Do you ever wonder how even your broke college friends managed to book a flight to Cancun for spring break this year? It seems like everyone is traveling to some exotic beach while the few left behind are struggling to save money for rent. Don’t worry! Your spring break doesn’t have to suck just because you’re not going to an island. Here are a few ideas for those on a budget.
1. Go home and visit your family.
If you go to school in-state, it’s probably easy for you to head home for the week. Your family will most likely cook for you all week, and who doesn’t like homemade food? We all should appreciate our loved ones more often, so take a week off to do so!
2. Spend a day or weekend in a nearby city.
Don’t get stuck in your college town all break. Pick the nearest city that has a lot of things to do and head on over! You can get food at some local restaurants, visit a museum and do cheesy tourist things like take pictures of everything. Take some time to explore somewhere you’ve never been. You might actually like it there!
3. Have a quick mini trip planned for you.
Instead of spending a thousand dollars on plane tickets, hotel rooms and food at a getaway location, only spend a few hundred on a surprise road trip! Pack Up + Go is a company that will send you on a surprise vacation based off the information you give them. Just pick how you want to get there, how many people are going and what your budget is to have a vacation curated to you. It’s a quick and fun way to do something new without having the stress of planning it on your own. BuzzFeed did a video on it if you want an inside look as to what the company has to offer.
4. Plan a party in your college town.
If you and all your friends still at school want to have some fun, plan something where you are! Throw a party at your place or have everyone meet up at a local bar for a night of fun. You could go to a local concert, drag show or comedy club for even more entertainment. Maybe even pretend you’re at a bachelorette party just to give yourselves an excuse to go wild. Why not hire a limo for the night? The possibilities are endless. Plus you can make everyone who didn’t show up jealous that they weren’t there. Just make sure you don’t post any embarrassing photos to social media.
5. Make the week all about you.
School is getting stressful between assignments and exams, so why don’t you take spring break as a way to relax and catch up on things you need to do? Enjoy an empty apartment and the quietness of campus. You can take bubble baths, dance around in your underwear, eat ice cream while watching for favorite show and order takeout through GrubHub or Uber Eats. If you need to get out of the house, go play with animals at your local shelter, try a new restaurant that you’ve always wanted to go to or spend time in a park reading a book.
But hey, a week off is a week off. Enjoy a little less responsibility while you can because by Sunday night, reality will hit and you’ll have wished you did something with your free time. Happy spring breaking!