It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at airports and on the highways across the country. If you’re traveling this week ahead of the holidays, you’ll have plenty of company on the roads and in the skies.

Aixa Diaz with Triple-A says: “What we’re seeing is that travel demand has been off the charts all of 2023, and this holiday season is no different. We’re also expecting this to be the busiest holiday at the airports.”

Airlines are expecting a potentially record-breaking number of passengers this year as Christmas and New Year’s approach, especially as Americans continue to get more comfortable with traveling post-pandemic.

“I think this is the first holiday season where it kind of feels normal. I mean as normal is it can be,” said traveler Salvatore Blandina.

Added traveler Robert Wise: “We had a couple of years where we didn’t really travel at all. So yeah, this is definitely a change from the last couple of years.”

Airlines are also stepping up their preparations after last winter’s cascade of delays and cancellations. increasing staffing and training, and investing in new weather forecast technology and de-icing equipment.

Triple-A is also expecting a lot of traffic on the nation’s highways, predicting more than 100 million Americans will drive to their holiday destination. They say the middle of the day is the worst time to get going.

“We always say leave early or leave late,” said Diaz.

Monday may not be a great day to travel with a major storm headed up the east coast that could cause disruptions.

As always check with your carrier to monitor for any potential delays and give yourself plenty of time to get through security.