Where to Go?

Hello and welcome to my blog!  I am Michael Carpenter.  I am a senior Communication Studies major and a Business Administration minor at Longwood University.  Over the course of the next couple months, I will be writing about how to travel on a college student’s budget… which means for cheap.  I will be writing about all types of travel, including everything from traveling abroad to staying close to home.

Before you go anywhere, you have to decide on where you are going.  Theoretically speaking, you can go anywhere you want to with enough planning and money saving.  To determine where you will travel, you must realize how much money you have to spend.  You cannot make it to Europe with only $300 saved… a round-trip plane ticket to Europe can range between $700 to $1,500.  Within the United States, domestic flights will range between $150-$500.  Driving is always an option as well.  Although driving can take quite a long time to get to your destination, it can save a lot of money if you split gas money among friends.  Deciding on where to go is most heavily based off how much you can spend.  Once you determine this, then you can decide the best way to get there!

Once you decide where you are going, you need to start planning all the details!  You need to plan early.  Planning an international trip can require planning up to a year in advance.  Planning a domestic trip can be planned anytime from a year in advance to a month or 2 in advance.  You do not need to plan every minute of the day, but you should have certain details mapped out well in advance.  These details are things like where you will stay, how you will travel around, where you will visit, and more.

You should pick a place to visit that fits what kind of vacationer you are.  When you go on vacation, do you like to see historical sights?  Sit on a beach?  Hike and see nature?  Skii?  These are all things that will determine where you should go.  Visit http://www.tripzard.com/ for a quiz that suggests where you should visit!  It asks all the important questions when it comes to traveling; such as, how much you want to spend, how much you like being outside, your eating habits, and more!

In conclusion, you should plan a trip that fits your needs and your traveling mate’s needs.  Plan to go somewhere that fits within your budget.  The last thing you would want to happen is to run out of money while far from home!

I would like to thank you for reading my first of 8 blog posts.  Hopefully I gave some insight of how to determine where you can/should travel.  Please look out for my next blog, which will be about how to save money for your vacation.  In the future, I will have posts about how to plan for your travel and how to enjoy a vacation close to home/your university.