Record Holiday Travel Now Set to Happen in Minnesota

If you're heading over the river and through the woods this Christmas, you'll find you won't be alone across the country and here in Minnesota!

And, much like Thanksgiving this year, Minnesotans will be able to hit the road without hitting their wallets too hard. Even though there will likely be a record number of holiday travelers hitting the highways and skies this season, thanks to travel costs falling, the only thing soaring this year might just be your festive spirit!

A lot of us here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes and around the country will be traveling during the Christmas and New Year holidays. In fact, the American Automobile Association (AAA) predicts 119.3 million people will travel 50 miles or more from home between Saturday, December 21st to Wednesday, January 1st.

READ MORE: Minnesota's Favorite Gas Station Now Has 188 Locations

That's up a whopping 3 million travelers compared to the 2023 holiday and is also even more than the amount of holiday travelers who headed out during our holiday season before the pandemic, back in 2019.

And while some of us will be taking to the skies, AAA notes that over 89 percent of Christmas and New Year's travel will once again be done in the car. Here in the Bold North, AAA says the busiest travel days are expected to be both weekends before Christmas Day and New Year's Day. The holidays themselves, on Wednesday, December 25th, and Wednesday, January 1st, are expected to have minimal congestion.

Another piece of good news is that gas prices here in the Bold North have dropped big-time within the past few months. AAA Minnesota notes that the overall statewide average for a gallon of unleaded regular finally dropped below 3 dollars a gallon across the state back on November 12th and has since kept up that trend.

As of Wednesday, December 18th, AAA Minnesota says the average price across the Gopher State is now $2.87 a gallon. That's down a cent or so from a month ago but is nearly 20 cents less than we were paying earlier this fall.

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Speaking of gas prices, do you remember how cheap they were when you first started driving? (What did we do with all that extra money back then?!?) Keep scrolling to take a walk down memory lane and check out the price we paid when you first got your driver's license!

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