Airing up her tires before heading to Kansas City, Natalia Figura laughs trying to remember what she did for the holiday weekend last year.
“Probably sitting at home watching Netflix, doing nothing,” she said. Now she’s excited to be able to visit friends and family, some of whom she hasn’t seen in a year.
“All kinds of fun stuff,” she said.
Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer, the first major travel holiday since major COVID-19 safety restrictions lifted and vaccines have become widely available for adults and some kids. For many we talked to, that makes this weekend the unofficial return to normal, too.
“Normal means just not worrying about anything,” said Kevin Hogarth. “Just going out and having a good time, letting the kids do whatever they want to do and have fun.”
"Well I'm wishing it was a little warmer, but it feels good to have your friends at your house and feel safe,” said Danni Hauer, who was recently married and is looking forward to gathering with friends this weekend.
“I get to travel stress free, I still encourage everybody to get vaccinated — then hey, it's going to be one of those summers,” said Justin Cooks.
An estimated 37 million Americans will travel this weekend, AAA estimates. That’s not quite at pre-pandemic levels, but a 60% jump from last year, with about 90% of travelers choosing to go by car.
“We know there's going to be a larger increase of traffic this holiday than there has been the last couple of holidays,” said Trooper Dallas Thompson with Missouri State Highway Patrol. “We're really going to be focused on getting people to and from their destinations as safely as possible.”
They’re ramping up patrols looking for distracted, impaired and speeding drivers. He says they are also increasing patrols on the water — where they will be on the lookout for reckless or impaired boating.
Travelers are undeterred by the highest prices paid at the pump in years. Gas is an average $2.82 per gallon around St. Louis, according to GasBuddy.
“We just got the kids vaccinated, so we're ready to go,” said Dr. Liana Makarian, traveling with her family to St. Louis from Columbia for the weekend.
Even on a gloomy day to start the weekend, they’re feeling good about summer 2021.
“We're just coming out of hibernation,” she laughs.
Air travel is also picking up. The director of MidAmerica Airport says outbound flights are 80-90% full. There, Allegiant Air just added a new flight to Charleston, South Carolina. Out of Lambert, United Airlines also launched new South Carolina routes this week, and Spirit Airlines began offering flights to Florida, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.