Thanksgiving week travel is well underway and even the experts are surprised at how many Americans will be hitting the roads and the skies after missing out on the holiday last year due to COVID-19.
There are, however, things you can do to avoid the mad rush.
For the first time in two years, San Francisco's Michele Telesauma is heading out of SFO Monday night with her two daughters and her mom for turkey with family.
“They told us to get here two to three hours ahead of time before our flight and that’s why we’re here three hours early,” said Telesauma.
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It’s a scene that’s happening across the country.
“We are predicting 53.4 million people will be traveling, that is up 13% compared to last year,” said Sergio Avila of AAA.
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In California, six million people are expected to hit the roads this week, so plan ahead to avoid the rush.
AAA says the heaviest traffic will be on Wednesday from noon to 8 p.m. So, leave later.
Thursday, and Friday are the worst time from about noon to 3 or 4 p.m., so hit the road early.
Saturday and Sunday, the worst times are from 1 to 7 p.m. So plan accordingly.
Some good news for flyers Monday, which is the deadline for TSA officers to comply with the vaccine mandate.
The agency says 93% are vaccinated or requested exemption and they screened a pandemic-record 2.2 million people Friday.
Mollie Banjamali and her two girls are flying to Florida for Thanksgiving -- excited, but cautious.
“Very exciting. But you have to be really careful about it, use wipes and wear your mask,” said Banjamali. “It’s more difficult but we’re going to get through it right? We’re excited.”
