I've never met anyone who enjoys paying for gasoline or traveling on airplanes. It seems to be an inevitable incurred cost when taking a vacation from the grind of life that people who want to get out of town just have to deal with.
I had been planning a vacation to visit some long-lost friends and family on the East Coast. However, the cost of flying and renting a car in order to see everyone became prohibitive. Madison is a small enough place where there aren't a lot of options for flying inexpensively. My wife and I started looking into driving out east, with the prospect of quality time with each other when we weren't visiting with friends or relatives. We'd have all the flexibility needed to see Niagara Falls and do some camping on the way.
In the end, much to our dismay, we realized that we just couldn't afford to travel this year. So we broke off plans with our friends - the hardest part about canceling the trip - and started getting into the idea of a 'staycation' - a word that has become so common that it is now in Merriam-Webster's dictionary and on Wikipedia .