What If The Summer Getaway Is Disappearing

Memorial Day weekend at Virginia Beach is supposed to be packed, so when we stepped onto a nearly empty beach and a quiet boardwalk, we knew it wasn’t just the rain. We’re Jim and Rita Santos, and we use this familiar trip as a real-time signal that something bigger is shifting in American travel, especially for middle-class families trying to plan a simple vacation without financial stress. 

We break down the economic reality behind the quieter crowds: gas prices that still sting, grocery inflation that rolls straight into restaurant bills, and credit cards that feel maxed out for many households. We also talk about why drive-to beach destinations can be especially vulnerable when budgets tighten, and how a “normal” week away can start to look like a $3,000 decision once food, entertainment, and extras pile on. 

Then we zoom out to the political and sociological pressure points that change travel habits even when people still want to get away. From federal job anxiety and military deployments to the post-pandemic revenge travel wave fading, vacation patterns are evolving. Remote work and flexible schedules create more long weekends and fewer big annual trips, while staycations become a practical reset. We share eye-opening examples of today’s family fun costs, from arcades and movie theaters to zoos, aquariums, and theme parks, and what that means for seasonal small businesses that live or die by a short summer window. 

If travel feels different for you this year, we want to hear what you’re seeing. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s budgeting a trip, and leave a quick review so more people can find the show.

And if you want to go deeper, you can check out my book, Wherever We May Roam, Finding Your Travel Style, where I walk through all of this in more detail. If you have any questions, a topic you would like discussed, or would like to be on our show, email us at jim@jimsantosbooks.com.

"Wherever We May Roam: Finding Your Travel Style" is available on audiobook on Amazon, Audible, and other audiobook outlets!

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Transcript

A Familiar Trip Feels Different

Jim 0:00

We've been going to Virginia Beach in Virginia the last week of May for years, and this year something was just a little off. Welcome to Wherever We May Roam, the new face of Travels with Jim and Rita. This podcast is about discovering your own travel style to explore the world. I'm Jim Santos, and along with my wife Rita, we've spent more than 16 years traveling. Sometimes for a few weeks, sometimes for a few months, and sometimes a whole lot longer. And what we've learned is this: there's no right or wrong way to travel. Some people take extended getaways, some roam part-time, some work from the road, and some make travel a full-time lifestyle. This podcast is about helping you figure out what works for you and how to make it happen in the real world. So whether you're planning your next trip or thinking about something bigger, we're glad you're here. Let's get started. Hello

Memorial Day Weekend With No Crowds

Jim 1:03

everyone, and welcome back to Wherever We May Roam. I'm Jim Santos here with my lovely wife Rita. If you remember, last week we talked about the problems of planning travel in an uncertain world, and we touched a little bit on economic factors that are definitely affecting that. Now, in this episode, we're going to get a little more into it. The economic pressures that are squeezing middle class families, the political uncertainty hitting close to home for a lot of people, and the bigger sociological shifts that are quietly changing how Americans think about taking a vacation at all. Because our weekend Virginia Beach this year was a little unusual. The beach was nearly empty, the boardwalk was quiet, the usual energy, the signals to start of the summer, it it just wasn't there. Now, the weather hadn't been great.

Rita 1:47

No, it was raining.

Jim 1:48

It rained a lot.

Rita 1:49

In the beginning.

Jim 1:50

In the beginning. And gas prices are still stinging a bit. But we pushed through both those things before. I mean, we were there during COVID.

Rita 1:58

Right. And we couldn't even we had to wait in line for every restaurant.

Jim 2:02

Yeah, and there was a Nor'easter that came in over the week, and it was packed. Yeah, and it was cold.

Rita 2:07

It was cold. That's right.

Jim 2:09

But it was still packed. So, you know, an empty beach in late May isn't just a curiosity here. I think it's really telling us something.

Rita 2:15

Yeah, it was Memorial Week.

Jim 2:17

Yeah, there's a Memorial Day weekend.

Rita 2:19

Yeah. I mean, granted, because of the weather, there wasn't the air show that normally goes.

Jim 2:25

Well, like I say, we've been making this trip for years.

Rita 2:28

Right.

Jim 2:28

And we've never seen it like this.

Rita 2:30

No, never. And actually, we went across the street from our condo to have a little ice cream treat. And the store owner was sincerely worried she was going to have to close her shop because it had been like that, she said, for weeks.

Jim 2:47

Well, the first one we tried was closed.

Rita 2:49

Right. Several, several were closed, yes. And none of the restaurants, we didn't have to make reservations, we didn't have to wait in line. And that was all week. It was just empty.

Jim 3:00

Yeah, so that was great for us.

Rita 3:02

Yeah. Yeah, we enjoyed it. We left the beach.

Jim 3:05

But I I think it it says something about the way that things are changing here now. And we want to look at this from three different angles the economic, political, and the sociological.

SPEAKER_02 3:13

Right.

Inflation Hits Gas Food And Lodging

Jim 3:14

So the easiest one is probably economic. You know, prices went up during the pandemic and after the pandemic, and it seems like they never come back down.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

Right.

Jim 3:25

You know, that's what concerns most people about gas prices right now. Are they ever going to go back down the way they were?

Rita 3:30

And now, yeah, not only gas prices, grocery prices have increased 25%.

Jim 3:36

Right, which means the restaurant prices go up. Right. Because they're paying more for their food.

Rita 3:41

And they're talking about, you know, families have tapped out their credit cards.

Jim 3:45

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Yeah, credit card debt is at record levels right now, and there are there are rising delinquencies. The gas issue also for a place like Virginia Beach is a big deal. Almost all of the traffic to Virginia Beach is by car.

Rita 3:59

It is.

Jim 4:01

So it's kind of the quintessential middle-class destination. So maybe it's more vulnerable because of that point?

Rita 4:09

But we're so close that Virginia Beach is so close to Richmond and to Washington, D.C. Northern Virginia. Northern Virginia. It's usually very busy, especially on the weekends.

Jim 4:22

Right. Now speaking of costs, so if if you're budgeting for a week at Virginia Beach, Rita, what would you normally think is like the ouch point? At what point would you think it's it's too much money to spend?

Rita 4:33

I don't know. It seems like if you're a family, you gotta expect $5,000, I would think. Eating out all the meals.

Jim 4:43

Right. Which which seems like a lot. No.

Rita 4:45

Which seems like a lot.

Jim 4:46

We're able to do it for less than $1,000, but it's because we have a conduct. Yeah, we own the timeshare. Yeah. So it's just a maintenance fee, yearly maintenance fee is less than $500. So it's basically food and groceries.

Rita 4:57

It's food and gas. And gas to get there. Yeah.

Jim 5:00

But I think for most middle class Americans, right now luxury travel seems to be thriving, but middle class travelers are pulling back. They're not traveling as much as they used to.

unknown 5:10

Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Rita 5:11

I think that goes back to the credit cards are full.

Jim 5:13

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Yeah, and consumer confidence, political uncertainties.

Rita 5:17

Trevor Burrus, Jr. And and honestly, Jim, that's

Jobs Anxiety Military Mood And Curfews

Rita 5:20

a big naval installation area. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Right.

Jim 5:24

Hampton Roads is right there. It's the large one of the largest military populations in the country. And of course, if you're being deployed or have families that are being deployed, you're probably not in much of a party mood. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Rita 5:35

Especially if you're over there in her Hormouth or whatever. It just seemed like we did not see any military families whatsoever. And that is not typical.

Jim 5:46

Yeah. And usually there are quite a few.

Rita 5:48

Yes.

Jim 5:49

Another thing might be that since Northern Virginia and D.C. are major feeder markets, a lot of federal employees and contractors. Yeah, lost their jobs or they're anxious about losing their jobs. So that's another reason why they might be pulling back a bit. Now, of course there's tariff uncertainties, no one really knows where that's going or how that's going to affect things, but prices for everything, like we said, do seem to be up.

Rita 6:14

Yeah, groceries. Oh yes, definitely.

Remote Work Staycations And A New Rhythm

Jim 6:18

Now looking at the sociological angle, there has been kind of a well when the pandemic was in its final phases, everybody was just bursting to get out.

Rita 6:28

The revenge traveling.

Jim 6:30

Yeah, we we planned a huge trip ourselves for that. But that wave is kind of crested. Everybody got another system and and that that's behind us now.

Rita 6:39

Yeah, I think we traveled nine months that year.

Jim 6:42

Yeah, and remote work is really changing the structure of leisure time. People are taking more long weekends and fewer big annual trips.

SPEAKER_02 6:51

Right.

Jim 6:52

Even my son, who you know spent two months in Japan one year, and a month in France another year.

SPEAKER_02 6:57

Yeah.

Jim 6:57

This year he's doing this vacation.

SPEAKER_02 6:59

Yeah.

Jim 7:00

Yeah, he's gonna stay.

SPEAKER_02 7:01

Going to work in his home.

Jim 7:02

Going to work around the house. There's kind of a generational handoff going too as boomers are aging out. Younger families are are facing harder economics.

SPEAKER_02 7:12

Right.

Jim 7:13

When I was in my twenties, you could get a really good starter home for less than $200,000.

Rita 7:19

Oh, yes.

Jim 7:20

And what do you pay now for a starter home?

Rita 7:23

Trevor Burrus, Jr. Actually, my starter home was like 90 some.

Jim 7:26

Yeah. And for a family of four right now, you're talking what? Well, Rita, you were a former realtor of $300,000,000.

Rita 7:34

Well, they're saying it's top the the median home sale price now in the U.S. is $400,000.

Jim 7:40

Yeah. So that's a lot tougher for people who are just starting out in their career path to be able to afford.

Rita 7:45

Trevor Burrus With a 7% interest rate.

Jim 7:48

Yeah. And it's not much better if you're renting now because rental prices are also very much expanding. So that staycation reset is really becoming more popular with people. They just uh relax and hang out at home rather than traveling.

Rita 8:02

Yeah. Yeah. Well, and too, and and we're boomers are aging out. They used to always take, you know, uh an extended family and go on rent a big place, go on a beach trip, or go on a s ski trip. They don't feel like doing that anymore.

Jim 8:19

Yeah, I think that big family vacation is kind of over.

Rita 8:22

It's over economically, and I think it's over physically. It's just it's just not happening as much as it used to.

Jim 9:02

You know, for us uh this time in Virginia Beach, uh there there was that strange mix of, gee, this is great, we had the place basically to ourselves.

SPEAKER_02 9:11

Right.

Jim 9:11

But also concern about the businesses. There were a lot of them that were closed during the week. And there's another angle, too. We talked to some of the store owners who said that there had been uh some recent gang violence up in part of the city. And because of that, there was a curfew in place. You couldn't be out after I think it was 7 p.m. if you're under 18 and without a parent.

SPEAKER_02 9:32

Right.

Jim 9:33

So there were a lot of tensions going on for that as well. But it was interesting, the people who were there did seem to be enjoying themselves without much care.

Rita 9:43

Yeah.

Jim 9:43

But there just weren't that many people coming in. I mean, we've almost always had big traffic delays trying to get into Virginia Beach for that weekend.

Rita 9:53

Right. And you always have road construction in that area. That's been going on for 20 years. It hasn't changed one bit.

Jim 10:00

Yeah, and the road construction was there.

Rita 10:02

Yeah, it was there.

Jim 10:03

But but the big uh the big crowds of people trying to jam into the city there to on a well, we check in on a Saturday.

Rita 10:11

Yeah, right.

Jim 10:11

Right. So everybody's off work and they're all trying to get to the beach.

Rita 10:14

It just wasn't happening.

Jim 10:16

It just wasn't there.

Rita 10:17

No.

Jim 10:18

Now I haven't really noticed that on our international travel, have you, Rita?

Rita 10:22

No. Although they they are saying, I've been reading about some of the capital cities in Europe that have high volumes, like millions and millions of visitors, that that is slowing. So I thought that was interesting. Yeah. They're looking for less traveled adventures than than the crowd overcrowded. We don't have to travel in the summer, so which is wonderful. And wouldn't travel in the summer. It's too hot and too congested. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Jim 10:56

Well, for the current generation of travelers, though, a good example for us was just recently here. My son, instead of taking a trip to an international location,

The Real Price Of Family Fun

Jim 11:04

came here to see us for a while.

SPEAKER_02 11:06

Right.

Jim 11:07

So he could stay at a place for free.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

Right.

Jim 11:10

But it still cost him a fair amount of money. His daughter brought a little friend along, and you know, they wanted to go to what they called the arcade, but it was like twenty dollars to play for about six minutes. We went to the movie theaters, and that was like another forty-fifty dollars after the tickets and some food. Uh we did go to one quarry to swim for free, but they didn't seem to like that as much. They wanted stuff we had to pay for.

Rita 11:35

Yeah. Well, they did they Yeah, we took them to the zoo and they really weren't overjoyed with that, which really surprised me because Knoxboro has a beautiful zoo.

Jim 11:45

Aaron Powell Yeah, and relatively cheap, but still it was uh a little over a hundred dollars for us all to uh just to get into the zoo.

Rita 11:52

Yeah. Well, yeah, it was more than that.

Jim 11:54

One of them was looking at the great Soaky Mountain. They wanted to go play at a water park. Right. But when I looked up the prices for that, it was no it's about $57 a person, whether you were going to get wet or not. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Rita 12:06

And parking was twenty-five.

Jim 12:07

Yeah, parking was another twenty-five for that. And even good old Dollywood. I mean, we love Dolly Parton.

Rita 12:12

Yeah.

Jim 12:12

But when we looked at Dollywood, for five of us to go there, it would have been almost six hundred dollars.

Rita 12:18

Yeah, for a day.

Jim 12:19

Just for getting in the park and parking.

Rita 12:21

Yeah, not your food.

Jim 12:23

Not for food or any uh extra activities at the park. Another example of the economic pressure just from our own family. We sent recently we visited our daughters in West Virginia and we took one daughter and her three kids to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Entry to the aquarium was about $250 for us. We probably lucked out because we tried to eat lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, but they were too busy we couldn't get in, so we ended up at a Chick-fil-A, which still cost us about $85. But if we'd been at the Hard Rock, it probably would have been at least twice that. Still for this trip, just for five people uh to go to the aquarium in Baltimore experience that took, you know, an hour and a half in the aquarium, a half hour at the uh restaurant, and two and a half hours driving back and forth. It still cost us over $300. And you know, my daughter is a vice president at a bank, so it's not like she has a a small income. But as a single mom with three kids, this is not something that she could have just chosen uh to do herself. So I think all of these different uh economic pressures, sociological pressures, it's really putting a lot of strain on the average family vacation.

SPEAKER_02 13:33

Right.

Jim 13:33

I mean we talk a lot about being retirees and you know retiree vacations, and it's often easy to forget how good we have it by that.

unknown 13:42

Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Rita 13:43

But uh we know about budgeting and keeping an eye on the ball, where young kids all they think about is go, go, go.

unknown 13:52

Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Jim 13:53

Yeah, I wonder if the whole beach experience is changing. Because when I was in my twenties before I got married, a bunch of us would just

Beaches Get Regulated And Businesses Struggle

Jim 14:01

drive to Ocean City in the middle of the night. We'd sleep in the parking lot until the attendant came over and told us we had to leave. Yeah. And we'd spend the day laying on the beach eating, you know, greasy pizza and hot dogs, and then drive back uh that night. And I just don't know if people are doing that anymore. Uh it's it's become vacation has become like a package deal.

Rita 14:23

Well, it's also so regulated the beaches. I mean, in my twenties, you'd go to a a place called Whiskey Beach, was which was in between Bethany and Rehoboth Beach, and you could have, you know, seafood boils and and a fire pit and and you could drink on the beach, and you just can't do any of those things anymore. I think it's become and and those were free things.

SPEAKER_02 14:47

Right.

Rita 14:47

You know. Well, think about it. In in your early years, ever you you you opted for free things.

Jim 14:55

Right.

Rita 14:55

You know?

unknown 14:56

Yeah.

Jim 14:56

That was one of the probably the most disturbing things about Virginia Beach this year is knowing that in this part of the country, the beach season is very limited.

Rita 15:06

Yeah.

Jim 15:06

And these businesses live or die on the business they do during the beach season. So just missing a week or two or even in a reduction of 15, 20 percent of the number of people that come down is really a big deal for them.

Rita 15:20

Yeah, to go into an ice cream shop at seven o'clock at night or seven thirty and no one in there but Jim and I, wow, that was hard to believe. Yeah. It was shocking.

Jim 15:35

Yeah. If you've noticed anything like this at your favorite destinations, uh, if your family is traveling differently this year from the way you've traveled before, I'd really like to hear from you. So

Your Travel Changes And Next Week

Jim 15:44

please uh either leave a note on the podcast webpage or you can email us at Jim at Jim Santosbooks.com. So I'd really like to hear what's going on in your lives for this.

Rita 15:55

Yeah, that'd be interesting.

Jim 15:57

So if you've been on the fence about a trip because of the cost or the uncertainty, sometimes the best time to visit your favorite place is exactly when everyone else has stayed home. The beach is still beautiful, the water's still there, and right now you might almost have it to yourself. But next week, as I said, we're retired. We can afford to travel in the shoulder seasons. We can wait till the crowds go home and then go out and enjoy ourselves. But what about the working families now that can only travel during the summer months? You have to travel when the kids are out of school. Well, next week we're going to take a look at how you can beat the summer rush and still have an enjoyable family vacation. And maybe we can get back to those days of uh everybody piling into the station wagon and heading out on the road. So until next time, you've been listening to Wherever We May Roam. And remember, we travel not to escape life, but so that life does not escape us. If you've been thinking about traveling longer or just traveling better, we hope this episode gave you a few more ideas. Remember, there's no right or wrong way to explore the world. Only the way that works for you. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow the podcast, and if you have a moment, leave a quick review. It really helps more people find us. And if you want to go deeper, you can check out my book, Wherever We May Roam, Finding Your Travel Style, where I walk through all of this in more detail. You can search for it on Amazon in Kindle, Paperback, and Audiobook, or just use the link on our podcast page. If you have any questions, a topic you would like discussed, or would like to be on our show, email us at Jim at Jim Santosbooks.com. Thanks for listening, and as always, safe travels wherever you may roam.