About 11.5 million Californians are expected to travel over the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

"Slight as it may be, this shows a 4.1% increase from last year."

AAA's Cynthia Harris says that's been the story all year long - minor increases in the number of people traveling. She says the survey found Californians still aren't too confident about the economy and are scaling back on travel expenses.

The number of Californians traveling by air has plunged by 10% from last year. Most of the 11.5 million Californians who will be traveling…10 million of them…will be driving.

"Even though many people are still very worried about the long, slow and laborious recovery, what we're seeing definitely is this pent up desire. This has been an ongoing trend that we have seen throughout 2011."

Harris says people not staying with family and friends can expected to pay an average of $126 a night for a hotel, about the same as last year.