When you live crazy out of state, and the thought of driving home for the holidays makes you want to rip your hair out, flying is your only option. Flying home for the holidays is absolutely completely very terrible. The upsides are that it is (usually) fast and (relatively) painless. Here are some tips learned from personal experience to make flying home for the holidays easier when it is at the top of your hate list.
1. Download the Priceline and Southwest apps.
They are faster and easier to use than the websites. You don’t need to keep them on your phone for forever, but they’ve proven to be very handy when I needed them most.
2. If Southwest is an option -- always take Southwest.
Your first two checked bags are free. It’s a big company that respects its customers. I have had two or three flights that have been delayed my entire life of flying through this company. There is almost always a direct flight which means your travels are cheaper and there is less of a chance for your bags to be lost.
3. Wear your biggest, bulkiest clothes on the plane.
Airplanes are cold and wearing your bigger shoes, and a jacket or a sweatshirt will save a ton of room in your suitcase.
4. Do not wear heels or a fancy outfit if you can help it.
You will have to go through security. You know it. You know what it means. You will have to take off almost everything and you don’t want to be that person that takes forever at the security line. Plus, you’ll be way more comfortable on the actual plane in your publicly acceptable workout clothes, or jeans and a T-shirt.
5. Have a solid routine for the security line and stick to it.
You should have a method of taking off your shoes, jackets, belts, jewelry, emptying your pockets, putting your laptop in its own bin -- and if you don’t have a routine, get one. You know that you’re fumbling with your life, but that doesn’t mean you have to show it.
6. Wear socks.
Going through security barefoot is gross. If all you take from this article is to wear socks, then great. I’d be happy.
7. Check the monitors more than once on your trek from security to your gate.
It’s annoying when you get to one gate and realize that your plane is actually leaving from the other end of the airport. It’s more annoying when you don’t realize it until two minutes before your plane is scheduled to finish boarding and you have to run six and a half miles to make it. Flights change constantly. They’re delayed, they leave early, they break down, and they have to pull into a different gate than they were expected to.
8. Crap happens.
Bring a good book and a phone charger. Never assume everything will go completely according to plan like a breeze and don’t freak out when it doesn’t. Nobody wants you stranded at an airport. Except for maybe your ex.
9. Arrive early and fly earlier.
You should try and be at the airport an hour to an hour and a half before your flight -- depending on the size of your airport and when you are flying. The earlier you fly, the less people you will have to deal with which means security will be faster and there won’t be as many people in line for Starbucks or Einstein’s.
10. Never forget your headphones.
Screaming children are annoying and time goes by faster when it's measured in the number of songs you’ve listened to.
11. Sleep.
Time goes by fastest when you’re sleeping. Lean back, shut your eyes, and drift away until you touch down one short nap later. But if you can’t sleep on a plane, first -- I am so sorry. Second -- read a book. Lose your mind and tune out the reality of being in a big metal cage 30,000 feet from the ground.
