Taalib Smith of San Rafael is on a holiday travel binge.

Fresh from a trip to Maui with 10 family members, Smith was preparing to drive to Hayward for Christmas Day and fly to Las Vegas for New Year’s.

“With COVID happening over the last couple of years, travel plans were really nipped in the bud,” he said Tuesday morning while filling the tank of a gray Nissan Sentra at a Chevron on Third Street in San Rafael.

“This year, we were willing to make whatever adjustments to treat ourselves,” Smith said.

John Treanor, a spokesperson for AAA, said California would likely see its busiest travel years since 2019 –– 15 million of its residents are expected to leave home between Dec. 23 and Jan. 2.

“What we’re seeing this year is pandemic versus post pandemic,” Treanor said. “As restrictions have been lifted, with vaccinations, we’ve seen those travel numbers increase.”

The numbers mark a 3.7% increase from last year.

Nationwide about 102 million people will travel by car, an increase of about 2% from the previous year. About 7.2 million people will fly, an increase of about 14%. Other forms of travel will account for about 3.66 million people, which is also boosted from a year ago.

Will Laviano of San Rafael said he was driving to Lake Tahoe with his family for the Christmas weekend. They planned to ski and stay in a townhouse at Incline Village.

“We can spend the night there, spend Christmas there,” he said.

A few days later, after the family returns, Laviano will board a flight to New York City to visit his girlfriend for the New Year’s holiday.

“Right now, it just seems easy,” he said.

Gas prices have been on a steady decline since the summer peak.

On Tuesday the statewide gas price averaged $4.36. In Marin, average gas prices were $4.41. Nationally, the average has fallen to $3.12.

Since the last month, prices in the state and the county have fallen by about a dollar. On June 13, Marin recorded its highest average gas price of $6.67.

So far, average gas prices in the state were even below last year’s average of $4.67. Marin has fit the same trend, marking $4.82 average gas prices one year ago.

Treanor said AAA has found that gas prices impacted daily life and commuters more than planned travel.

“Americans are still taking trips. We saw the appetite for traveling was there and it’s still there with prices having been lower than what they’ve been in a long time,” he said.

Still, the totals have not completely resurged since the start of the pandemic. In all, there is about 3.3% more travel since 2021. The numbers still fall 5.5% short of 2019, which saw 119.3 million travelers.

Some Marin residents will have visitors coming to them.

Sue Weil of San Rafael was preparing to greet her daughter, due into San Francisco International Airport from Manhattan.

“My kids usually come to me,” she said.

Prices made a difference this year, Weil said. Her daughter used accrued miles to pay for the trip. Weil spent $56 for 12 gallons of gas.

“Even though I’m staying here for the holidays, I’m trying to be conservative about a lot of things,” she said.

George Mazet of Woodacre said he was staying in town with family. One set of grandparents were Marin residents, he said, and the others were making the approximately 200-mile drive from Redding.

“Most of the years we spend it at home,” he said. “We just do it out of habit.”

Mazet, a wildlife biologist, spent $180 filling the tank of his F-350 with diesel at a Shell station on Irwin Street in San Rafael. His next big driving trip was for work in San Diego and after the holidays in March.

“All I can say is be careful of people on the road,” he said. “Stay sober. Travel a day before. Make plans. Avoid the traffic.”

Christmas and New Year’s both fall on the weekends this year. Thus, peak travel days were expected to be the Fridays before the holidays and the Mondays after the big day. Drivers can expect up to 25% longer travel times nationwide.

Most noted plans to continue travel even after the holiday season.

Laviano said he plans to move to Los Angeles after he returns from New York.

Smith said he’s trying to “squeeze as many trips as possible into the next couple months.

“Who knows when the next pandemic is going to be,” he said. “We’ve got the holiday season now and I don’t want to waste it.”