The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
The ‘next’ big thing
Are old-fashioned road trips trendy again?
Suddenly, old-fashioned road trips are trendy again. Surveys show they’re on the rise. Websites, newspapers, magazines and even books are featuring road trips like they’re the next big thing — even though they’re actually a longstanding American tradition steeped in nostalgia and pop culture, from the 1950s Beat Generation literary classic “On the Road” to the 1983 comedy movie “National Lampoon’s Vacation.” On Instagram, the hashtag #roadtrip shows up 37 million times.
In some ways, the comeback of this 20th century-style vacation is surprising in an era when “time has become more far more precious than money, a priceless commodity not to be squandered lumbering along down endless miles of highway,” writes Richard Ratay in his upcoming book, “Don’t Make Me Pull Over!: An Informal History of the Family Road Trip.”
In other words, why spend 18 hours driving 1,200 miles when you could get there in two hours by plane?
Well, here’s why: flying is expensive, and the more people taking the trip, the cheaper it is to pile everyone in a car (instead of buying airfare for a family of four).
Flying is also unpleasant. Getting to the airport, allowing time for security, dealing with delays and baggage can easily turn a two-hour flight into a trip that sucks up most of your day and all of your soul. For some travelers, it’s more appealing to get up early, hit the road and spend all day driving. At least you can bring more than one bag without paying extra. And you can stop where you want, when you want.
So is the summer of 2018 the summer of the road trip? Here are some insights into why it might be, along with some resources for planning your own road trip.
SURVEYS
MMGY Global’s 2017-18 Portrait of American Travelers found road trips represented 39 percent of vacations taken by American travelers in 2016, up from 22 percent in 2015. The top reason cited for taking road trips: the ability to make