Thursday marks the official start of the Labor Day travel season, and millions of people will be hitting the road this weekend.
Travelers will be paying much more for most things this holiday weekend compared to last year. That includes gas, airfare and hotel expenses.
Other WRAL Top Stories
New numbers from AAA on Thursday morning showed the average cost of gas in North Carolina is about $3.85 a gallon. AAA Carolinas representative Tiffany Wright said that's about a dollar more than the average price of gas a year ago in the state.
"You're going to be paying anywhere from a dollar to a $1.10 more per gallon than you did this time last year. And we've actually been on the increase. In fact in North Carolina alone, just last week, we've gone up about 8 cents," Wright said.
AAA said August gas prices were the most expensive ever seen for that month.
"We're coming off the highest August for gas prices we've ever had for the history of us tracking gas prices. So gas prices are pretty high. We stayed about the $4 average for the entire month of August," Wright said.
AAA said domestic airfare costs are also up 2% compared to last year, averaging about $750 for a roundtrip ticket. For the most popular destinations, ticket prices are up nearly 20%, averaging about $790. AAA said hotel booking costs domestically are also up by about 9% compared to last year.
If you’re hitting the road this weekend and you want to avoid the traffic, there travel times you should avoid.
For folks heading out Thursday, AAA said the worst times for traffic will be between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
For Friday, you'll want to avoid leaving between noon and 8 p.m. if you want to avoid peak traffic.
For Saturday and Monday, AAA says to avoid the early afternoon to evening hours.
If you are looking to find the cheapest gas prices in the area, head to our Fuel Tracker.