Rexburg certainly isn’t immune from such Christmas chaos. As is the case throughout nearly every college campus in the nation, BYU-Idaho students flock home by the thousands to spend Christmas and New Year’s with their families and loved ones.

According to the National Bureau of Transportation, “Visiting friends and family is the single biggest reason Americans travel during the holidays.”

Students and others get to their desired destinations through a variety of ways, but, “most long-distance holiday travel, about 91 percent, is by personal vehicle, such as by car,” according to the NBT. Roughly 7 percent of travelers reach their destination by plane and the remaining 2 percent take alternative methods of transport.

Robert Christison, a sophomore from Phoenix, Ariz., is one of the many BYU-I students who will be making his long-haul trek home in a car.

“I would be flying home for Christmas because flights down to Phoenix are actually reasonably priced, but since I won’t be here next semester, I have to get my car home somehow,” Christison said.

According to Travelocity, a company that deals with flights and motels, flights from Salt Lake City to Phoenix during the holiday season cost as low as $147.

Unlike Christison, not all students can find such affordable plane tickets home.

“It’s totally asinine that you have to pay so much just to get home during the holiday season. They’re taking advantage of poor college students because they know we go home during the holidays and so they can jack up the prices,” said Ashley Byrd, a junior from Dallas, Texas.

Besides increased prices for airline tickets, determining a departure city is another factor for students flying home. Byrd will be flying out of Idaho Falls, rather than driving the three and a half hours to Rexburg’s nearest major airport — Salt Lake City.

Convenience comes with a price, though. According to Travelocity, flying from Idaho Falls to Dallas is $469 and has a layover in Denver, whereas flying from Salt Lake is nonstop and costs $273.

Not all students will be spending Christmas outside Rexburg, however.

“I’m not going home for Christmas because I don’t have the money required for a plane ticket home. I wish I could do it, but I could only stay for ten days and Korea is far, far away. That is too short of time to spend with my family,” said Yanghee Lim, a junior from Daejeon, Korea.

The cheapest flight on Travelocity from Salt Lake to Seoul, South Korea costs $1,744.

No matter where the destination or the mode of transportation, gas and flight prices during the holiday season remain high.