Family or Bust: Northlanders Set Out on One of the Busiest Travel Days of the Year

Variety of transportation used to get to their destinations.

DULUTH, Minn.- A record number of Americans are expected to head out of town this Holiday season, with Christmas Eve being one of the busiest travel days of the year.

By car, by bus, by train or by plane, nothing was going to stop some Northlanders from getting to their loved ones this holiday.

At the Holiday Stationstore on the corner of London Road and 26th Avenue East, travellers were fueling up before heading out.

While roads look to get pretty dicey later Wednesday into Thursday, drivers said it doesn’t look as bad as what they’ve gone through before.

“I’ve ended up in the ditch a couple times too, so. You can do it, it takes probably twice as long and you have to really be paying attention but we usually get down there if we need to.”

For Nathan Lipinski, getting to his family’s farm in Zimmerman, Minnesota is a must, as time with them is scarce.

“As my family gets older we don’t have as much opportunity to be able to see each other so we’re kinda just focusing on that as much as we can this year,” he said.

Now if your journey is farther than the Twin Cities, you can always take the bus.

Jefferson Lines goes direct to Minneapolis, Fargo, and Sioux Falls, among other cities.

Staff at the DTA Transit Center Downtown said after today business should slow a bit for the bus company.

They warn to keep track of the bus you plan to ride, in case it gets cancelled.

“If it’s gonna be dangerous, those buses aren’t gonna go,” said Jefferson Lines Sales Clerk Jim Stuhr. “It’s the wind and so on. As you know coming up in the Twin Cities there’s some areas that the wind can come across that highway at a pretty brisk rate.”

Stuhr recommends to give your phone number when you purchase your ticket, so the company can call you if your bus is delayed or cancelled.

He said Jefferson Lines will refund your ticket, or give you the option to change it to a later date should your bus be cancelled.

For anyone planning to drive this week, the National Safety Council advises to keep an emergency kit and extra blankets in your car, and to leave earlier than you may think you need to, to prepare for congestion or bad road conditions.