Holiday Travel Time

Our first holiday travel experience occurred when I had two children still under the age of two.  We decided to travel on the busiest day of the year:  the weekend before Christmas.  We found ourselves up before 5 a.m. to get to the airport for an 8 a.m. flight.  The toddlers were unhappy.  Mom and Dad were unhappy.  The airport was crowded and inevitably, one of the children got pushed around too much.  She started crying.

Sound familiar?  Perhaps yours is getting stuck in traffic as everyone pushes to get out of town before the three day weekend officially begins.  Kids are hungry.  Drivers are irritating.  And the family vacation begins with tension.

Could this get any better?  Is there something we can do to alleviate the pain?

Let me tell you a few things we've noticed since our nightmarish experience at the airport:

Travel Early/Late

Airlines and freeways become jammed with traffic just before the start of any holiday break.  Generally, price rates increase for air tickets and gas prices skyrocket as the holiday travel increases.  If it's possible with work or school schedules, plan to leave a few hours earlier or even a day earlier than the typical rush.

We live in sight of a major interstate.  Let me tell you it's bumper-to-bumper traffic at 5 p.m. on Friday evening.  Campers, SUVs, and all the regular commuters pack the road.  Accidents only make the bottleneck worse.  It usually takes a few hours for things to get back to freeway speeds.

The same is true as people return home after the holiday weekend.  Take, for example, a typical Memorial Day weekend.  School is sometimes out.  Families decide to get out of town for an early summer vacation.  They leave at 3 p.m. and roads are already getting congested.  When the same families return on Monday evening, they find everyone heading home.  The same congestion increases, oftentimes later into the night than when they left.

Some states offer travel advice on the Department of Transportation websites.  They will have traffic cams to help drivers plan their best routes.  GPS systems sometimes alert motorists of alternate routes when busy thoroughfares become too busy.

In-Town Holidays

When travel becomes too tense, we choose to stay home and have a bit of fun in our own sphere.  Once, our family tried to find a good BBQ spot at a local picnic ground.  Everything was packed.  We toughed it out and made do in the only empty spot in the park.  It wasn't as enjoyable as we'd hoped.

As we drove through town, we found some of the closer-to-home parks were empty.  City-goers had opted for more distant parks, just as we had.  But if we had chosen something downtown, we would have had a much better experience.  Don't be afraid to stay local.

Themed Holiday Vacations

Since this weekend is Memorial Day, it seems fitting that we should theme our family activities around remembering the past.  In the past, we have enjoyed airshows sponsored by the Air Force.  We have listened to speeches given by local officials at cemeteries to honor fallen veterans.  Some families decorate graves.  Whatever the holiday and whatever the tradition, be sure to include the family.  Holidays are a good reason to get together and include the little ones as much as possible.  These will be memories that will drive them for years to come.