Posted: February 25, 2003
Virginia Tech Collegiate Times
by Melissa Mancuso

As February comes to a close, students across America have only one thing on their minds: trading in the pencils and books for bathing suits and margaritas over spring break.

After a long winter of taking notes and filling out OpScans, students are given a one-week reward to do whatever they want.

Traveling over spring break can really break your bank if you don’t plan ahead and find a good deal. If you squander all of your dough throughout the semester, when it comes time for spring break, there might be a problem.

Places like Cancun and Miami are always popular locales for students looking to unwind from the long winter semester. The general rule is, if there is sand, sun and a drinking age of 18, it is considered a spring break hot spot.

Tons of travel agencies and websites offer cheap tickets and party packages to these tropical places. One site boasted a roundtrip ticket to Cancun, a five-night hotel stay, two meals a day and a party pass admission to all the nightclubs for less than a thousand dollars.

I thought this would be too good to be true. After a little research, I found my suspicions were correct.

The two-meals-a-day package included a $5 gift certificate to a fast food restaurant and the party pass only allowed free entrance into the clubs, leaving you to pay for very over-priced drinks.

Sometimes you can score a decent party package where the drinks are actually included, but the package stipulates what day and what time the deals apply. You have to be careful and know exactly what you are getting.

If jetting off to a Caribbean destination isn’t your style or not in your budget, there are many other options for you. Although you may not come back with a killer tan and the lingering smell of tequila on your breath, you can still have a great time.

Perhaps the cheapest and most exciting spring break idea is the road trip. What is more fun than piling six of your friends into mom’s minivan and just driving?

This can be one of the cheapest ways to have an unforgettable spring break. Despite the rising gas prices, filling up the tank a couple of times and splitting it six ways is not very expensive.

To cut down on your expenses, stay at campgrounds at night — the cheapest hotel bill you will ever have — and make a stop at the grocery store to load up on food before you embark on your adventure.

Vienna sausages and saltines are a balanced road trip diet, and personally, I think they have been thrown to the wayside as the Ramen noodle craze swept across America. Call me crazy.

If you are really adventurous, get some popcorn and try popping on the engine of your car. This always gets laughs.

Be spontaneous: stop and see the world’s largest rubber band ball, gallivant across a field or make friends in another town. Anything you do will be memorable, so make the most of your time.

Spring break is all about having fun and being with people you care about. You can do this with or without spending a fortune.

As long as you are having fun and being safe, your spring break is bound to be priceless.