With midterms almost over, it is time for the much-anticipated week-long event — spring break. Many students take cross-country trips to warmer parts of the globe and bid farewell to the 40-degree weather of Nebraska.
There is a website dedicated to helping these travelers plan their vacation by introducing them to other travelers headed to the same place. Vacation Relation is a website that answers a simple question: Who will be at your vacation?
Vacation Relation is designed to help travelers know who will be in the area that they are traveling to. Its tagline reads “Socialize your vacation.”
It allows travelers to search their upcoming destination and time frame in a database to introduce them to people around the globe that will be there at the same time, according to the website.
“It could be really helpful, especially going to a place you have never been to,” said Jordan Nelson, a sophomore broadcasting major.
Nelson said the idea of Vacation Relation is interesting.
“I personally would only use it if I was traveling internationally,” she said. “I feel that it would be a time in which you would want to know people.”
The benefit of the website for students is that it allows travelers to do vacation planning and socializing all from the convenience of a Facebook page. The website makes the point that making another travel community is unnecessary when it can all be associated with your Facebook account. Vacation Relation gives travelers the opportunity to find others that are vacationing with them, according to the website. She said having Vacation Relation go through Facebook is a convenient way of using other forms of social networking.
“You don’t have to worry about another thing and having it on Facebook makes it more accessible,” Nelson said.
According to the Vacation Relation website, the way a person gets started is by going to the website and entering in the information needed such as where you are going and during what time frame. This information will be placed into the site and a list of others who have entered similar information will be brought up.
The only way to enjoy the total functions of Vacation Relation is to join a vacation listed on the website.
“I think that Vacation Relation could be nice, but it depends on the purpose people use it for,” said Cecil Meeusen, a graduate student with the Survey Research and Methodology Program.
Meeusen will be traveling over spring break and said she would personally not be using it. Her reasoning was if she were going for a few days to a new city, she would want to see the city and spend less time socializing, she said.
The only downside that both Nelson and Meeusen brought up was how safe it is.
“You never know what kind of people will contribute to the site,” Meeusen said. “You can be vulnerable if you are alone and the application could be misused.”
Nelson said with any website that people use, the responsibility is in their hands.