The holiday season is always a wonderful time of year between getting together with family, exchanging gifts, and taking part in traditions that have been passed on from generation to generation.  Of course the holiday season also provides students with a break from school, which allows many people the opportunity to get out of Westfield and travel. Going on vacation is always exciting and relaxing, so before break we surveyed a number of classes to see where people were going.

     Some classes had more travelers than others, but in total we found a great deal of students who were taking time during winter break to get away from Westfield. Some of the many destinations included: Vermont, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, California, the Bahamas, Kalahari, France, Australia, Canada, Italy, Montana, Hawaii, Brazil, Colorado, the Dominican Republic, Cancun, the Virgin Islands, Arizona, and Turks and Caicos.   

     The most popular place for travel this year was Vermont, primarily for skiing.  Vermont has some of the best skiing conditions on the East Coast, and in fact, 19.5% of students that we surveyed were going to Vermont. It narrowly beat out Florida as a vacation destination, which had 18% of students going there.   

     This year, with New Year’s Day falling on a Monday, students had a slightly longer winter break than normal, which made travel to international destinations easier.  As mentioned, some of the more exotic trips were to France, Australia, Italy, Brazil, and Turks and Caicos.  All of these countries are rich in culture and have beautiful sights to see, and students were fortunate to have the opportunity to visit these amazing places.   

     Winter break is the perfect time for students and their families to get away and relax before the long and busy months of January, February, and March.  We hope everyone had a wonderful break, whether it involved traveling around the world or simply staying right here in Westfield.  And for those individuals who did not have a chance to get away during December, the good news is that spring break is just around the corner.