How fast does the Earth travel around the Sun?

All objects in a star system are in orbit around the star; if they were not, they would have "left" the system or fallen into the star long ago. This implies that one cannot simply point oneself at another planet and fly in that direction, because upon arrival the planet will be moving at an inappropriate relative velocity or may have moved altogether. Thus orbital mechanics needs to be taken into consideration. For instance, if a spacecraft were to start from the Earth and fly to Mars, its final velocity will be close to Earth's orbital velocity which is much higher than that of Mars. This is because any spacecraft starting on a planet is also in orbit around the Sun, and a brief glance at the planetary speeds and distances demonstrates that the power of a chemical rocket pales in comparison to the relative speeds of the planets. In order to make interplanetary travel possible, a reduction in the total amount of energy needed to do so is required.