Orbitz, another online booking agency, says 35 percent of those polled in its quarterly Traveler Update Report are renting smaller cars because of current fuel costs. ''We've been offering hybrid vehicles [rentals] on our web site for two months and response has been good,'' said Jim Cohn, an Orbitz spokesman. Hybrids use far less fuel than regular cars.

But the American Automobile Association says in its Travel Pulse Survey, taken in January, that half of its members do not plan to make any changes now to lower their gasoline expenditures. A third did say they would consider vacationing closer to home if gasoline rose to $3.25 a gallon, but 28 percent said they won't change their plans no matter how much gas prices rise.

For upscale travelers, neither higher fuel prices nor fuel surcharges nor the weakening dollar can dissuade them from their vacations.

''In our office, the exact opposite [to downsizing] is happening this year,'' said Kim Gray of Carlson Wagonlit Travel in North Olmstead, Ohio, near Cleveland. ``Folks are booking full steam ahead with deluxe and extensive vacations. We are booking more Europe than ever, river cruises, deluxe Caribbean and Mexico all-inclusives, and cruises, cruises, cruises!''

In Miami, agent Lila Tell of New World Center Travel said she also hasn't noticed any downsizing on the part of her customers. ''But my clients are mostly upscale,'' she added.

So what it boils down to is this: People who can afford it aren't going to change their travel plans. Those who need to downsize have many options, from simply taking shorter vacations to finding a combination of cost-saving measures.

Either way, no one plans to entirely eliminate his or her vacation. ''It's mine and I want it now'' seems to be the battle cry for American vacationers.

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