Get Ready Your Thanksgiving Trip Holiday
By Joyce Jackson
In a very short time Americans will be off in masses for their Thanksgiving trip over the holiday. While staying home is the best advice the reality is that this holiday is the most heavily traveled in the country.
Regardless of the delays, exhaustion and memories of arguments from last year, we're all heading out for our yearly Thanksgiving trip again.
You can get ready and be less stressed than last year with a few easy Thanksgiving trip tips.
Pack light. Carry one soft side bag. During Thanksgiving Day holiday count on seeing long lines. Set your mind that delays will happen. If you pack light you can move around more easily while waiting for that late bus, train or plane.
Take a special book or magazine, and read anything from Thanksgiving recipes, Thanksgiving prayers to the first Thanksgiving story and other heartwarming Thanksgiving stories while waiting for those delay times. If you have something special to do while waiting the time goes much smoother. Pack low-sugar snacks and drinks. Thanksgiving Day travelers don't need a sugar rush while waiting or in cramped quarters.
Flying in for Thanksgiving Day
Arrive at the airport two hours prior to scheduled flight departure time, both on the outbound and inbound trips. This is once you get into the terminal. Build in extra time to park your car. Remember, lots and parking resources will be filled so making a reservation at an off site parking facility will help. Most of them take Thanksgiving Day holiday reservations with a deposit.
Stay Informed With Travel Advisories On Your Thanksgiving Trip. Stay in touch with real-time flight status on the airline's web before heading to the airport. If you have an e-ticket the kiosks and skip ticket counter lines. Most airlines have these now so use them. Consider full-service curbside check-in if you have ski, snowboard, golf or sporting equipment.
Expect to stand in long lines. Expect planes to be jammed. On board stowage space will be critically limited so again, take only one small soft side bag to slip under the seat. If you are taking a gift leave it unwrapped. Most security checkpoints will now require you to unwrap wrapped gifts. Better yet, mail it on ahead a few days before your plane flight.
Driving During Your Thanksgiving Trip
If you are hitting the road in your car and driving, make sure it's in good working order. Check you oil, water, washer fluid and tire pressure. Make sure you pack emergency supplies in case you get stranded. Take fresh containers of drinking water. If you are in colder areas take blankets and warm jackets, and tire chains de-icer.
Plan your Thanksgiving trip so you do not return on a Sunday. It's not recommended to drive on the Sunday after Thanksgiving Day. It is the worst, most traffic-heavy day of the year. Try leaving Saturday or staying through Monday.
Take Games During Your Thanksgiving Trip. Better yet, if your vehicle or laptop has a DVD player, take movies. There's no shame in a quiet, fight-free ride on the way home.
See you on the road!
About the Author: Joyce Jackson travels, writes and lectures extensively on simple, easy but great travel preparation so that you have a great trip each and every time with information, resources and articles on her website at
www.travel-packing-tips.com
Source: www.isnare.com
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn, which is also called Kings County as a county of the state of New York, and known as the "Borough of Homes and Churches," is one of the five Boroughs of New York. It used to be and still feels much like a city in its own right, with approximately 2.5 million inhabitants. If separate from the rest of New York City, Brooklyn would be the 4th largest American city.
Brooklyn is situated on the westernmost point of Long Island and shares a land boundary with Queens which partially encircles Brooklyn to the north, east and south; Manhattan lies across the East River to the west and north of Brooklyn and Staten Island is across the Verrazano Narrows to the southwest.
Brooklyn is currently enjoying a period of growth and affluence not seen since before World War II. There's world-class theater at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the center of a proposed new arts district that will include a new art museum and a highly controversial Frank Gehry-designed sports area home for the NBA's Nets. Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed Brooklyn's Prospect Park as well as Manhattan's Central Park, thought his Brooklyn creation the finer of the two. Elsewhere in the borough, Williamsburg is a hipster neighborhood and burgeoning art colony, and Brighton Beach is home to New York's largest concentration of Russian immigrants.
How To Travel In And Around Brooklyn
A tourist or a native has many choices. One can travel from Manhattan or from Queens by taking the subway, ride the Long Island train, take the bus, or ride a car, limousine service or bike, or be on foot.
To understand more the subway connections, it is better to download a subway map from the Metropolitan Transit Authority's website or pick one up for free at what New Yorkers still anachronistically call a token booth, even though tokens are no longer on sale or used in the New York subways.
For those taking the train, there are stops in Brooklyn at Nostrand Avenue which is served by the A and C subway lines, and East New York, which is served by the A, C, L, J, and Z subway lines. Eastbound trains continue to Jamaica Station in Queens, from where passengers can change trains for points further east or take the AirTrain to John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK).
Brooklyn is covered by an extensive network of MTA buses. Of particular note is the B51 bus, which runs between City Hall in Manhattan and Smith St./Fulton St. in Downtown Brooklyn, via the Manhattan Bridge. The trip is particularly beautiful on the way to Manhattan. Note that the bus operates only on weekdays, with the last bus leaving Smith St./Fulton St. at 7:10 P.M. and from Park Row at 7:40 P.M., according to the current schedule and depending on traffic. See the MTA website for bus maps and schedules of individual bus lines.
For those driving a car or using a limousine service in Manhattan or a Bronx limousine service, the connections between Queens and Brooklyn are too numerous to mention. The Williamsburg, Manhattan, and Brooklyn Bridges link Manhattan and Brooklyn, and the Verrazano Narrows Bridge links Staten Island and Brooklyn. Of those, only the Verrazano is a toll bridge.
Riding a bike or going on foot is good for slowly savoring Brooklyn’s great spots. One can see more of the area that’s not easily accessible by car, train or bus. All the bridges between Brooklyn and Manhattan are now accessible to both pedestrians and cyclists.
Source: Wikitravel.org - Brooklyn, New York
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Why use a limousine service in New York?
A limousine service can easily be substituted for a car service. The comfort and safety of having a chauffeur-driven limousine service is more valuable when traveling in and around New York. There are practically hundreds of limousine services in New York.
Look up other areas covered by New York NY Limo limousine services:
Limousine Service (Bronx) – Limousine Service (Brooklyn) – Limousine Service (Long Island) - Limousine Service (Manhattan) – Limousine Service (Queens) – Limousine Service (Staten Island) – Limousine Service (New York)
