Spring break is fast approach­ing and stu­dents are decid­ing if and where they will be head­ing for vacation.

Students’ selec­tions can be deter­mined based on whether they want and then decide if they want to drive, fly, or take a train to that des­ti­na­tion. But, that’s only part of the trip as there are many options for shel­ter such as a hotel, resort, or beach house. All for a price, of course.

Deb Wright, intern at Time Two Travel LLC in Big Rapids, said, “Students who come to us usu­ally have a set price range and we try to work some­thing out accord­ing to that number.”

Wright said that many stu­dents go for an all inclu­sive vaca­tion pack­age when they travel because it can greatly reduce costs. All inclu­sive travel means that the hotel, meals, drinks and more are included in the cost. Wright added that stu­dents usu­ally opt to fly from the Detroit Metropolitan Airport because it tends to have the low­est prices.

“Cancun, Miami, Tampa, Panama City and areas sur­round­ing those places tend to be hotspots for spring break trav­el­ers,” said Wright.

Wright said a tip for trav­el­ers is to get a real pass­port. Unbeknownst to many young trav­el­ers, an enhanced driver’s license only works for cross­ing a country’s bor­der when dri­ving. Enhanced driver’s licenses do not work for air travel when going to a dif­fer­ent country.

Ann Shanteau, travel con­sul­tant for Pathfinders Travel Inc. in Big Rapids, sug­gests trav­el­ing on spe­cific days in order to reduce the costs of air travel.

“Leaving for vaca­tion on a Monday instead of dur­ing the week­end can reduce costs sig­nif­i­cantly and you can still vaca­tion for five or more nights,” said Shanteau.

Shanteau also sug­gests book­ing every­thing for your vaca­tion early.

“Spring break is a big time for trav­el­ing and flights and hotels fill up very fast. You don’t nec­es­sar­ily want to wait till the last minute to get a cheap flight because there might not be any­thing avail­able by then,” said Shanteau.

“Going on a road trip to Florida is going to save me and my friends a lot of money,” said Justin Greenfield, sopho­more in the nurs­ing pro­gram. “It will cost us only about $200 per per­son to go because we plan on stay­ing with friends along the way.”

Greenfield said he went on a road trip to Florida last year as well and saved money by sleep­ing in his car in the park­ing lots of Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, and McDonald’s instead of stay­ing in hotels.

Laura Wroblewski, junior in the social stud­ies edu­ca­tion pro­gram, said for spring break her fresh­man year she drove to Leesburg, Fla. with three of her friends. She stayed with her friend’s uncle and he fed them every day.

“Leesburg is in the mid­dle of the state so we had to drive to all the beaches,” said Wroblewski. “But it was really awe­some because we had a free place to stay and free food so the only expense we really had was the gas to drive there and back.”

Wroblewski says this year she will be going to Cocoa Beach with two friends and stay­ing in a hotel. She said it won’t be the same as two years ago because of the greater costs, but expects it will still be enjoyable.

Greenfield and Wroblewski are like many vaca­tion­ing stu­dents opt­ing to stay with friends or fam­ily, buy­ing and mak­ing their own food, and stay­ing some­where a lit­tle far­ther from the beaches to reduce costs.

Students may also look to less trop­i­cal des­ti­na­tions for Spring Break travel. The Amtrak train sta­tion in Grand Rapids offers a round trip ticket from Grand Rapids to Chicago and back at a cost between $33 and $42, depend­ing on the time of week, and take around four hours to each way. The upper penin­sula of Michigan is also an option for those more inter­ested in snow drifts than sun tans.

Regardless of des­ti­na­tion or cost, experts agree the most impor­tant part of any spring break trip is stay­ing safe and hav­ing fun in mod­er­a­tion; look­ing for options to make it a mem­o­rable spring break and not a spring “broke”.