Are you thinking of visiting your family for the holidays? Do you want to take advantage of the Holidays to visit Paris or Vietnam? Or are you planning to take a well-deserved break and get away from the cold weather…probably somewhere sunny? Travelling during the holidays can be a test of patience…the lines are long, the tickets can be ridiculously expensive, the traffic can be terrible, and cabs can be hard to get. So before you lose your mind and have a meltdown at a train station or airport, let me give you some tips on traveling for the holidays.
Best Before:
Just like your favorite custard cake, there are “best before” dates to traveling. Let me share the best and worst times to travel according to some popular travel booking sites like Orbitz and Skyscanner.
Do you want the good news or the bad news first?
Ok then. I’m pretty sure you want to know what the worst day to travel is so that you can plan ahead and avoid that day at all cost. Without further ado, the worst day to travel for Christmas Holidays is on the 23rd of December, the day before the day before Christmas. This is probably because everybody is rushing to get home for the holidays
The good news is (yes, I can confirm what you’ve already suspected all along), when traveling for Christmas, the best day for travel is on the 27th. The festivities are over and people probably just want to enjoy some time off eating pot roast leftovers, lounging around sipping hot cocoa, and doing nothing. Take advantage of this “holiday time out” and get going! You will find airports less hectic and roads less congested.
Just a few days after that comes the busiest day for the New Year. So if you can, avoid traveling on the day before New Year’s Eve, December 30. Not surprisingly, the least hectic day is on New Year’s day itself. But who would want to spend New Year’s Day on a plane or on the road, right?
So now that you know the busiest and least hectic days to travel, here are a few tips to make your holiday travels easy peasy.
- Plan ahead. Avoid traveling on the worst days and travel earlier, if you can. The further away from the holidays your travel date is, the cheaper the tickets and the less hassle all around. Plan routes to avoid traffic and have emergency numbers (for cab services, towing services, transfers, etc.) ready.
- Travel OFF hours. I know not all of us can afford to plan ahead and travel a few weeks before the holiday rush. So if you must travel during the hectic days, travel off hours. Travel when most people are asleep or at home. That would mean very early in the morning or very late at night. The bad news, most airlines would have staff at a minimum. The good news is that flights would rarely get delayed and there is less chance of airport congestion.
- If you are flying for the holidays, choose a non-stop flight. So many things can go wrong during a connecting flight. The long lines might make you miss a connecting flight. Delayed departures would make you feel doubly sad to be away from family as you are stuck in an airport during the holidays surrounded by only strangers and a dying phone battery. Which brings me to the next tip…
- Prepare for an emergency. Murphy’s Law states that “If anything can go wrong, it will.” So be prepared for the worst but hope for the best. Bring an extra phone battery. Have snacks ready. A few granola bars, trail mix, or a bar would keep you from getting HANGRY (hungry and angry – a dangerous combo). This is also a good idea if you are traveling with kids. And if you are, best of luck and my thoughts and prayers are with you. Be strong!
- Keep your composure. Try to understand that while not everyone is going home for the holidays; most people are just trying to get to see their loved ones. If you remember this, you’d almost certainly be more patient. So inhale, exhale and carry on.
I have a bonus tip for you. Bring earplugs, an eye mask, and create a playlist of happy holidays tunes. That trifecta will almost always get you through tough holiday travels.
Got any tips for traveling during the holidays? Let us know. Stay humble, hustle hard!
Written by Jaie O.- The Help