Holiday Travel Tips: Smart Ways to Make Your Trip Easy This Year

We share a practical holiday travel game plan to cut stress, avoid delays, and keep your cool from booking to baggage claim. From early departures and car prep to smart packing, safety, and flexibility, these tips help you arrive safe and sane.

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Setting The Stage

Bob Bales 0:00

Hi, and welcome to The Traveling Fool, the show where we talk about travel destinations, the history and culture around those destinations, along with travel tips and news. I'm your host, Bob Bales, and in this episode, we're going to talk about tips for holiday travel. That's right. The dreaded holiday travel. So stay tuned, and we'll be right back. Welcome back, before we start do me a favor and click that like or subscribe button, I would appreciate it. Also, you can go to thetravellingfool.com, the website,

Newsletter And Housekeeping

Bob Bales 1:12

and sign up for the monthly newsletter. I only send it out once a month, usually towards the end of the month. It's got travel news in it, along with some travel contests. Maybe you win a trip somewhere for free. I never sell your info, it's just strictly for the newsletter. Alright, so let's get started for this week's episode. And like I said, we're talking about tips for holiday travel. It's that time of year. And everybody knows now that travel can be stressful, but especially during the holidays. I don't know what it is. People people get crazier, I think, during the holidays, especially when it comes to travel. Just be prepared. If you go on to YouTube or anything, you're gonna see just all kinds of meltdowns at airports and road rage and just everything else. It's nuts. So how do you survive holiday travel? Well, you got a couple of options. One, follow these tips and it'll make it a little bit easier. Or two, just don't travel and have everybody come visit you, but then that brings a whole different set of problems on. So let's go with the first one. We'll we're gonna talk about some things that you can do to maybe de-stress it a little bit and make it a little easier. Now by the time you are listening to this,

Book Early And Save

Bob Bales 2:32

it's it may be a little too late. But when it comes to airline tickets, you need to book early. And the earlier you book, the easier it will be because one, you can get better prices and availability and you can have a better selection, but you can still book two or three weeks out in advance and get some decent prices and stuff. You just have to look around a little bit. But if you are flying, make it easy on yourself, take a little stress off, book your reservations early. And any accommodations. If you're gonna be staying at a resort somewhere or just the hotel somewhere, book it early. Now you can go to all the websites, uh booking dot com and all this other stuff. Or you can just call the the hotels directly. A lot of times you can get a better deal if you call the hotel directly, because they don't have to pay those fees to the aggregators, the booking dot coms and stuff like that. And if you do see a price on there that's just really great online somewhere, whether it's priceline or whatever, call the hotel and ask them if they can match it or be beat it. A lot of times they can. So that's the first tip. Just make sure you do things early. You got time to really think about it and plan out ahead. Also, you need to look about when you when you get ready to leave, you got all this luggage and stuff. My idea or my suggestion is just pack light. You don't need all that crap. You know, I've got a rule of thumb whenever I travel any place, especially when I was traveling overseas a lot. I would lay everything out that I was gonna pack, and then I would

Pack Light And Skip Checked Bags

Bob Bales 4:05

take half of it away. Because most of it you just don't need. Stick to carry on luggage if at all possible if you're flying, and avoid any kind of check bags, because that way, one your bags aren't gonna get lost, and two, you don't have to stand around with five hundred other people trying to find your bag when the flight lands. And there will be delays during the holidays, you can bet on it. There is every single year. This year will not be any different, neither will next year. There's gonna be flight delays. And if you've got check bags, you're just up in the chance that when you arrive at your destination, your bag may not. Or it may go visit a different destination, you never know. So pack light. And even this goes for road trips too. You don't want to be hauling all that crap around. Just pack the least you possibly can. Trust me, you'll get along a lot better if you do it that way. If you

Prep Your Car For Road Trips

Bob Bales 5:00

are driving, you need to prepare your vehicle for the road trip. And all that means is if you if you got a decent mechanic, take it over there, make sure you got an oil change, check your windshield wipers and stuff like this, because you don't want to be out stuck in a rainstorm, snowstorm, whatever else, and your windshield wipers don't work or something else. So just check out the bare minimum stuff. Check the engine oil, wiper fluid, check wipers. I would go on to someplace like Amazon and buy you an emergency kit. You can get them for like twenty dollars. It's got all kinds of stuff in there. Road flares, triangle signs, first aid kit, all that stuff, and you usually pick up a kit for twenty bucks. Throw it at the back of the car. You never know when it might not come in handy. Pick up a fire extinguisher. You can buy those pretty cheap too. I've got a couple of them I use in the house in the cars when I go on road trips. So just prepare your vehicle for any road trip you're gonna be planning on taking. Now this next one is one that most everybody overlooks, and that's just get some travel insurance.

Why Travel Insurance Matters

Bob Bales 6:02

If you're flying, travel insurance can help you with those delays and things like this. It'll help protect you on a lot of that stuff. Even if you're driving, I mean accidents happen, all kinds of things happen. Get some travel insurance, it's not that expensive. I did a whole podcast a while back on travel insurance and what to look for and stuff. But it's cheap. You can buy it for a short period of time, just the trip or whatever. And peace of mind goes a long way in case you have some kind of unexpected cancellation, delay, or god forbid, some kind of injury. So get you some travel insurance. That'll ease your mind a little bit, make things a lot easier if and when you ever have to

Safety Planning And Registration

Bob Bales 6:40

use it. The next thing you want to do is plan for safety. Now, what do I mean by plan for safety? Well, inform your friends and family of your travel plans. And if you are traveling overseas, check the U.S. Department of State website for international travel advisories. Plus, there's a thing on there where you can register with the State Department if you are traveling overseas. And you say, Well, why would I want to let them know what I'm doing? All it tells is you register with the State Department and says, look, I'm going to be in this country for this period of time. If anything should happen, they know you're there. And that means any kind of civil unrest, any kind of natural disaster, any kind of earthquake happens and destroys half the country and nobody knows you're there. Well, if you register with the State Department, they know you're there and they can help assist in evacuating you out of the country. A lot of people overlook that. They don't register with the State Department. So just let people know where you're going, what your travel plans are going to be. Say, hey, look, I'm traveling to uh I'm gonna be out of town. I tell my neighbor all the time whenever I travel, say, hey man, I'm going out of town for three days, I'll be back this night. He's got my phone number, so if anything happens, he can call me. He can look after the place while I'm gone. He does the same to me. And you just tell your friends and family, hey look, I'm going out of town. I'll be in uh I don't know, Charleston, South Carolina, I'm gonna stay at this hotel. I should be back in about a week or two. If anything comes up, here's my phone number. They know where you're at. If anything happens, they can get in touch with you. That's all it's for. So just plan for a little safety ahead of time, and should anything happen, well, everybody knows where you're at and everything's fine. The next

Get Your Travel Apps Ready

Bob Bales 8:18

one is download any necessary apps that you need. A lot of people forget about this until they need it, and it's like, oh crap, I need to download my app. Just have all your travel apps, and those are all the airline apps, the parking apps at the parking garages. All the apps that you're gonna need. Navigation apps, uh weather apps, whatever it is, download them, have them ready to go, so you're not searching for them. Everybody has an app these days, and you'd be surprised when you travel how many of them that you rely on, whether it's your airline app, which has your boarding passes and all this other stuff on it, or it could even be the app for the airport itself to show you where everything is at if you've got an eight or nine hour layover somewhere. So just have all your apps, download them all, get them all ready to go, and you'll make travel a whole lot easier. Even if you're traveling on the road, just make sure you have your apps for like Gas Buddy, which shows you the cheapest place to buy gas and any navigational apps and all that, just download them all before you take off and you'll be ready to go.

Arrive Early And Go Direct

Bob Bales 9:20

Now if you are flying when you get to the airport, I'm a big proponent of this, even when it's not holiday travel, get there early. You know, I would rather sit at the airport and drink coffee for an hour before I need to be at the gate, instead of having to rush to get through TSA, get to the gate only to find out that they've switched gates and run to that gate and jump on the plane all sweaty and tired. I get to the airport two hours early and just sit there and have coffee and look at all the idiots running around late. Give yourself plenty of time. Especially during the holidays, the airport's gonna be a whole lot more crowded than usual. So don't be one of those people that you have to be there at the very last second. Trust me, it'll just go a whole lot smoother. Do like I do, get there early, have a cup of coffee and watch everybody else that's arriving late and laugh at 'em. The other thing you should do to make things a lot easier, if you can, is choose direct flights. Non stop direct flights reduce the risk of delays and misconnections. I mean the least thing you want to the last thing you want to do is have a flight where you have to make two connections and two separate airports, an hour and a half in between each flight, and you're rushing to get these other planes, and your bag has to go from one flight to another flight to another flight to the destination, and it winds up lost. If at all possible, just get you a direct flight. If you haven't already done it, consider getting TSA pre check. It'll help you move through security a little bit more quickly. It seems like everybody's got it now, so that line's almost as long as a regular one, but you don't have to take off half your clothes and it just makes things a lot easier. You leave your laptop

Security, Valuables, And Smart Packing

Bob Bales 11:00

in the bag and a bunch of other stuff. You don't have to unpack everything and repack it all while nine hundred people are behind you yelling at you to hurry up. So the TSA pre check is definitely well worth it. Doesn't cost that much, I forget what it is, but it's well worth it. Stay aware of what's going on around you. The airport is crowded during the travel season, which is the holiday seasons, and the thieves know that. So your valuables, keep 'em secure. Keep everything know where everything is around you. Watch what you have around you because don't leave things laying around and make it an opportunity for somebody to relieve you of your laptop, your iPhone, your Android phone, whatever it is. Just keep your wits about you and things will go a lot easier. Stay aware. And pack smart. Keep the essentials like your chargers and things like this and gifts that you're carrying. Keep all that in your carry-on bag. Don't put it in check baggage. Any kind of medication you need and all that, that's just common sense. Keep it all in your check bag. Because just assume that your carry-on bag is your lifeline and the check bag. Just assume that it's going to be lost. Just take it for granted. Ah, yeah, it'll show up in about four days. I'm losing it. Just plan on losing it. And if you don't, hey, that's a great, a great surprise. But when you give it, give your luggage to that gate agent and he gives you that little check stub, just say, well, goodbye. I'll see you one day. Because chances are it's not going to arrive on time. And just take it as a foregone conclusion. I've lost it and I'll get it in three or four days. And if it's there when you arrive, hey, great. So anything you absolutely need, put it in your carry-on bag and don't put it in the check baggage.

Why Driving Can Beat Flying

Bob Bales 12:46

Now when it comes time to road trips, which I've gotten to the point that I prefer a road trip over flying for a couple of reasons. One, I just hate, I just I hate the experience of the airport. Uh it's gotten to the point that I'm old, I'm cranky, I don't want to put up with these morons, and it's just like I get to the airport and I'm ready to start a fight. Man, just get out of my way. Leave me alone. Let me get on the plane and let me fly. It's never simple anymore. I prefer driving. And there's a couple of reasons. I can stop whenever I want to. I see something cool, I can stop and spend time there. And I've got my car with me when I get to where I'm going, so I can drive around and see what I want to see when I want to see it. So for me, it I just enjoy it a lot better. But I still fly. It's just I would rather drive. And if you are driving, you know, I learned this I guess it's a habit from when I was a kid and we would go on vacation, my dad would do it. We would wake up at two o'clock, three o'clock in the morning, and the bags were already packed, car was packed, and we hit the road early. I mean, we were on the road at two, three o'clock in the morning. And it didn't bother me. I was a kid. And as I got older I started doing it. But the reason is there's no traffic. Especially if you live in a large city. I live in Houston. And if I'm going east of Houston, I live on the west side of Houston. So if I'm going east of Houston, just to get through Houston, depending on the time of the day, it could be two hours. If I'm

Leave Before Dawn To Dodge Traffic

Bob Bales 14:10

going west of Houston, I'm on Interstate 10, and still it's Interstate 10 is a mess. If I'm going north, the same thing. So I like to get up and leave early in the morning. Got a big old cup of coffee, I light my cigar, I turn on some classic rock on the radio, and I hit the road and it's dark outside. It's two, three, four o'clock in the morning, whatever time it is that I decide to leave, and I can get out of town and well on my way and stop somewhere for breakfast. If I'm going in fact, I've got a trip coming up in February. I'm going back to River Parishes, Louisiana, which I was just at a few months ago. It's a great place. But it's right outside New Orleans, like 15 miles outside, 20 miles outside New Orleans. So for me to get there, we're talking, I don't know, seven-hour drive, six and a half, seven hours, something like that. Now, I don't want to take a seven hour drive where I make it nine hours because the first two hours is just trying to get through Houston traffic. So I will get up and leave at three or four o'clock in the morning and get all the way through Houston, and I'd be in Louisiana by six o'clock in the morning and just take my time driving over there. The roads are a lot less crowded, it's just a whole lot better. And so that's something you need to look at if you are on a road trip. Just leave a little earlier. Always give yourself time because the road trips, I tell you, they're gonna be just as bad as the airports. They're gonna be crowded, there's gonna be a lot of people on the highways. So give yourself extra time. If it's gonna take you four hours to get somewhere on a road trip, plan for five and a half, six hours. Leave a little early. And don't get frustrated. Don't let road rage take over. And when you see road rage happening, just stay out of it. I mean, don't get involved in it. People's nerves are frayed and frustrated and everything else. So just give yourself a little extra time. Take it

Add Buffer Time And Stay Calm

Bob Bales 16:05

easy. Remember you're just on a trip. Everything's gonna be fine. But give yourself a little extra time and think about leaving early. Be flexible, whether you're flying, whether you're driving, doesn't matter what you're doing. And I tell people this just when they travel in general, but especially during the holidays. Be flexible. Delays are gonna be common during the holidays. Be patient. Be prepared. Just be prepared to adjust your plans if needed. Things are gonna happen. Your flights are gonna get canceled because of a snowstorm. You're gonna get there in the hotel reservation, something's messed up with it. They can't get you that little special room that you have booked. Just relax. You're on a holiday. Just understand that things are gonna go wrong. And you gotta remember that the people that you're dealing with, the hotel staff, the reservation agents and the gate agents at the airports, the Uber drivers, they're having to deal with a whole lot of morons. So don't get upset at them. It does you no good to yell at the gate agent because your flight's delayed. She didn't have anything to do with it. Just relax and understand that they're under a lot of stress. And just take it easy and be a little bit flexible. Stay hydrated, especially if you're, you know, in the airports or even if you're driving, just but especially

Be Flexible, Hydrate, And Prepare

Bob Bales 17:20

on planes, drink a lot of water and everything, it's gonna help you out. Don't get liquored up on the airplane. Don't go to the airport lounge and get liquored up before you decide to fly because they're not gonna let you on the flight. And then we're gonna see you on the YouTube acting a fool. So protect yourself from the elements. You know, if you're going somewhere cold, make sure you got cold weather clothing and wear warm clothing if you're gonna be out doing stuff and just take a look at the elements and protect yourself from them and stay secure. You know, be aware of your surroundings, especially when traveling alone or at night. And just remember you are traveling, and yes, you are a target of opportunity for people to do bad things. So be aware. If you're on the road, pay attention. Pay attention to the traffic. A lot of people out there are gonna be driving, they're not gonna be paying attention. It's up to you to do it. So drive safely. Don't be speeding. You'll still get there. I know it's hard. It's like, well, I need to speed up a little bit. I can do 80 on this road. Yeah, you may not get there, so just relax. The key is to make it through the holidays, not have them cut short because of an accident. You want to be able to I tell you, I'd rather look back and say, man, that that trip really sucked. Rather than not be able to look back on the trip because something happened to me. So just take it a little easy, plan ahead of time. Things will

Stay Aware And Drive Safely

Bob Bales 18:40

be just fine. And if you get frustrated, watch a good holiday movie. I don't know. My all-time favorite holiday movie. It'll do you a world of good. I don't know what yours is, but I know what mine is. If you if you ever want to just relax, enjoy the spirit of the holidays, then you should watch my favorite, all-time favorite holiday movie. Planes, trains, and automobiles starring John Candy and Steve Martin. It captures the essence of holiday travel. I watch it every year. I love it. If you haven't seen it, you should. If it's been a while since you've seen it, go back and revisit it. It shows you what for some people could be a typical holiday travel, and for others, not so much. But that's what I would do. Those are a few tips. A lot of it's just plain old common sense. But it's that time of year. Don't get too frustrated. Relax. Enjoy the holidays, but make sure you get there safe. All it does is take a little planning ahead of time. And that way you'll enjoy it and have a good time with your friends and family no matter where you are. I hope you do have a great holiday, and I hope you have had a great Thanksgiving and the Christmas coming up. I hope it's it's it's great for you and the family. And that's going to be it for this weekend, or for this week, I think. I

A Movie Pick And Final Reminders

Bob Bales 20:05

think we are done with the holiday travel tips, and I wish you the very best. And until next time, safe travels.