Travel often means a schedule. And schedules always have a hiccup here and there. Planning to arrive at any given event or destination early helps reduce stress, but can create more if not handled properly. My motto has always been, “It’s better to be two days early, than five minutes late.” While this may seem like a bit of an exaggeration (it is) the point is if I HAVE to make a flight, I’d rather sit around the airport for two hours and figure out how to kill time, rather than have to sprint with my family from security to the gate and pray we don’t miss the last flight.
To get to any destination early you need to first figure out when to arrive. Then track backwards adding in time for the known and unknown events. “Unknown events? How do we plan for those?” I’ll get to those questions in a bit, but let’s finish off the start times. Always give yourself at least a half hour buffer for every 1.5 hours of driving. Chances are there may be traffic jams or accidents and they can almost never be planned for, other than with a buffer. In the worst case you arrive 30 minutes early and have extra time.
Once you’ve figured out travel times you will have a ‘leave at’ at time. Let’s take an example of catching a flight. You know your flight time, you know how long it takes to get to the airport and have added in buffer in case of bad traffic. So now you know when you need to be on the road and let’s say that is 9am. From here you’ll want to set a ‘packing in the car’ time. Chances are you already know how long it takes to actually get your entire family in the car and on the road. For some it’s 10 second, for others it can be 10 minutes with multiple trips back into the house for forgotten items. Allow yourself this time and the worry will go away.
Backwards from the ‘packing in the car’ time is all the other morning duties. But an important point here is to add in extra time again. Don’t just take you best sprint out the door time. Allow for having fun in the morning and having a good breakfast before heading out. The more relaxed the morning, the more fun the trip starts out. I’ve learned this the hard way from personal experience and the days where I can spend just 15 minutes in the morning playing with my daughter are the trips that start out a lot easier.
When it comes to reducing stress on a trip, and increased stress leads to less health on any trip, planning to arrive early to any important event will help everyone relax when the unexpected happens…..and it will always happen.
