It’s that time of year again—the time from Thanksgiving to the end of the year when more people hit the road than at any other time. Holiday travel can be a lot of fun but also stressful as we navigate packed roads and busy airports. It’s also something most of us do, so we decided to devote an entire Twitter chat to getting the best tips and tricks for better holiday travel.

What is a Twitter chat? For those not familiar, TripIt holds a monthly chat on Twitter on the third Thursday of each month from 2-3pm Pacific Time on the hashtag #TripItChat. Every month there’s a new travel topic where we encourage participants to share advice with one another. To learn more, please see: http://landlopers.com/2013/05/01/tripitchat/

Here are some of the key takeaways from our last #TripItChat on Holiday Travel.

Different Holiday Trips

Traveling to see friends and family is one thing, but many folks also use their time off to take vacations during the holidays. This can sometimes be an issue, so we asked our participants if they’d ever done that and what the family reactions were.

• Chatter @katieaune says she always travels over the holidays to maximize her time off from work and after several years, her family is just used to it.
• Personal travel over the holidays is also important to @MichaelWTravels, who says it’s been hard for his family to accept.
• Chat co-host @Bloggeries said family members are more accepting of holiday travel when you bring them along—plus, a trip is always a great present!
• Many people though would never consider a non-family holiday trip like @Colleen_PNW who uses that time to visit and reconnect with family members.

Budget Matters

Most of us always try to save money when we can during a trip, but that’s especially important when it comes to holiday travel. Since we had so many travel pros in the chat, we asked everyone to share their best holiday budget travel tips.

• Chat co-hosts @theplanetd said that it’s important to be flexible when booking airfare. When searching, also look at dates before and after your target to see what the price differences are.
• If you really want to take all of the hassle out of planning, chatter @CruiseFever advised to use a travel specialist who can find those deals for you!
• @mcnuttsc made the great point to start planning early and set price alerts for hotels and airfare so you can snag the best deal as soon as it’s available.
• For @findinganeish saving money means traveling on a weekday, planning early and using price comparison web sites.

Best Time Ever!

No matter what you choose to do over the holidays, any trip should be fun, so we asked everyone to share their favorite holiday travel memories.

• @TravelCoach4U had an unforgettable experience viewing the fireworks while docked off Copacabana Beach on New Years Eve!
• Christmas markets were a favorite memory for many people, particularly while on a @VikingRiver cruise along the Danube!
• For a twist on the normal Thanksgiving Day turkey, @AnjuliGlobal decided to go to Istanbul in Turkey instead.
• Chat participant @QamarMah said that visiting an orphanage while in Bali was impactful and important to do, especially over the holidays.

Just Breathe

Travel can always be stressful, but traveling over the holidays just seems to be extra stressful for some reason. Luckily, our chat participants had a lot of tips to help reduce that stress!

• Making sure you’re well prepared before you even leave home is key said @RossanaWyatt
• Many chatters said having an abundance of patience is key. With so many people traveling at the same time, it just doesn’t make sense to get upset.
• Chat cohost @SandiMcKenna said to mentally prepare yourself for the inevitable—long lines and cranky people. If you manage your expectations, things will go more smoothly.
• TripIt blog contributor @20sTravel wrote a great post on how to survive holiday delays, which you can read here.

Dreaming Big

We always love hearing about other people’s dream destinations, so we asked everyone to share their ideal destination to get away to over the holidays!

• For chat cohost @RickGriffin warm weather is key, which is why he’d love to go to Australia, South Africa or Thailand!
• Looking for a more adventurous trip @EatWalkLearn already planned their holiday escape to the Galapagos and Machu Picchu.
• While tropical vacations got a lot of nominations, many more folks said a traditional Christmas in Germany is at the top of their wish lists.

This season don’t forget to help others—help us raise 2 million miles for @MakeAWish. Donate your air miles today! http://sf.wish.org/content/tripit

Don’t forget to join us for the next #TripItChat on December 18^th at 2:00PM Pacific/5:00PM Eastern when we will be talking about 2016 Travel—Where To Go & What To See!