Americans have a deep love for Thanksgiving.
They love to binge on carbs and turkey, watch athletes concuss themselves, and articulate what they’re thankful for, only to return to their usual habits the day after.
I’m mostly joking about that last part, but if you know you know.
What I discovered years ago is that your family will probably still love you if you ditch all that and take advantage of the benefits of getting out of the U.S. at Thanksgiving.
Whether you’re ready to take flight on Thanksgiving week or need a little more coaxing, check out my favorite reasons why Thanksgiving is a great time to go abroad.
You can maximize your vacation time.
Our Thanksgiving travel tradition began when I got a teaching job in California. Previously, I was used to the usual two days off for the holiday and Black Friday, which made any Thanksgiving trip planning a stretch.
I was then gifted with a full week to do what I pleased with, and I was pleased to convince my husband that taking a “holiday holiday” would be a good move.
He’s thankfully game for most of the ideas I propose, so it didn’t take long before we took our first trip abroad over the holiday. It was to China, and while the smog was no joke, we got to see the Great Wall.
Even if you only get a few extra days around the holiday, you’re still not using as much vacation time as you would if it wasn’t Thanksgiving. If you’re an American with limited annual leave, saving those precious vacation days is a big deal.
You can make your own traditions.
While you’re on your Thanksgiving vacation, you can make your own traditions, too.
You can share what you’re thankful for at the top of a beautiful vista over some jerky. If you’d rather take it easy, you can do so on an island, umbrella drink in hand.
If you want a taste of home, especially if it’s your first Thanksgiving away, you can still go out for dinner and eat all of the carbs.
Many countries even have special Thanksgiving dinner menus if you really need some of that turkey, followed by the deep sleep of a post-turkey coma. You do you.
Thanksgiving vacation deals are real and plentiful.
As long as you’re going abroad, you’ll have plenty of options as far as cheap Thanksgiving vacations.
Note: Thanksgiving holiday travel domestically is a nightmare, though, and should be avoided at all costs. Save New York City or Myrtle Beach for another day.
Thanksgiving remains a less popular time to travel internationally, particularly if you’re coming from the United States. With less demand come the deals, as it’s still off-season for many places.
Destinations typically considered out of reach for budget travelers are all of a sudden an option.
Imagine sweet flight deals to places on your bucket lists for the best Thanksgiving getaways.
Go chase the Northern Lights and floating glaciers in Icelandic lakes or explore the mysteries of Morocco in more comfortable temperatures.
Hit that Caribbean island you’ve been thinking about for years, and force your beau to go horseback riding along the beach. Is golf your favorite thing ever, as it is for Brian? Visit an international golf course.
As you’re traveling outside of peak season — and during a time when these places see fewer American tourists — you’ll also have more room in your budget.
Fewer Americans abroad isn’t a bad thing.
Imagine Europe without all the baseball caps and cargo shorts. Imagine fewer tourists looking for the nearest Red Lobster, or regaling their friends with a very loud story.
I’m describing Americans here, by the way.
My people can be quite obnoxious abroad. The majority of travelers I encounter are good people, just looking to have a meaningful time on their trip, but I have a sixth sense for spotting misbehaving Americans.
Things get particularly dicey on airplanes, especially during huge domestic travel times like Thanksgiving.
Imagine not having to tell people you’re Canadian because they already assume as much due to your travel during Thanksgiving. I’m not saying I do this.
Maybe going abroad will be your new tradition. Bring along your favorites. Again, the good ones will still love you when you’re back on home soil.
It’s the less basic thing to do.
I get it. You want to show off your new fuzzy boots while sipping on that pumpkin spice latte and picking out the perfect gourd for your holiday patio display.
Imagine if there was more to life, though, than conducting your autumnal business like everybody else.
Your Instagram feed could stand out above the pumpkin patches and the blanket scarves if you went abroad. All of a sudden, someone scrolling through could come upon you at a world wonder, on a beach, or hiking through the wilderness.
OK, these are ridiculous reasons to travel, whether during Thanksgiving or not, but if you see what I see on social media, you know that Thanksgiving is a big deal for influencers.
I say that with a straight face, or at least an attempt at a straight face.
If you really need that pumpkin spice latte, it’s still around outside of Thanksgiving, sometimes by the end of September. You can have your fill before you go abroad and post all the selfies with all the hashtags.
You can still have Thanksgiving outside of Thanksgiving.
Ok, fine. I love Thanksgiving food. I also missed out on that glistening turkey for traditional Thanksgiving dinner for a bunch of years because for some reason there was a goose on the table when I was growing up.
Fun fact: I don’t know why, but Polish people love their goose meat, and assume it’s superior to turkey. Maybe that’s true, but it was still traumatizing when I was a kid.
Anyway, turkey’s also for sale when it isn’t Thanksgiving if you must have turkey. (It’s pretty basic, right?)
I hear Friendsgiving is a thing. Maybe it can be more about getting all your buddies together, cookin’ up a turkey, and having yourselves a grand old time before or after the traditional holiday.
Maybe you can time your return for some leftovers, which are better than the real deal anyway. Perhaps your family’s super cool and wants to have turkey times on a different day, or maybe they’re super duper cool and want to travel with you.
It’s also one meal.
Think of all the culinary delights you can come upon just by missing that one meal.
I also know pumpkin pie’s a thing when it’s not Thanksgiving Day. I eat it on a number of occasions. In fact, I don’t need an occasion to eat it. I just eat it.
The holidays can be stressful.
Sometimes spending the holidays at home is stressful. I’m not even touching on family dynamics here because this can be true even in conventional households.
If you’re the one who usually hosts Thanksgiving, it can be even more stressful. I’ve only done it a handful of times, and it was a lot.
You spend a week preparing for the thing, they all spend an hour (if that) eating all of the things, and then it’s over.
I’d rather be stressed out over whether I want to spend a long weekend on the French Riviera or a beach in Thailand, to be honest.
I’m kidding. That’s not a stressful decision at all.
READ MORE: Did that weekend on the French Riviera sound intriguing? See how we spent our time there!
Good meals are waiting abroad.
I’ve already mentioned that you’ll come across restaurants abroad that cater to sad Americans and will have menus available that have all of the classics. If you NEED turkey and gravy, you’ll be able to find it. I promise.
I think it’s more fun to branch out and eat as the locals do. It would also blow the cover of us pretending to be Canadian if we were ordering pumpkin pie and stuffing.
Note: Again, I’m not saying we’ve done that.
We’ve had Peking duck in Beijing, China, yakitori meat skewers in Tokyo, Japan, fresh fish in South America on Easter Island, and burgers and beer in Iceland on Thanksgiving.
Our most traditional Thanksgiving feast was on a trip to Nice, France.
We went to La Rossettisserie, an eatery in Old Nice that had platters with your choice of meat and a side of mashed/roasted potatoes or ratatouille. It was a good-sized portion of food for not many dollars.
It was all great.
You can save the night for a foodie experience if you so desire, or have something cheap and local. It’s your holiday. Do with it as you please, and what you’ll be most grateful for after.
You get to avoid Black Friday like the plague that it is.
Black Friday is terrible.
Everyone’s always way too sweaty despite the negative temperatures outside, and you always go home with something you wouldn’t have purchased otherwise.
I went Black Friday shopping once, and will never go again.
I had this ugly orange sweater I was pressured into buying on one said adventure for years, until a desire for downsizing took hold and that thing hit the bricks.
If you’re someone who loves those shopping deals enough that this is a reason why you’d want to stay behind, I have news for you.
Most of those deals are now available online, often during the entire week of Thanksgiving, so all you need on your Thanksgiving vacation is WiFi.
Fun fact: You can still get all your goodies on Cyber Monday, too.
Still, aren’t experiences better than stuff?
You can connect with some expats.
It’s fun meeting people abroad. You can learn so much by interacting with locals who may or may not know much about turkey comas.
There’s an added layer of comfort if you find a nice group of American expats while abroad, though, especially around the holidays. You can share your Thanksgiving traditions with your new pals or skip them altogether.
I’m not telling you to seek them out when you’re having the time of your life abroad, but it’s likely that you’ll bump into your fellow countrymen anyway. It just always tends to work out that way.
It’s easy to feel thankful when you’re traveling.
Traveling is a privilege.
Not everyone can go abroad, and I get that. It can be especially hard when you’re planning family travel on a budget or weighing whether it’s worth taking the kids away from their grandparents on a holiday.
Once you make it happen, it’s hard then not to feel grateful when you’re out there exploring the world. Throw in some bucket list experiences and you may even get a little verklempt thinking about how lucky you are.
I love the tradition of sharing what you’re thankful for on Thanksgiving, and that’s even easier to do when you travel abroad over the holiday.
I try to keep those vibes going outside of that one day, though. We’re very lucky to have seen as much of the world as we have so far, and hope we express that enough.
Where are you going this Thanksgiving?
The top Thanksgiving travel destinations outside the U.S. vary by year based on trends and Thanksgiving vacation deals.
Here are a few trip ideas you can generally expect on those annual lists:
- France
- Italy
- Mexico
- Costa Rica
- Japan
- England
- The Caribbean
Europe in particular is a delight in the fall/winter. You may even see some Christmas decor if you’re going somewhere that loves Christmas enough to start putting decorations up a month prior.
Really, anywhere you go will result in an adventure you won’t forget, especially if you’re able to avoid the horrors of domestic travel over Thanksgiving week in the process.
Looking for more travel tips? Check out these posts:
- Fun Things to Do on Long Flights
- Learn About My Favorite Travel Pillow
- Types of Hikers You’ll Encounter on Hikes
- Airbnb Tips for Your Next Overnight
- National Park Rules You Need to Follow
Here are a few more posts just for fun:
- How to Cure (or Embrace!) the Travel FOMO
- Unique Gifts to Give Frequent Travelers
- All of My Reasons to Skip That Next Cruise
- We Should Stop Talk About Overrated Places
- Tips for Traveling Introverts (Like Me!)
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