Over 9 million Southern Californias are planning on traveling during the Holiday Season and that means plenty of them will just be getting in your way as you just try to get to your in-laws before all the good booze is gone, which will be bad because you just know that they are going to start talking politics after Christmas dinner and, dammit, why couldn’t you just stay home this year for once and watch Christmas Story in your pajamas five times in a row like every one else gets to do? Yeah, the holidays are a lovely time for travel and, if you are headed out over the next couple of weeks, here’s what you need to know.
Those 9.05 million Southland residents traveling between December 21 through January 1 will be a record high, according to AAA (via Patch) – and a 4.4% increase over 2018. 768,000 will fly and the rest, well, almost all of them will be driving – and that means you’re probably going to hit some bad traffic.
As for the busiest times, the Auto Club looked at historical data and predicts that the greatest congestion will take place on freeways in the afternoon and evening of Thursday, December 26 and Friday, December 27, so try to avoid driving then, if you can.
As for flying, the three most congested days for flights are expected to be Saturday, December 21, Sunday, December 22 and Monday, December 23, so you should plan on getting to the airport at least two hours early on those days.
So where is everyone going? Well, Disneyland is going to be packed af, dear reader – as Anaheim is expected to be the Number Two destination nationwide for travelers (with Orlando being number 1).
These are the top five destinations for Southern California travelers:
- Las Vegas
- San Diego
- Central Coast (Santa Barbara to Monterey)
- The Grand Canyon
- Mexico (cruises and resort trips and why are you not taking me with you!)
Good luck out there, this Holiday Season!
