Traveling Home for the Holidays: A Student's Resource Guide

Traveling home for the holidays can be an expensive part of the school experience for students. In fact, many students find it all but impossible, and so they stay over and sometimes even do part-time work for the school that they are attending just to fill the time. But, for those who have been saving up and have some change in that penny jar then here are some tips to get you home in time for the holidays and try and save as much of that change for you in the process.

It really depends on what type of travel you want to try and take, many people live too far away from their university to attempt an automobile trip, and for that matter even a train ride, but for those who are in that range here are some options for you. I hope everyone watched, Planes, Trains and Automobiles starring Steve Martin & John Candy, this romp can be a very good educational tool as well as a hilarious comedy. It is must watching if you plan to be traveling home during a major holiday on a tight schedule.

You don't need a hotel room, usually, or a rental car if you intend to fly, or an airplane ticket if you intend to drive, so the package deals that some of the major airlines throw at you really doesn't apply. You can check out Expedia or Travelocity, but there deals are catered more for package deals then the budget goals of the student going home for the holidays. And if you are intending to drive your own vehicle then put some gas in and let's go.

The Travel Channel (website) has some very good articles that pop up now and again on their site, and it is advisable that you check in on it periodically because they often have some good articles about traveling on a budget. They also have this application on their site called "Quick Planner", you can select where you are going and what you are interested in seeing along the way (casino?, how about a stop off at a lake? a theme park? Etc), the site is very good if you want to see some things, often free, on your trip back home, and is usually for those road warriors that are driving it.

If you are traveling to a major city that has a bus line or a subway then you should look for deals ahead of time from them, look online get their customer service number, call, use them to get you from the airport or rental car place to your home.

Of course, if you don't have a car, plane ticket, bus ticket, train ticket, you can always hitchhike but that is considered a real no-no in this day and age, even males traveling by themselves shouldn't do this. It is dangerous. Don't do it!

Students traveling home should never try to book your hotel (if you require one) at the last minute because it seems like the hotel chains prey off people that do this. Their rates are often atrocious the later you book the rooms. That is probably one of your largest expenses on the trip if you are going to be using a hotel room for an overnight stay. And if you book a hotel, get the hotel that gives away the most freebies for your money, like continental breakfast, cookies at night, anything that keeps you from spending money. Even use their free toiletries, ask for tooth paste (they have it and will give you a small tube, they sometimes even have new toothbrushes), become Chevy Chase's cousin Eddie, there is no shame in saving money.

The important thing to do is if you are a student traveling home for the holidays and working off a budget, then write it down, don't deviate from it. Plot out how much you intend to spend for each facet of your trip, break it down into categories, this type of detailed planning really pays off because a lot of expenses happen when the unknown creeps into your trip. Always set aside a small cushion for items you didn't expect to occur during the trip, such as a toll booth or some other cost you wasn't aware of.

Remember to scour the Internet for deals, book those rental cars, or plane tickets, or hotel rooms online, and look for online only deals, most companies have these. Take advantage of this resource. Use NexTag or TravelZoo.

Plan your trip accordingly, if you decide to fly then flying into a small city about 100 miles away from your destination will probably be cheaper on you in the long run. The tickets might be cheaper, the rental cars, and more because not that many people are demanding them in a small city.

Look around for discounts, look at your car insurance to see if you are a member who gets discounts from airlines or rental car companies, or look to your university or school to see if they have discounts available to you because you are an active student, there are usually great discounts for students especially near the holidays.

If you are the more adventurous type you can try to fly home via a last-minute travel ticket purchased through your preferred airline agency. Last-minute travel tickets become available as airlines look to fill their empty seats that occurred just because tickets were not ordered or cancellations. If you have specific dates & airlines in mind then it's best to go directly to their website or give them a call.

You have to give yourself a lot of cushion time, however, with this approach such as 12 hours in advance or you might have to fly into an airport within a certain radius of your destination, this might not be the best bet for you. And, if you are traveling close to a major holiday then it might not be wise to wait to the last minute and hope to be able to schedule a last-minute travel ticket, there are probably hundreds or more doing the same thing. TravelZoo's Top 20 has very good deals on last-minute travel packages from airlines and posts this via the internet.

If you are looking to do the rental car, hotel, and airline ticket then package deals way ahead of time is the way to go. Expedia or Travelocity. If you are looking just for a rental car then try and score a discount with Enterprise or Hertz using your student status, if you are looking for a hotel, book ahead, book early, look for deals, and especially in cities just a tad outside of your destination. Look online at major places for hotel deals such as NexTag but also look individually on the hotel's official site as well for deals. There are many deals out there on the internet. But, the best way to save money is actually putting a detailed plan together and walking it step by step until you have a total dollar figure in front of you.