The New York Times reported today that President Barack Obama said he wanted to focus more on travel, basically that a healthy economy and travel go hand in hand. And ain't it the truth.

I remember a few years ago when a friend was living in Australia and she went to New Zealand to travel around for a month. Well, I saved and saved and planned to go. But, it was around this time that newspapers were doing particularly bad. I honestly was not sure if I would have a job or not in the near future.

I made the decision not to spend that money and not to travel with my friend just in case I needed the funds if I lost my job. That was one of those times that I truly hated being an adult.

Fast forward a few years, the newspaper industry is still in limbo but I have much more confidence in my job stability. I just went on a cross-country road trip and am planning a few trips in the future.

I'm just one example of the link between the economy and travel.

Don't feel too bad for me about missing out on New Zealand and Australia. I ended up meeting up with my friend several months later when she finally came stateside again. I did my first major U.S. road trip and drove from NY to FL, in a manual car (which I had to learn to drive). It was a blast.

Though, at some point, I really do need to hit up NZ. Will someone please get married there next so I have a really good reason to go?