The holidays certainly can be stressful, and traveling during a holiday is certainly not fun. The roads are packed, traffic is thick, and everyone is anxious to get to their destination. Traveling is also more expensive. Don't you love it when people take advantage of the holidays like that?!?



I thought I could give you some tips for when you travel this holiday. Hopefully these tips can save you some peace of mind as well as money!

1. If you are flying and have presents to take ship them in advance. They will be there when you arrive and you do not have to mess with taking them on the plane. If you do take them on the plane do not wrap them. With the heightened security at airports they will probably just be unwrapped and checked anyway.

2. Consider renting an apartment or condo for a week. You can find some great deals online and save a considerable amount of money over paying for a hotel. Depending on the size of your family you may want to look into renting a vacation home.

3. Don't eat out anymore than you have to. Eating out is expensive. Use your rental to its full advantage and go to the grocery store and buy what you need to cook your own meals. Get the kids involved and let them help pick the meals and even help cook them.

4. Recreation during the holidays is one of the great benefits of having a family. You can play board games or card games. Take along a Frisbee or football and get outside and throw them around. When you rent a place for the week it offers you all kinds of ways to save money. You can take along your favorite DVDs and have some family movie time everyday.

5. If you rent a vacation home you might want to share it with another family. Being able to split the costs with someone you enjoy being around during the holidays can save you a lot of money as well. This idea may or may not work for you depending on the ages of your kids and the common interests of the family you travel with.

These are just a few holiday travel tips if you are on a budget. Even if you are not on a budget you can save some money during the holidays and have some quality time with your family that you might not get staying with a relative or in a hotel.