Leave your stress behind - Follow these guidelines to ensure holiday travel goes smoothly

The holiday season is upon us. This means frantic gift buying, the joy or disdain that comes with visiting long-unseen relatives and, of course, the hectic and stressful traveling that accompanies Christmas and New Year's.

Despite the fact that over the last several years, due to soaring gas prices and the fear of terrorism, more people than usual opted to stay home than to travel over the holidays, signs are pointing to this being one of the most congested holiday periods in some time. Therefore, this year it is more important than ever to plan ahead and be prepared.

Booking flights early and planning the days you are going to travel is crucial. Both Christmas and New Year's will fall on a Sunday this year.

This means that a significant number of people will be forced, for work reasons, to travel on the Friday preceding these two holidays and the Monday that follows. Do everything you can to avoid these two travels days, and most likely you will have a far easier time traveling.

Another way to cut travel time for those flying over the holiday is to pick early morning or late evening flights when possible. These flights are unattractive, particularly to families traveling together, therefore they will be less crowded and the airport will be far less hectic. Your flight may even leave on time for once.

To cut down on stress and avoid high prices, it is also important to do your homework -- particularly when booking flights. In general there has been a 15 percent price jump in flights from this time last year, but don't be discouraged because this doesn't mean that there aren't deals to be found.

While good deals during the peak travel dates are going to be hard to come by, there are a lot of great, cheap flights available this winter -- such as an $165 dollar flight on Air France from New York to Paris through January-- proving that the best deals aren't necessarily on discount travel web sites.

There are also a lot of great web sites that are devoted to price comparisons. These web sites, like http//www.travel.com and http//www.cheapseats.com tend to be relatively objective and helpful.

In addition, it is always important to be aware of the hidden costs. Most online ticket services do not display taxes or other hidden fees of the flight until the very final step of booking. These hidden fees can reach several hundred dollars.

There are several tips for saving time during your hectic day of travel. Take advantage of Web-based airline resources whenever possible, like printing your boarding pass at home.

And definitely skip the long lines of the personal check-in in favor of the self-check-in kiosks. Be wary of the weight of your bags this holiday season, as airlines are cracking down on baggage limits and baggage weights in order to cut costs.

Security is going to be particularly tight in airports this holiday season, so be prepared. Know that if you are planning on carrying wrapped gifts you run the risk of having them unwrapped by security personnel.

Another thing to be aware of is suitcase locks. Airport security is now authorized to cut off any lock they find on baggage in order to search the bag's contents. In turn the lock will be replaced with a flimsy tie down lock that will need to be cut off when you get to your destination.

It is moreimportant than ever to dress appropriately when traveling, and with tightening security this doesn't mean dressing up but rather dressing down.

You never quite know what you are going to be forced to take off in order for the item to be inspected, and airport security is certainly not going to be more careful with especially nice items of clothing then with other clothing.

Finally, the most important thing to remember to do this holiday season when traveling is to pack a great book and some good music to fight the boredom that will arise from inevitable traffic or delays. The holidays are meant to be a time to relax, and it is important to keep that in mind.