Going somewhere for Thanksgiving? Whether you’re going across the street or across the country, most people travel for the Thanksgiving holiday. In 2017, 51 million people traveled more than 50 miles for their Thanksgiving celebrations! If you’re one of those people, we have some Thanksgiving travel tips to help your travel go as smooth as possible.
Make sure your car is up for the trip
90% of Thanksgiving travelers will go via car. 370,000 of those drivers will need some sort of assistance, whether that’s a jump for the battery or help changing a flat. Make sure you’re not one of them by checking that your car is up for the trip. We have a post on car maintenance for road trips and a post for car maintenance for cold weather that can help.
Go home later
Traffic on the Saturday after Thanksgiving is pretty bad as everyone is trying to get back to their own house. If you can wait until Sunday, there will be 60% less traffic for you to fight on your way home.
Drive at odd times
For even less traffic, avoid the peak driving times – 11am to 6pm. If you can get on the road early or wait until later, there will be fewer cars out and less traffic (and traffic jams) for you to deal with.
Fly Thanksgiving Day
If you’re taking a plane to your Thanksgiving celebration, consider flying the day of. The Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving are the most popular days to fly for the holiday, which means they’re also the most expensive. Thanksgiving Day is less popular, so it’s cheaper – consider booking an early morning flight to arrive just in time for dinner.
Don’t worry about stopping
This is an odd thing to put on a list of Thanksgiving travel tips, but we want to make sure you know that if you’re making a panic stop to pick up that pie, wine, or side dish you forgot about, you’re not alone. Google Maps requests to make a stop on a long trip at a wine shop, pie shop, etc. go up by 20% the day before Thanksgiving. Lots of people are picking up last-minute things, so don’t worry if you are, too!
