SummerVactions

Think the staycation is so last year? Think again.Last summer's recession-driven travel trend, the stay at home vacation, has returned for another visit with a related, economy minded twist: When people do hit the road this summer, they'll likely travel shorter distances and spend fewer days at their destinations, according to travel experts.If they're not actually staying home, they're staying closer to home.

Take Christine Young, 31, who lives in Lincoln, Calif, with her husband and six kids.We're hanging out at the pool and doing things around here, said Young, who's blogging about money saving summer travel on her site.If we do any last-minute travel, we'll take road trips. With a family of eight, summer or not, we love road trips. We pack the kids and everything we need and just drive. We're always looking for ways to save even the tiniest bit.

The savvy traveler can definitely continue to travel, said AAA's Cynthia Harris. People will travel closer to home and stay overnight this summer or do a three-day weekend. Or they'll stay with friends and family instead of paying for a hotel.The national travel picture may have stabilized and even improved, according to AAA.We're still seeing people travel, said Amanda Moreland of the California Travel and Tourism Commission. People feel that traveling is their birthright. But the economy now is such that people want to stay close to home.Or else they want to travel wisely.

Sacramento residents Wendell Alderson and Ken Nather got married last summer, but they haven't yet scheduled a honeymoon. They've done a bit of traveling grabbing bargain airfares to a niece's wedding in North Carolina this spring, for example but Alderson said they're delaying a full-fledged honeymoon until the economy settles.Our main problem is that we can't get time off together, said Alderson, 56, a registered nurse. Plus, we're kind of hunkering down because of the economy. Not that we're in trouble we both have great jobs but it's just that we feel we ought to be careful with the way things are.

That sense of caution, echoed in household after household across the country, has led to a travel industry eager to deal.The forecast for summer 2009 travel indicates fewer travelers spending far less money. A new Associated Press-Gfk Poll shows just 42 percent of Americans have leisure travel in mind this summer. People are waiting longer to make their plans, according to the travelhorizons quarterly survey, not only because of economic uncertainties, but also to grab last-minute deals.

Prices are better than a year ago, said Tim Leffel, Nashville based author of The World's Cheapest Destinations" and other guides to low-priced travel. That's a giant trend. You don't have to spend as much to catch a flight or rent a beach house. This is a great time to go.If you can afford overseas travel, Leffel said, the dollar's strengthened buying power plus airfare deals and bargain packages make Europe, Latin America and South Africa prime destinations this summer.

The luxury end is holding up fairly well.The low end of travel hasn't changed, either. If you lose your job and have a severance, you might be better off backpacking around Southeast Asia than sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring.It's the middle seeing the big decline, Leffel said.But the middle, of course, is where most people live.

Elk Grove, Calif., resident Maria Dickerson is busy shopping for cheap airfares so her daughter, who graduates from high school next year, can visit college campuses around the country. For the most part, Dickerson said, 17-year old Destinee will stay with relatives while touring universities in Southern California, Michigan and Boston.It's an economy-based college tour, Dickerson said. There are good deals out there. It's tough for everybody right now.