As of June 20, summer is officially here. Along with warm weather, cool drinks, swimming pools and cookouts, the ushering in of summer brings up a major theme when it comes to automobiles. Road trip, anyone?
Here a couple of hot topics we found across news outlets relating to summer.
Summer travel
According to AAA, around 56 percent of drivers in the U.S. are expected to take to the highways for a road trip this summer. And the relatively low gas prices have a lot to do with it. “Travelers hitting the road will pay the lowest summer gas prices since 2005,” says AAA.
A survey conducted by the travel organization found there were two top concerns about road trips this summer – too much traffic/congestion and unsafe roads and bridges.
“Bad roads and traffic gridlock can make summer travel unpleasant and costly for U.S. drivers,” said Jill Ingrassia of AAA. “While low gas prices are getting people back behind the wheel this summer, bad roads can hit them hard in the pocket.”
Read the entire “Summer Road Trip Omnibus Study” at AAA.
Places to go
Many cities in the U.S. – Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, San Francisco – have festive celebrations planned for the Fourth of July. Looking at the entire summer travel season, AAA has Orlando topping the list as the most popular destination, followed by Seattle, the Los Angeles area, Honolulu and Las Vegas. The top international travel destinations this summer feature several European cities. Following Rome at the No. 1 spot, London; Cancun, Mexico; Vancouver, Canada, and Paris make up the Top Five, respectively.
Summer movies
Blockbuster movies abound during the summer months, and many folks seek a little relief from the heat by cruising to their local air-conditioned cinemas. Already a hit this year has been Disney’s Finding Dory with the upcoming Independence Day: Resurgence (out today), The BFG (July 1), The Secret Life of Pets (July 8), Ghostbusters (July 15) and Jason Bourne (July 29) expected to be popular as well.
In auto-related movie news, Fandango created an interesting graphic titled “Favorite Cars of the ‘Fast and the Furious’ Franchise” featuring some really hot rods.
Music
Don’t forget to submit your favorite road trip song of the summer via our social sites – Facebook and Twitter (click to Tweet now!) – and your suggestion might be included in our follow-up collection of tracks.
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