Dreaming of last-minute spring break getaway? Think out of the box for savings

Spring break is just around the corner for grade school students.

If you haven’t booked a trip yet, NBC CT Responds spoke with an expert who said you can still get away without breaking the bank.

“For those of us who live in northern latitudes, we always get to about this time of year and it’s like oh dang, really should’ve booked something,” said Tiffany Funk, co-founder of point.me, a travel points-based search and booking site.

Funk says there are often great options for last-minute travel using points.

“You can still go to Cabo for spring break for like 18,000 points a person. I think that’s super reasonable.,” she said.

But even if you don’t use points to travel, the travel expert says you can find savings if you switch your mindset from the typical go-to spring break destination.

“You may find a cheap flight to Orlando, but Disney is still going to be a $5,000 trip -- there is no way to get around that. But there are other destinations,” Funk said.

What about Savannah or Charleston?

Funk says she recently saw a reasonable flight to Barcelona too.

Or what about someplace cold?

“Iceland this time of year. Little bit out of the box, but it’s not a long flight from New England," Funk suggested.

“Great destination with kids. Lots of exploration. Lots of outside running around and it’s not going to be busy this time of year. It’s before you get to the peak tourist season, so everything will be less expensive."

While this year’s trip may be last minute, it’s never too early to start planning for next year’s spring break and think about gathering points for next year.

“Most people have points. They just don’t realize the points they have available to them,” said Funk.

Do an inventory.

Research the credit cards you currently use and the airlines you’ve flown with and see if you’ve been banking points.

You can use online tools like point.me to help with your research and finding point deals.

Funk suggests shifting your spending to a credit card that will help you get the points to cover your dream spring break trip for next year.

“A lot of people are always surprised by just how many more points you could be earning every year from spending you’re doing already.”  

Reward credit cards are great if you can pay the balance every month.

But beware, these cards have very high interest rates, so don’t take them lightly.

These are not cards you’re going to want to use if you have to carry a balance over month after month.