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Thanskgiving Trip Retrospective
Dec. 2nd, 2025 08:54 amHere are a few thoughts from our Thanksgiving trip on what worked well, what didn't work so well, and what we might do differently the next time around.
1. Red-eye flights barely work. I confidently booked a red-eye flight out to the East Coast to start the trip after a tolerably okay red-eye experience flying to Toronto in August. In doing this I realized an important difference: the Toronto flight was in first class, enabling me to sleep for most of the flight. This trip I flew in coach, and I was stuck awake most of the overnight flight, unable to fall asleep even though I was tired because I was so uncomfortable. As a result I needed a nap midday— and was able to get that sleep only by snoozing in my rental car in a parking lot! I will be cautious on future trips to book red-eyes only when I have a safe place to crash out for a few hours the day I arrive.
2. Traveling Light is Right. We travel with only carry-on suitcases whenever it's feasible, as it saves us time not checking/claiming luggage at the airport and zeroes out the risk of lost/delayed bags. Plus, it's easier checking into/out of hotels when we can carry all our bags in one trip without the aid of a luggage trolley. Part of what makes flying carry-on-only feasible on a trip like this is planning to wash laundry halfway through. On this trip that plan was easy; we did laundry at my inlaws' house. Other trips we do laundry at a hotel, which generally doesn't suck at mid-range hotels where they have coin-op machines that are usually in good condition and rarely busy. This trip we also packed lighter than usual figuring we might need extra space in our bags to bring new things home. It's a good thing we did that because Hawk bought a bunch of rocks. 🤣
3. Unclear if we'll do this again. 😦 We had several missed connections on this trip. No, not the airline kind of missed connections; missed connections with people. Half my sister's family was out of town, three of my nieces ghosted us/nope'd out of meeting, and one of my cousins canceled at the last minute. In addition, Thanksgiving dinner felt repetitive this year. It's the same people, doing the same thing, over the same food, as the past few years. And most of us are older and less dynamic than years ago. It's lost its spark of novelty. Don't get me wrong; I did enjoy the visits we managed to have. But it seems like trying to rush a bunch of stuff together into this holiday week produces as many disappointments as enjoyments. Maybe next year Hawk and I should vacation on our own over Thanksgiving and pick another time, perhaps one in the good-weather parts of the year (i.e, not snowing as we leave) to see people.
1. Red-eye flights barely work. I confidently booked a red-eye flight out to the East Coast to start the trip after a tolerably okay red-eye experience flying to Toronto in August. In doing this I realized an important difference: the Toronto flight was in first class, enabling me to sleep for most of the flight. This trip I flew in coach, and I was stuck awake most of the overnight flight, unable to fall asleep even though I was tired because I was so uncomfortable. As a result I needed a nap midday— and was able to get that sleep only by snoozing in my rental car in a parking lot! I will be cautious on future trips to book red-eyes only when I have a safe place to crash out for a few hours the day I arrive.
2. Traveling Light is Right. We travel with only carry-on suitcases whenever it's feasible, as it saves us time not checking/claiming luggage at the airport and zeroes out the risk of lost/delayed bags. Plus, it's easier checking into/out of hotels when we can carry all our bags in one trip without the aid of a luggage trolley. Part of what makes flying carry-on-only feasible on a trip like this is planning to wash laundry halfway through. On this trip that plan was easy; we did laundry at my inlaws' house. Other trips we do laundry at a hotel, which generally doesn't suck at mid-range hotels where they have coin-op machines that are usually in good condition and rarely busy. This trip we also packed lighter than usual figuring we might need extra space in our bags to bring new things home. It's a good thing we did that because Hawk bought a bunch of rocks. 🤣
3. Unclear if we'll do this again. 😦 We had several missed connections on this trip. No, not the airline kind of missed connections; missed connections with people. Half my sister's family was out of town, three of my nieces ghosted us/nope'd out of meeting, and one of my cousins canceled at the last minute. In addition, Thanksgiving dinner felt repetitive this year. It's the same people, doing the same thing, over the same food, as the past few years. And most of us are older and less dynamic than years ago. It's lost its spark of novelty. Don't get me wrong; I did enjoy the visits we managed to have. But it seems like trying to rush a bunch of stuff together into this holiday week produces as many disappointments as enjoyments. Maybe next year Hawk and I should vacation on our own over Thanksgiving and pick another time, perhaps one in the good-weather parts of the year (i.e, not snowing as we leave) to see people.
