While visiting a new place can be exciting and enjoyable, the hours or days that you spend actually traveling to this destination can be long and grueling, even for the most experienced traveler. When things go smoothly, travel days can be minimally stressful. However, it always seems that something goes wrong during long travel days, which can make these days seem even longer and more stressful. Luckily, there are a few things you can do to help reduce this stress and perhaps find joy in the journey. To show you how this can be done, here are three ways you can make travel days go a bit smoother for you.

Give Yourself More Than Enough Time

One of the biggest reasons why people feel stress on travel days is because they don’t give themselves enough time to get everything done that they need. Especially if you have a flight to catch or need to be at your destination by a certain time, it’s completely within your control to leave earlier and give yourself more time, which can also result in safer driving and fewer car accidents on the road. When you don’t feel like there’s a ticking clock on you, you’ll feel much less stressed. According to Ed Hewitt, a contributor to Smarter Travel, you should especially give yourself more time to get to economy lots at airports, as finding a spot to park and getting to your terminal can often take longer than you anticipate.

Try To Get An Earlier Flight

For times when you will be flying as part of your travel plans, Benet Wilson, a contributor to TripSavvy.com, advises that you try to avoid getting flights later in the day and, instead, do your best to get an earlier flight. If you have a later flight, it’s very easy for your flight to get delayed or even cancelled if other earlier flights have had issues. This can make your travel days hard and unpredictable. So to hedge your bets that your travel plans will go according to plan, try to get flights earlier in the day.

Think About Food Leading Up To Your Travels and The Day Of

Aside from timing and issues with your transportation, another reason you might have a less than ideal travel day could be because your body doesn’t behave the way you want it to. For most people, this comes down to nutrition and preparing your body for your travel days before they happen. To help with this, Erica Ho, a contributor to LifeHacker.com, recommends that you try to eat lighter in the days leading up to travel, as heavy meals can be hard to digest and can make you very uncomfortable when having to sit for long periods of time.

To help you have better days when you’re traveling, consider using the tips mentioned above when preparing for your next trip.