AAA expects that1.8 million New Englanders will travel this holiday weekend.
Despite record-high gas prices, a majority of those folks will be doing so by car.
“What can you do, right? Got to get gas,” said Evan White of New Jersey, filling up at the pump in Cromwell.
Thankfully, he said work was paying.
Get Connecticut local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Connecticut newsletters.
But in his personal life, White said he’s not changing his ways despite growing gas prices.
“I feel like we’re in one of those times now where everything is overpriced, and we’re just going to have to live with it, so no nothing changes for me," he said.
AAA believes that’s many motorist's mantras this Memorial Day weekend.
Local
They estimate more than 1.6 million New Englanders will be hitting the road. That’s up almost 5% compared to last year, nearing pre-pandemic traveling numbers.
“I don’t think it’s unexpected. What’s unexpected is the price they’ll have to fill up at, and that doesn’t seem at this time discouraging people from making these trips,” said Chris Herb, president of CT Energy Marketers Association.
But despite the sticker shock, it didn’t seem to be changing plans for many drivers.
“I mean, I just got paid, so it doesn’t hurt too much, but I don’t like seeing the gas prices this high, you know, especially this weekend when we’re going camping, and my husband has a huge pick-up truck. So, that’s going to cost a pretty penny," Victoria Selden of Cromwell said.
Selden works in the mental health field. While she probably cut back on Starbucks runs for the next couple of weeks, she said her trip will be worth it.
"I think with COVID-19 and the pandemic and everything going on, you know, in the world, it’s for our own self-care and our own mental health. We still have to take things like this," she said.
“New faces, new places. We love meeting people,” said Danielle Hodgkins from Sabattus, Maine
NBC Connecticut caught up with her and her friend Lynn Grudzien filling up in Cromwell too.
The friends joked about quitting their jobs to travel across the country after a tough couple of years.
Then, they decided to make it their reality, even with the sky-high cost of gas.
“My mom passed a few years ago and you’re just not guaranteed any time,” said Grudzien, also of Sabattus, Maine. “So I gave my notice at my job. She gave her notice at her job, we signed up for Uber and Lyft, and we’re going to drive across the country," Sabattus said.
The duo is driving rideshare at stops they make to fill up their tanks as they make their way across the United States.
Hodgkins recently beat breast cancer and after a few years of the pandemic, she’s decided to live, despite the price at the pump.
"Nothing you can do. It’s summertime gas prices right now. Got to kind of go with it, and when the opportunity is there, seize it," she said.
