Travelers wait to board an Amtrak train at Union Station in Los Angeles, Wednesday, May 20, 2026. (AP Photo\/Jae C. Hong)<\/small><\/p>\n
2026-05-21T13:55:59Z<\/p>\n
As someone who is \u201cnot the best person with bugs and stuff,\u201d Stephanie Bernaba never imagined herself becoming an outdoorsy mom. <\/p>\n
But the mother of three is getting more daring as gas prices and other travel costs<\/a><\/span> make vacations more expensive. Her family has traded pricier trips, such as long summer stays in Florida and an annual Disney World visit around her birthday, for local beaches, bike rides and hiking trails near their home in coastal Rhode Island.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been trying to do more of that because one, it\u2019s quality time. Two, it\u2019s fresh air. And three, we\u2019re not spending an arm and a leg,\u201d Bernaba, 47, said.<\/p>\n That kind of calibration is shaping the summer travel season, which gets its traditional start in the U.S. with the long Memorial Day holiday weekend. Higher fuel prices resulting from the Iran war<\/a><\/span> and other inflationary pressures<\/a><\/span> are making most forms of travel costlier as people in many parts of the world form their plans. <\/p>\n The U.S. Travel Association expects annual travel spending to grow by a modest 1% this year, powered largely by domestic leisure travel despite the FIFA World Cup giving soccer fans from other countries a reason to visit the U.S. Airfares have climbed around the world<\/a><\/span> along with the price of jet fuel as the war constrains global oil supplies. <\/p>\n Sticking closer to home may not cushion the sticker shock. The nonprofit Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimated Americans would collectively spend an extra $3.5 billion on gasoline<\/a><\/span> over the holiday weekend. The average price for a gallon of regular gas<\/a><\/span> in the U.S. was $4.56 on Thursday compared to $3.18 a year ago<\/a><\/span>, according to motor club AAA. <\/p>\n Other travel expenses have gone up too. The latest consumer price index<\/a><\/span> showed airfares were 20.7% higher in April from a year earlier, the cost of intracity transit such as buses and subways rose 5.6%, lodging cost 4.3% more, and eating out got 3.6% pricier.<\/p>\n