Near 40 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more during the Thanksgiving holiday, according to a recent prediction made by AAA.

AAA also expected that at least 80 percent of the holiday travelers would do so by car, even with the national average price of gas above $3 a gallon.

As America braces for some of the busiest travel days of the year, Calvert County is welcoming back some of its younger population as they return home from college for the Thanksgiving break.

For most, Thanksgiving break occurs a few weeks before final exams begin. This gives students a few days of free time to relax and spend with family and friends, and is especially valuable to out-of-state students.

“I’m just going to spend time with my family, since I haven’t seen them in over three months,” said Lindsey Peterson, of Huntingtown.

Peterson, a junior at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, arrived home on Tuesday after a five-hour road trip. By planning out her trip in advance, she avoided major traffic problems.

“I left earlier than I normally would,” she said. “There are cheap places for gas. You just really have to look.”

Devon-Elizabeth Snodgrass, of Huntingtown, also arrived home on Tuesday without much delay. Her Thanksgiving plans, however, involve a family trip to upstate Pennsylvania.

Snodgrass, a freshman at George Mason University, doesn’t look forward to traveling on what many agree is the busiest travel day of the year.

“[The car ride] is notorious for snow,” she said of the trip, which takes an average of seven hours.

Snodgrass admitted that her family would be cutting back on their traveling due to rising gas prices, but would not break from routine trips.

“We’re not traveling as much, but this is an annual trip,” she said. “We go there every year.”