Our offices will be CLOSED on Thursday, November 28, 2024, in observance of Thanksgiving. We will reopen Friday, November 29th for normal business.
The holidays aren’t just a stressful time, they can also be expensive when you factor in all the shopping, travel and more on top of your usual bills. NuMark is here for you and yours this holiday season, for all your festive financial needs – including travelling to see your loved ones out of town, state, and even beyond.
It’s no secret that the holidays are the busiest time of the year for travelling, and while visiting your family is certainly something to look forward to, the actual getting there can be exhausting. While there isn’t much you can do to change how much an airline or hotel charges you, there are plenty of ways to prepare yourself for the hassle of holiday travel, so you can arrive safely and (mostly) sane.
Keep It Light
It’s understandable that with the stress of traveling during such a busy and overwhelming time of year, you might feel the need to overpack. However, due to the chaos that comes with others travelling, any bags you might check are going to be at a higher risk of getting lost and not making it to your destination. Do your best to silence that devil on your shoulder telling you that you need three different jackets and 12 potential outfits for a weeklong trip to avoid having to check any bags and risk them being lost.
If you’re worried about running out of clothing, rest assured that nearly all hotels or other travel accommodations will have laundry services for you to use if you find yourself running low on socks or other items. As a bonus, traveling with just a carry-on also has less of an environmental impact, as there is less weight on the aircraft, and therefore fewer carbon emissions being put out into the atmosphere.
Pack Now, Wrap Later
We know that you have gifts that you can’t wait to give to your loved ones, but sometimes travelling with gifts can cause more stress than joy. While it’s smart to pack the gifts in your carry-on to avoid any lost luggage, make sure you double check what’s allowed through TSA. If you’re shopping online and know that you’re going to be heading out of town for the holidays, it might be worth shipping the gifts to your relatives’ houses (just warn them not to open them ahead of time).
If there are some gifts that you already had shipped to your home, or were bought in-person at a store, skip the wrapping until you get to where you’re headed. If you try to bring wrapped gifts in your carry on, there’s a fair chance that TSA will need to unwrap it in order to ensure safety – ruining all your hard work. Instead of bringing them wrapped, or bringing rolls of wrapping paper, gift bags and tissue paper pack down much nicer, are easier to wrap gifts in, and still look great.
Prepare for the Worst
At the end of the day, you can’t predict how the airlines are going to function, and how seamlessly your travels are going to go. That’s why it’s important to make sure that you’re preparing for a worst-case scenario – just in case things go awry. It’s vital that you do some research before your trip, especially if you plan to fly. When booking your flight, make sure to double check on cancellation policies, policies for flights canceled by the airline, as well as policies for lost baggage if you decide to check a bag. It’s worth looking into opting for travel insurance or seeing if your credit card provider includes that already with the purchase.
Winter weather can also cause a lot of chaos when it comes to travel, especially if you’re going to, or coming out of an area more north where it can be rainy, snowy, and worst of all, icy. Inclement weather like this can cause flights to be delayed or even cancelled entirely, so make sure you’re checking up on the weather ahead of time, in case it looks like that might happen to you. Having a backup plan for how to get there in this instance, like driving, trains and buses, can be a huge help. It’s also a good idea to prepare for the absolute worst case where you’ll need to have a “staycation” at home if necessary.
Final Notes
As fun as the holiday season can be with the pretty lights, seeing your loved ones and giving gifts to them, they can also be extremely stressful when it comes to things like traveling. While you can’t plan for every potential mishap and delay that might occur (even if you really try to), there are plenty of ways to prepare yourself for such situations.
While we can’t control the weather and the airlines, NuMark is still here to help you this holiday season in any way we can to relieve that financial burden. That’s why we offer a variety of products to help you out with the additional expenses that come with the season. From personal loans to use towards travel, and savings accounts for gifts, NuMark has something for everyone to ease that stress so you can breathe easier this winter.
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