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Holiday Travel 2015 – Tips to Survive the Busiest Season

holiday travel

Now that the travel industry is bouncing back and wallets are recovering, people are returning to traveling home for the holidays. Holiday travel 2015 will likely be one of the worst travel times in terms of money and sanity, but try these 5 tips to survive the busiest season.

Don’t Check a Bag

It seems impossible, but if you can avoid checking a bag – your trip will be immensely easier. Not only will you save money on baggage fees, you’ll have a flexibility others don’t. Think of the time you’ll save not having to wait on the luggage carousel. Imagine not having the hassle of dragging a bag around or stressing over its weight. Worried about presents? Send them ahead of yourself via the postal service or buy them online and have them shipped directly to your destination. Many sites like Amazon have free shipping via their Amazon Prime program. Plan to wrap when you get there to save space and money.

Airport Hacks

Tourist Meets Traveler has tons of tips when it comes to flying, but these are our favorite and tested tips.

-Save money by carrying an empty water bottle through security. Fill it up at water fountain and enjoy your free beverage.

– Take photos or a screengrab of your boarding pass. Sometimes those wonderful apps freeze up or just won’t pull up the info you need quickly. Snap a pic and pull it up quickly and easily – without the need of wifi.

– Fork in the line? Pick the left lane for a statistically speedier queue.

– Delay or cancellation? Get in the customer service line, tweet, and call – in that order. Sometimes you will get an answer faster via Twitter, sometimes calling is faster. None of it is predictable so do all three at the same time.

Drive Smarter

The weather is going to be a challenge this year thanks to a strong El Nino impacting the entire world. Expect a wet winter with lots of wind. Plan ahead and pack gear to get you through inclement weather.

For traffic, avoid it where you can by using an app like Waze to help you find alternate routes that are less traveled. Also, consider traveling late at night the roads are packed during the day, but most travelers either rest during the late night leg of their trip or plan to arrive at their destination at an earlier hour.