With gas prices reaching new highs, spring break plans for some Bluffton University students were made difficult.
Sam Everson, a freshman English AYA major, struggled to afford hanging out with his friends after spending $50 on a round-trip’s worth of gas to home and back over break.
“It made me unable to go to a lot of places just because a lot of my friends live outside of the city, so I would’ve had to drive even further to go hang out with them,” said Everson.
Everson often goes home on weekends, but due to the amount of money spent on gas over break, Everson was unable to return home the weekend after.
Green River in Chicago. Photo provided by Meghan Ream.
Meghan Ream, a senior biology and nutrition and dietetics major said she struggled with gas prices, but didn’t let that stop her from enjoying a trip to Chicago. Ream was looking forward to getting a feel for the urban environment she plans on living in post-graduation while in medical school.
“We booked the hotel first,” explained Ream, “and then we started looking for ways to get there and we found that riding a train to Chicago and back was less expensive than driving, so that’s what we did.”
Ream was grateful she decided to take the train when arriving in Chicago, seeing that gas prices were $4.30 per gallon in the city.
After taking a train into Chicago, Ream was still able to do many things such as visiting the sky-deck, trying deep dish pizza and seeing the green river on St. Patrick’s day.
Karma Williams and friend Lauryn in Florida. Photo provided by Karma Williams.
Karma Williams, a sophomore social work major, also found a way to enjoy her spring break after flying down to Tampa Beach, Florida to visit a friend from high school.
“It was on a budget, but we were still able to enjoy ourselves,” said Williams.
Carter Ritchey and Noah Heiing at the animal kingdom. Photo provided by Noah Heiing.
With plane tickets to Florida being cheaper from covid prices, flying seemed like the best option for Williams. This way she could save time and money instead of pouring it all into gas and driving time.
Sophomore communication and media major, Noah Heiing, and freshman communication and media major Carter Ritchey, also chose to fly to Florida during their spring break.
“We’ve been to Disney World twice, and flew both times, but we were especially grateful for the ability to fly cheap this year because it would’ve been so much more expensive to drive,” said Ritchey.
During Heiing and Ritchey’s trip, they were able to enjoy Disney’s Magic Kingdom, ride rides, visit Hollywood studios and Animal Kingdom.
