Travelling on Christmas Day: A Joyful and Delightful Adventure

Embracing the Holiday Spirit in Airports and Beyond: Our Family’s Festive Flight Experience

It’s December 25th, Christmas Day.

I’m currently sitting in the Qantas Lounge with my husband and three kids, waiting for our flight from Melbourne to Singapore and then to Thailand.

My last visit to this very same chair in the very same spot in the lounge was three months ago when I flew a long haul with two of my kids to Los Angeles.

So having been here twice in 3 months, I feel I’m able to shed some comparative light between travelling on any date of the year and travelling today.

Many people avoid travelling on Christmas Day

Naturally, they want to spend time with their families, but many also find Christmas Day to be one of the loneliest days of the year.

My family and I are Jewish, so in our practice, we have two choices.

Chinese food for lunch or travel.

I prefer to travel after Christmas. I like to go away once the holiday rush has been and gone.

It’s also much cheaper to travel after January 10th.

This year, my husband decided to take a holiday over Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

Peak travel time.

I tried to reason with him that travelling at that time meant the prices would be astronomical, but also that when we travelled later in January, it meant his office would be closed over the main public holidays. It was also a nice manipulation tactic to ensure I didn’t have to navigate keeping my three kids occupied over the 6-week summer break on my own!

He is also a fantastic day-drinking partner.

We booked our family vacation 10 months out from travelling.

If you have read any of my other travel-related articles, you will know how much I love to plan holidays, but I also usually book five airline tickets and two hotel rooms, so I use my frequent flyer points wherever I can!

When you look to book reward flights using frequent flyer miles, it’s always best to book them 11–10 months before you intend to travel due to seat availability.

In the past few years, we have taken trips to Bali, one of my favourite places on the planet.

Living in Australia means that Bali is a 6-hour flight door-to-door.

This year, I wanted a change. I still wanted a place closer to Australia, but I wanted sea, sand, surf, and culture.

I decided to let the frequent Flyer miles make my decision for me.

In a swoop of luck, I managed to get five tickets to Singapore on Christmas Day!

I didn’t feel like hanging out in Singapore would be the vacation where I would find relaxation.

So I found some cheap flights to Bangkok and decided we would travel onward to Hua Hin.

Hua Hin is a resort town roughly a three-hour car ride from Bangkok. Even though there was effort involved to get there, I was sure it would pay off once we arrived.

We set off at 8 a.m. on Christmas morning.

We were picked up by the pre-arranged airport transfer van, and our driver, a wonderful woman with the best sense of humour named Mel, helped us head to the airport with all the Christmas trimmings. She wore a tinsel hat, had bright fun flashing lights in the van, and was a chirpy breath of air, even though she was missing her family Christmas morning to drive us to the airport.

Surprisingly, the airport was quiet.

All the airport staff were in great spirits, and many wore Santa hats and other decorative items on their uniforms. I got the feeling that although all international airports are huge, busy places, the staff seemed like a big, happy family, happy to all be together on Christmas Day.

We breezed through security, and while other families were sipping champagne and opening their gifts, I sat with my husband and three children sipping champagne in the Qantas departures lounge.

It was in the lounge where the benefits of travelling on Christmas Day really stood out.

The Qantas lounge staff greeted us with the loveliest welcome, far more enthusiastic than I have noticed when travelling in the past. They saw we had our three kids with us and said they had to select a Christmas gift from Qantas.

The kids could choose from a selection of Australian-themed soft toys; there was a small soft Kangaroo, a Kookaburra, and something else that resembled a platypus but could have been a toy rat! My 9-year-old son was thrilled, as we forbade him from bringing his gigantic squishmallow toy along for the journey!

Once in the lounge, periodically the staff came around with special Christmas treats.

There were ice cream sandwiches, Christmas puddings, small bags of chocolates, and some Christmas brandy cocktail concoctions that somehow blended with the four champagnes I had drunk by the time they were offered around to us!

The airline staff were also in the Christmas spirit, wishing us all a happy Christmas through the loudspeaker and also offering extra treats on the journey.

Having travelled often, I can honestly say that travelling on Christmas Day turned what was normally a chore and a means to an end into an enjoyable experience!

Everywhere we went, the staff showed my children extra kindness rather than dragging them through the airport and making them wait around until they were bored to tears.

While many people prefer to spend the day with their families, others find Christmas Day to be one of the loneliest days of the year.

For those looking for an alternative way to spend the holiday, travelling can offer a unique and exciting option. Not only did the staff go out of their way to make my children comfortable, but they also had festive decorations throughout the airport and even handed out small gifts to passengers. This unexpected level of care and attention made the journey feel special and memorable. It was heartwarming to see how the holiday spirit had permeated every aspect of travel on Christmas Day, turning it into a joyful and delightful adventure for everyone involved.