not only was it a train (!) but it went under the sea to get there ! She was really concerned about the safety of trains. Adding the twenty miles under water was too much.

We generally fly to anyplace that is over 400 miles...

When I go to Reno to visit family I fly...I can do so for about $164 (used to be $99) round trip, but can get there in less than 6 hours, even counting driving time to PDX from home. When in Reno, I can use my daughters car

When we go on vacation, we fly, cause normally it's Mexico. No way am I going to drive to Cabo, much less Cancun!

We've thought that it would be really cool to get a motorhome for our retirement and travel the country....but holy cow, if it's gonna cost us $100 a day in fuel, forget it! I'd rather stay home and tend a garden, do stitchery, and pass the time at AP!!

quote:

I think a lot of people feel it is their god-given right (so to speak) to burn gas and rubber on the open road.

I have to agree with Elexina's statement and I believe the idea caught on as soon as the first assembly line made autos affordable on a large scale.

I also agree about what she said about many people would rather lose their home than be inconvienced travel-wise. It's looking as if the entire supply of oil will have to dry up before Americans are willing to make changes. To borrow from a bumperstick and the late Charleton Heston-
They can have my car when they pry the steering wheel out of my cold, dead hands.

Also, of course, there are the people who must travel by car due to circumstances or relationships outside of their control. If I wish to travel anywhere with my husband, it must be by car, with him driving. No boats, no planes, no trains, no co-pilot: just him and the steering wheel. So, we don't vacation too far from home.