Traveling This Week? Here Are Some Tools That Can Help You

It's going to be busy getting to the relatives' house this year.

AAA is forecasting 42.5 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, a four percent increase from the 40.9 million people who traveled one year ago. This is the first significant increase in any holiday travel this year.

AAA believes pent-up demand from Americans who may have not traveled on holidays the last three years will drive the increase.

Of those travelers, 90 percent will be on our nation's roads, despite gasoline prices that are about 50 cents more per gallon than last year. The most dramatic fuel increase is in diesel, where drivers needing that special blend of oil will pay almost 80 cents more per gallon.

Here's a chart of current gas prices in California and around the country:

Gasoline Prices Regular Mid Premium Diesel




Current Natl Average $3.38 $3.53 $3.66 $4.00 Year Ago Natl Average $2.89 $3.07 $3.18 $3.20




Current Calif Average $3.79 $3.89 $3.99 $4.32 Year Ago Calif Average $3.18 $3.39 $3.44 $3.45




Current San Fran Average $3.87 $3.96 $4.07 $4.36 Year Ago San Fran Average $3.27 $3.48 $3.54 $3.52




Current Los Angeles Average $3.81 $3.92 $4.01 $4.39 Current Fresno Average $3.76 $3.84 $3.95 $4.27




Cheapest: Albuquerque $2.73 $2.86 $2.95 $3.50 Most expensive: Honolulu $3.93 $4.01 $4.06 $4.63

The cheapest gas in the nation is found in a wide swath of the Mid-South, from New Mexico to Alabama, from Missouri down to Texas, where regular gas sells in the $3.20 range. The most expensive gas is found is Hawaii and Alaska, along the West Coast from California to Washington, and in the states of Illinois and New York.

Gas Buddy is an excellent web site to get a general idea of gasoline prices in a specific area. Just keep in mind that the data on Gas Buddy's website is submitted by motorists, whereas AAA's Fuel Gauge Report gets reports directly from gas stations.

AAA has what they call a Fuel Cost Calculator, which is a wonderful tool to estimate your gasoline or diesel costs for any trip, and allows you to include variables such as your vehicle make, model and year.

Once you know what it's going to cost you to get there, you might want to take a look at what conditions look like at your destination spot, especially if you're heading up to the Sierra snow country. Caltrans cameras work pretty well, and are positioned throughout the state. Very helpful.

If car travel is not your thing, you'll find busy conditions in airports. Air travel is expected to increase 4.5 percent from 2010 levels at SFO, with the Peninsula airport expecting over one million flyers during the 10-day Thanksgiving holiday window. Orbitz Worldwide ranks SFO the fourth-busiest traveled airport in the country during this particular holiday.

Need a handy tool if the individual airline web sites aren't enough? Try Flightstats. It takes a few minutes to gain your bearings, but the site is well-managed and well thought-out, and proves very helpful for virtually anything you might like to find regarding air travel in real time. In fact, right on the front page, an interactive airport delays map.

Finally - toot, toot - Amtrak continues to roll along, offering an excellent alternative to more traditional forms of travel. Be prepared for delays, as unfortunately, Amtrak is prone to them, but there's no better way to unwind and de-stress than watching the landscape pass by from a parlour car, high above the tracks.

However, be forewarned. One route, the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner that runs from San Luis Obispo down to San Diego is normally unreserved for seating – that is, reservations are not required to travel, only a ticket.

But during the Thanksgiving holiday between Nov. 22-28, this service will revert to being all-reserved, and a reservation will be required.

Just for fun, we compared train vs plane vs car. We priced an Amtrak trip from San Francisco up to Portland for a AAA adult over the Thanksgiving holiday, leaving Wednesday and returning on Monday.

For a train seat - no sleeping car - you'd pay a little less than $250.00 for the round trip, which would take about 17 hours each way.

By plane, the cheapest ticket we found booking this close to the holiday was on Alaska Airlines - Hurry! Act Fast! Only four seats left at this price! - for a whopping $502.00 Wanna Get Away? Southwest Airlines will charge you $857.00 for the short trip.

So, how about if we jump into the 2008 Toyota Camry, and average about 23 mpg for the trek? Well, we're likely to use about 55 gallons for the 1,250 round-trip miles, so we're pulling out about $206.00 from our wallets, just for the gas. There may be a meal or two to buy along the way of the 11 1/2 hour trip up to the Rose City.

And don't forget the "Are we there yet?" conversations. 

Price comparison: San Francisco to Portland, round trip
Time in transit-one way Cost of travel-round trip Automobile 11 hrs 30 min $206.00 Airplane 2 hrs 15 min $502.00 Train 17 hrs 50 min $247.50

"Color-Car!!!!!"