Page 32 - AT

A32 FEATURE
Monday 16 SepteMber 2019
Are old-fashioned road trips trendy again?

By BETH J. HARPAZ ping services, the ability to
Associated Press research and book lodging
Suddenly, old-fashioned and tours as you go, and
road trips are trendy again. options for working remote-
Surveys show they're on the ly have also made it easier
rise. Websites, newspapers, for people to hop in their
magazines and even books cars and head out.
are featuring road trips like WHERE TO GO
they're the next big thing — A colossal 960-page book
even though they're actu- published in May called
ally a longstanding Ameri- "The Road Trip Book: 1001
can tradition steeped in Drives of a Lifetime," edited
nostalgia and pop culture, by Darryl Sleath, describes
from the 1950s Beat Gener- road trips all over the globe,
ation literary classic "On the from South Africa's Chap-
Road" to the 1983 comedy In this March 27, 2013, file photo, a car is silhouetted against the setting sun as it travels along man's Peak Drive to Califor-
movie "National Lampoon's Interstate 70 in Kansas City, Kan. nia's Pacific Coast Highway
Vacation." On Instagram, Associated Press to the Pamir Highway from
the hashtag #roadtrip Afghanistan to Kyrgzystan.
shows up 37 million times. dealing with delays and make stops along the way. The New York Times ran a Many of the trips are ac-
In some ways, the come- baggage can easily turn Other reasons (besides low- story earlier this year head- companied by digital route
back of this 20th century- a two-hour flight into a trip er costs and avoiding air lined "The Great Ameri- outlines that can be ex-
style vacation is surprising that sucks up most of your travel) include the ease of can Road Trip: Shorter and plored with GoogleMaps.
in an era when "time has day and all of your soul. taking pets along and the More Popular Than Ever." Chevrolet worked with a
become more far more For some travelers, it's more ability to make plans last- The cover story in the sum- data scientist, Randy Ol-
precious than money, a appealing to get up early, minute. mer issue of Lonely Planet's son, to calculate the most
priceless commodity not to hit the road and spend all One surprise finding: The magazine is titled, "Our fa- efficient road trip route
be squandered lumbering day driving. At least you resurgence in road trips vorite road trips: Ireland, around the U.S., with one
along down endless miles can bring more than one is "led by millennials," said Alberta, Botswana, North family-friendly stop in each
of highway," writes Rich- bag without paying extra. Steve Cohen, senior vice Carolina, Texas, Australia of the 48 contiguous states.
ard Ratay in his upcoming And you can stop where president, travel insights, and more." The Wall Street It would take 214 hours
book, "Don't Make Me Pull you want, when you want. MMGY Global. "When we Journal called van trips (around nine days) of non-
Over!: An Informal History of So is the summer of 2018 the look at the total number of "the latest luxury getaway," stop driving to complete
the Family Road Trip." summer of the road trip? road trips, there were more while a recent coffee-table the entire 13,000-mile route.
In other words, why spend Here are some insights into taken by millennials than book, "Van Life: Your Home The itinerary ranges from
18 hours driving 1,200 miles why it might be, along with any other generation." And on the Road," by Foster Disneyland in Anaheim,
when you could get there some resources for plan- even though they're young, Huntington, grew out of the California, to national parks
in two hours by plane? ning your own road trip. nostalgia plays a role. Mil- author's three-year adven- like the Grand Canyon and
Well, here's why: flying is SURVEYS lennials are remembering ture traveling around North Yellowstone, to the Gate-
expensive, and the more MMGY Global's 2017-18 trips they took "when they America in a Volkswagen way Arch in St. Louis, the
people taking the trip, the Portrait of American Trav- were kids, which wasn't van. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
cheaper it is to pile every- elers found road trips rep- that long ago," Cohen said. Skift.com, the travel industry in Cleveland, Lake Cham-
one in a car (instead of resented 39 percent of va- The price of gas, by the website, just completed a plain in Vermont and the
buying airfare for a family cations taken by American way, matters less than you three-part series called "The Georgia Aquarium in At-
of four). travelers in 2016, up from might expect. A recent Future of American Road lanta. Here's an interactive
Flying is also unpleasant. 22 percent in 2015. The AAA survey concluded Trips," stating that road trips map of the route: http://
Getting to the airport, al- top reason cited for tak- that even though gas costs are "statistically on the rise rhiever.github.io/optimal-
lowing time for security, ing road trips: the ability to more now than at any time due to both economic and roadtrip-usa/chevrolet-
since 2014, that's not keep- cultural factors." New tech- family-road-trip-national.
ing people home. AAA nology like mobile map- html .q
also said road trips were
the most popular option
for family vacations in their
survey. Another report,
this one from Ford, called
"The New American Road
Trip(pers): How 'Digital No-
mads' and Technology Blur
Work and Play," found 50
percent of those surveyed
said road trips are more
appealing than other forms
of travel like air, cruise and
trains because you can be
"more spontaneous" when
you're driving.
IN PRINT
Road trips are getting a In this July 1971, file photo, a car travels on one of the major
In this Jan. 14, 2016, file photo, vehicles travel along Interstate lot of attention lately from roads leading from Tehran across the Elburz Mountains to the
70 near Odessa, Mo. print media and the pub- Caspian Sea for a vacation in Iran.
Associated Press lishing industry. Associated Press