North Jersey travelers take the road for after-Thanksgiving Sunday

The Sunday after Thanksgiving is considered one of the busiest travel days of the year. Travelers to the north of Jersey and the surrounding area are embarking on the road and local airports in the rush ahead after Thanksgiving Day.

Whether they go home after visiting their family in North Jersey or when they return to school when colleges reopen after the Thanksgiving break, many travelers from North Jersey stated that their Sunday trips were much better than expected.

Meanwhile, in the Midwest, the expected precipitation of travel has been held back by a regional storm that has caused hundreds of cancellations across the country.

Parking at the Vince Lombardi service area rest area at Ridgefield on Sunday morning was full and cars were regularly lined up to refuel. Most travelers took a well deserved rest after hours of travel.

"It's just crazy here," said Cerri's 58-year-old Jeanne Cerri. "There are a lot of cars, I have not really seen any difference in terms of traffic."

Cerri, originally from Parsippany, was in the service area with her 21-year-old daughter Emily and 28-year-old niece Caroline Stocks. Emily Cerri was on the way back to Massachusetts, and Stocks was returning home to the UK after spending the week in New Jersey.

"Normally, I'll take the bus and it's crazy," Cerri said. "But I have friends coming to pick me up, and they just contact me and they are a little crowded."

Holiday travelers filter into the Vince Lombardi service area on the NJ Turnpike Highway on Sunday, November 25, 2018. The Transportation Safety Administration expects Sunday to be the day of the day. busier for the Thanksgiving trip, as people get back to work after the break. (Photo: Amy Newman / NorthJersey.com)

Stocks, who had a flight to take, said that she frequently flew from Newark Liberty International Airport. She had no problem with her flight to the area on Wednesday, she said. But she was planning a crowded airport later in the evening.

"I always come back Sunday after Thanksgiving, and it 's still hell at Newark Airport," Stocks said. "I do not know what to expect later."

The early afternoon in Newark was quiet, but most travelers anticipated that the situation would worsen as the evening approached.

The airlines were ready to face Sunday's rush after Thanksgiving.

United Airlines expects more than 2.2 million combined passengers during the Thanksgiving period – the largest number of passengers ever flown by the airline during this period – said spokeswoman the company, Kimberly Gibbs, in an email.

The airline has added nearly 2,100 flights during peak hours, Gibbs said. On Thanksgiving Sunday, the airline planned to operate more than 5,300 flights. Almost 90% of Sunday flights, considered the busiest day of the company, were made in the United States.