The featured image is sourced from Flickr.
With holiday festivities fading to (hopefully happy) memories, January can often be considered a bit of a ‘hangover’ month. For most of the working world it spells the end of a brief hiatus as sluggish noses are put back to the grindstone – and for those still in education it offers the promise of essays, exams, and classes.
With that in mind, what better way to stave off any January blues than to succumb to spontaneity and book a well-earned vacation? Luckily what January may lack in excitement, it more than makes up for in travel deals, when airlines, hotels, travel companies, and cruise lines start slashing their prices.
Spring is still three months away, which means a daunting prospect of around 12 more weeks of winter. If you’re a fan of this time of year, don’t worry – winter will still be here when you get back. And if you can’t afford to take the study time off this month, you can still benefit from these January savings while planning for a trip in the coming months.
Having something to look forward to can make all the difference in the New Year, especially when bogged down by your classes, exams, and essays. Consider it your light at the end of the horizon.
Road trips across America
Have you and your friends always wanted to do a grand tour of the USA? Well what better time to realize that dream with a good deal this New Year? Those eager to embark on the great American road trip can turn to travel companies like Trek America, who this month are offering great savings on all manner of coach excursions. The most attractive of which is a coast to coast adventure from New York to LA, discounted to around $3500 – perhaps best saved for the individuals doing particularly well in their own student enterprise or maybe for those who’ve created the next Facebook. But still, there few better ways to experience the country.
For those on less of a budget (understandably) there are a number of more bite-size trips all over America readily available, with websites like STA Travel being a worthwhile point of call to get the best deal. Tours of the West Coast, for example, start on Trek America at around $800. There’s even Wi-Fi on coaches to do some ‘studying’ should you be feeling acutely guilty about all the fun you’re having.
As with a lot of these companies, even greater discounts are available in groups (usually around eight or more), so start sizing up potential travel buddies right away.
Spring Break deals
As much as it is a cliché as a rite of passage, Spring Break beckons once again. While granted it’s still a few months away, the best deals can be found now – whether your group wants to go mad in Miami, or crazy in Cancun. Hotels around Miami – even on the hotspot South Beach – can be found from around $190 a night. Don’t forget the cheaper alternatives of doing Spring Break in Panama or Daytona, where hotel rooms are up for grabs at less than a hundred dollars. Again, a site like STA Travel or Expedia will ensure that you get the best bang for your buck.
Relaxing Cruises in the Caribbean
For something a bit more relaxing and expensive, a luxury Caribbean cruise in 2013 could offer the ideal way to forget about any midterms and classes. Cruises are now an affordable holiday for many people, especially if you’re traveling in a group.
On a number of cruise sites, prices start at around $400 for a cabin on a 3-night excursion around the Caribbean, rising incrementally for number of nights without ever dipping into shark-infested financial waters. Even when you think you’ve found a great deal, keep shopping around, there may be something even better.
Far from attracting only the shuffleboard crowd, these kind of holidays have attracted a lot younger demographics lately – as young people are enticed by the promise of fantastic activities (scuba diving and snorkelling excursions on island excursions, for example) as well as the obvious allure of all-inclusive food and drink on some of the ships. Read the small print however, if that’s your main reason for going – the policies of every cruise liner are different!
So, at the start of this new year, you can invest your time in planning the trip of a lifetime with your friends, rather than just getting frustrated about any resolutions. Get started now – time is running out!