The two holidays when travelers least allow rising gasoline prices to impact their plans -- Christmas and New Year's -- are offering up plunging prices at the pump. So much so that, by the time everyone reaches grandma's house, regular gasoline should cost less than $3 a gallon at most Palmetto State gas stations, experts say.

Regular gasoline already has dropped below $3 a gallon in several pockets, according to AAA Carolinas. Friday in South Carolina, the average was $3.026 a gallon -- up just less than a cent from the previous day -- but had been falling by about a half-cent a day, Charlotte-based AAA Carolinas spokesperson Angela Vogel Daley said Thursday.

AAA doesn't track gas prices in the Hilton Head Island or Beaufort markets, but the price in the Charleston area was signficantly higher than the state average Friday, at $3.104.