Holiday travelers more likely to stay close to home
By Deanne Nelson
Staff Reporter
Although Christmas is usually
thought of as a time to be with
family and holiday travel is usually
family oriented, some students
choose to take advantage of the
time away from school to make it
friend oriented.
“Spring break is more devoted to
leisure travel, while Christmas is
usually devoted to going home to
family,” said Pam Ellis, travel con
sultant at Contact Travel, 4001 S. 48
St. “Although some students do
choose to go to Disney World or
skiing."
Ellis said most of the travel
agency’s business for Christmas
involves booking airline flights to
students’ hometowns while spring
break bookings concentrate on
warm climates and fun.
Jean Schutz, travel consultant at
International Tours of Lincoln in
East Park Plaza, said that when
friends do travel together at Christ
mas the most common place to go is
to Colorado for skiing because of
proximity as opposed to the typical
spring break vacations “in the
south.”
Students who travel together at
Christmas are commonly room
mates or fraternity or sorority
groups, Ellis said.
Packages which include airfare,
hotel or condominium accommo
dations, bus transfers and ski lift
charges are popular with traveling
students, Schutz said, because they
are convenient to arrange.
“Ski rental is not usually in
cluded because people who go to
Colorado from nere usually have
their own skis," she said.
The most popular Colorado
skiing areas are Vail, Aspen, Colo
rado Springs and Beaver Crossing,
Schutz saicT which is the most inex
pensive and ideal for low-budget
students.
Travel accommodations for a
trip to places like this or to the
warm-climate areas must be made
far in advance, she said
“You can’t expect to arrange a
Christmas trip in October or No
vember because airlines are usually
booked solid by then, as well as
hotels," she said.
Planning for spring break, al
though it may seem far into the
future, should be done soon after
Christmas, she said.
To help in planning a spring
break or family vacation or honey
moon, Ellis said, Contact Travel
offers video rentals of more than
100 destinations. This “video li
brary” gives a birds-eye view tour of
the destinations with ti: >n sight
seeing, places to eat and now much
money to bring, she said.
Ellis said these videos can be
rented for $2 per day or $3 a week
end and show destinations ranging
from Europe to Mexico to Carib
bean cruises. The rental fee is de
ducted from the package price
when the customer arranges a tour
through the agency, she said
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