WASHINGTON 鈥� It鈥檚 common knowledge that hitting the road in the D.C. area, like most places, is particularly tough around Thanksgiving. You may not have realized, however, that this region ranks among the worst in the country for Thanksgiving travel.
Google adds that the worst day of Thanksgiving week to travel is Wednesday, the day before the holiday. That鈥檚 no surprise, but it turns out it may wait a day to come home: Traffic on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Google says, is worse than on the Sunday, and by a wide margin 鈥� up to 40 percent.
It also analyzed search-term data for the weekend, and found that you鈥檇 better get that ham on Tuesday at the latest. 鈥淗am shop鈥� was the top trending destination search on Google Maps on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, followed by 鈥減ie shop鈥� and, perhaps inevitably, 鈥渓iquor store.鈥�
The data make for some fun speculation. The top search term on Thanksgiving Day nationwide was 鈥渂uffet restaurants,鈥� which conjures up a picture of some entertaining kitchen failures.
Meanwhile, lots of Chicagoans were searching for bars 鈥� family can do that to you 鈥� and Houstonians were looking for the nearest doughnut shop.
And while the Black Friday searches were predictable 鈥� electronics stores, outlet stores and Christmas tree farms were on top 鈥� one of the top search terms in New York was for tattoo shops.
The traffic list, from worst to 鈥� well, less worst:
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