Brace for a very busy Thanksgiving travel season

Travel over Thanksgiving is expected to reach nearly 98% of pre-pandemic volume, according to automotive and travel club AAA.<br/>With 54.6m people expected to travel over the holiday period -- a 1.5% increase from 2021, this Thanksgiving is expected to be the third busiest since AAA started tracking travel volume in 2000. (The number peaked in 2005 and was second-highest right before the pandemic in 2019.) While inflation cooled more than expected in October -- to 7.7% -- Americans are feeling pretty bad about the economy. But that doesn't seem to be affecting demand for travel, according to AAA. "It seems counterintuitive given inflation and higher gas prices. But given how separated and isolated we were during the first 2 years of the pandemic -- and with travel restrictions now lifted -- travel demand is high," AAA spokesperson Aixa Diaz told CNN via email. While gas is expensive -- on Monday the national average per gallon was $3.77 -- gas prices are down from a month ago and well below the $5 per gallon peak in mid-June. Diaz said Americans are more comfortable taking public transportation again, including airplanes and trains, and they're budgeting for travel. "They're cutting back in other areas of their life -- dining out at less expensive restaurants or shopping less -- and changing daily driving by condensing errands to preserve gas," Diaz said.<br/>