With less than one week before Thanksgiving, a turkey stands in a barn.
(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)Thanksgiving is awesome! Just about everyone agrees that it’s great to see family for the holiday. Ok, maybe not everyone wants to see their relatives. However, I look forward to having a delicious meal without the need for all the gift-giving mayhem. It’s great at Christmas, but Thanksgiving is much less stressful and more enjoyable.
Nevertheless, there is one thing I do not look forward to, the traveling. Thanksgiving is the busiest holiday for travel. Whether it’s a long drive or a flight, it’s the worst part about Thanksgiving.
My wife, Kathleen, and I rotate between our two families each year. When it's her family’s year, it’s only a twenty-minute drive. When it’s at mine, we’ve got a good ninety-minute, traffic-filled experience. Compared to those who travel cross-country during the worst time to travel, it’s not so bad.
Thanksgiving is the Busiest Time to Travel
A recent Jiffy Lube poll by Talker Research reveals that forty-seven percent of people will be driving to holiday gatherings this week. The study found that many will be spending more than half a day, thirteen hours in the car.
I don’t envy them, however, it’s a lot worse for others. They also found that about one in ten people will drive more than thirty hours. The average person will drive over four hundred miles.
The choice to drive rather than fly during Thanksgiving week is to save money. More than half of those polled said they can’t afford to fly, so driving is their only option. Another fifty percent said they drive because it’s “the more comfortable way to travel.” Another reason for taking a car instead of a plane is being able to avoid having to pay for a rental car.
Another interesting statistic discovered was that “the average respondent [will drive] 172 miles out of their way to pick up a loved one, and a heroic one in 20 (5%) saying they’d drive 700 miles or more.” I can honestly say that I’m not “heroic” enough to do that.
According to AAA, over eighty million people will be traveling this week. Thanksgiving Day is expected to be the day with the least amount of traffic.
