JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Numerous arriving flights were delayed on Sunday at Jacksonville International Airport as many are making their way back home after Thanksgiving.
Meanwhile, roughly 4 million Floridians drove to their holiday destination, according to the AAA.
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Some drivers we spoke with said they enjoyed the road trip, while others were left with no choice but to drive to Florida.
Plenty of drivers stopped by the St. Johns County rest area on Interstate 95 as many tried to beat the traffic on one of the busiest travel days this week.
“There’s a bunch of cars,” Jacob Balan, who was coming back to Florida after vacation, said.
Jacob isn’t old enough for a driver’s license yet, but knows traffic when he sees it.
“The traffic, like one of the worst I’ve seen in a while,” Balan said.
His family had been on the road for 19 hours after traffic delays and road construction, coming back from Virginia. They were one of 73 million people across the country who drove to their Thanksgiving destination this year, according to AAA.
“We actually had to like reroute like a couple of times just because you know there was some crash and it’s just so slow,” Jeriejoy Balan said.
The Balan family opted to drive as they took their two days, and their family of six could spend time together.
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The Balan family said they’re happy to be back in Florida, especially after the cold weather they experienced and all the traffic. But they weren’t the only one making the long trek here.
“The drive is approximately seventeen, eighteen hours,” Lawrence Aikens, traveler from Philadelphia, said.
Aikens and his family decided to hit the road early from Philadelphia to Florida as soon as they heard their flight to Miami was canceled.
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They didn’t want to miss their son’s birthday cruise, so when they weren’t able to book another flight, they had no other option but to drive.
They said they left hours ahead of schedule to avoid Sunday’s traffic.
“Well, you see more on the ground. Even though it’s a little bit faster in the air, the air is kind of congested right now,” Aikens said.
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