ORLANDO, Fla. — Holiday travel records are already being broken.

Airports are packed with people flying to see loved ones. Now, it’s the time when roadway traffic could really pick up.

Travel officials said congestion on the roads could be big this week.

What You Need To Know

  • The holiday travel season started Friday

  • Airports already busy, road traffic to pick up this week 

  • The number of people traveling this week is expected to rise 13% from 2020, AAA says

And it’s also costing more.

Florida’s gas prices set a new high for 2021 last week. Even so, AAA officials say most people will drive for Thanksgiving trips.

AAA expects more than 53 million Americans to hit the roads.

"Leave early if you can leave Wednesday before noon that's great,” said AAA Spokesperson Andrew Gross. “Or one of the best travel days and if you're only going kind of a close in trip lead thanksgiving morning."

And by the way, last week there was another gas price bump. Florida’s new average is 3.36 per gallon.

More families are gathering in person this year.

Based on the latest data from Visit Florida, Orlando International Airport has the highest passenger count of any airport this quarter at 5.3 million, up 200% from last year.​ The airport is expecting only slightly lower travel numbers than in 2019, before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.