Record Number Of Travelers Expected At Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- This is the busiest Thanksgiving travel season for Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, ever.
Wednesday is one of the peak days for travel for the Broward airport.
"We're actually taking all my nephew for the first time to Colombia. It's their first international trip," said traveler Nadia Covo.
Nadia Covo and the family drove here from Ocala to catch a flight. They knew it was going to be busy, so they planned ahead, giving themselves plenty of time.
"So far, so good, I think we're about 4 hours early to the airport. We left very early this morning thinking the highways were going to be crazy. It was nice, all clear. Now, we have to sit at the airport for 5 hours. It's not so bad," Covo said.
So far, things are moving pretty well inside the airport.
Outside the terminals is where you see the bigger crowds.
There is a lot of traffic coming into the airport, travelers arriving, people being dropped off and picked up. And that means parking is going to take some time.
"The parking lots are starting to fill up, in fact, two of our garages right now are at capacity. But, we still have additional spaces and then we'll implement our overflow parking lot which will give us another 3,000 spaces," said airport official Greg Meyer.
The Thomas family knew parking could get tricky, so they planned ahead.
There's 5 of us, there's a lot of luggage, parking here is not cheap. You have to find it, lug everything in. Uber is just pretty convenient," said traveler Jocelyn Thomas.
This will be a record breaker at Fort Lauderdale Hollywood airport, so expect a lot of cars and think about parking.
"I just made sure we were up early, that we actually used Lyft to get here. In the past, it's been really hard parking, so I save a lot of time doing that," said traveler Sara Miller.
Planning on hitting the road?
About 48.5 million people are expected to drive this year, that's up about 5 percent from last year. Two and a half million of them will be on Florida roads, like the Hawkins family going from the Keys to Orlando.
"How's the drive been so far? It's been nice, not too bad. The roads are pretty clear, better than I thought it was going to be," traveler Tim Hawkins said.
Even through Miami? "Even through Miami," he adds.
The roads will be most congested Tuesday and Wednesday, with Sunday being the worst.
Experts suggest you travel early in the morning or late at night to avoid the rush hour. The key is planning.
"We're not worried, we're just taking our time. Everyone rushes, everyone needs to slow down a litte and chill out," said Lindsay McCormick.
