Advice for Awkward People

Dear Izzy,

I love my friends, but we can’t plan things for s**t. Getting the eight of us to try to plan something together for spring break is impossible. Not only are all of us loaded with a ton of club meetings on top of the classes we’re already taking, but all of us have a bunch of different ideas of what we want to do for spring break. Three people want to go somewhere down South, like Miami, or some tropical island where the weather is hot and the people are hotter, and three people want to go somewhere with more of a city-like vibe and a lot of stuff to do and see. The other person is not even sure if she can actually go anymore or be there for the whole time and she wants to accommodate for that.

Now, I’m just worried because I am very well aware we should have probably booked hotels and plane tickets a long time ago. Is there anything we can do to pull together a last minute trip?

Sincerely,
Travel-Ready ImPossible
Dear T-R.I.P.,

It is obvious that the most important thing that you guys need to do is make the effort and time out of your busy schedules to sit down and go over everything you have so far.

When you first meet up with your friends, try to talk things out and make compromises for things you want in a destination that you will and will not be able to meet. When you’re together, try to meet up and look at some places online together to try to find a few cities or islands that make everyone happy.

But, while it is clear what everyone wants, when the eight of you meet up, you need to start clearing up what you can realistically do. Some places and tickets will be completely out of your price range, and that kind of takes over all of your wants for the perfect spring break trip. Make sure to take that into consideration too, otherwise you’d run the risk of just not having enough money — which no one wants.

But, you can also consider smaller things too.

Try taking a road trip with two cars across the country — it’ll make for a great bonding experience and even greater memories, and it’ll save you the hassle of finding plane tickets — there’s always a gas station somewhere. Go to someone’s hometown and just chill there, or take them to yours and show them the place that shaped you.

But, if it’s impossible to coordinate a trip for all eight of you, staying at home and relaxing from the schoolwork, research, extracurriculars, and planning is okay too. FaceTime hopefully shouldn’t be as hard to coordinate.

Best,
Izzy