8 Ways to Make your Holiday Travel Less Stressful

Whether you want to admit it or not, the holidays are already here and preparing for holiday travel should already be underway. As soon as the Halloween festivities are over, everything is in hyper drive towards Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. People always say that time passes by so quickly but nowhere is it more evident than in the last two months of the year. Below are the tips you need to prepare for holiday travel whether you’re the one traveling or your guests are coming to you.

Book Your Holiday Travel

This sounds like a no brainer, but with all the hustle and bustle that the holidays can bring, sometimes the simplest tasks get forgotten. I’ve been a victim myself, forgetting to book our hotel room until just 8 days before our trip. But when you’re traveling to a small town, it’s not much of a concern. If, however, your travels are taking you to bigger cities like New York or Chicago, and you wait until just 8 days before your trip to book your hotel room, you’ll be scrambling for availability. And you’ll probably end up in a dirtier hotel room 25 miles from where you needed to be, unless you score that magical room that someone cancelled at the last minute. Book early, and you’ll have a little more peace of mind to get you through the holidays.

Air travel should be booked further in advance. While most domestic flights are cheapest around 5-6 weeks prior to the flight time, holiday flights are different. You should book holiday flights around 12 weeks in advance. September and October are your best months. Remember the basic rules of cost and demand. More people want to travel for the holidays and therefore, the cost can rise quickly.

Put in Your PTO

Again, this is probably common sense, but you’d be surprised how many people forget to put their time off requests in at their jobs. Most companies begin planning out the holidays in September, and when it comes to your time off, you should be planning too. It can be difficult for managers to arrange holiday schedules so that shifts are covered and yet everyone gets some time off. Putting in your time off early is not only the smart thing to do, but it may ensure that you get the exact dates you’re wanting to take.

Think About Your Pets

Do you need a sitter for your pets? Will they be traveling with you? Don’t forget to plan for them too. If they’ll be traveling with you, make sure your hotel is pet friendly if you’re staying in one. You can search Bring Fido for hotels that are pet friendly. If you need a sitter, book early! Pet sitters and boarders also book up early and there’s nothing more stressful than trying to find someone to take care of your fur babies at the last minute. Trust is everything when it comes to taking care of them so get in touch with the people you trust well in advance.

Do Your Shopping in Advance

Depending on where you’re going, you may need to mail your presents before you travel. This may mean that you need to shop earlier than Black Friday in order to mail your gifts in time. If you’re traveling to your family for the holidays, it may be worth ordering the gifts online and having them shipped to your destination and wrap them there instead of trying to travel with them.

If you’re traveling with delicate presents in your carry-on luggage, remember to leave them unwrapped or easily accessible per TSA regulations. Traveling to another climate? Remember to shop for what you need now so that you aren’t scrambling to find what you need during the Black Friday shopping rush.

Plan Your Finances

The holidays can put a big strain on any wallet, but add traveling to the already cash strapped month of December and you could be starting off your new year with a resolution to pay off that holiday debt. There are a lot of finance gurus out there that would say if you don’t have the funds to travel then you shouldn’t be traveling, but sometimes, for health or personal reasons, you need to travel to see your family. If that’s the case for you, don’t feel guilty about it, just make a plan and a budget that you can stick to so that the debt is as minimal as possible. Consider opening a holiday fund account and have a portion of your direct deposit go to this fund throughout the year so that the strain isn’t so great at the end of the year.

Prep for Safety

If you will be traveling by car, make sure your car is travel ready. Have your oil changed, check the pressure in your tires or purchase new ones, and check your windshield wiper blades. Put together an emergency roadside kit to keep in the car. This should contain jumper cables, a flare or emergency light, and a flashlight at the minimum. Consider adding a first aid kit as well. Traveling to an area that has a lot of snow? You may need to include chains for your tires as well.

Create a Holiday Travel Timeline

Since the holidays tend to creep up quickly, it’s important that you create a loose timeline of tasks you need to do before your travel in order to avoid stressing yourself out at the last minute. This should include information from the tips above (inspect car, get/ship gifts, book hotel/pet sitter, etc) as well as any personal obligations or festivities. Give everything a date and space things out so that you don’t have one particular day with overwhelming tasks.

Prepare Your Guest Room

If you have guests traveling to see you instead, this tip is for you!  Make sure your guest room is ready for your visitors. Make sure that you have clean sheets and clean towels available or if necessary, purchase new ones. If you’ve been using your guest room as a storage room, now’s the time to find a new home for those items, or at least a temporary home.

The holidays don’t have to be chaotic. If you plan in advance, you can limit the amount of stress that traveling during the holidays can cause. Plan now so that you can celebrate later!