Managing Family Holiday Travel

Traveling with the family always has the potential to be a massive ordeal. By the time you consider transportation, logistics, cost and everything else involved, your headache has the potential to be massive. The ordeal just grows when you are taking the family across the country for Christmas, Chanukah and other gift-giving holidays.

On top of the normal headaches, you need to figure out a way to bring the goodies you plan on taking for all the folks you’re going to see. Think about some of these ideas to make these journeys easier on your mind, body and wallet.

Begin your planning by considering how far you actually need to travel. Lots of people typically fly for the holidays. This cuts down on the time it takes to travel and lets you spend more time with family. If you only need to travel a few hundred miles, consider driving.

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Driving lets you move at your own pace and is typically cheaper when considering the entire family. Not to mention all of the space driving affords you. Simply load up the trunk with your gifts and get on your way. This works better for people with young children and parents who have flexible work schedules. Being able to take time off work to travel early is a huge boon and should be considered when planning for holiday travel.

In a similar vein, if you have some time saved up to take off work, consider arriving at your destination a few days early, and make a trip to the malls to shop on location. This relieves the stress of traveling with extra luggage while at the same time allowing you to explore your family’s neighborhood.

If leaving early for the holidays is just not in the cards, and flying is the only way of making it in time, consider shipping your luggage separately. This gives you the flexibility to travel without extra parcels, relaxed, knowing your gifts to the family will be there upon your arrival. Specific services, like Luggage Free, make shipping your luggage hassle-free.

Traveling for the holidays is never totally stress-free. Whether you are traveling via train, airplane, bus or car, coordinating the entire family takes planning and determination. Hopefully these ideas and tips make travel for the upcoming holidays easier on your family overall.