The annual exodus from the North resulted in a tailback of nearly three miles on the main Belfast to Dublin road outside Drogheda on Saturday afternoon. The bulk of the traffic was made up of Northern Ireland-registered vehicles, many towing caravans.
The tailback stretched down Tullyesker Hill and past Killineer, where six people died when a car travelling at around 100 m.p.h collided with a truck nearly two years ago.
Many holiday-makers headed South last weekend before Drumcree but last Saturday morning the amount of traffic was described as "unbelievable" by one garda working in a Border station.
Many of the motorists said they were on their way to Dublin Airport.
Others said they were heading further south, to counties such as Wexford, Cork and Limerick, for the next two weeks.
Whatever the destination, the objective was the same, to leave the North and the growing tensions behind.