(Radio Iowa) – Iowa might be quieter than usual around the holidays this year as a survey finds a large percentage of the state’s residents are planning to go, well, someplace else. Brian Ortner, spokesman for Triple-A Iowa, says Christmas is less than three months away and savvy travelers are booking early. “People are wanting to travel, especially across the state of Iowa,” Ortner says. “More than half of Iowans, 52% say they’re going to take a holiday vacation this year. The difference is, there’s about 40% of them booking travel plans right now due to higher travel prices, but people are still planning on traveling. They’re going to be taking at least one flight.”

COVID-19 is a distant, bad memory for many of us, and he says many Iowans are breaking the habits they formed in recent years by returning to taking vacations abroad. “The numbers for travel, as we’ve seen over the summer in the last couple years, are continuing to get back to pre-pandemic levels,” Ortner says, “so that’s a great sign for all of us who are ready just to get out and live again.”

Christmas falls on a Monday this year, so Ortner suggests you plan carefully to avoid a zoo at the airport. “A lot of folks travel two to four days prior to the holiday, so that means we might be seeing folks traveling on Thursday or Friday before Christmas. So those busiest days at the airport are probably going to be that Friday and Saturday,” Ortner says. “So if you can swing an extra day around Christmas to leave on Wednesday or Thursday, it might not be a bad opportunity or possibly even coming home and booking the day after Christmas, if you’re able to do that.”

According to a report from the travel app Hopper, airfares are down about nine-percent compared to last year, and they’re down ten-percent compared to 2019.