Trip Planning: Spring Break Edition

As a teacher, my vacation schedule is set by the school. I have some personal and sick days available, but the bulk of my vacation time happens when the students are also on break. I have a lengthy (but not as lengthy as many people think) summer vacation as well as shorter breaks in December/January, February, and April. Since my breaks often fall when most families in the Pacific Northwest are also on vacation, flights can be more expensive. That means that I try to think outside the box when choosing vacation locations that aren't determined by family obligations.

I usually consider four main things: budget, desired trip length, weather, and trip type (relaxation, learning, adventure, connection, or combo).

For example, for my upcoming Spring Break trip, I put in my desired vacation days into Google Flights and saw which places had the least expensive round trip prices. Then, I started narrowing locations down based on other criteria. I love using Google Flights for this, because it lets you search using a world map and also gives suggestions based on location type. For Spring Break, I was looking for a place with relatively low-cost airfare (under $500 round trip) that was warm. I also wanted to fly nonstop if possible.

CC image courtesy of Ed Schipul on Flickr
There were quite a few places that fit those criteria, so I decided to try a place that my partner and I hadn't been before. I noticed that round-trip flights to Austin were in the $350 range. I've always been curious about what Austin is like because I've heard it's the most liberal city in Texas, but I didn't want to brave the crowds during SXSW. When I looked up things to do, I noticed that San Antonio was fairly close. I'm interested in history, so I thought it might be nice to visit the Alamo and the other missions along the expanded River Walk...J likes to go on long walks and runs, so it seemed like a win-win. It was decided- we were going to Austin and San Antonio for a week!

Next week, I'll write about my tentative packing list.

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