In the middle of cold, dark winter, I love to research and plan out our next family roadtrip and travel plans. And first up is usually spring break, about mid-March to mid-April. I know in the midst of post-holiday hangover, seasonal lack of motivation, and all the kids activities, it's hard to find the extra time to plan a trip. So here are a few simple steps to make planning your family's spring break trip easy.
When should you start planning your spring break trip?
Depending on where you are going and how popular the destination is during this time of year, you’ll want to start planning 3-5 months in advance.
For example, if you are heading down to the coast of Florida for some beach time, many vacation rentals book up quickly; and if you are flying to these warm popular destinations you may find better flight options a ways out rather than waiting until the last minute, even risking sold out flights.
If you are heading to a national park, you’ll definitely want to be sure you check ahead about 6 months in advance to know how busy the park is at the time of year, if there are any timed entry passes you need to reserve/purchase ahead of time, and if you need to book lodging or campsites early.
However, if you are like me, I tend to think about spring break/spring travel in late December/early January, after the busy holidays are done and the cold winter weather really settles in. That leaves 3-4 months to plan for it, depending on where we want to go.
Just be prepared to be flexible in your plans if you wait until too close to your spring break time.
How much time do you have?
Do you have the full week or just a long weekend (3-4 days)? Do you have ability to take the full week off to travel and explore?
For us, we have several trips planned throughout the year, so we have to ration/prioritize work vacation days. This year, we’ll be taking a(n extra) long weekend during our kids spring break week to take a roadtrip.
Determining the priority of your spring break trip in relation to the rest of year's travel, can help you decide how many days to allot for it. For example, for us our spring break trip will be one of several long weekend trips sprinkled throughout the year, outside of our longer 1-2 week trips.
What is the purpose of the trip?
Do you want to go where it’s warm to get a break from winter? Is there a specific event happening you want to center the trip around? Do you just want to explore a new city? Or get outdoors for an early spring camping trip?
Many people who live in the northern climates prefer to get out of winter and head south, perhaps to the beach, for a spring break getaway. What is your objective? Head to a warmer climate, go to the beach or visit a theme park?
Perhaps your spring break falls in mid-March toward the end of snow skiing season and you want to get in one last trip to the mountains. Or maybe it’s a good time to visit friends in another state (for example, a few years ago we went to visit friends in SC over spring break). Or maybe you want to visit a southern national park to do some hiking and camping before the temperatures get too hot (I.e. Joshua Tree, Mojave, Big Bend, White Sands, Saguaro, etc).
Our kids spring this year lines up with the Easter holiday which falls later in the spring (late April), so getting out of the deep winter weather isn’t our objective since at that point it’s already over. Also, I’m working on running a half marathon in all 50 states and it just so happens there is one (in St Louis) that lines up with our spring break! So this will be a loaded up long weekend trip, exploring a new city, visiting a national park (the Gateway Arch), and checking off a state race.
How far do you want to go?
Will you make multiple stops or are you going to one main destination? Are you driving, flying, taking a train?
If your main destination is across the country from where you live, does it make sense to drive and have less time at the destination? Packing the car and driving yourself is part of the fun of a roadtrip, however, sometimes if you are short on time (such as you only have 4 days) you may not want to use it up driving to/from. Perhaps you have the full week, driving can make sense, especially if you want to check out a couple places along the way to/from your main destination point.
The next piece in the planning process - knowing what your budget is - will also determine how far you go and how you get there.
For our spring break this year, we're heading to St Louis, MO. From Cleveland, OH to St Louis, MO, it's about 9 hours (with stops) to drive down, which for us is easily doable for the 5 days that we have for the whole trip. Since STL is our main destination, we will only make necessary break stops along the way, leaving early in the morning so that we arrive with time left in our first day to do some exploring. And we'll leave early in the morning on the last day to allow ourselves some unpacking and recovery time when we get home. So for us, the cost of flights (being rather pricey) and the need to have a vehicle to get around once we are there, it doesn’t make sense to fly.
What is your budget for the trip?
This is a key factor into the next few points in planning - how much budget do you have for lodging, activities, and extras? Make sure you take a look at pricing in the area where you plan to go so that you know if it falls in your budget. For example, the costs of lodging and food; flight costs versus drive time/fuel.
If you are thinking of a couple different places you want to go, you may want to make a pricing list for the location options to compare and help you decide where to go based on budgeting.
You can also determine how you want to allocate your budget - maybe you really want to go to the beach, so you spend the bulk of your budget on flights and a vacation rental, then only leave just enough for eating-in food expenses and nothing for activities since you are just going to be lounging on the beach and hanging out in your vacation rental. Or maybe you go the other way and go cheap on your lodging so that you can splurge on an event or dining in the popular restaurants in the city.
Where will you stay?
Camping; airbnb; week long rental; hotel. This is a piece that you may need to book plenty of time in advance, depending on where you are going - in some cases 3-6 months in advance. If it’s a popular area, rentals or campsites fill up quickly and if there is a big event in the area hotels can sell out.
Typically for our trips, we take a look at what the main activities we want to do in the area to decide where we want to stay. If we aren’t camping, we will usually choose an Airbnb/VRBO rental so that we have full access to an apartment or home centrally located; or as a last resort option a hotel suite that has a kitchenette.
What activities will you do once you are there?
This is the fun part! What activities will you want to do once you arrive? You'll need to do
some research to know what activities do you need to get tickets for or book ahead of time and which can you just show up for or ‘play it by ear’.
I like to choose the main activity in the destination first, such as the monument/park/event, then sprinkle in other must-do’s, and leave open time for whatever may come. Particularly if we are visiting a city, sometimes you talk with locals and get a better idea of some places you need to visit or things you need to do that you didn’t know about in your research. Or maybe your plan is to do nothing! :)
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