37.6 million Americans Hitting The Road Memorial Day

This weekend marks the unofficial start to summer, and the unofficial start of summer vacation season. With that in mind, AAA has announced it expects 37.6 million people to take to the road this weekend.

That figure represents a 3.5% increase from last year, despite a jump in gas prices since then.

This news comes as a new survey  of 2,000 people reveals that 73% prefer road travel to planes -- or trains, for that matter.

Granted, the poll was commissioned by Ford, but the survey still reveals, interestingly, that people are willing to add 6.5 hours of travel time to their journey just to avoid the stress of air travel.

Turns out modern vehicles are apparently taking the dread out of buckling up and hitting the road. In fact, the same survey says nearly 60% of those polled planned to take a road trip -- and 63% say they'd look forward to a trip more if it were a road trip.