CNT ~ Case for Getting Rid of the Holiday Travel Calendar

1 ~~~ The Case for Getting Rid of the Holiday Travel Calendar ~ Conde Nast ~~~

This past September I clicked into a Zoom room on Rosh Hashanah. Next to the window framing my tired looking face was my family, gathered around my grandmother’s table in Madison, Wisconsin. I accidentally talked over people, briefly muted myself, and did that thing where I looked at the screen, not the camera, so it seemed like I wasn’t paying attention. Finally, we toasted to the new year. It was nice to sort of see everyone, but this was a family gathering in 2020. It made me think ahead to my other normal holiday travel plans in November and December: how they may not happen this year, and how that may actually be a good thing.

However much Americans may treasure their Thanksgiving food comas or snowy Christmas mornings, traveling during the holidays takes a toll on us. In the days around Thanksgiving in 2019 for example, thousands of flights were delayed, hundreds were cancelled, and AAA estimated that 55 million Americans traveled more than 50 miles from home in one way or another. The regular confluence of inclement weather and the mass of humanity hitting the road at the same time leads to long, unpleasant security lines at airports, snarled traffic, and general dread that we might find ourselves in our own personal Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. But it doesn’t have to be this way. If ever there was a time to relieve ourselves of the pressure and stress of traveling around Thanksgiving and Christmas, it’s this year of pandemic.

www.cntraveler.com/story/the-case-for-getting-rid-of-the-holiday-travel-calendar ~ 19 October 2020 ~