The getaway that is really a traffic report

The late-August / Labor Day getaway is a travel product with a known defect: the calendar. Highways fill. Airports perform the same play they performed last year. A two-hour drive becomes a negotiation. The destination is often fine. The getting there is the review.

If the trip is a beach or a family house you already love, the traffic is the tax and you will pay it. If the trip is a vague 'we should get out,' stay put. Score the format, not a single town. The current event in travel this week is not a secret place. It is the number of people who thought they found one.

Leave earlier than pride allows, or stay home and keep the weekend. Both are legitimate travel decisions.