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The survey shows that travelers are preparing to deal with the travel annoyances that await them by either adjusting their travel dates, booking hotels instead of sleeping on couches, or just filling their Instapaper queue before the flight.

Just over half of Americans travelling this holiday season planned ahead to avoid high fares and many booked off-peak days to avoid crowds, states TripAdvisor.

The travel website surveyed over 1,300 American users of its website to find out how people were traveling, where they were going, and how they dealt with the general hassles of holiday travel.

Twenty percent of travelers planned on downloading movies, games, and movies on their smartphone or tablet to cope with travel stresses, while 14 percent preferred to pay for accommodations rather than stay with family.

Overall, 42 percent of travelers planned on booking a hotel while 49 percent planned to save money by staying with friends and family. Only nine percent of travelers opted for a vacation rental.

More travelers will be driving (48 percent) than flying (46 percent) this holiday season, but flying is a more popular this year than it was in 2011.

And in case you were wondering, “Santa Baby” is considered the most annoying holiday song to listen to while traveling.

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Tags: holidays, tripadvisor

Photo credit: The Breakers Hotel Lobby in Palm Beach, FL during the Christmas season. Frank Corrado / Flickr.com

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