You don’t need to break the bank to have fun on Spring Break

By Katie White
Western Herald

The end of February brings on a sense of agitation, restlessness, and fatigue.  Roommates are getting irritated from being together all the time.  Professors pile on the homework, projects and exams. This can only mean one thing for college students – spring break is finally here.

Spring break, the week that makes the second semester bearable, is a time for rest, relaxation, and fun. But with the current economic recession, college kids have had to take their finances into account. Suddenly, price and cost matter more than they ever have. However, reports from travel agencies are expecting local travel and tourist sites to boom.

People, students included, are realizing that huge cruises and far-off destinations may have to wait until the economy turns around. But that doesn’t mean vacations have to be totally out of the question.

Students at Western Michigan University are turning to relatives and friends in other states.

WMU freshman Daniel Houtrouw, who is heading to Florida to visit his cousins, simply to get out of cold Michigan and feel some warm sunshine.

Another WMU student headed south to Florida is Wendy Holland, sophomore, to watch her boyfriend, a racecar driver, race in Palm Beach, Fla.

Road trips have never been more popular. The idea of hoping in your car with friends and just a map has been rekindled.

It is an affordable vacation and one that the destination is up to the driver.

“My two sisters and I are renting a car on Friday morning and driving down to North Carolina and Georgia until Tuesday morning,” Diana Lenaway, a WMU senior said. “We just want to get out of Michigan. We don’t really have any plans when we get down there. We’re just kind of going to go with it.”

Michigan is currently working on pushing the “Think Globally, Act Locally” campaign. Lawmakers and business owners want us to explore our state further and it is something they know won’t break the bank. When staying in state for spring break, it doesn’t have to equal couch potato.

“I get to go home for the weekend to visit my parents then I have to come back and work and fly the rest of spring break,” Adam Keinath, a WMU junior and aviation flight science major, said.

“While I’m home, though, I get to play pond hockey with some of my old friends. That will be an adventure in itself.”

In many cases all over campus, money is the deciding spring break trip factor.

Many kids like Keinath will only have a short window of time to enjoy doing nothing. The job trumps all other activities.

Having a job is an all too important factor for most college students and keeping it usually means breaks from classes no longer entail hours of catch-up sleep.

“My plans are pretty boring,” said Katie Wolfis, a WMU junior. “I’m just staying in Kalamazoo to work more hours, to make more money.”

Students are saving as much as they can for the summer, when there are typically no class commitments. Spring break is the time to get a quick break, the summer is when the money earned is finally put to use.

“I just got a job so I’m staying here,” said Kendra Lennon, a WMU senior. “I’m trying to make as much money as I can for my trip to Australia.”

The recession has dramatically affected spring break plans in obvious ways.  But students have learned that spring break doesn’t have to be about getting wild and crazy and blowing all kinds of cash.

The economic crunch has taught students to think outside the box and explore.

This spring break has the potential to be a whole different kind of wild. So, look around – and don’t dig too deeply in your pockets, because the road awaits.

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=15235

Posted by kleonard on Feb 25 2010. Filed under A & E, Weekend Scene. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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