Travelers start to head home on one of busiest Thanksgiving travel seasons on record

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- After a Thanksgiving weekend filled with food and family, it was time for people to pack their bags for the journey home.

AAA said this marks the third busiest Thanksgiving travel season since 2000.

Many left on Saturday to avoid the hectic travel on Sunday.

However, those driving on I-95 North in Lower Chichester Township, Delaware County couldn't escape the traffic.

"It was not too bad except for the last half-hour sitting in traffic," said Nicholas Mulligan from Fishtown, Philadelphia. "It was pretty awful."

"Other than this, it was very good. This is the hard part," said JoAnne from Washington Township, New Jersey.

A vehicle crash on the highway left many drivers at a standstill for about an hour.

"We shut the car down and played some games," said JoAnne.

"It could have been worse," said Mulligan. "It wasn't pouring rain, and we were in our car. We had heat."

Once police cleared the scene, it was smooth sailing on the road and in the sky.

One family flew into the Philadelphia International Airport from Colorado, but first, they had to maneuver through inches of snow in Colorado.

"We had a snow delay getting from our house to the airport this morning," said Bill Simon from Paoli, Pennsylvania. "A lot of traffic, but we managed."

"We weren't expecting that snow," said Shonse Kirkland from Chester, Pennsylvania. "The whole week it was beautiful and then bam."

Luckily, the travelers made it ahead of schedule!

"The airport was well staffed. We got through security pretty quickly," said Simon. "We were surprised. We thought it would be really bad. It wasn't bad at all."

Arriving home safely, these flyers say they are grateful for several reasons.

"I'm ready to return home, but not to work," said Kirkland.

"Great to be back in PA. Looking forward to the game tomorrow," said Simon.

AAA said Sunday is going to be an even busier travel day. They said the worst time to drive is expected between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.