As much as you didn't want to be in an airport in late December, an airport in much of January through February can be a serene, almost religious experience.

The last three weeks of January and first few weeks of February are "dark weeks" for the travel industry, which tries desperately to draw customers who've been shellshocked by a grueling stretch of holiday travel.

Last month, 43% of travelers surveyed by TripAdvisor said they expected to be stressed out by their winter holiday trips. That doesn't include the 31% of travelers who were already reduced to emotional rubble by thanksgiving travel. That stress wasn't helped by the cost of those trips — estimated at an average $436 per person, up from $401 last year according to Trip Advisor. Finally, the lack of vacation days accrued by many American workers this early does an excellent job of keeping much of the U.S. at home this time of year.

That translates to empty hotel rooms, vacant airports and general lack of tourists. About 48 million passengers took trips aboard U.S. airlines last January, according to the Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics. That's up almost 1 million passengers from January 2013, but still well below the 54.3 million passengers who caught holiday flights a month earlier in December and woefully shy of the 61.7 million who fly during peak season in July.

There is only one month in which travelers get around less. In February 2014, 45.5 million passengers paid for their cheap trips in terrible weather and lengthy delays.

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