Avoid Airport Chaos: These Long-Haul Alternatives Are Much Better Than Flying

We tend to romanticize the golden age of air travel with its silver service carts and mid-mod styling. Those glory days are long gone, and air travel today is utilitarian at best and a royal chore at worst. As a partner traveling in a wheelchair, it is painfully obvious that the lack of accessibility, dignity and, frankly, safety that necessitated the first Air Passengers with Disabilities Bill of Rights remains relevant to this day.

Add to that the environmental impact of travel, rising costs, the nightmare of security lines, flight delays, cancellations and cramped seats, is it any wonder that travelers are looking for more and more options? And in this area, there is good news. Here are three alternatives to a long-haul flight that get there one of the most enjoyable parts of the experience.

MAKE MEMORIES: The Best Family Vacation Spots in the USA, Trusted by Real Travelers and Families: FamilyVacationist’s 2026 Guide

Take a campervan

Road trips are perhaps the epitome of a family vacation in the United States. All you have to do is load up the family truck and you decide where and when you go. If you’re looking to upgrade your road trip, it might be time to consider a recreational vehicle (RV). These mobile homes allow you to take a large part of your comfort with you, including creatures (i.e. your pets). If you don’t have your own RV, there are many ways to rent one, including through Cruise America, RV Trader, or your local dealership.

LEARN MORE: Give van life a chance in the Winnebago Roam accessible campervan

“RV travel is disrupting the family vacation economy,” says Juliana Baena, director of strategic OEM partnerships at Trader Interactive (the company behind RV Trader). “Instead of multiplying the costs per person boarding the plane, in an RV, you divide the expenses for transportation, meals and accommodation.”

My family has taken a few RV trips to state and national parks, including an epic Grand Circle tour of southern Utah and northern Arizona that included Zion National Park, Cedar Breaks National Monument, Bryce Canyon National Park, and the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. Overall, we were pleased with the convenience. We stocked the kitchen, cooked most of our meals while camping, and created an essential family memory of an attempt at s’more pop tarts (a s’mop tart if you will). By my calculations, we saved at least 30% of what we would have paid if we had rented a car, stayed in a hotel, and eaten at a restaurant.

“The campervan is an investment in travel,” adds Baena. “You trade the stress of boarding passes, long airport queues and hotel check-in times for an always-stocked kitchen, a garden that changes every evening and the rare freedom to make a detour the best part of the trip, without leaving the comfort of home. »

Traveling by train

Want to enjoy all the panoramic scenery without the stress of driving? What if we jumped on the rails? Amtrak has rail lines that crisscross the United States, and VIA Rail transports passengers across Canada. In between are other railroads running through national parks and deep into Alaska’s interior. Some of the benefits of train travel include the ability to move around during the journey, dining cars for food and drinks, sleeper cabins for long journeys, and glass-domed cars for enjoying the scenic views. As if all that wasn’t enough, trains emit less carbon than driving or flying.

ALL ON BOARD: The Best Family Train Trips in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia

“Traveling by train isn’t just about rushing from point A to point B, it’s also about rediscovering the joy of travel itself,” says Olivia Irwin, Amtrak’s senior director of public relations. “From private rooms and on-board meals to panoramic views of America’s most iconic landscapes, our long-distance trains connect travelers not only to destinations, but also to the landscapes in between. »

On my family trip to the Last Frontier, we used the Alaska Railroad for our transportation. The scenic trip included Gold Star service with glass domed ceilings for all seats, an upper-level outdoor observation deck, meals in a full-service dining room, and two adult beverages per trip (for passengers 21 and older). On all of these trips on the Alaska Railroad, an Alaska Tour Guide accompanies each trip to learn about history, point out remarkable scenery, and help spot animals along the way.

Liner

Once the only way to cross the ocean, the ocean liner lost its importance as airlines reduced travel time from days to hours. But for those who want to savor the journey, Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 is the last true ocean liner in existence. Different from a traditional cruise ship, an ocean liner has a reinforced hull and is specially built to withstand the waves and weather of a transatlantic crossing. Today the navigation lasts about a week, but it allows for a lot of relaxation and fun along the way. As your body slowly adjusts to time changes, there is no jet lag once you arrive at your destination.

“The journey, not just the destination, becomes a defining part of the vacation experience when choosing a transatlantic cruise over a long-haul flight,” says Liz Fettes, senior vice president, North America Commercial at Cunard. “[With] A carefully curated daily schedule for each generation, these crossings transform the journey into something much more meaningful.

FUN AT SEA: Want a more adult cruise? These lines are ideal for travelers over 50 years old

The Queen Mary 2 may be the last liner, but many cruise ships also make the crossing. And it’s not just transatlantic cruises. Many cruise lines offer “repositioning cruises”, moving their ships from one region of the world to another, for example: from Europe to the Caribbean, from the east coast to the west via the Panama Canal, or from Australia to the west coast via Hawaii. Sometimes discounts can be found on these repositioning cruises due to their increased days at sea.

More from FamilyVacationist: