JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The AAA auto club is predicting more than 53.4 million people to travel for Thanksgiving in 2021. That’s up 13% from 2020.
It would be the highest single-year increase since 2005.
Of those Americans traveling, 48.3 million will be hitting the roads, AAA says. That’s despite the blinding costs of filling up.
On Friday, AAA’s National Average for a gallon of regular unleaded was $3.41. The state of Florida was just below, at $3.35, with the average in Duval at $3.33.
Bailey Darner is planning to make a nine-hour drive to Virginia for Thanksgiving. She made a stop at a Mobil gas station off County Road 210, where she paid $3.25 a gallon.
“Its going to be at least $200 getting up there,” she said.
Darner says that’s not affordable for a college student.
“Half my paycheck goes to gas,” she said.
Sarah Pembleton is making a shorter trip -- a couple hours south to Orlando.
“As a family, we’re putting our money together so we could afford to go with the price of gas,” Pembleton said.
As for flying, the Transportation Security Administration is preparing to screen over two million people Tuesday and Wednesday -- the two days before Thanksgiving.
GasBuddy tracks the lowest and highest prices of gas, narrowing it down by region.