Well, the season is upon us… that crazy time of chaos, traffic, stuffing ourselves to the gills and family gatherings that we wait with baited breath for each year. That’s right, it’s about to be Thanksgiving!

Let’s face it. No matter how much we love our family and the get togethers, holiday travel is often times a lot of stress. Below are some tips (and some fun facts) to help you get through this holiday season with a few less headaches and a lot more time to enjoy the festivities.

Happy Thanksgiving from the VibeAgent Team and make sure to have an extra piece of pumpkin pie for us!

Travel Tips to Ease the Stress
- While visiting with the family, take the opportunity to start making your December holiday plans while everyone is in one place.

- Instead of staying with the family, get a hotel room or even a mini suite, and make it a mini-vacation.  Hotels in most major cities, and especially the suburban areas, have incredible deals around the holidays due to the few people that consider this option. So, if beds are scarce, or you and your sweetie can’t fit on that twin bed from high school anymore, spend the extra couple of dollars to stay somewhere relaxing instead. Besides, then you wont have to listen to Uncle Ernie’s snoring all night!

- The busiest holiday travel days are Wednesday and Thursday, so if your schedule allows, consider leaving on Tuesday and returning on Friday to avoid the travel chaos.

- Allow plenty of time for check-in at the airport. The general rule is be there 2 hours ahead… for Thanksgiving travel, make it 10 (20 if you are leaving on Wednesday). Ok, 10 is an exaggeration, but 3 hours early would be an appropriate cushion to get through security with all the extra people and get to your gate without having a “Home Alone” dash to the gate moment.

- Pack as light as possible. With many airlines adding checked baggage fees to their flights, keeping yourself limited to one bag will save both time and money.

- Most airlines provide online check in before you even get to the airport. This will help you bypass the long lines at the check-in counter, especially if you are only taking carry-on luggage. Be careful though… they are getting a lot more strict about the number of carry-on items and their size, and this will only be tighter with the number of travelers around the holiday.

- If checking baggage is a must, make sure to pack a set of clothes in a carry-on bag. With record numbers of travelers comes record numbers of lost/delayed baggage. No one wants to be stuck on Thanksgiving without clean underwear & socks!

- If driving, take the time to have your car looked at before leaving to prevent avoidable breakdowns. Also, make sure to pack an emergency pack with an up-to-date map, water, non-perishable food items, blankets and emergency flares. You can never be too careful!

- Think about taking a train to your destination instead of driving. It will take about the same amount of time as driving would but will have a lot less hassle involved. Getting a passenger suite is especially ideal if you have little ones who could use a floor to play on or if you want some beauty rest before seeing the family. Have a few hotels ready to book in case you have a travel emergency.

- Last (but certainly not least), try and have Thanksgiving at your house. Yes, the cooking and cleaning may seem like a hassle, but it pales in comparison to rush hour traffic or crazy airport lines.

For your amusement… some fun Thanksgiving facts!
1) Americans feast on 535 million pounds of turkey on Thanksgiving.

2) Turkeys can drown if they look up when it’s raining, and have heart attacks from sudden shocks.

3) Contrary to popular belief, Pilgrims did not have big buckles on their clothing, shoes, or hats.

4) Benjamin Franklin wanted to have the Turkey as the national bird, saying the Bald Eagle was “cowardly.”

5) A turkey under 16 weeks is called a fryer. A 5 to 7 month old turkey is called a roaster.

6) President Thomas Jefferson scoffed at the idea of establishing a national “Thanksgiving Day.”

7) Congress did not declare Thanksgiving a national holiday until 1941.

8) Fossil evidence shows that turkeys roamed the Americas 10 million years ago.

9) 91% of Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving Day.

10) 50% of Americans put stuffing inside the turkey.

11) More than 40 million green bean casseroles are served on Thanksgiving.

12) In the US, about 280 million turkeys are sold for the Thanksgiving celebrations.

13) Turkeys were one of the first animals in the Americas to be domesticated.

14) The ‘First Thanskgiving’ in 1621 lasted for 3 days.

15) Every year, one lucky turkey receives a Presidential pardon and escapes the dinner table.