Record-breaking travel ahead of the Fourth of July

AccuWeather

A record 61 million people are expected to hit the road for the Fourth of July. Kellan Howell of AAA joins the AccuWeather Network to discuss what is expected to be a very busy holiday for travel.

Transcript

00:00What's coming up? Fourth of July! Hard to believe and AAA says a record 72 million Americans are

00:07traveling for July 4th more than ever before. From road trips to flights what's behind the boom and

00:15how could you avoid travel trouble? AAA's Kellen Howell joins us now and more than 61 million

00:23are hitting the roads. What's your top advice for the July 4th drivers this year?

00:31Definitely if you want to avoid sitting in traffic the earlier that you can leave the better. If you

00:36plan to leave anytime after 11 a.m you're probably going to have a pretty slow trip so try to get on

00:43the road early in the mornings. Again it's record-breaking travel that we are projecting

00:49on the roads like you said over 60 million people and the heaviest traffic travel days are going to

00:56be that Wednesday before July 4th and the following Sunday so expect a little bit longer travel times

01:03if those are the days that you plan to be on the road. Well gas prices are lower than last summer do

01:08you think that will continue and is it shaping travel decisions? Yeah gas prices are lower they're about 20

01:1520 cents lower than they were this time last year. The national average gas price right now is about

01:21three dollars and 22 cents and that's probably not the main reason that most people are choosing to

01:27go by car but it certainly is an added bonus. One tip that we always like to give people who are

01:32taking road trips is if you can you know drive a little bit further away from the highway or the

01:37interstate when you're filling up you're probably going to save a few cents because we know that gas

01:43stations that are closer to the highway those are going to be a little bit more expensive and you can

01:48also go online and look at AAA's cost calculator plug in your starting point and your destination and

01:55you can get an estimate of how much gas is going to cost you for your trip so that can help you budget

02:00and maybe save a few cents as well. Now AAA data says air travel will hit a new high what's your advice

02:07for last minute flyers looking to save some money? Definitely if you are looking to book last minute if you

02:15have some flexibility you may be able to save some money by you know booking last minute we also know

02:22that booking flights that are leaving you know on a weekday like a Tuesday or a Wednesday those tend to be

02:28a little bit cheaper but for Americans who are planning to travel over the holiday week

02:33by air definitely expect a little bit longer lines at TSA make sure you build in some extra time

02:40because we are projecting almost six million travelers to be going to airports and traveling

02:47by air over the July 4th holiday week so just be sure to be prepared you know have some backup plans

02:53another great way to save money if you're traveling by air is to pack your own snacks you can't take

02:58liquids through TSA but there's no reason that you can't pack your own sandwich or you know bring snacks

03:04like your chips goldfish whatever it might be. I am always known to bring snacks. I have way before

03:10becoming a mom I have a fear of being hungry or if like it's delayed and I'm there so snacks. All right

03:15what bigger summer trends is a AAA seeing beyond the 4th of July rush? Well a lot of folks are taking

03:23advantage of the summer cruising season one of the top destinations we are forecasting for this July 4th

03:30week uh is people who are taking trips to Seattle Washington uh or to Vancouver Canada and those

03:36are folks who are hopping on those cruise ships and going up into Alaska taking those glacier cruises

03:41seeing the whales the summer is a beautiful time of year uh to be up north be in the Alaska area so that

03:47is a major trend uh that we are seeing right now. All right Kellen Howell uh spokesperson uh for AAA thank

03:55you for joining us uh on AccuWeather early great information. Thank you for having me.

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