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Memorial Day weekend car travel is out of mothballs. AAA projects a 5.4% increase in the number of Americans driving to a destination this holiday weekend, with 32.1 million people taking trips of 50 miles or more. This is the first uptick in five years of Americans hitting the road on Memorial Day weekend.
Norwalker (and MSC Home & Garden Editor) Fenella Pearson and husband Peter Lawson's weekend plans put them right in the AAA sample. This Memorial Day weekend, they've committed to driving 600 miles. "I usually avoid Memorial Day weekend but my husband's son is visiting his girlfriend in New Brunswick so we're driving to Canada to meet them," Fenella says. She estimates a ten hour trip but there are plans afoot to spend some quality time at the L.L. Bean outlet in Freeport, Maine. And Fenella says, spending the night somewhere on the Maine coast, which she's never seen, is also how they'll break up the driving monotony.
According to AAA, the boost in weekend travel reflects an easing up of people's financial worries. Even though gas prices are higher than last year, they don't seem to be having an impact on travel plans. Fenella and Peter are renting a car for their Canadian trip, a Hyundai Sonata with only 170 miles on it. Though ostensibly to avoid wear and tear on their cars, Fenella admits driving in an almost-new nifty little sedan will add a sense of adventure to the weekend."Thankfully, my husband loves to drive!" she says, adding that covering big distances by car is, for her, a way to catch up on sleep.
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