Trying to get around over the holidays at the last minute, and last minute airfares are bringing you down? That's partly because last minute airfare's always spendy, but partly because Thanksgiving week is what's called a peak air travel time and airfares do peak accordingly. If you can leave on Thanksgiving Thursday, you've an awesome option: standby -- absolutely worth a shot with Airtran U, Airtran's student-only standby airfares for flyers 18-22 years old. $69 one way tickets to or from most cities the eastern airline serves and $99 to or from a handful of its "long haul" routes (like Seattle), but fares are blacked out Saturday and Sunday (consider catching a bus or Amtrak back -- you can get student discounts).

Learn more:

• Airtran U Standby Tickets (find an Airtran route map, too)

Related: Current Student Airfare Deals | How to Find Student Travel Discounts | Air Travel Prep for Beginners | Thanksgiving Travel Tools

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Has the week wandered by and your need to travel for Thanksgiving travel is suddenly imminent and you're not home yet? Or need to travel to a friend's place for a ride to Mom's? No worries-- know you've got an option other than last minute air: go over the river and through the woods with a Greyhound bus student travel discount, using the Student Advantage card. You don't need the actual card if you have to buy *and* travel the same day (like Thanksgiving day) -- just order and get the card number. And the card will be handy for other discounts when you do have it in hand.

• Greyhound Bus Discounts for Students -- Read up on how to get Greyhound bus student discounts and a Student Advantage card, find Greyhound bus schedules, and get bus riding tips.
• About Student Advantage Cards

More on USA bus travel (like Chinatown buses and Megabus):

• Options for Cheap Buses in the US

Related: How to Get Student Travel Discounts | About Student Discount Cards | Thanksgiving Travel Tools

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Thanksgiving week travel may continue to be a bit easier (but probably not cheaper, though student airfares are fairly reasonable) than usual this year: AAA recently reported that results of its now-annual Global Insight survey forecast that 38.4 million folks will be on the roads, airways and rails this Thanksgiving weekend, a very small increase of 1.4 percent (just above 548,000 travelers) over 2008. And 2008 was down 25.2 percent over 2007. Easy enough to conclude that airports, anyway, won't be horribly crowded this year. Thursday (Thanksgiving day) will be the cheapest day to fly, but air travel's not the only way to go. Learn more:

• AAA Thanksgiving Travel Survey

More on Thanksgiving travel:

• Thanksgiving Travel Tools
• Compare Airfares
• Finding Student Airfares
• Taking the Train
• The Bus!

Related reading: Christmas Travel Planning | Finding Student Airfares | Student Airfare Deals This Week | How to Get Student Travel Discounts

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Hitting the road home for Thanksgiving? Know that food and lodging are the biggest road trip travel budget busters, followed by unintentionally guzzling (spendy) gas... and they can all totally be avoided. Learn how to save money on road trips with budget food and snacks (and we're not just talking packing some turkey sammies) and get the top gas-saving tips, too:

• Top Five Money Saving Road Trip Tips
• Thanksgiving Travel Tools

Related: Road Trip Planning 101 | American Road Food | US Road Atlases | Road Trip Photos: Impressions of the Road From States Less Traveled | Road Trip Wonders: West Virginia

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