Don’t ditch travel planning: Alternate options abound

April 3, 2026 Gale Horton Gay

These are trying times for those looking forward to traveling this spring and summer.

Recent air disasters, spiking airfares due to Mideast conflicts, and hours-long waits to reach TSA checkpoints at airports are likely causing many would-be travelers to rethink taking flight.

In times like these, it’s important to be flexible and consider alternative options. There are a wealth of ways of having a less stressful and chaotic vacation by passing air travel altogether when it’s not convenient. Here are some ideas:

Guided bus and van tours. Consider leaving the driving to someone else. There are several companies offering excursions in which they pick up passengers in metro Atlanta for multi-day trips to out-of-state destinations. A quick online search turned up several bus and van tours leaving from metro Atlanta. For example, Golden Bus Tours offers a 4-day trip from Atlanta to Asheville, Chattanooga and Nashville, Tennessee, for $598. Details on Golden Bus Tours can be found at goldenbustours.com. Also, Red Coach (redcoaschusa.com) offers Atlanta to Orlando service, although this is strictly ground transportation and is not guided.

Road trips. A do-it-yourself road trip allows travelers to set the tone, length, and budget for the getaway that suits them best. Online and artificial intelligence tools such as Google, Copilot, Gemini, and ChatGPT are helpful in offering suggestions that users can then customize to fit them best. Check destinations’ convention and visitor bureau websites for information about special events, must-see and off-the-beaten-path attractions, timely offers and discounts, and accommodations. Also, AAA (acg.aaa.com) and AARP (aarp.org) both offer travel assistance and advice and are good planning sources for members.

Train excursions. Amtrak’s Crescent line provides train service from New York to Atlanta and to New Orleans with stops at 33 to 37 major and minor cities along the way. From Atlanta, one can head north with stops in Charlotte, North Carolina; Baltimore, Maryland; Washington, D.C., and more. Heading south to New Orleans, stops include Birmingham, Alabama, and Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Traveling by train to New York connects travels with opportunities to travel farther by train to such destinations as Boston, Miami, Chicago, and out west to such states as New Mexico, California, as well as Montreal in Canada. For more information on Amtrak, go to Amtrak.com. There are other rail options such as the Rocky Mountaineer and Grand Canyon Railway that travel through some of the country’s most picturesque landscapes with most embarking from somewhere in the Midwest.

Travel on waterways. Cruising is a popular option for a vacation year round. Driving to a cruise port is an alternative to flying and there are many ports of departure to choose from. Some of those ports closer metro Atlanta are Charleston, South Carolina; Jacksonville, Florida; and Mobile, Alabama (all approximately 5-hour drives from DeKalb County). Big cruise lines such as Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Princess aren’t the only options for a vacation on water. Riverboat cruises are also an alternative with small vessels exploring many of the nations waterways. American Cruise Lines offers small ship cruising on rivers such as the Mississippi, Columbia, Snake, Ohio, Hudson, Arkansas and Potomac. Their ships accommodate 90 to 180 passengers and boast of having larger staterooms, more personalized service and no casinos. For more details, go to americancruiselines.com.

Hopefully, by the time this article appears in print and online, TSA agents again will be receiving their well-deserved pay and the crisis in America’s airports will be resolved. Still, these suggestions can be included in anyone’s travel planning whether air travel is an option or not.