If you're among the millions of people flying or driving this Thanksgiving, travel experts say brace yourselves for higher prices and headaches at the airports and on the roads.

According to AAA, 55 million Americans are traveling for Thanksgiving this year. Of that number, they say nearly 49 million will be driving.

They say avoiding headaches on the road all comes down to timing.

According to officials at the navigation app Waze, today is the best day to leave and Friday is the best day to return home. Waze is predicting these are the two days when traffic will be lowest during the week.

The very worst game plan is to leave Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, and return Saturday - which is what most people do.

If you can leave on Tuesday and return home on Sunday, you're looking at moderate traffic .

AAA says you should get on the road before 11 a.m. and try to avoid crossover with commuters on weekday afternoons. And on the weekend, avoid traveling between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.

The good news for those of you who are driving is that, while gas is still expensive, the national average is at about $3.74 per gallon, which AAA says is down about 34 cents from a year ago.