MIAMI VALLEY — In a little over a week from now, thousands of people in the Miami Valley will be heading out for Memorial Day weekend.
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This holiday marks the beginning of the summer travel season.
News Center 7's Nick Foley spoke with people who plan to leave town.
He said gas pumps will be working overtime for the summer travel season, which starts next weekend.
But Lynn Behnke of Oakwood said she doesn't plan on traveling because her children have grown up in the area.
“We have two children who graduated high school and college this spring,” she told Foley. “For that reason, and because we're pretty local, we don't travel.”
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But even as people stay home, AAA expects a record number of travelers over the Memorial Day holiday.
“Everyone is getting back to normal,” said Kara Hitchens, a spokeswoman for AAA.
Recent trends in the state and in the countryside include an increase in road and air travelers during the holidays, she said. She expects more of the same to happen this year.
“So here in Ohio alone, we're looking at 1.6 million people traveling, and of course the vast majority of them will be traveling by car,” Hitchens told Foley. “1.5 million people will be driving to their vacation destinations, which will be more than 80 miles from home.”
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Lin's family won't be going on such a long trip until later this summer.
“We always leave the house the week of the Fourth of July, but that's probably not financially wise,” she said.
AAA predicts this Memorial Day holiday will be the third busiest and most visited in history since the pandemic.
AAA recommends that if anyone is planning on going on a trip, they should check to see if their car is ready for the trip.
