Coming and going: San Diego hits top 10 for Thanksgiving destinations

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — San Diego is in the top 10 destinations for domestic travel this Thanksgiving season, according to AAA.

Out of the more than 55 million travelers across the country, AAA predicts that more than 80% of them will be hitting the road. The next most popular mode of transportation is flying.

Among those hitting the California highways for Thanksgiving is the Ellis family. They drove down from Sacramento, picked up the in-laws from Maine and will be spending Thanksgiving together as family for the first time in San Diego.

“We just came here for vacation because my in-laws are from Maine, ‘Do you want us to fly out to you in the cold, or go somewhere fun?’” Kaitlyn Ellis said.

Ellis said the roads on Wednesday were hectic at some parts.

“Making it through the LA traffic was a lot, but we did it,” Ellis said.

Although the average price for a gallon of gas currently sits around $4.94 cents for California, the Ellises said they still filled up their tank twice to get from Sacramento to San Diego.

On Wednesday, AAA said the best time to hit the road was before 11 a.m., and the worst time to drive is between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.

For travelers waiting to hit the road until Thanksgiving day, AAA said the best time to start driving is before 10 a.m. and then after 5 p.m. The worst time will be between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.

As for flying, AAA forecasts that almost 5 million Americans will be flying for Thanksgiving, and the average round trip ticket will cost about $680.

Robyn Freye from Del Mar said she and her family got lucky this year with those flight prices, because they bought their tickets early. They beat the rush hour as they flew out of San Diego International Airport Wednesday morning.

Freye said in previous years, they scheduled their travel on Thanksgiving day itself.

“Sometime we travel on Thanksgiving to avoid the rush and the tickets are a little bit cheaper then too, so if you’re looking for a deal, you can take the first flight out on Thanksgiving,” Freye said.

San Diego International Airport said historically, Sunday and Monday following Thanksgiving will be the busiest times for travelers coming through its airport for their return flights.

SAN is expecting to see over 84,000 passengers coming through its airport each day until the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Its busiest curbside pickup and drop-off times will be from 4 to 6:15 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and then 8 p.m. until midnight.

For more information from AAA on Thanksgiving travel, click here.

For more information from the San Diego airport on Thanksgiving travel, click here.