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Vacation Planning for Chicks on a Budget

posted by ChickSpeak
Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 12:26pm CDT

For most college students, the end of the school year comes early. Luckily, there is usually a pretty decent gap of time between the conclusion of final exams and the beginning of summer jobs or internships. So, Chicks, you know what this means: time to start planning one of those cheap-but-unforgettable vacations to help forget the stress of the past eight months.

For those of you who have never been on a cruise, I strongly recommend it as the ultimate relaxing getaway. Last Minute Cruises is a well-known website specifically geared toward aiding a couple of people-or a group of people-in finding a few open cabins on a cruise trip only a few weeks before the trip.

Some of the cruise lines offered include Carnival Cruise Line, Celebrity Cruises, Princess Cruises, and Royal Caribbean International. It’s so easy to book a cruise: just a few clicks of the mouse and you can fill in your summer calendar with three or four days of cinemas, wave pools, and night clubs all in the middle of the ocean. The rates are almost unbelievably inexpensive, starting somewhere around only $300 per person. If you’ve always wanted to travel (by sea!) to Miami or the Bahamas, Last Minute Cruises is the first place you should start looking.

Looking for something to bring out the kid in you after a long semester of intense Microbiology or American History courses? Chicks, you can easily plan and book a Disney World vacation, especially since Disney offers a variety of vacation passages.

. Just search for these packages online and you can create your own: choose a hotel, pick the number of days your park Hopper Passes are good for, and get hooked up with airfare. There are chain hotels out there for college students on a budget, around $50-$60 dollars per night. The cost of living plus the Hopper Passes comes to under $700. Even with airfare included, this is a great deal, especially when you think about the childhood fun you’ll have at Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and MGM Studios.

Theme parks are never out of style, not even when you’re twenty or twenty-one years old. Knoebels, located in Elysburg, Pennsylvania, is not only a park, it’s also a campground. An all-day ride pass to the park itself costs only about $30, which is cheaper than most amusement park rates, and you and a group of friends can follow up the night with camping. If you can’t get your hands on an actual camper, Knoebels even offers cabins for a little over $100 per night. Knoebels isn’t only an amusement park of childish rides- there are coasters, water rides, and even classic activities like laser tag and miniature golf.

Craving something thrilling or outdoorsy? Try white water rafting- it’s something you can find nearby no matter where you reside. At RaftingAmerica.com, you can find a location anywhere in the US, from Grand Canyon rafting to Lehigh River rafting. As few as three people to as many as three hundred people can plan a rafting vacation. It’s spontaneous, refreshing, and (fortunately, for some of us) there is no experience necessary at all. I’ve never gone white water rafting, but I’m jealous of anyone who has. I’ve only heard good things about it.

Up for some community service? Get inspired by Savannah (from Nicholas Sparks’ Dear John) and sign up to volunteer with a local Habitat for Humanity program. Both of my roommates spent their spring break in Lynchburg, Virginia building houses for less fortunate families and said it was one of the best experiences of their lives. Trips are usually up to about a week long, and costs (including transportation, meals, and housing) are only around $200. If you want to spend your vacation time doing something selfless and fulfilling, Habitat for Humanity is a great place to start.

Chicks, these aren’t the only inexpensive and quick-to-plan vacation opportunities out there right now, but they are some of the easiest to plan. Ask around, and get a big enough group of people together: you can rent a house for a week in the Outer Banks which, split between six to ten people, is anything but pricey. As a personal recommendation, Newport, Rhode Island is a great location for a week of simply chilling out- there are cute stores, tours of the well-known mansions, and a good deal of walking routes. Last year, I also took a long weekends’ vacation to Ocean City, Maryland, where six of my friends and I split two hotel rooms and spent our days at the beach and our nights on the boardwalk.

Whatever you do and wherever you choose to go, now is the time to start planning! Ask around, allot one person to be in charge of booking flights (if need be), calculating total costs, and working out details concerning transportation, meals, etc. It’s almost May, Chicks, and almost time for you to kick back and relax. Take advantage of the free time you finally have and get the gang together for an ideal vacation.

Once Jordan Oliver wraps up this spring semester, she is headed to the Poconos for a week-long, relaxing, lakeside vacation: a perfect end to her second-last year of college.