I’m just one of those people who would always rather be driving. In fact, I’ve never been a good passenger.

I was reminded of that fact this past weekend. My wife and I flew into Orange County Airport for a quick weekend at Disneyland (OK, so I like Disneyland). I’m fine as the passenger on a plane. My total lack of piloting skills leave me no other option. But when making my travel plans I had two options once I hit the airport. I could take a shuttle for as little as $10 per person each way. That would mean my total transportation costs for the weekend would be $40.

My other option was to rent a car. Having rented at National several times this past year, I had a free day coming to me. The one day rental would have cost around $35, so my total cost would be a bit cheaper.

Now as a good citizen of the planet, I know I should carpool. But I started off as a citizen of Los Angeles. People buy cars there before they buy food. You drive everywhere because that’s what you’re just supposed to do. Living in Phoenix these days isn’t much different. Maybe I like driving because it gives me my own personal space. Maybe I like it because I don’t have to wait for anyone else. Whatever the reason I just have to drive.

Ironically, my hemming and hawing actually paid off. As I waffled between my need to drive and my desire to help east Orange County’s pollution problem, I held off making my car reservation. When my inner desire to have my own private wheels finally won out, the day before we were planning to leave I went online to reserve a car. The same National Car Rental web site that was going to charge me more than $30 a few weeks before, apparently had a change of heart (and probably a lot of extra cars). The daily price had dropped down to just $13! I didn’t even bother to use my free day. Why bother? When I finally returned my Hundyai Sonata after our fun weekend (with a whopping 28 miles on the odometer), the total price (with all the usual taxes and fees) came to a whopping $32. Sweet! I traveled in my space, on my time and actually saved money!

I’ll just figure out how to save the planet next weekend.