[caption id="attachment_556" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="My Florida Getaway"][/caption]I really want to go on vacation this year.  Really I do. But something funny happened on the way to booking a flight down to Florida to visit my folks.  The airlines decided to raise their rates so high that I'd be better off taking a trip to Rome than Boynton Beach.  I mean, honestly - who would pay $3,000 for a flight to the retirement capital of the world?  Don't get me wrong - I will miss my parents desperately if I can't finagle my way down to the Sunshine State this year,  but somehow, I just don't think a vacation is in the cards for my family.I've even gone so far as to try to convince my hubby that we should drive to Florida but unless we're staying there for more than 10 days, he's not going to play the starring role of chauffeur on an all expense-paid (except for the gas, tolls and McDonald's stops) trip to my parent's house.  And so, I attempted to look into more exotic vacation destinations.  If we were going to spend all that money to go to Florida, why not go somewhere special like Aruba, Bermuda or Cancun?  But guess what? Those flights are still cost prohibitive too!  Sure, you can get a hotel room on the cheap and your kids may even get to bunk on the floor for free, but it's incredibly depressing that the point of entry to all these vacation hot spots (and in Florida's case, "Not Spots") cost several thousand dollars just to get there in the first place.I know the airlines are hurting, but did anyone on the tarmac get the memo that gas prices have gone way down in recent months?  Which means they should be lowering their prices on flights.  Otherwise, millions of consumers like me who are in desperate need of some warm weather will be flicking on a heat lamp and calling it a day.Are you staycationing this year?  And if so, where would you rather be this holiday season?  For more of my musings about work, life and everything in between, visit me at Role Mommy.