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Planning a week to rememberOct 09 '01 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Some helpful hints to aid in planning your spring break. Typically, spring break is known as one of the biggest party weeks in a college student's career. And after the stress of scheduling, writing papers, studying for tests, and hoping to get good grades- it's easy to see why a vacation is much needed to boost one through those last long weeks prior to summer break. On the other hand, most of the college students I know don't exactly have the cash to fly down to Florida. And after living in the dorms or cheap university housing, can but would rather not crowd into a motel room that is in questionable condition. The best thing you can do when thinking about spring break is to recall that you are getting a fair stress allotment in school, and that planning a trip is useless if it will add to your tension stockpile. Here are some things that should help... Elect a leader and be firm about who's coming One of the hardest things about planning a trip of this sort is the fact that you might not nessecarily have any clue who will end up coming. You may also have more than one traveler who wants to plan, or you might not have anybody who particularly wants to. Your best bet is to pick a responsible party who can keep things in order. You don't want to fool around with payments, transportation issues, etc- it could make the difference between the best week in your life and the week from hell. If you are chosen as the responsible party, keep a folder where you can access everything efficiently. Keep track of things like who has paid, how much, even the check numbers. It might seem like unnessecary work, but it will save you a lot of hassle when everybody has different questions or someone decides to pull out. If there are more than four of you, feel free to set guidelines. For example, if you're coming you need to have your deposit to me by this day, period. (Or if you're not coming, you need to let me know by this day to get your money back.) This will save everyone from having to pay a lot more because a few buddies concluded they couldn't afford it and the price of your lodging flew up as the number of people contributing flew down. It helps to write everything down newsletter style, and distribute them to whomever has expressed interest. That way no-one can claim they didn't know what was going on. Another issue is getting the right mix of people. Remember you will be together constantly for however many days you'll be traveling! If you're driving, you will be a really small space with these people for a certain number of hours. Think the dorms times ten. Additional tension might be added when everyone has different agendas. For example, it is not the best idea to take two of your craziest drunken buddies along with your two health nut, wanna go exploring buddies in a one car. (And I know that one person can possess both the party and the exploration urges, I wasn't stereotyping for any other reason than magnification for the purposes of this theoretical situation.) Even though extra bodies mean less money spent of stuff like gas and lodging, ask yourself if it's really worth the trouble they have the potential to cause when one group wants to go hiking on an island and the other wants to go find some club, with the one car that you have. Don't forget about the drinking age either, if you're heading somewhere where group members are going to be affected. If everybody is planning on going barhopping, it might not be a good idea to invite a twenty year old friend unless they have somebody to go do stuff with while the legal crowd can go out drinking. Procrastination will not aid in this mission There is nothing more annoying than finding the perfect hotel- low price, pool, perfect location, enough room, parking, etc- only to call and be told that they are booked the week you're planning on traveling. In order to avoid this, it's important to begin looking early. Using the party control methods I mentioned above, gather a crew that seems truly interested and work from there. It might seem tough to ask for a commitment at this point, but by doing so you will have a group that is truly commited to getting stuff together and really excited about planning the greatest possible trip. Using everyone's experiences and ideas, you can find a location, or at least a selection between a few, that everybody will be pleased with. Planning early will also give you plenty of time to answer difficult questions such as "how are we getting there?" or "how are we going to have enough money to do this?". If you're planning on using a travel agent, starting early will also be a great allie, as it will help you find somebody reputable and bargain everything out. A little planning can help ward off potential catastrophes I know it all seems like a lot of work to go through planning, regardless of whether you're using the services of a travel agent or opting to plan yourself. But such planning will help things go smoothly when the time comes because you'll have all of your bases covered, so to speak. One of the best ways to prevent awful things from happening is to ask a lot of questions. Find out what your effiency has, whether or not there's parking available, if sheets and linens will be provided, how much of a deposit you'll need to put down, how and when you're expected to pay the rest of your balance, how many keys you'll recieve, etc. If you're relying on a bus system, be sure to find out how "close" the attractions and stops are. You'll save a lot of money by purchasing groceries and doing most of the cooking in your room, even though effiencies cost a little more to rent. You can either make a group grocery list and divide it evenly or pool money upon arriving and shop when you get there. Remember to think about what you'll do in case it rains too! Many little beach towns charge ridiculous amounts to see a movie at a local theater because they know no-one will have much else to do if it rains. Bringing along a few fun board games and picking up a community guide once you get there will help with entertainment. You can also find somewhere with a VCR so you can rent movies, which is a great late night activity that is also quite cheap. Last but not least, check with your college. There are various student travel organizations that offer things like cheap student discount cards. These places are also helpful in helping you find ways to travel cheap, which brings me to my next point. Fear not, broke but restless college travelers I know traveling seems really expensive, and no-one will deny that it certainly can be. But spring break doesn't nessecarily mean that you have to get to South Beach to have an awesome week by any means. Use the web or even the local library to find stuff in your state. It's sometimes hard to believe how many off the trodden path things there are to do, even in a state you've lived in your whole life! Or perhaps you could spend half the week at an out of state friend's house, and half the week at your own. Your friend would probably love to show you the local hot spots, and the two of you can discover all kinds of interesting places without having to pay for housing or even food. Check out youth hostels too; they are sometimes free but always very affordable. And of course, don't get ripped off Yes, I know that you're a smart individual. But even really intellegent people get ripped off. It's perfectly alright to ask for references, phone numbers, and anything else you feel like you need or want. Keep all of your paperwork, so you can hold your case well if you need to. No-one's going to believe "well I paid, but the reciept took a walk and never came home". And use the wisdom of your parents too. They've been around a while, and know a thing or two. They might be able to spot warning signs you missed. Additionally, their involvement will make a fraudulent "agent" nervous because they're not just screwing around with college kids anymore. (I know that sucks, but sometimes it's the truth.) Have fun!  |
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