Recession watch: Cutting back on travel plans

This post is part of a series about real-life signs we're in a recession.

It was all set. Family friends in New York had invited us to come out and visit, and my two kids and I were all on board. In theory. Our plans were set at a reunion the previous summer. Fares are cheap! I told them. We'll all be out!

But that was before things got a little tighter. March came and went. I emailed my friends with the bad news: Sorry guys; the money's just not in the budget anymore. Can't justify the expense. They totally understood. They were hard up, too. Maybe next year, we imagined.

But maybe not. Seems a lot of people are canceling or dramatically altering discretionary travel these days.