--- title: Travel To Hit Post-Recession High This Memorial Day description: More people are looking for an escape after a long winter, says AAA. canonical: https://time.com/102826/memorial-day-travel/ author: Giri Nathan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-16T15:16:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:55:18.743Z og:title: Travel To Hit Post-Recession High This Memorial Day og:description: More people are looking for an escape after a long winter, says AAA. og:url: https://time.com/102826/memorial-day-travel/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Travel To Hit Post-Recession High This Memorial Day twitter:description: More people are looking for an escape after a long winter, says AAA. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # 36.1 Million People Besides You Are Traveling This Memorial Day Weekend by [Giri Nathan](https://time.com/author/giri-nathan/) ## Giri Nathan May 16, 2014 3:16 PM UTC by [Giri Nathan](https://time.com/author/giri-nathan/) ## Giri Nathan May 16, 2014 3:16 PM UTC If you were planning on hitting the road this Memorial Day weekend, prepare for plenty of company: AAA [expects](http://newsroom.aaa.com/2014/05/harsh-winter-americans-start-summer-travel-season-memorial-day-getaway/) 36.1 million people to travel more than 50 miles away from home this weekend, with 88% of them driving to their destinations. The expected volume of travelers is up 1.5 percent from last year. This weekend’s travel data also marks the second-highest figure since 2000, according to the AAA’s annual Memorial Day travel forecast. AAA attributed the boost in travel to a rebounding economy and a particularly long winter. “The winter blues appear to have given Americans the travel bug and a case of cruise cabin fever as travel for the holiday is expected to hit a new post-recession high,” said COO Marshall Doney. AAA also forecasts that gas prices will go down between now and Memorial Day. However, other travel expenses, like car rentals and hotel rates, will rise slightly. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/102826/memorial-day-travel/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/102826/memorial-day-travel/"},"headline":"36.1 Million People Besides You Are Traveling This Memorial Day Weekend","datePublished":"2014-05-16T15:16:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:55:18.743Z","description":"AAA expects 36.1 million people to travel more than 50 miles away from home, up 1.5 percent from last year and the second-highest figure since 2000, with 88 percent of them driving to their destinations","url":"https://time.com/102826/memorial-day-travel/","keywords":["Living","Travel"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Giri Nathan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/giri-nathan/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/102826/memorial-day-travel/","name":"36.1 Million People Besides You Are Traveling This Memorial Day Weekend"}}]}] ```