Travel Tips: Slacker Edition

I’m broke and lazy – are you broke and lazy? Of course you are. You’re a college student (or a big fan of college-related material if you’ve found yourself reading this).

To many, “college student” is synonymous with “too busy and too broke.” Even if you’re a part-time student/full-time worker it’s assumed that you’re a slacker. So instead of slacking off on ultra-cool college websites (…) how about you get off your ass and start preparing for your trip home?

Oh, you need help? Sigh…OK.

Just sit back and let COED do the dirty work of providing simple-yet-important travel tips while you reap the benefits. Lucky bastard.

Book your flight early

It’s surprising how many people don’t follow this all-important rule. Call it being a member of the A.D.D. Generation or being too busy with schoolwork, but there’s no excuse when purchasing a ticket home is just a click away.

It’s early November – are you planning on heading home to see your family? Let’s hope you’ve already bought your ticket: holiday season is by far the most booked-up time to travel in the year. If you haven’t yet come back to this article (it’s not going anywhere) and book your flight at Orbitz, Expedia or Priceline immediately. Be sure to avoid spending ungodly amounts of time looking for the absolute cheapest rate: too much time browsing will equal too much money spent if you don’t act quick.

Pack the majority of your luggage ASAP

You know who you are – and by “you” I mean everybody. Nobody likes to pack for a week’s stay at grandmas. Stop your sniveling and get it over with. Start packing whatever clothes, electronics and doodads as soon as you book your flight. If your suitcase is out in the open, waiting to be fully packed, you’ll be more likely to…you know…finish packing. Wait until the last minute and you are almost guaranteed to forget something.

Charge every electronic device (at least) a day ahead of time

Nothing is worse than boarding your flight, Nintendo DS in hand, ready to spend the brunt of your time in the air playing when blam – the unit shuts off. You forgot to charge it, didn’t you? Didn’t you??

All you had to do is charge it…but you didn’t. You were too busy doing nothing. Great job, kiddo: now you must rub shoulders with the annoying passenger next to you with nothing but time and boring conversation on your hands. To make matters worse your phone is dead, making an easy pickup at the airport a bigger task for your older brother who loathed picking you up to begin with. Now the trip back to moms is over an hour off schedule and tainted by your lack of organization.

Morale of the story: charge your electronics ahead of time. And pack a book and/or magazine as an alternative source of entertainment, tech-boy.

Pack a portable pillow for the flight

This one’s a given: pack a comfortable-yet-convenient pillow for the plane trip. Even if you feel like a douche when busting out a cutie-pie pillow, you’ll be the envy of all uncomfortable passengers.

Bring home trinkets for the entire family

Don’t be an a**hole: your family hasn’t seen you in a while and any worthless trinket from your college will mean the world to them. An XL sweatshirt bearing your college’s name, bumper stickers, lame-o coffee mugs – however typical they may be it’s the thought that counts.

A trip home can either be a bore or a welcome change of pace, all depending. At the very least eat some non-processed food and catch up on sleep…enjoy both while you can!