Traveling for the holidays? Here's what you need to know

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- This holiday travel season is expected to be very busy, with both AAA and the Columbus Regional Airport Authority anticipating record-breaking numbers. 

Nearly five million Ohioans are set to travel and 90 percent of Ohio travelers are expected to go by car. To keep yourself and others safe while driving, Bill Purpura with AAA said be a defensive driver and leave as much space as possible between you and other cars. 

Purpura also said to make sure you never have less than half a tank of gas in your car, especially during a busy holiday travel day with extra people on the roads.  

“You could end up in a really bad traffic jam and if you’ve ever seen your gas gauge go down, that’s a really nasty feeling, especially if you’re in bad weather, you’re going to chew up a lot more fuel,” he said.  

Although Purpura said most are going by car, John Glenn International Airport is expecting more than 200,000 people to travel through the airport during the holidays, so be prepared for some wait times.  

“Make sure you arrive early to get through the TSA lines and make sure you familiarize yourself with what you can and can’t bring or pack in your carry-ons or in your checked luggage,” said Breann Almos, the manager of communications for the Columbus Regional Airport Authority.  

If you are bringing gifts with you on the plane, TSA suggests leaving those presents unwrapped or airport security could end up unwrapping them for you.  

On Thursday night John Glenn was not too busy, but airport officials expected that to change by Friday morning. At other airports in the US, some said the holiday travel chaos started early Thursday.  

“It was crazy getting in,” said Lara Desanto, who was traveling with her husband and baby from Los Angeles. “There’s always kind of a traffic jam to get into LAX, I don’t know if people are familiar but it’s always kind of crazy, especially around the holidays.” 

That’s why some people decided to leave Thursday and get to their destinations early.  

“It’s busy but this year, it’s like really dead in here,” traveler Shermaine Blake said. “It’s calm. I was like ‘Oh my God, I need to get here like an hour early.’ I do have TSA Pre-Check but I was just like let’s get here early, the lines might be crazy. But literally I did not have to wait.” 

Some people just arriving to their destinations on Thursday were already worried about how busy airports may be for the trip back home. 

“I’m thinking people should already be settled, but it’s the 30th, so it might be because people are trying to travel somewhere to be there for the new year, so fingers crossed it’s not,” Blake said. “Who knows? So you’ve always got to prepare for that, right? “ 

“Hopefully it won’t be as busy, right? The day after Christmas hopefully?” said Lara Desanto.  

“It could be really busy. We’ll be ready to take it on together,” said her husband Isaac.  

AAA data showed the best travel days are likely to be Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.  

Before heading to the airport, you are able to check the average wait time at TSA security checkpoints by clicking here.