Why I don’t travel in December

Here we are entering the Holiday season. Festivities are gearing up and along with dreams of Sugar Plums, many are dreaming of balmy breezes and drinks with little umbrellas while sitting on a beach at a sun kissed island hideaway, or Caribbean cruise or African Safari or where ever you want to be. Sometimes it’s just an over the river and through the woods jaunt to Grandma’s house. But no matter what, there are hazards of traveling this time of year.

The obstacles to travel around the holidays are so pronounced that they have even written songs about it. Where do you think Grandma got run over by a Reindeer came from. Undoubtedly someone had a bad experience at one of the petting zoos around this time of year while visiting Santa.

I used to drive to my old home town on the holidays. Between here and there is a mountain range called the Berkshires. They are old mountains, well eroded and round. Not the least like the Rockies or Cascade range and there’s a highway through them. Should be an easy drive. It didn’t take me too many years before I realized that the Snow Gods do not want me going home for the holidays. It didn’t matter if I went on Thanksgiving or Christmas, or if we had just had record high temps for the time of year, there was going to be a storm if I decided to drive over. It might not be on the way over , it might be on the way back, but one way or another I always got stuck in snow, sleet and freezing rain at some point during that drive.

Then there’s the traffic. I have spent 4-5 hours just getting to Worcester! Bumper to bumper until we get to the split for 91 south to Connecticut when traffic starts to lighten up a little. Coming back was just as bad. I’m not sure which was more stressful…getting stuck like that at the beginning of the drive when you know everyone is waiting for you to arrive or coming to a stop on a “super” highway on your way home when you’re tired and all you want to do is drag yourself in the house and collapse on the couch.. In any event, I don’t “go home” for the holidays anymore, I “stay home”.
Let’s have Christmas in July if you want me to come over !

One year the family decided to go to Florida to see the Mouse for Christmas. Disney World is gorgeous during the Holidays so it sounded like a great idea. As I recall we made it down in one piece. No major headaches but Disney World was packed! I mean you could not move without bumping someone. The lines for the rides seemed endless and the crowds for the parades were 10 people deep. Never again! When it came time to leave I had one flight and the others were taking a different flight. Guess what…it snowed in the northeast, which was where we wanted to go. A regular blizzard.! (What did I tell you about the Snow Gods?)

The New York contingent decided to try to make it to Albany so they hopped on their plane out of Orlando. They got routed to Cincinnati or Detroit or some such place where they had to cope with finding accommodations for the night. With all the flights grounded there wasn’t much to chose from. Not an adventure I’d want with children in tow. I’m not sure what , if any, compensation they got from the airline but I am sure it wasn’t fun.

I, on the other hand, gave up my seat in exchange for a flight to Boston the next day and a room at a Best Western. I know I got the best part of that trip but I was lucky. I didn’t have to be back for work that day so had some leeway. I don’t think my work would have taken too kindly if I had to call out because I was “stuck in Florida”. Especially while they were digging out from under 3 feet of snow.

Then there are the pets. I have 2 cats and have had cats for many years. By coincidence not by plan, the two I have now have never been alone. In the past I would leave food out and go away for a day or two but life styles change and when these cats were young I had a roommate so one of us was always there when the other one traveled. One of my cats can get into tons of trouble when I’m around so I would hate to think what I would come home to if he were left alone.

So now that I am living alone, I have to consider what to do when I want to travel. Normal vacation travel isn’t too much trouble. I have a wonderful and reliable cat sitter who also happens to be a Vet Tech and works for my cats’ vet. The cost to have her come to the house is equivalent to boarding them and less stressful for the cats. But during the Holidays I prefer not to impose on her. I want her to be able to enjoy her festivities without having to leave to take care of my cats so that is another reason to put off any travel.

And finally and probably one of the biggest reasons I avoid traveling this time of year, cost! Airlines, after all, are businesses and they are no dummies. They know there are going to be many seasonal travelers that want to be home for the holidays so they raise their fares. Don’t believe me? You say there are always specials? Well, take a look. I tracked some flights on some of the travel web sites one year. October was the cheapest month. After that the closer you got to a Holiday the more the flight. Even the special holiday fares were more than the regular fare in October. And then there’s the crowds in the airport, the lines to get through security, the packed planes, more crying babies than normal as families try to travel. No thank you. I’ll wait until January and avoid the rush.

Don’t get me wrong. I love to travel and to see new places and sights but travel can be stressful at the best of times and when you add in the extra crowds, time constraints and regular holiday stress, for me it was time to rethink how I spent my time. So now, my cats and I enjoy a stress free holiday at home. If that makes me a crazy cat lady, then so be it. I’m safe and sound and unstressed!

Oh and I almost forgot. There’s an added benefit for those of you who do chose to travel…there’s one less person adding to the crowd! Have a safe and pleasant travel experience and may the Snow Gods ignore you, unless you’re heading to Vail for a Ski get-away.