Pfffffffffft! There Goes the Vacation

Alex Williams has posted an article on The New York Times (registration required), entitled Pfffffffffft! There Goes the Vacation. The piece addresses the impact of our nation's current economic struggles on the traditional (middle class) family vacation. While working folks would understandably read this piece and seek out their tiniest violins, Williams still manages to convey a meaningful illustration of our current difficulties. A snip:

To most Americans, a summer getaway is a crucial component of the life-work compact: they trade 50 weeks of cubicle-bound servitude for two weeks of sun-dappled bliss, and it seems worth it (well, almost).

But halfway through the 2008 season, vacationers (and would-be vacationers) are being squeezed by a confluence of dismal economic realities: fuel prices that have nearly doubled since the start of last year; airlines that have jacked up fares 17 percent since the start of the year; a dollar that stands like a pygmy alongside foreign currencies.

Travelers flush or fortunate enough to get away, whether to the Amalfi Coast or to a friend’s pool in New Jersey, must labor to keep this season’s economic anxieties — plummeting home prices, tanking 401(k)’s, looming layoffs — off their minds.

Read the entire piece: Pfffffffffft! There Goes the Vacation