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Pam Hoppe has been a travel agency for 40 years.
At Travel Hub in the Township of Waterford, she will book cruises to hot weather destinations, trips to Las Vegas and spring break getaways as the Christmas season approaches.
For Thanksgiving? Not really.
"We have made some trips, but nothing like Christmas and spring break," Hoppe said. "It's more a driving thing."
This is the case of Andrew Schreck, his wife and their two teenage children, who will travel on the road from Rochester Hills to the suburbs of Chicago to celebrate holidays with their loved ones.
They will head to the typical five-hour drive on Thursday morning and expect to arrive at her aunt's house in time for pre-dinner drinks, followed by Thanksgiving dinner.
The Schrecks are part of the 1.7 million Michigan Michigan AAA residents expecting to travel for the Thanksgiving weekend
It's a trip that Schreck, aged 43, has done dozens of times, returning to his days at the university. Since their marriage 20 years ago, the couple and their children have been traveling to Windy City every two years to attend Thanksgiving. Alternately, relatives from Illinois will come to Michigan to visit them.
"I would say that traffic is never as bad as in bad weather. There is construction traffic, but not a stop-start, "said Schreck, director of marketing Achates Power. "The traffic from Chicago is much worse. "
The Schrecks take other trips and vacations during the year, but have always driven when they traveled to the suburbs of Chicago for Thanksgiving, because public transportation was less outside the city limits and they wanted use their own vehicle when they were in the vicinity.
Andrew Schreck said he thought little of traveling by train to Chicago for the Thanksgiving weekend.
"It's a pretty easy trip, not stressful. I do not mind driving, "he said. Although this year, Schreck and his wife are discussing the opportunity to let their 15-year-old daughter – who has just received her learner's license – gain some experience by letting the teenager fend for herself .
While in Illinois, they also plan to visit family members of his wife in the area and return home Saturday.
"There is something good about waking up at home on the last day of this long holiday weekend," said Schreck.
For the ninth year, traffic is expected to increase during the Thanksgiving weekend (photo courtesy of Flikr)
Around Michigan
For the ninth year, more people are expected to travel for the Thanksgiving weekend than the year before, and most of them will drive.
AAA Michigan estimates that 1.7 million Michigan residents will travel 50 km or more, 90% of them by car.
Thanksgiving, which falls on November 22, is a little earlier than usual, and a week after the start of the deer hunting season.
"In Michigan, many people are heading north," said Nancy Cain, a spokesperson for AAA Michigan. "We expect travel to take place anywhere in the state."
This is also the case locally, with the Thanksgiving US parade in Detroit and the annual Detroit Thanksgiving Lions football match, drawing thousands of people to town.
According to AAA Michigan:
- The number of people expected to travel during the Thanksgiving weekend is the highest since 2007, just before the start of the Great Recession, and the number of trips for the ninth year is expected to increase.
- People who drive during the long holiday weekend should expect crowded roads from 15h. at 7 pm Monday to Wednesday, early travelers mingle with commuters daily, and again on Sunday after Thanksgiving, when travelers return home. AAA warns that high-traffic areas may quadruple normal driving time.
- About 1.5 million people will travel to their Thanksgiving destination, and another 144,000 are expected to fly away. Around 45,000 people will take buses, trains or cruises during their holidays.
- AAA plans to provide roadside assistance to 360,000 motorists during the holiday weekend, mainly due to discharged batteries, lockouts or punctures.
- The average price of gasoline a year ago was $ 2.57 a gallon. As of Friday, the average was $ 2.52.
Hunting and traveling
For Ron and Linda O'Shea of Macomb Township, Thanksgiving means hunting and traveling.
For more than 37 years since they are married, Ron has been to the north with friends to go hunting for deer. Linda chooses to travel.
She considers that it is a hobby of which she is passionate at different times of the year, sometimes with her husband, sometimes without. At Thanksgiving, however, she will visit relatives without him in other states or travel with them to other destinations.
The house is not always where the turkey is. This week, Linda O'Shea and her son's fiancée are planning to travel to Chicago with the daughter of her 8-year-old daughter-in-law to enjoy their holidays.
Perhaps the most memorable and traditional Thanksgiving vacation trip she had taken was to travel with her mother to San Diego where they rented a car and drove to the California coast to San Francisco. In town, near the bay, she saw an advertisement for the "Wine Train" in the Napa Valley.
On Thanksgiving Day, the site tour began immediately in the late morning with champagne in a wagon designed for best viewing. The train left for two hours and the passengers were able to taste different wines during the trip, enjoying the scenery. Then they took the two-hour return trip that included what else? – a full Thanksgiving dinner.
"It was a very good experience," she said.
At two other Thanksgiving times, O'Shea traveled to Knoxville, Tenn., For a few days to spend time with her in-laws. From there, she went to Fort Myers, Florida, to visit her mother.
Traveling by plane, train or car, the busiest time of the year is not stressful for Linda. The key, she says, is to search your routes.
For car travel, she said it was helpful to plan hours behind the wheel to avoid morning and afternoon rush hours – like in Atlanta – and traffic slowdowns in the middle of the day. day. She said that it was good to know in advance where to stay in a hotel during a long trip over several days, and even when to stop to eat and eat, especially in areas where service stations are several miles apart or not open 24 hours.
"Always have another route, especially if you go solo," she said.
When she plans to fly for a Thanksgiving week trip, she usually buys plane tickets in September to save money. It echoes the advice of airline and airport officials who urge travelers to arrive three hours in advance, especially during holidays such as Thanksgiving, when queuing at security checkpoints will be longer. She added that it was not worth it to cut it close and risk missing a flight.
Arriving early or in case of long stops, she explained that the stress of traveling could be reduced by exploring the shops and restaurants of the airport. Know where the door is to reach a connecting flight before leaving the first plane, she said.
Above all: Relax.
"The people I'm traveling with are just saying," Listen to Linda, "she joked.
Holiday trip
Gas prices do not play an important role in the decision to travel during the Thanksgiving holiday, according to AAA.
"I think they make people happy," Cain told AAA. "They will travel with or without the prices but that gives them more disposable income than last year."
AAA believes, however, that the improvement in the economy since the Great Recession ten years ago has encouraged leisure travel, in part because many people have moved to find work.
"The economy has gradually improved," said Cain. "People have a little more income available. Thanksgiving is one of the times when people want to travel to be with their family. When the Great Recession hit, their children moved to other states to find a job or they moved to other states to get a job. "
(Photo courtesy of Creative Commons)
Thanksgiving day
The Wallethub.com Consumer Credit website brings together fun facts about Thanksgiving every year:
- An average person consumes 4,500 calories for Thanksgiving, and it takes an average of 10 hours and 41 minutes for a man to burn that amount of calories.
- Nine percent of Americans will have a Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant.
- The average cost of a dinner at home for 10 people is $ 49.12.
- 45 million turkeys will be served for Thanksgiving.
- At the national level, the most popular foods of praise are turkey (39%), stuffing (23%), pumpkin pie (12%), mashed potatoes (9%), sweet potatoes ( 6%) and cranberry sauce (3%).
- 80% of Americans will eat turkey or ham at dinner this year, 77% will have mashed potatoes and green beans and 72% will have apple pie or pecan pie.
Travel caution
With the increasing number of people taking the road for holiday weekends, the risk of road accident increases.
The four-day Thanksgiving weekend may be a good time to reconnect with family and friends, but it's also the second deadliest of the state's six holiday weekends. on road accidents, according to the Michigan State Police.
Holiday weekends include Thanksgiving, Labor Day, Memorial Day, July 4th, Christmas and New Year's Day.
In the 46 years since 1972, 842 Michigan residents died in traffic accidents at Thanksgiving, the second after Labor Day at 877 and before July 4th at 828, the Memorial Day at 769, the New Year at 594 and Christmas at 577.
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