MSNBC headline:

An upside to high prices at the pump Why paying less for fuel could mean paying more for your next trip

An excerpt:

Soaring fuel costs can potentially save us real money on our next vacation – if not in the short term, then down the road. The effects were already being seen across the board: hotel rooms, car rentals and counterintuitively, even airline tickets. If nothing else, paying more at the pump would have encouraged travelers to do things that will make travel more sustainable in the future.Don’t believe me? Just talk to your seatmate or fellow hotel guest.
If you do, you’ll hear that contrary to travel surveys that basically shrugged off the energy crisis, travelers either plan some dramatic and permanent changes to the way they get around, or they’ve already made them.
Chat with Kathleen Hargan, a child custody mediator from Oakland, Calif., and she’ll tell you the sad story of downsizing her car to a Prius. “I loved my Lexus almost as much as my firstborn,” she says. “Well, a far second, anyway. It was a dream car. But I had an epiphany when gas hit $3 a gallon.”
Some travelers have gone even further. “I’ve cut my gas consumption in half – or even better – by parking my old reliable GMC Suburban in favor of a BMW motorcycle,” says Jack Riepe, who works for a trade organization in Alexandria, Va. “In most cases, a pair of khakis and a dress shirt can be teamed up with a blazer in the saddle-bags for a business look. Business associates have gotten used to the boots.”

And an excerpt on the sacrifices we’re making:

So how is this affecting travel? J Michael Murray, a retired professor from Sarasota, Fla., canceled his Mediterranean cruise this fall. “Flying to Istanbul and back from Rome was too big a hassle,” he says. “The cruise and related expense was just too much for what we would have gotten.” Remember, cruise lines have imposed fuel surcharges on their tickets, which jacked prices up without raising fares. Very clever. Or maybe not.

And the conclusion:

“I am enjoying the high price of oil,” says James Edward Wright, a retiree from Duluth, Minn. “For too long, citizens told our political leaders to make sure we have low gas prices, even if we have to drill holes in some third-world country that hates us. We need $4 to $5 a gallon gas to make it painful enough for us to demand a fix.”Couldn’t have said it better myself.

You know what’s really going to be great? If oil prices goes to $5 a gallon, the ensuing recession will force MSNBC to fire its web reporters, especially so called “travel correspondents.”