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DEL.ICIO.USHoliday travel tips: Keep your schedule & sanity
Nightmare journeys from Christmas past? Your holiday travel strategy?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For those who need only travel “over the river and through the woods” to Grandma’s house this holiday season, count yourselves lucky. Christmas is 13 days away, and many Georgians are on a mad scramble to finish shopping and shipping in time for their winter journeys.
As a child, my longest Christmas trek was 10 minutes by car. As an adult living in Washington, DC, I quickly understood the horror stories of traveling at this time of year. Flying or driving home was stressful and exhausting. Even the train was draining. We would usually leave work late on the 23rd and drive through the night to miss most of the traffic. We may have been the only people stopping at South of the Border on I-95 at 2 a.m., but we also weren’t sleeping on the floor of (Reagan) National Airport with other delayed travelers.
By the time we moved back to Atlanta, our families had moved several hours away. For years, we spent Christmas morning at our house, then packed up the car and the kids and hurtled southward — over the causeway and through the marsh to St. Simons Island.
Traveling on Christmas Day isn’t really all that bad. The roads are virtually empty, and the airports are far less crowded. As long as you don’t mind eating airport food or Waffle House for your Christmas lunch, you’re good to go. Very few other places are open. (We recommend the Dublin, Ga. WH for those heading to the coast on the 25th.)
If Christmas Day travel isn’t your idea of a good time, here are some basic tips that might make your trip a little less taxing.
Try to avoid flying on the weekend before and after Christmas. That’s when flights are more likely to be packed and delays more frequent.
Fly early in the day before delays can snowball, and opt for non-stop flights if you can.
You can’t control the weather, so be ready for a snow or ice slow downs if you’re spending Christmas in someplace like Saskatoon - or catching a connecting flight in Buffalo.
Book flights into smaller, less-crowded airports. The extra time you spend driving to the airport could save hours in flight delays.
Leave plenty of time to find parking (which can be difficult to find during peak holiday travel) and get through check-in and security. You can’t afford to miss your flight. Public transport or a car service could cut down delays before you check in.
If you’re traveling by car, get an early start, pack plenty of snacks and consider alternate routes to your destination.
Let us know how you plan to deal with crazy holiday travel this year. Share your sage travel tips or scare us with nightmare journeys of Christmases past. Next week, we’ll check out last-minute getaways for those who don’t want to spend the holiday at home - or anyone else’s home for that matter.
Permalink | Comments (19) | Post your comment | Categories: Travel during a holiday
Comments
By Philip
December 11, 2007 8:41 PM | Link to this
If traveling in a car (or especially if on a plane) for several hours with small, cranky children - you need only remenber one word - Benadryl. Give the kids a small dose every four hours and they will spend most of the trip looking at the back of their eyelids. If the Benadryl somehow fails to work on the kids, then you take some at a significantly increased dosage. (The kids will still act up, but you won’t care.)
By John in Tampa, FLA
December 11, 2007 9:11 PM | Link to this
If you’re traveling on Christmas day stay away from the turkey dinner at Denny’s. Trust me, I speak from experience.
By Racebaiter
December 11, 2007 10:34 PM | Link to this
Holiday travel? Who’s traveling for Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or Ramadan? You could have just said Christmas travel, and then I wouldn’t have had to post this. It’s bad enough that Sears has renamed their Christmas trees “Holiday Trees” and mall Santas have to hand out “Holiday Activity” books with no reference to Christmas inside. Don’t believe me? Go see Santa at Cumberland or Perimeter.
By Janet
December 12, 2007 10:15 AM | Link to this
The best way I found to get through the holiday with the in-laws, is to have a few drinks prior to the festivities. Getting a little buzzed makes everything easier to deal with. Then i can laugh instead of cry! Of course - it goes without saying that there is no driving after drinking. So, my spouse has to do the driving. After all, it is HIS family.
By Whodatsaywhodat
December 12, 2007 10:42 AM | Link to this
I don’t care how far I have to drive to get to a family Christmas get-together. I wouldn’t miss one of our family knock down/screamfests for anything in the world. It is the one time a year that someone will undoubtledly get drunk, act like a fool and blame all the rest of us for their problems. It absolutely entertains the heck out of me. Wouldn’t miss it for anything. I would drive for days….
By ARS
December 12, 2007 11:34 AM | Link to this
Here is bigot racebaiter once again! I travel every year on Chanukah to see my family and many years it falls ON Christmas so I am doing HOLIDAY traveling moron.
By tlk
December 12, 2007 11:44 AM | Link to this
Everyone, just be thankfull you have family. Mom passed 9 yrs ago & little brother went to be with her on new years eve last year. This is going to be a tough Christmas without the family. I certainly wouldn’t complain about traveling if they were here to visit.
By lovelyliz
December 12, 2007 11:49 AM | Link to this
After a really bad experience several years ago, I decided that if I couldn’t take enough time off to avoid most of the holiday travel crowd, I wouldn’t go. Since I have to be at work on Christmas Eve I am staying home this year.
By gb
December 12, 2007 12:27 PM | Link to this
Last Christmas’ drive to Gettysburg,Pa through driving rain(the entire 10 hours) with a child and two dogs is very memorable. I had the time and wanted to save money(airfare and boarding). We had to stop to let the dogs out and then put wet dogs back into the car who did not want to get back in. After the second stop the ‘mean’ dog decided to bite at the docile one, who proceded to climb into the crowded back seat with the child(while I was driving the normal Atlanta speed of 80mph). He spent the remaining hours on top of pillows and at peace. Once we arrived home, we endured six days of complaining from granddad(my dad) about the dogs and ‘his’ house. He scared one dog so bad, it stood there in front of him and peed on the floor. That was one Christmas to talk about forever and yes, I have my tickets and the dog will be boarded for 10 days(one dog passed away this summer). Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
By Allen
December 12, 2007 2:42 PM | Link to this
Why exactly would someone be any less likely to travel for “Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or Ramadan” than for Christmas? Do only Christians have relatives that don’t live next door?
By Lynette
December 12, 2007 3:08 PM | Link to this
Gb, That is so funny. what a great memory. Honestly it will be funny in years to come.
Bless your family and Merry Christmas.
By Lynette
December 12, 2007 3:17 PM | Link to this
The tradition with my first husbands family was to go on a midnight ride on December 24 from Atlanta to Knoxville.
One year he decided that we would make the run with his mother and father the two of us and our 1 year old. Both MIL and One year old were sick all the way there and back.
MIl would alternately throw-up and lecture us all on why sick people should stay home. The baby whined all four hours there and back. FIL griped about it all will fussing at the baby to be quiet.
Nope never again! But after 22 years I can laugh.
Plus I was the only one who did not catch MIL’s bug.
By FCM
December 12, 2007 4:25 PM | Link to this
We used to drive to KY when I was about 4-6 or so. I remember it as a lovely time…my Dad (who did the driving, and putting up with in-laws) probably has a different view. I guess it was when my Greatgrandfather passed (about my age 6 or 7) that we started staying home and having small Christmas. I recall wishing for a huge group.
Then I married and got the huge group and while I loved it I missed my family a great deal. We drove home Christmas day (NOT because of my missing the family, but because he had to work the next day)….NOTHING was to be found to eat along I-75…the chains were closed and we did not see a Waffle House/Denny’s until we were closer to home. He decided to surprise me and called my parents…..that was the best Christmas dinner I ever had….a grilled cheese sandwich! at 9PM on Christmas day night after 14 hours in a car with a 1 year old—in diapers!
My advice? If you car travel bring food.
By Tina B
December 15, 2007 11:05 PM | Link to this
Back in ‘99 my husband decided to drive me and our 7 month old(premmie) to Md for xmas with his family. What should have taken 10 hours took 16 because the baby had to eat often and was very cranky in the car seat. finding a place to change her beause being a new mother I had no idea changing stations on the high way could look so disease infested. I purchased a can of lysol and sent everyone running from the bathroom aphyxiated from all the spraying. By the time we arrived I was exhauseted and still had to tend to a baby that was who really was like a 4 month old since she was 3 months early. The ride back was no picnic either. I will never do that again. besies,the inlaws have moved down here. 5 minutes away.
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December 16, 2007 6:34 AM | Link to this
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By Shaye breed
December 16, 2007 10:03 AM | Link to this
With my husband still living in Sweden currently, we decided I’d travel there for the holidays. I’m dreading the airport, but I am leaving on Thursday rather than the weekend and not coming back until Jan. 1, so I’m hoping against hope that I miss the really bad crowds. Unfortunately, not checking any luggage is not an option for me. I plan on taking Marta down to avoid parking issues, and I’ll check the airport Web site all day before I head down—and I’m planning on getting there 3 hours before my flight, earlier if anything crops up. Hope it works! /crosses fingers
By Terry
December 16, 2007 11:06 AM | Link to this
Even after the closing early of all the nightclubs in Atlanta, Crime is on the rise higher than some years when Atlanta had 24 hour clubs. What happened Shirley Franklin and all the Atlanta City Council? I know the crime rate was just an excuse to close the nightclubs at 3am, It was only suppose to be on trail for one year, now you want to close them at 2am and drive people to the streets earlier for more to get into. Better if you keep all the party people in the nightclub not on the streets.
By Tom Lombardi
December 17, 2007 11:03 AM | Link to this
Don’t leave airport parking to chance. Get a Guaranteed Parking Reservation at discounted rates at www.AirportParkingReservations.com.
By 1989 Snow
December 18, 2007 3:37 PM | Link to this
I’ll never forget Christmas 1989 and the big snowstorm on the SC coast. We hardly ever had snow growing up and never witnessed snow over 2” until I moved to Atlanta. My sister and I were driving to Myrtle Beach that Christmas and got a late start. Her boyfriend told her to check the front tire, but did she listen - No! I called my Mom about 60 miles out to see how conditions were. “Not bad - you can make it”. About 50 miles from home, all h… broke loose. A whiteout and a flat tire. It was so white outside that we pulled over not knowing where we were and believe me, we know the route. We had a cell phone back then and called the state patrol. An angel of a man stopped and helped us change the flat. We had a down comforter in the trunk that came in quite handy. We arrived home and enjoyed part of Christmas Day, until the water pipes froze. After 2 days, we had enough, and drove back to Atlanta on 3” ice. Anything to get out of dodge. We laugh at it now, but realize someone was looking out for us that year. Mom now lives in Atlanta so we don’t have to travel. My husband’s family is also here. Lesson: when someone tells you the weather is fine, get a second opinion. In the winter, keep a blanket in the trunk and keep your cell phone charged. Get an early start, pop in a good CD and make the best of what everyone else is going thru. Merry Christmas!