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I hear those sleigh bells ringing, and it’s the most magical time of the year, but possibly the least magical time to travel.
Traveling during the Holiday season can feel like The Nightmare Before Christmas hallmark, with expected flight delays, your luggage taking a vacation of its own, crowds of people pushing through airport security like their trying to fit a suitcase into a stocking, and that’s all before you discover your Aunt’s homemade Egg Nog has exploded in your carry-on.
Traveling during the festive frenzy can feel daunting and make you wonder why you even booked a flight this time of year, but don’t fret, as we have some helpful Christmas travel tips to turn travel chaos into a cheerful adventure (we hope!).
Magical Christmas in NYC
Whether you’re flying home for Thanksgiving or escaping the city to explore Christmas markets across Europe, these tips will help you glide through the Holiday season with your festive spirit intact — and hopefully your sanity.
We’re no strangers to traveling during the holidays, so these holiday travel tips are based on our own experiences throughout the years.
1. Be prepared for chaos, accept it, and embrace
Enter the holiday travel season with the understanding it’s going to be chaotic and possibly filled with problems. Accept this is the case and choose to willingly travel despite this. It puts you in a much better position to handle the lines and the delays.
You’re already prepared for it, and you might get a nice surprise and not have the worst case scenario. Hope for the best, expect the worst. If you have low expectations, you can’t be disappointed…right?
2. Use queuing as an opportunity
Expect queues, and lots of them. You will be queuing at the check-in counter, airport security, immigration, and finally a long line in Starbucks.
Breathe deeply and use the long queues as an opportunity to catch up on emails on your phone, read a book, or swap stories with the fellow travelers around you – make it part of the journey, rather than an inconvenience.
My daughter once asked me after bidding the cashier at Trader Joe’s farewell, “Mum, why do you always talk to everyone?” and I will tell you what I told her; “Because it makes life sweeter when you take the time to get to know people. People are so interesting. If you engage and show interest, you never know, you might meet your new best friend.”
3. Consider choosing Holiday Packages
We’re not usually people who book holiday packages and prefer to do everything ourselves. After all, how would we make content for this site if we let agencies do the planning for us?
There is one exception to this though – the holiday season. Sometimes, you just need someone to take a bit of stress and anxiety away from you, and the competitiveness of the holiday season can make planning a stressful task. I have seen hotels book up, at the same time that I have tried to book a room before. Madness.
Holiday packages can offer some great deals on hotels and flights combined, which not only saves you money, but it alleviates some of that stress. I would say you do need to plan ahead to find these deals, though. Start looking in October for Holiday season packages.
Look at websites like Kayak, Booking.com, and Expedia to see what deals they have.
4. Check flights to smaller nearby airports
Ice skating in New York City at Christmas
You can often experience fewer delays and get cheaper deals by taking flights to smaller airports, rather than the main international ones. This travel hack is not just on fights, but on rental cars and transfers as well, as these are often cheaper in smaller airports.
Check the flight prices from differing airports that you can fly to. For example, in New York City, it might be cheaper to fly from Newark over JFK, or even to Jersey City and take the train over to Manhattan. In the UK, for example, you might find flights to and from Manchester are cheaper than in London (though the cost of trains to your destination might even out the odds).
It’s worth getting a calculator out and seeing if it’s cost effective to travel to an airport slightly further afield to your destination. If it’s only a small amount more, decide whether it’s worth paying a bit more to alleviate some travel stress.
5. Avoid peak travel days
An obvious tip is to try and avoid flying on peak travel days along with everyone else.
Sometimes this can be hard to do, but when you’re searching for your flights, click “flexible dates” so that you can find the best price and book your flights according to that period. Flying over the weekend tends to push prices up. If you can fly mid-week, it will work out better for you. And there’s usually fewer crowds in the airport.
The busiest times for travel for the festive period (late November through early January) are usually a few days around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve.
Peak travel days for Thanksgiving 2025
- Wednesday, Nov 26 – Busiest outbound day before Thanksgiving.
- Sunday, Nov 30 – Busiest return day (end of the long weekend).
- Tuesday, Nov 25 – Also busy for early travelers.
The least busy day for traveling for is Thanksgiving Day itself (Nov 27) and the following Saturday (Nov 29).
Peak travel days for Christmas 2025
- Friday, Dec 19 – Tuesday, Dec 23 – Busiest pre-Christmas days.
- Friday, Dec 26 – Sunday, Dec 28 – Heavy post-Christmas travel, especially for family visits and vacations.
The least busy day to travel for Christmas is Christmas Eve and Christmas Day for air travel.
Peak travel dates for New Year 2025
- Monday, Dec 29 – Tuesday, Dec 30, 2025 – Busiest time for travelers heading out for New Year’s Eve trips.
- Thursday, Jan 1 – Sunday, Jan 4, 2026 – Busiest days for return travel surge after New Year’s.
The morning of January 1st tends ot be the least busy time to travel during this time, as most people are in bed nursing their hangover and regreting their New Year’s kiss.
6. Look for early or late flights
View of sunrise from our room at Blockade Runner Beach Resort
Speaking of early mornings, most people don’t like to fly at this time, so you can often experience a quieter airport if you book the dreaded 4am flight.
Getting up early, or staying up late for a early morning flight, not only means you have a better airport experience but you usually experience fewer delays as well.
Read more: How To Find Cheap Flights to Anywhere In The World
7. Leave for the airport with plenty of time
It’s recommended you arrive at the airport 3 hours early for any flight, but during the hustle of the Holiday break, I would extend this to four hours if you can. Even if you have an unusual surprise and the lines aren’t long, at least you’ll make your flight and you can relax at the gate with a good book.
There is nothing more stressful than almost missing your flight.
I once flew home from Austria via Munich on the busiest day of the year. I had two hours to get to my gate, and almost didn’t make it. I only made it because I begged the airport guy to slip me through on the fast lane of the security line and he only did it because I was solo and my flight was leaving in 15-minutes. The crew of young men who tried to follow me were denied and they would have missed their flight for sure.
Being the holidays, crowded airports make waiting times twice as long, and 2 hours gets eaten up quickly. Plus, you’ll struggle to get on the next flight, or even get a flight at all.
8. Fly direct to avoid possible connection delays
Learning from the experience above, try and fly direct if you can. If it’s an option, do it, even if it costs more. If not, plot your connection routes carefully and allow at least 3-4 hours connection time to get through security checkpoints.
Bear in mind weather conditions might cause delays, so consider looking at the weather forecast in your connecting destination too.
9. Pack carry-on luggage only
It’s also a good idea to pack hand luggage only, especially when taking connecting flights, as changing flights is usually where bags get lost. Only packing a carry-on bag with essentials means you can breeze through and not have to worry about finding your bag on the baggage carousel.
If you’re worried about your checked back getting lost, I highly recommend you get yourself a luggage tracker tag from Amazon, which sends a GPS signal to your phone and tells you where your bag is.
10. Online check-in if you can
Check-in online and print off your ticket if you can to avoid the check-in counter. Most airline apps allow you to check-in online these days, and you can also usually do your PSA Precheck online too. If you have hold luggage, there may be an option to drop your bag off without the need of the check-in desk.
If you are traveling internationally, you may need to check-in at the counter and online tickets isn’t enough. I couldn’t do it flying home from Munich for some reason because of my United States visa.
Important note: Online check-in doesn’t always work. It infuriates me when I check in online, receive a boarding pass, yet arrive at the airport and have to do it again anyway to get my bag tags and then line up for hours. American Airlines are pretty bad for this.
11. Reserve Airport Parking
If you’re taking domestic flights and plan to leave your car at the airport, reserve airport parking ahead of time to ensure a spot. You can sometimes get good deals online.
But do run the numbers to see if it’s cheaper for you to park your car, or just catch an Uber or bus to the airport. OR, find a friend to drive you.
12. Book rental cars in advance
Rental cars are hard to find last minute during the Holidays and can be VERY expensive. Don’t leave it to last minute, plan ahead! Better yet, choose destinations where a rental car is not needed, or just take a road trip from your home.
However, I once had to hire a car in Los Angeles as the ride share prices were INSANE. I’m talking $90 to go 2 miles.
13. Compare ride share prices (and wait a bit)
Do your due diligence when using ride share apps, as the prices can sky rocket during the Holidays. Just like comparing rental car prices, do the same with ride sharing apps.
I have not used Uber in months as the price is always almost double that of Lyft. In Asia, the prices on Bolt are cheaper than those on Grab, for the same journey. I’m not sure what’s going on there, but the lesson to take away is – always compare.
You will probably experience longer wait times and higher prices with ride-sharing apps as well. I noticed in San Francisco that Lyft was offering several different prices with a reduced price if you could wait longer. As I had time before my flight, this suited me just fine. So, I choose the delayed arrival, and I got a cheaper price. If this doesn’t work for you, always book your ride with plenty of time in advance!
14. Travel on Christmas Day
As mentioned earlier, the busiest travel days are the days before and after the main holiday, so you can get the best prices, and stress-free travel, if you fly on the day itself.
Some airports may just be the ghost town of your dreams on Christmas Day. If the celebration of the big day isn’t a big deal for you, you can find pretty good deals on this day.
The same goes for New Year’s Eve, as it’s not a popular day to fly, you can get the best deals on flights.
15. Use your Membership Reward Points
Cash in those reward points for flights, accommodation, or upgrades when traveling in December for the Holidays. As flight prices tend to be higher this time of year, this would be a good time to cash them in. Afterall, this is what you’ve been saving them for!
Plan and book as soon as you can. Remember, it’s the holiday season, so many people may be trying the same strategy. Be sure that you are getting the right value for the use of your points.
For example, in New York, although we had Airbnb credits we could use, we realized we were better off paying for two nights’ accommodation that was decently priced, instead of using our credits. Those credits would stretch much further in a cheaper destination, and as we were out exploring every day, we couldn’t really utilize the benefits of an Airbnb stay.
16. Post gifts don’t pack them
My best tip is to not fly with gifts. Send them by post instead, give gift cards, or have Amazon deliver them! Craig’s Mum (in Australia) shops for presents at Walmart and has them delivered to our door, that way we know they arrive.
Or just forgo gift-giving and focus on memory-making.
If you must travel with gifts, here are my best words of advice:
- Don’t wrap the gifts, security could very well unwrap them to take a peak.
- Pack and pad them well in your suitcase.
- Be sure not to carry on any gels or liquids.
- If you are flying internationally, be aware of the rules about bringing in food or plants. Most countries will confiscate them.
Read more: Exciting Travel Gifts for Her (for glam and organization)
17. Pack light
It can be a bit hard with all that winter holiday gear #theworst. If you can get away with it, pack as light as you can, you can always buy things when you get there.
For example, soaps, shampoo, conditioner and toothpaste are not essential to pack. I can guarantee that anywhere in the world will have those supplies in a supermarket – or you can book a hotel that offers free toiletries!
Read more: Check out our best packing tips
18. Be prepared with your entertainment
Go prepared with all your snacks, entertainment, water etc. for your flight or drive, especially if you are traveling with kids, as you don’t want to deal with cranky kids whilst navigating the airport bedlam. You just don’t know what sort of delays you may experience, so it’s better to be prepared.
Get yourself a neck pillow, travel socks, eye mask and ear plugs. Be prepared to settle in, even if it’s not a long journey.
19. Be phone ready
Make sure your phone is charged and has all relevant phone numbers, itineraries, and apps installed. Download all your apps and get an eSIM sorted for your destination, so you have connection as soon as you land.
We love the Tripit App Pro version. It automatically imports all bookings and itineraries from my email into the app, and you can check flight status and find opening hours for the airport lounge and see a terminal map.
It lets me know of any flight changes or delays and tells me what gate I am arriving and departing from – super handy if I have to do the mad dash for my connecting flight.
20. Check your vehicle
Skyline drive, Shenandoah National Park
If you’re avoid flying altogether and going on a road trip, be sure to check your vehicle before you set off – oil levels, tire pressure, and pack an emergency kit and spare tire.
A road trip is our preferred way to travel over the Holidays, you get more flexibility and freedom, more luggage space, less hassle and stress, and quality time with your loved ones, and it will often be much cheaper! Driving to New York saved us about $800 in flight expenses. But you don’t want your road trip to begin with a breakdown.
Here is our family road trip guide to ensure you all stay sane and have a great time!
21. Have alternate routes planned if you’re driving
Google Maps is quite good in that it will constantly update and divert you from traffic, so you always take the faster route. Another great app to use when driving is Waze, which is a really great SatNav app.
Again, avoid peak times. We left on our road trip to New York on the Sunday at the end of Thanksgiving weekend. Hello, traffic jams.
22. Stay local
The beautiful Southport
You don’t always need to jet off to new places to enjoy the Holidays. Rent an apartment in a destination close to home with a bunch of friends or family and just have a cheaper and more relaxed experience closer to home. We love Staycations.
In 2024, we visited Boone, North Carolina for Thanksgiving, Bryson City for Christmas fun, and then Beaufort on the Crystal Coast and Outer Banks over the Christmas school break. All these destinations are a 3-4 hour drive form our home.
Jump in our virtual suitcase – i.e. our free VIP email community. You’ll get lots of tips and updates and freebies when you do, including the following NC Bucket List
23. Be kind
If something goes wrong, just smile, be patient, and be kind. That’s the best way to get help. No one is going to help you if you flip your lid at them. I understand why you might want to, but it’s not the best solution.
Be understating of the challenges the person behind the counter may be going through if there are travel dramas. Sometimes it may be quicker if you phone the airline directly if you have a flight issue.
24. Have Travel Insurance
We always recommend travel insurance. It’s one of those things that once you have it, you don’t need it, but if you don’t have it, you need it.
Read your policies very carefully to ensure you are adequately protected from trip delays, missed departures, and cancellations.
If you’re flying abroad, some airlines will check your travel insurance so many sure you have your policy documents on hand to show to them.
We currently have Allianz Travel’s annual travel policy so we can always travel confidently on a whim, and their Allyz Travel Smart App makes travel a lot easier. You can read about their smart benefits here (super handy in the event of a cancellation – i.e. immediate money sent to you)
FAQs about traveling over the Holidays
Here’s what people usually ask us about traveling over the holiday season.
What should I do 3 days before my trip?
Three days before your trip you should check you have all your documents ready and printed. Confirm your bookings if you need to and then check the weather forecast. This will give you an idea of what to pack.
What do I need to know before going on holiday?
You should know what documents you need to enter a country, such as visa, passport requirements (some require you to have six months validity) and insurance coverage.
How do I leave my house when on holiday?
If you’re worried about leaving your house when on holiday, ask a friend or neighbor to keep an eye on it. Leave a spare key with someone you trust and have them swing by from time to time to make sure it all looks ok. Or better yet, get a housesitter.
What are your best travel tips?
Our best travel tips are to pack light; lay out everything you want to take with you and then half it. Travel carry on only when you can (it’s cheaper and you won’t have to worry about losing your bag).
Final word of advice
Those are our top travel tips for traveling over the holidays. It might seem overwhelming and stressful, but it doesn’t have to be. Our main piece of advice is to plan ahead with plenty of time. If you’re thinking of traveling last minute, you can expect chaos, but if you prepare in advance, it should run smoothly.
You should also make sure you are well prepared, both with all your documents and your mentality.
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”
Benjamin Franklin
The journey may be perilous, but the destination will make it worth it. Happy travels!
Are you traveling this holiday season? Let us know if you have any questions in the comments.
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