The Terrific Travel Trials to Thanksgiving

By Elizabeth Hernandez, Jordan Meiland, Conor Powers, Johanna Sommer and Brienne Westfall

Students boarding the Loop to go home for Thanksgiving (Photo by Elizabeth Hernandez)

Thanksgiving is just two days away. Here at Purchase, 2,740 students live on campus, meaning many need to travel home for the holidays. Students carpool, get picked up by their families, or take a plane in order to make it back.

As dorms close early on Wednesday morning, students are in the process of finalizing their travel plans, deciding what form of transportation will get them home quick, cheap, and easy.

Hayley Gunning, an enthusiastic freshman, is figuring out how she will be traveling home for the first time this Thanksgiving. Gunning may not be traveling far for the holiday, but her family will still be coming to pick her up.

“My dad is going to drive me home to Riverdale after I finish up my classes this week,” said Gunning, who is from New York.

Gunning is staying home for the holiday, but her family plans on eating out at a vegan restaurant in the city called Bloom for Thanksgiving.

Students are offered a final warning to leave campus for the Thanksgiving holiday (Photo by Jordan Meiland)

Missing classes to travel is necessary for some, but for others, it is not an option. Senior Kari Luna will choose class before travel.

“I always prioritize class,” Luna said. “If it conflicts with going home, I just don’t go home.”

Fortunately, her schedule works out and she’s being picked up by her sister. She even has a backup plan.

“If my sister can’t pick me up, I’ll just take the Metro North,” Luna said.

For some students traveling is the hard part, whereas for others, home is what causes a problem.

“Things got complicated and now they (parents) can’t decide where I go,” said freshman Logan Mooney. “I’m either going to my mother’s house, which is a bit chaotic, with a lot of family members, or I’m going to my dad’s house, which is also a bit chaotic because of work.”

Every year Mooney travels between Long Island and Jersey City, in New Jersey, depending on which parent he is celebrating with.

“They’re still deciding where I’m going, but I don’t get a say in it,” said Mooney.

Whether a student lives nearby, upstate, or across the country, everyone has to make a travel plan that fits with their schedule and budget. This Wednesday, one of the busiest travel days of the year, dorms will close at 9 a.m., so students must be packed and on their way that morning. To all those who are going home this Thanksgiving, good luck and stay safe.

The Loop making its getaway, taking students home for the holiday (Photo by Elizabeth Hernandez)