It’s here! (for some of you it’s gone!)

College Spring Break!

I’ve been busy as heck in my new job since I got out of college… but I clearly remember my spring break trips (at least most of them )… and college wouldn’t have been the same without them.

So, a reader shot me over an email last week asking the best places to book a spring break trip.  He wasn’t getting a whole lot of college scholarships… so he said it would have to be “on the cheap”

Well…

I’m not a travel expert… but I did find some pretty smokin’ deals on spring break trip packages to places like Mexico, Florida, and S. Texas… (those are the places I went, so I don’t know much about other destinations).

So, I thought I’d throw together a quick run down of choosing a spring break trip and some great places to go online to find smokin’ deals for spring break trips.

Here we go…

How To Choose a Spring Break Trip Destination

Okay, this one really isn’t a canned approach. You choose the place you want to go for spring break based on the things you like, your budget, and your comfort w/ being in other countries.This is how I always went about choosing the best spring break destination when I was in college.

There are a few questions you should ask to determine where the hell you want to go. Here are the one’s I always asked myself.

1. Do you like hot weather and sandy beaches… or something away from the coast and a little less crazy?
2. Do I want to stay in the U.S. or am I comfortable w/ heading to other countries like Mexico, France, S. America, etc. (I know, S. America isn’t a country… I’m not stupid)
3. What kind of coin do I have to spend?
4. What’s my main goal of the trip? (i.e. – drink and hook up, relax and unwind, see new things, etc.)

Those are just the questions I asked myself… you probably should find your own set of questions to ask yourself before deciding on the right place for spring break.

Here’s my run down of how your answers will affect the places you go

1. Do you like hot weather and sandy beaches… or something away from the coast and a little less crazy?
   1. Of course, if you’re a beach kinda person… places like Cabo, Cancun, Daytona Beach, South Padre Island, etc. are awesome (but crazy) places to go. On the other hand, these won’t be the best choice if you hate hot weather and really could give a rats @ss about the beach.
2. Do I want to stay in the U.S. or am I comfortable w/ heading to other countries like Mexico, France, S. America, etc. (I know, S. America isn’t a country… I’m not stupid)
   1. Pretty self-explanatory… if you’re freaked out about going to Mexico without holding your parents hand… you should probably stay in the U.S. To tell you the truth, places like Mexico and Brazil can be pretty sketchy places to go sometimes… so, if you are heading to Mexico, make sure you are going with a group and don’t venture away from the group too often.
3. What kind of coin do I have to spend?
   1. This is always a huge factor for college students. While Mexico is usually pretty cheap (once you get there), getting there and booking a hotel can be pretty spendy for Spring Break. Either make up your mind and book early… or go in on a trip w/ several of your buds and split the hotel room between all of you. There are some pretty smokin’ deals you can get out there… but you really have to search to find the best deals. I’ll give you my tips below.
4. What’s my main goal of the trip?
   1. This is a huge one too for college students. A lot of students are looking to let go of their inhibitions and go crazy (i.e. – all of the chicks on Girls Gone Wild)… but some would rather just have fun w/ a few friends and have a tame time on the beach. Typical places to go crazy are Cabo, Cancun (really crazy), Lake Havasu (pretty damn crazy too), and Daytona Beach.

Really, there isn’t a science… just figure out what the hell you want to get out of the trip and how much you have to spend… and find the best deal at the coolest place for your goal.

13 Steps to Getting The Absolute Best Deals on Your College Spring Break Trip (2008, 2009, 2010 and beyond!)

Okay, I first started out checking out the normal places like Expedia, Orbitz, Priceline, STAtravel, etc.

All in all… these sites cover everything pretty damn well and have some of the better prices out there.

Here is my process of what I did to find the best prices on Spring Break Trips:

1. Choose my destination, length of stay, date of stay, budget, and # of people going (the essentials)
2. Go to the major travel sites online and check out their air/hotel packages. (booking both air and hotel at these together isn’t always the best price… look around)
   1. Travelocity.com
   2. orbitz.com
   3. priceline.com
3. Print out the best packages at each site and compare them.
4. Go to http://www.farecast.com/ and see if you can find a better flight and price.
5. Once you narrow down the best flight for you from these sites… head over directly to the airlines website to see if you can get a better deal (most of the time you can!)
6. If you have AAA, head over to the Triple A site (www.aaa.com) and see if you can get a better deal for the flight and/or hotel.
7. Now, head over to www.tripadvisor.com and type in the city you are looking to stay at. This is the best site I’ve found to get real reviews of hotels, resorts, activities, etc. I used this site before a trip to Jamaica and found a little known resort that was rated #1 in Negril, Jamaica (Couples Swept Away Negril) over the Sandals resorts there… and it was about $1k cheaper and I got a beach veranda suite for the price of a crappy room at Sandals… pays off to do your research… don’t trust the marketing all of the time.
8. Narrow down the hotels to 2 or 3
9. Call the hotels directly and ask for their “best possible rate“… and don’t tell them that 14 people will be staying in a room w/ just a couple Queen beds… You know that’s what you’re gonna do… isn’t it??
10. Go back to the major online travel sites to see if there are better deals.
11. Then, hit up your local travel agent and show them your print offs of the flight and hotel that you want… w/ the best prices from online.
12. Ask your travel agent to beat it for the SAME EXACT trip… most of the time they will
13. BOOK IT AND HAVE FUN!

Personally, I like to go through my local travel agent because they are someone that I can call directly if there are problems and it is a real person… not a person sitting in a call center who has never gone to that place ever before.

But, the online travel sites are excellent… and a lot of the time have the best prices.

So, follow that 13 step process and you’ll be sure to snag the best prices around… and can have more moolah to spend on beverages like lemonade, Pepsi, and… ya right! Drinks like tequila sunrises, hurricane’s, frosty cold ones, slippery nipples (I’m talking about the drink here .

Have fun, be safe, and save some money!

P.S. – Here are a few cool websites for spring break that I thought you’d enjoy…

• http://www.campusgrotto.com/best-spring-break-travel-destinations.html
• www.springbreak.com
• www.daytonabreak.com
• http://www.studentcity.com
• http://www.springbreaktravel.com