TMA

Traveling during the holidays can be a real nightmare. I had never traveled during the holidays before moving to LA, but this year will be my sixth year traveling home for the holidays, so I’ve picked up a few tricks along the way.

1. Pack Smart

Now this means different things depending on your Holiday travel. For me, packing smart actually means bringing a bigger bag with lots of extra space in there. I do this so that I can bring back the gifts that I receive while I’m home in NJ visiting friends and family. If you don’t think that you’ll have a lot to bring back, then bringing a carry on bag is probably your best option to save time and money. So consider your circumstance and then plan accordingly!

2. Jam Pack your Carry On

Let’s be honest, holiday travel means a lot of delays. Whether it be for weather or for seemingly no reason at all, you can pretty much count on having a delay. Make sure to bring lots of goodies to keep you going. Here are a few of my essentials.

Cell Phone Charger
Headphones
Snacks
Lip Balm
Rose Water Spray
Eye Masks
Hand Lotion
Fuzzy Socks

What are your essentials for your carry on? Leave me a comment with what I’m missing!

3. Do your research

Holiday travel can be stressful, overwhelming, and expensive. So make sure you do your research. My favorite app to track flights is Hopper. You enter your location and dates and it will tell you your best prize and whether it’s time to book or not. It’s a super useful tool. There are tons of apps like it out there, but Hopper definitely happens to be my favorite.

4. Give yourself tons of extra time

If you look up holiday travel in the dictionary, it would probably be defined as “something will go wrong.” Don’t let yourself fall victim to this. Give yourself way more time than you need to get to the airport, get through security, and get to your gate. Worst case - you end up with some extra time and find some coffee. And best case: you have a relaxing and organized holiday travel experience… who would have thought!

5. Prep gifts ahead of time

If you’re planning on traveling with gifts, plan ahead! I always shop online and ship gifts to my parents’ house for them to set aside for me. If that’s not an option for you, package them up ahead of time and ship them separately. It won’t be too expensive and it will save you the trouble of looking like Santa Claus lugging his toy bag through the airport.