Are you trying to get down and let loose this spring break? I know being a broke college student can be rough, but hey, I’ve got you covered!
Planning any vacation takes time and dedication. Now, try planning a spring break trip with your friends while you all are busy with school—can you say impossible? Although you might have started talking about ideas of where you guys want to go way back in the fall, the days keep going by with no set plans in place. Unless you have one driving force to figure out everything from transportation to a place to stay, then say buh-bye to getting away.
Many times you start trying to do research on how you can get the biggest bang for your buck, but with all the overwhelming travel sites, you get flustered and give up. You realize you don’t really have the money for where you want to go unless you stay in a cockroach-infested motel. When our pockets are tight from being students, all we can do is ball on a budget.
The first thing you’ll want to do is figure out if you or any of your friends have a home somewhere you could all visit. Lots of students come to UMD from all different places. It’s possible that one of your friends could be from a warm region to go to the beach or even a cold region to go skiing or snowboarding! You or your friends could also have a relative willing to let you stay with them!
Now, this is best-case scenario: not having to pay for a room will cut your costs dramatically. But sadly, this isn’t always possible. You might have waited too long in your search and that option isn’t an option anymore.
So when that fails, it’s time to get creative. With anywhere you go, a bigger group will be a huge benefit when trying to reduce rooming costs. Try to find as many people as you can that are interested in going and once you split the room however many ways, your number of options will expand.
There’s no need to stay in the 5-star hotel. There are plenty of other decent hotels that allow you to experience the same fun. Your main priority is get off campus and relax, so as long as you get to a tranquil place for you, then where you sleep isn’t a big deal.
Another way you can stick to your budget is transportation. If your destination is somewhere you can realistically drive to, everyone can pitch in for gas and switch off driving.
Okay, I get it; this sounds so boring, but let’s think about the positives for just a sec. You’re with your friends. I always seem to make fun out of nothing when I’m with my friends. You can get some good laughs in that car ride from the most random things when you’re all in the same dreadful state. The conversation could even switch in the other direction and you all get in your feelings. You could end up having heartfelt conversations unexpectedly, even accidently determining your life plans.
And if you are reading this, thinking to yourself, “I don’t even have a budget for this,” then keep reading! No shame in not being able to get out of your hometown for spring break. College is crazy expensive. To make do, your first step is to search for things to do around you. There could be places or activities right where you live that you don’t even know exist. Most of these probably don’t cost a lot or could even be free.
The whole point of spring break is to get away from our hard studies and get that precious R&R. Although our professors will probably give us homework and we won’t be able to totally block school out because we know the workload we’ll have to come back to, there is definitely a decent amount of time to let loose. Whether it be a little getaway or doing absolutely nothing in your bed but watching Netflix, there is something for everyone to do with whatever budget they have. Ball out this spring break, my friends.