By the end of February, many student’s thoughts drift away from upcoming midterms with the anticipation of upcoming Spring Break trips.

Spring Break officially begins after classes Friday, March 8. Classes will resume Monday, March 17.

Some students will fly to their destination, while a large number of others choose to drive.

Junior Alanah Davis will be flying to Miami with Simpson students and friends from other Iowa colleges.

Davis said Miami was chosen because it seems like a place that has a lot of activity and entertainment options.

“Miami offered a variety of places to stay and a good nightlife,” Davis said. “We’ll be staying at a hotel on the beach, so it should be a good time.”

Davis said she expects additional delays and security procedures at the airport, but it was the only option considered because of the time it will save.

“We bought our tickets off of priceline.com, so it was a good deal,” Davis said.

Other students have chosen to take road trips for the break. They see this as a way to have more freedom to explore and see the sights. Freshmen Kelly Sander is driving to Virginia with some of her friends.

“We will be spending some time in Indianapolis, Virginia Beach, Washington D.C. and Pittsburgh, as well as a few other places,” Sander said. “It should be fun to just chill with my friends.”

When planning to travel by car there are certain things students should keep in mind, according to junior Jenny Richardson, who has traveled a lot recently.

Richardson suggests making sure that the car has a good atlas/map with a clearly established route. Also, the vehicle should have a thorough check-up. Lastly, when traveling with a group, establish a driving schedule – who drives when and for how long.

Traveling to South Padre, Texas has become a yearly trip for the brothers of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. This year, 15 men will be traveling together by car. Since they are driving, the major cost of their trip will be the hotel, which will cost about $255 per person for the week.

Also available for students that don’t want to handle the plans themselves are school trips. For $65 students could go to Denver on a work trip or to Chicago to spend some time mentoring.

Other school-sponsored trips are also being offered to Washington D.C., El Paso and Amarillo Texas and Cleveland, S.C.

Richardson recommends using online agencies to book hotels. Some of the more commonly used online travel agencies are travelocity.com, onetravel.com, studentuniverse.com and orbitz.com.