Beat the rush at Easter

Few things are more frustrating in life than the traffic snarl that awaits your departure for a few days or weeks of hedonistic pleasure at some idyllic oasis just hours away.

If you've ever run into four lanes of bumper-to-bumper traffic on the Princes Highway to Geelong from Melbourne at the height of summer or queued up behind a line of cars on the way to Batemans Bay from Canberra, there just doesn't appear to be a good time to go on a driving holiday.

The Easter period can be pretty hectic too...

Few holiday-makers enjoy the travel to and from their preferred destination – yet driving bookends our holidays. If it's an unpleasant experience it will cast a pall over our kicking-back time. Most drivers just want to minimise their hours behind the wheel and maximise the hours at the campsite, sipping a cold beverage or whatever drink takes their fancy.

What to do?

So the hard-core vacationer will plan to have the kids in bed at 8pm the night before leaving and the car packed before dinner for the optimal start on the first day of their break.

The problem with that is many others think the same way. If you leave early, you'll be joining all the other smarties who believe that setting the alarm for 4am on the first day of a public holiday will give them a head start for a trip to the beach or river.

Leaving later isn't the answer either. You then join the other two-thirds of the population who are night owls/late risers who couldn’t be stuffed rising and shining.

Break up the journey

Here's a tip for a travel plan of sorts: break up the journey. Is it just you and your partner travelling? Can you easily pull over somewhere for a rest-over? Can you afford an extra night's accommodation on the outward leg?

Leave home the night before and travel for a couple of hours or less – just enough to get you out of town. Pull over and kip in the back of the car or caravan (don't forget to bring extra pillows) or check into an affordable park along the way.

After a night's sleep you're on the road again, but you've already got the jump on everyone else heading out of town.

If your trip is only short (no more than three hours or so), you could leave during the afternoon of the first public holiday – provided you don't mind that your precious leisure time is spent at home waiting for the traffic lemmings to reach their various destinations. Alternatively, ask the boss to leave work early the night before and get on the road before the peak-hour commuter traffic.

Road less travelled

Are you heading somewhere scenic? The sort of winding, visually captivating road that attracts slow gawkers? If you can take or leave the sight-seeing and just want to leap into a pool or have a drink in the bar at the other end, avoid the tourist road.

Most destinations can be reached by alternative routes, which won't be as interesting or scenic, but will likely be a lot quicker and less frustrating without the locals or other holiday makers holding up rapid progress.

This is also something to keep in mind for longer road trips, heading interstate for instance. Driving across the city just to form an orderly queue for the one major arterial conduit to a capital in another state is certain to be time-consuming and frustrating. But if you do live on the 'wrong' side of the city, that may offer a lesser route as an alternative.

Coming from Melbourne's south or east for the drive to Sydney or the snowfields?

Don't line up on the ring road for the Hume Freeway; just head to Healesville and turn north to take the much more scenic way through Yea to Mansfield and join the Hume at Euroa or Benalla. It's a much more pleasant drive... and faster during the holiday peak.

For Sydney residents, heading out via Campbelltown and then taking the Picton Road can be a better way to reach Wollongong, or perhaps head west to Richmond and turn up the Putty Road to bring you within easy striking distance of Newcastle and the Hunter Valley.

Other options for stress-free holidays include choosing an 'off-peak' recreational activity, such as camping in the high country when everyone else is at the beach. If you live in Victoria or Tasmania, a Queensland beach holiday can be viable during the low season.

Perhaps you have tactics and 'hacks' of your own for holiday travel far removed from the madding crowd? Let us know in comments.