Nearly 44 million Americans are expected to hit the road this Memorial Day weekend, according to AAA.

It kicks-off what is likely to be a busy and challenging summer travel season.

Americans are off to the races, with travel experts predicting the busiest weekend in almost 20 years.

Air travelers, be warned: The Federal Aviation Administration predicts this will be the most-traveled Memorial Day weekend in 14 years, with nearly 54,000 flights taking off on Thursday.

TSA expects to screen 3 million people on Friday alone.

Prepare for some traffic jams as well, because AAA says over 38 million people are traveling by car this weekend. That’s an all-time high since they started tracking in 2000.

Hertz says the cities with the highest rental car demand are Orlando, Denver, Atlanta, Boston and Las Vegas — with Thursday and Friday being the busiest rental pick-up days.

Travel-related prices are looking good for most with airfares, hotels, and rental cars down from last April according to recent government numbers, while the average cost of gas nationwide is seven cents higher than a year ago.

This is just a taste of what’s possibly to come this summer.

The trade group for U.S. airlines, Airlines for America, believes 271 million travelers will fly between June 1 and Aug. 31 — smashing the record set last summer.