Thanksgiving is fast approaching, but how fast will your journey home be? Have no fear, Google Maps is here to expedite the trip to the best of its abilities by way of some early data. On Monday, the Google Maps and Google Trends teams published a blog post to help folks plan the start of their holiday season. “From figuring out the best time to leave for grandma’s house to searching for the tastiest pumpkin pie recipe to wow your guests,” the internet giant wrote, “Google’s your guide to a successful (and gluttonous) turkey day.”
First and foremost, Google wants to ensure you can get to the food. For Turkey Day 2016, it looks as though the best time to get on the road would be early in the morning on November 20, the Sunday before Thanksgiving. “In cities with busy airports, airport traffic can be up to 60 percent worse than a normal workday,” Google points out, with the five most hectic airports located in Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, New York, and Atlanta.
Thanksgiving is not a time for procrastinators, as Google projects that the worst time to leave this year would be around 3 p.m. on November 23. Really, at that point, you might as well not leave at all.
But do not dawdle once you finished stuffing yourself — Google Maps data suggests the best time to leave after your food coma passes is 6 a.m. on November 25. Conversely, the worst time to leave would be the late afternoon on the following day, November 26.
As for what you will actually be stuffing yourself with on Thanksgiving — and perhaps the days following — Google Trends offers a few insights. Presently, the top trending recipes for Thanksgiving are turkey dressing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, prime rib, and corn casserole. As for the actual turkey preparation, it looks like roast turkey is the most popular method, followed by smoked turkey, grilled turkey, braised turkey, and of course, fried turkey.
So get ready, friends. You’re just a week or so away from hopefully avoiding traffic and running into the best meal of the year.