My Yahoo! Blog

The hypermiling hype!

With gas setting record-setting prices, there’s been a lot of attention given to hypermiling, the art of squeezing out amazing amounts of mileage from every gallon of gas. It’s reported that the king of hypermiling, Wayne Gerdes, averaged more than 90 miles per gallon driving a plain, old Honda.

If you’ve got mileage envy, don’t despair. It actually turns out that anyone can be a hypermiler, even me, an infamous lead-footer. I usually get about 23 mpg, but as of last week, I’ve managed to add 2-3 mpg by following a few easy tips picked-up from the articles in my Yahoo! News hypermiling module.

1. Check your tire pressure
Incorrect tire pressure impacts fuel efficiency. Find out the recommended tire pressure for your car, then check the pressure with a quality tire-pressure gauge when the tires are cold.

2. Ease up on the acceleration and braking
I’ve always had lead-foot accelerating and braking, but for the past week, I’ve eased up on both. Instead of accelerating towards a stop light, I let the car coast at a steady speed, while still in ‘drive.’ This has also helped reduced how hard or often I’ve had to brake.

3. Drive the speed limit
There’s a reason for the speed limit. Experts say that as you drive above 38 mph, you’ll lose mileage in most cars. So leave the left lane to the lead-footers and embrace the right-most lane. Slow and steady wins the race.

4. Get rid of any excess baggage
Aside from a few car safety essentials in the trunk, my car is now a model of minimalism. The less weight in your car, the better mileage you’ll get.

To be honest, these tips are nothing new under the sun. Whatever you want to call it– hypermiling or common sense—it’ll ultimately get you towards better gas mileage.

Wish me luck as I try to achieve a lofty 30 mpg. Goodbye lead-foot, hello fewer fill-ups.

Helen
My Yahoo! Editorial

Eco-minded travel.

Hi everyone!

After reading your great comments about fuel-efficient travel on Colleen’s post, I wanted to share with you some interesting modules I recently found.

My favorite is the Hybrid Car Blog. With this module on your page, you’ll be more plugged in to fuel-efficient auto news than the hybrid charging in your neighbor’s garage.

I also recommend checking out the Future Cars, Hybrid Cars module. For those of you who have a penchant for futuristic concept cars, this module’s got the good stuff. From Camaros to Gas Price trackers, this will be a nice addition to any My Yahoo! page.

For the inside scoop on the greener side of all travel, make sure to add the Green-Travel module from Yahoo! Groups. It’s a great way to pick up travel tips from fellow environ-enthusiasts!

Enjoy,

Adam
- My Yahoo! Marketing

Going away for summer?

Some people live for the reading and research involved in planning a great vacation. By the time I realize I need a vacation, I just want to go.

Where should I go, when should I go, what should I take… it all seems, well, a little overwhelming. So with two ideas in mind (and June 1st right around the corner) I decided to use My Yahoo! to help me plan.

One possibility is a road trip up the California coast into Oregon. The other is to finally cave in to friends who have insisted that cruising is the way to go. So to make life easier for myself, I added a new page to My Yahoo! with a 3 column layout: #1 for the road trip feeds, #2 for the cruise feeds and #3 for general trip feeds.

Haven’t planned your vacation yet? Try out these great travel modules (below) and build your own excursion page. Oh, and if you know of any can’t miss roadside eats, please feel free to let me know in the comments.

-Road and Travel Magazine’s Blog
-Cruise Planners World
-Yahoo! Farechase Low Fare Tracker

Happy trails,
Colleen

Get outta town.

I’m an obsessive organizer, even when it comes to fun. When I find a handy blog about travel, I plop it into my Traveling page, where it can mingle with all the other travel blogs without any interference from cooking or news blogs.

This page inspires me and helps me plan. Photo feeds from National Parks and worldwide locales remind me of past adventures and get me daydreaming about new places to go. I’ve picked up some savvy tips about flight upgrades and security bulletins from travel blogs, and I use Yahoo! Travel’s FareChase to track prices on specific flights. I even have a custom news feed (more on how to do that in a future post) that keeps me up to date on my next destination.

Try adding the Traveling page to your My Yahoo!. You can make it your own with more travel feeds from the directory, or by doing a search. And for even more ideas, check out the Travel Smart page from our content partner, Concierge.

Do you use more than one My Yahoo! page? Tell us how in the comments.

Bon voyage,

Rebecca
My Yahoo! Editor

Vacation ideas, fresh daily.

We’ve made some improvements to the Yahoo! Travel Destination Spotlight module including a streamlined design and the ability to compare airfares.

If you haven’t added the module to your page yet, you may want to check it out. We’ve picked thousands of amazing destinations to inspire your next vacation. Learn more about the featured destination with links to trip ideas, photos, hot deals, and more. If you like what you see, you can compare fares right inside the module.

Here are a few of our favorite destinations. Consider family-friendly Virginia Beach or lush and lovely Auckland, New Zealand:

Add Destination Spotlight to your page.