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Travel experts are predicting a busy summer travel season. With a little planning, these tips will help you avoid the lines and crowds.
- Go when others won't. For a potentially less-crowded airplane ride, consider taking a flight that departs on Monday or Tuesday instead of Saturday or Sunday.
- Shift your day. Get up early and eat at the buffet before the rush. You’ll then be able to eat earlier for lunch and dinner, too. Or, you could shift the other direction and get up later, especially if your travel destination is more focused on evening activities. While everyone else is waiting in line for a table, you’ll be out exploring.
- Buy attraction passes and tickets in advance. Before your plane leaves your hometown, you should have your tickets purchased for Broadway shows, famous museums, even theme parks. Then you can bypass the ticket office line.
- Go with an escorted tour. Tour groups are given special preference at popular attractions. Want to visit the Vatican? You won't wait in line for admittance if you're with a tour group. Interested in seeing Michelangelo's David? Go with a tour group and you'll enter the museum by a special entrance.
- Go immediately after an event. Take the Olympic Games, for example. The city of Athens made dramatic improvements in its infrastructure for the influx of visitors during the Games. Tourists who visited the city right afterward were able to skip the crowds and enjoy the improvements. Chicago is very busy for the Independence Day holiday, but you can still see fireworks on Navy Pier on Wednesdays and Saturdays throughout the summer.
- Take advantage of technology. Airlines and car rental companies continue to use technology to eliminate the need to stand in a line. You can check in for your flight using your home computer and rental car companies can pre-assign your car so it's waiting for you when you get off the transfer bus.
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