Though it’s only September, the time to start thinking about your holiday plans is now. Whether you’ll be visiting your parents in Omaha or taking a vacation to Italy, the sooner you book your trip, the better. The holiday season – from Thanksgiving through New Year’s – the busiest travel season, so getting a jump start on your plans is key to a stress-free experience. Seasoned traveler Hussain al Nowais provides some useful tips on traveling over the holidays:
- Avoid peak travel days – Christmas Eve and the Wednesday before Thanksgiving are the biggest travel dates of the entire year. To avoid long lines, crowded airports, and stress, choose to leave a day or so earlier if possible. Another option is traveling early on Thanksgiving or Christmas. There aren’t as many people traveling at those times, and while you’ll be traveling on a holiday, you’ll avoid the major traffic and headaches of the night before.
- Book early – Once you figure out your holiday plans, you want to book your flight. Air fares are only going to increase as Thanksgiving approaches. Since it’s a peak season, you’ll be very unlikely to get a good deal by waiting until the last minute. Procrastinating will result in steeper airline prices and a far slimmer selection of dates and times to choose from.
- Travel early in the day – Airplanes leaving earlier in the day tend to have a better on-time performance, according to flight statistics. Therefore, it’s best to book a morning flight. Also, depending on where you live and the destination to which you are flying, it’s possible that your flight may get cancelled due to bad weather conditions. With a morning flight, you can take a flight later on in the day, should your initial flight get delayed or cancelled.
With these tips from Hussain al Nowais, you’ll be on your way to a stress-free holiday travel experience.