About 2.3 million people in the Washington metro area will travel 50 miles or more away from home for Christmas and New Year’s, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic.

The group’s 2013 holiday travel forecast projects a slight increase of travelers from the region, thanks to stabilizing gas prices and a holiday period that is a day longer than it was in 2013. It’s the fifth straight year of holiday travel increases.

“Unfortunately, a number of Washingtonians sat out three of the first four holiday travel periods of the year as an upshot of all the political drama in the nation’s capital and the economic stress it engendered,” said AAA Mid-Atlantic Public Relations Manager John B. Townsend II. “But they will not be denied nor deny themselves or their families during the Christmas and New Year’s holiday travel period.”

AAA Mid-Atlantic projects 91 percent of area travelers will do so by car. The group also cited something it the “calendar affect.” The Christmas Eve through New Year’s Day holiday period will run nine days.

Most school systems, including MCPS, will also be off Monday, Dec. 23, allowing travelers to get started early.

What are your plans for the holidays?