In addition to fruitcakes and crowded shopping malls, holiday travel is one of the low points of the holiday season, no? Unless you're actually into standing in check-in lines behind a crying baby with a full diaper. If that's your pleasure, you're a stronger person than I. How do you survive hours in the car, delayed flights and nights spent on pull-out couches without losing your mind?
Be Prepared
I have a friend whose life motto is 'always pack a snack.' Like, she applies this to her personal and professional life! And chances are, your holiday travel will be exponentially more awesome if you're sustained by some smoked almonds and dark chocolate. And you know what else you should bring? Some an inflatable neck pillow, ear plugs, slippers, moisturizer, hand sanitizer, gum and the phone numbers of your host/hotel/airline. Even if your flight gets delayed, you hit a traffic jam or you find yourself sleeping on a cot in the hall, you can (probably) emerge from the ordeal looking and smelling good.
Entertain Yourself
Obviously, most of your traveling will consist of sitting - at the gate, on the plane, in the car. And sitting, not surprisingly, in not terribly fun. But good lord! Surely you're clever enough to entertain yourself right?! You can always read something light and fun, do some sudoku, listen to podcasts (I love This American Life) or play one of a million games on your iphone. But how about some oldschool people watching? Or a game of Would You Rather? If you're in the car, play license plate bingo or annoy everybody by singing 100 bottles of beer on the wall.
Or you could do always do kegels.
Channel Some Travel Zen
We all know that getting wound up by the snow-delayed flight or the heavy traffic is pointless. It's also worth remembering that in travel, and often in life, things will take twice as long as you expect and cost a good bit more. So give your budget and your schedule a bit of wiggle room and you'll be a lot happier. It's also worth remembering that the annoying guy in front of you who's causing a scene at the baggage claim? He's not trying to be malacious, he's just stressed out and tired, like everybody else. And the baby that's howling behind you? She's not on a personal mission to give you a migraine. Take a few deep breaths, imagine yourself tucking into some mashed potatoes alongside your favorite aunt and try to remember that getting there at 5:45 instead of 4:30 is not going to be the end of the world as we know it.
Use Your Travel Time Wisely
If you can't stomach the idea of sitting idly on a plane for three hours, you can certainly use your time to read A Very Important Book you've been meaning to get to, plot your plans for 2010, write your Christmas cards or work on your novel. One of my favorite things to do on any return flight is compile a list of my 100 favorite memories from the trip while they're all fresh in my mind. It's sliiightly more rewarding than watching that screening of Old Dogs that the airline is showing.
Are you traveling far this holiday season?
How do you survive holiday travel?
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