How to Organize a Winter Vacation Trip on a Budget

November 19th, 2012 by Jennifer Frankel

Winter is in the air and that means spring semester will be over shortly. With all of the free time between semesters, many international students use their winter breaks as an excuse to travel the country!

Depending on where you are studying and what your opinion of cold weather is, winter vacation can be a great time to travel north to some snow covered destination, or to head south to escape from the cold as quickly as possible. No matter what you choose, if money is an issue then you are going to want to know how to organize a winter vacation trip on a budget.

The first thing you will need to do to keep your costs low is plan ahead. If you wait until last minute to decide where you are going things can get confused and messy real quick. Not only that, but if you plan on flying anywhere then your tickets may be more expensive than if you bought them ahead of time.

Now that you’ve planned ahead and decided where you want to go, the next step on how to organize a winter vacation trip on a budget is to find things to do that are cheap but still fun. Of course it would be great to stay in five star hotels and eat at the fanciest, most expensive restaurants, but not everybody can afford such luxuries. Luckily, there are all kinds of ways to cut costs. There are all sorts of websites that compare the prices of hotel rooms and offer user reviews from people who have stayed in the past. The same goes for local food. If you’re looking for a great place to eat while you are traveling, don’t trust tourist guides or advertisements. Go online and see what people have to say about the place first!

You’re going to want to do more than eat and sleep when you travel. No matter where you decide to visit, there are always fun and, more importantly, affordable things to do. Museums are often free or cheap, and so are historical tours and other educational exhibits. If you decided to head south you might even consider the beach. Miami, for example, can stay around the high 60s and low 70s all through winter.

If you’re interested on how to organize a winter vacation trip on a budget, the amount of ways to save money is only limited by your creativity and willingness to look for the best deals online.

For more information, check out the Student Travel Center.

*Winter Landscape picture thanks to Shutterstock

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