Spring Break Vacations on a Budget
Before you check the online flight reservations, look locally first! Do you have mountains, a beach, or a national park within two hours drive? If so, that would be a great place to have a good family vacation during spring break. By driving such a relatively short distance, you save hundreds of dollars on flight tickets.
There are many ways to save on lodging. If free is the way for you to go, try to find out if a friend of yours who lives several hours away would like to trade houses for the week. That way, you can get away and stay in a home for free. Plus, staying in a home allows you to buy your own groceries, saving money from dining out all of the time.
If you live in a ski area, the rates for the hotels often go down in the spring and summer. Finding an off season hotel is a great way to save money. Try finding a room that has a free breakfast and a refrigerator…that way breakfast and a sandwich lunch are covered, and you only have to buy dinner. Instead of a hotel room, you could buy a tent and then camp at a nice campsite complete with showers, for cheaper than a week of hotel rooms.
By going to relatively local activities, you can also choose to only rent a hotel for a couple of nights, and then commute to your home for the next few nights. That way you get the relaxation of staying away from home for a couple of nights, but all the excitement of the daytime activities all week long.
The internet is a valuable tool for planning activities. There are so many free and inexpensive things to do if you just search. Try going to national parks…they are usually very inexpensive and packed with things to do such as nature walks, fishing, camping, and more. Also many places have discounts on tickets if you plan to do several things in one week. Buying tickets to amusement parks and museums in a package deal is often a good way to save money.
If you must fly, begin checking flights online six months in advance. Check a couple times a week if you have time, and be able to be slightly flexible with dates and airports. Airlines periodically have flight wars, and sometimes the low prices are only available for a few hours before the seats fill up. One year we got round trip tickets from NYC to Salt Lake City for only $180. We bought them, and only two hours later the price was back up well over $200 again. It really pays to watch the airlines on a regular basis once you know you are flying! Its also cheaper to stay over a weekend than to leave on a Monday and return on a Friday. You’d be amazed that changing a day or two in your schedule can save hundreds of dollars!
You don’t have to be out thousands of dollars to take your family on a nice vacation over spring break! With a little foresight and planning, you can have a very memorable time for a fraction of what you thought you would have to spend.
