Shortest flight away from Christmas?

September 10, 2016 10:38 AM

Let's say you are a person who doesn't enjoy Christmas and you live in Chicago, what's the shortest flight to a place where Christmas isn't widely celebrated?

I'd even take places where it's not celebrated on the 25th (Orthodoxy).

posted by melissam to Travel & Transportation (27 answers total)

Iceland maybe. Cheap flights too.
posted by humboldt32 at 10:48 AM on September 10, 2016

Out-of-the box suggestion: to escape Valentine's day after a bad breakup I once went to Vegas. You pretty much can stay in a casino and gamble all day and forget it's a holiday at all. You have to enjoy gambling, possibly drinking, and probably smoking.
posted by Threeve at 10:48 AM on September 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

Hmm, that rules out the rest of the Americas and a good chunk of Europe.

From wikipedia: "Countries in which Christmas is not a formal public holiday include Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bhutan, Cambodia, China (excepting Hong Kong and Macao), Comoros, Iran, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Laos, Libya, Maldives, Mauritania, Mongolia, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Yemen."

In some of them Christmas is being celebrated, despite not being a public holiday, but more for marketing and gift-giving than for religious reasons, as these countries do not have a Christian majority - i.e. Japan. Most of these countries have adopted at least some of the trappings of the holiday. Armenia celebrates Christmas on the last day of December, the day Jesus was baptized.

Iceland definitely celebrates Christmas - from the 24th through Jan 6th.

Morocco is probably a good choice.
posted by ananci at 10:53 AM on September 10, 2016 [3 favorites]

Kiryas Joel, New York might be on option if a town is enough non-Christmas for you.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:57 AM on September 10, 2016 [4 favorites]

For some years, when we weren't so much interested in Christmas, we went to Rome. Now that does not seem like a good solution, but since we are a mix of Lutheran and Jewish, all the Roman Catholic stuff was exotic enough to not register as "Christmas". I had the same nice experience once I went to Mexico - arriving on Christmas Day, I was able to walk through Mexico City with no smog and no crowds. Whatever it was the hotel restaurant served was delicious, but not in any way christmassy to me.

So what I am suggesting is to find a place where the type of Christmas you are used to is unusual/rare. Doesn't have to be very far away, depending on your traditions.
posted by mumimor at 10:59 AM on September 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

How much socialization are you wanting to do? You can find Buddhist retreats all over the country if you just want a few days of quiet contemplation.
posted by Candleman at 11:13 AM on September 10, 2016 [4 favorites]

Maybe a cabin retreat?
posted by amtho at 11:28 AM on September 10, 2016 [4 favorites]

A short drive/bus ride to your nearest Asian or Orthodox Christian* enclave? It's very easy to just not celebrate Christmas or surround yourself with people who aren't celebrating Christmas in any major US city.

If you want to literally be in a place where you're not going to hear Christmas pop songs on the radio, not drive by a store with a Happy Holidays sign in the window, etc. you're probably looking at a flight to Asia or the Middle East.

*Orthodox Christians do their celebrating on Epiphany, so most things are open for business as usual on the 25th. For a long time my friends and I had the tradition of Christmas dinner at one of the big Russian restaurants in Brighton Beach, NYC, for example.
posted by Sara C. at 11:34 AM on September 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

There are kosher cruises over Christmas, which might be a quick flight to Miami and a hop on a boat.

Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on CHRISTMAS (or the Feast of the Theophany), in the Julian calendar, which is January 6 or 7. Gregorian Epiphany is January 6. Julian Epiphany is January 19, not 6 or 7.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 11:41 AM on September 10, 2016 [8 favorites]

I was in Iceland last Christmas. They VERY MUCH do celebrate Christmas.
posted by mollymayhem at 11:53 AM on September 10, 2016 [6 favorites]

The Bahamas has a big crazy parade and non-jolly festivities around Christmas. It's still sort of Christmas, but Junkanoo overshadows it in the big cities, including Nassau. It's free of Santa, carols, and the usual Christmas stuff. If you travel on Christmas day, you can arrive with plenty of time to see the parade and as an added bonus spend the day in flight.
posted by juniperesque at 1:01 PM on September 10, 2016

Palm Beach County in FL - the most Jewish county in the US outside of New York - well, probably about 3/4 of the people here celebrate Christmas, but it's very easy to feel non-Christmasy when it's 90 degrees out and you're lying on a beach. I definitely don't feel the onslaught of Christmas here the way I did up north.
posted by Daily Alice at 2:32 PM on September 10, 2016

There are certainly places in NYC (and the surrounding counties) where the dominant culture is Jewish and Christmas will hardly make dent.
posted by SemiSalt at 2:33 PM on September 10, 2016

Wherever you are, it will be much better if you don't watch TV and stay out of shopping malls.
posted by Daily Alice at 2:34 PM on September 10, 2016

If you're looking for a short flight because you're on a budget, I vote for holing up in a cabin somewhere. Wisconsin has a bunch of them on AirBnB and I bet the availability will be high because most people will be with their families. Mennonites don't seem to do many Christmas-y things, so I have a specific suggestion of a farm in Western Wisconsin if you want to memail me. They have cabins for rent and they leave you completely alone.
posted by AFABulous at 3:17 PM on September 10, 2016

Maybe go somewhere where there are very few people, thus being minimally in contact with anyone doing anything. Remote cabin, etc.
posted by soakimbo at 4:02 PM on September 10, 2016

Maybe Cuba? Christmas was banned for decades under Castro and to this day it remains, apparently, a pretty low-key holiday: kids go to school, shops are open, etc. Might be worth exploring.
posted by crazy with stars at 4:17 PM on September 10, 2016 [2 favorites]

Actually yeah, I've spent Christmas in Cuba and there wasn't a whole lot of recognisably Christmassy stuff going on. I think there was some kind of festival in mid-December which we just missed (I can't even remember if it was Christmas-related), but that whole 24-27 Dec time was unremarkable. On the 25th I went for a dawn run along the Malecon, took a coach across the country, snorkelled in the Caribbean and had crocodile for lunch.

Also, the whole country is fucking awesome, so there's that.
posted by penguin pie at 4:46 PM on September 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

Yeah, along the lines of Daily Alice's advice I'd say Los Angeles or San Diego. California just doesn't have...winter, nor the subsequent overboard Christmas stuff. Yeah, there's a little but it's way more toned down and easy to ignore. Plus, whatever decorations are up at the mall are either modified (Santa in surf shorts) or totally incongruous as to be ludicrous.

Go to the beach, eat some Mexican food, have a beer.

In Japan it's sort of date-night thing, kinda like Valentine's, and the big thing to do is go to KFC (?).
posted by jrobin276 at 4:48 PM on September 10, 2016

I live in Los Angeles, and yes, we totally have Christmas here. It's exactly as annoying and ubiquitous as the rest of the country. I've never noticed "modified" decorations like Santa in surf shorts or anything "totally incongruous as to be ludicrous". It's literally exactly the same as Christmas in any other part of the country.

It's also not really that warm, unless you regard 40-50 degrees as "warm". There's no snow, but it's not beach weather, or even "drink a cold beer outside" weather.

Mexican-American people celebrate Christmas, and thus Mexican restaurants, taco trucks, etc. will be closed on Christmas just like the Mexican restaurants, taco trucks, etc. in Chicago.
posted by Sara C. at 4:55 PM on September 10, 2016 [4 favorites]

Last year on the 24/25th I was in Puerto Vallarta at a beach hotel and there was nothing more Christmasy than a buffet with turkey.
posted by ITravelMontana at 4:55 PM on September 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

Weird. I grew up in California, and didn't experience a northern (Chicago/NY) type Christmas until I was an adult - seemed like a whole different kettle of fish. YMMV, clearly.
posted by jrobin276 at 5:01 PM on September 10, 2016

Having lived in both Chicago and California, I was actually going to recommend California.
Chicago overdoes Christmas in a way that makes it impossible to get away from and really annoying. In California one can get away from it pretty easily.
posted by susiswimmer at 5:02 PM on September 10, 2016

We used to go to the California wine country to escape Christmas. The wineries aren't very Christmassy at all. Then we'd drive back Christmas Day and eat at an Asian restaurant of some sort. Good times. If Christmas music on the radio is something you don't want, there is music on CDs or phones.

Christmas didn't seem to be too big a deal in Jerusalem when we went there in '07. Someplace like Bethlehem or Nazareth in Israel might be a different story.
posted by Anne Neville at 6:10 PM on September 10, 2016

Fly out Christmas and return on New Years!
Athens $614
Beijing $681
Istanbul $731
Not short flights but they're surprisingly cheap.
posted by miyabo at 7:20 PM on September 10, 2016

Fly out Christmas and return on New Years!

Christmas Day is one of my favorite days to fly. It's cheaper and everything is more spacious than the surrounding days. But you will definitely find Christmas stuff at the airport (O'Hare, in particular, is famous for its Christmas decorations) and flight crews often mention it.
posted by grouse at 3:15 PM on September 11, 2016 [1 favorite]

I am a person who grew up near Chicago and has lived in Los Angeles for two decades. We have Christmas here (people put up decorations, drugstores play carols, Santa visits shopping malls) but honestly it does not feel like Christmas to me. Last year, the temperature on Christmas got up to 59 degrees. If you're coming from winter in Chicago, that's practically a heat wave.

However, everything will be closed on Christmas day, just like in Chicago. So I'd probably find somewhere that actually doesn't celebrate Christmas.
posted by roger ackroyd at 5:27 PM on September 11, 2016