With fall break quickly approaching, Scott Pearson, the branch manager of STA Travel in the University Center at UT, has been hard at work scheduling trips for students.

The early bird gets the worm, because cheap seats go first. Scott Pearson, branch manager of STA Travel Pearson said a lot of students do take trips for fall break even though it is only a four day weekend.

"It's mostly people going home or international students going to new cities," Pearson said.  A majority of the trips Pearson has booked for fall break are to places like Chicago and Washington D.C.

When planning a trip, it is best to book early. 

"The early bird gets the worm, because cheap seats go first," Pearson said.  He advised that students book trips at least 2–3 months in advance if not earlier.  For breaks such as Thanksgiving, he said people really need to book even earlier than that, possibly 5 months in advance.

The most frustrating thing about being a travel agent, according to Pearson, is that he can't control the flights. Only the people at the airport can do something about a delayed flight. Also, Pearson said that the time during finals is stressful, because students have their minds elsewhere while booking trips.  

Although spring break is still months away, Pearson said students are already making plans. Some popular spring break destinations for students are Cancun, Acapulco, Jamaica and the Bahamas. Many students book cruises, but Pearson said it will be interesting to see how many will go with a cruise this year. As of January people will have to use a passport to go to the foreign countries on their stops.

Pearson said that in their travels students need to be smart about safety.

"Especially in Europe, pick-pockets are a big problem and that's something we don't really think about here," Pearson said. STA Travel sells neck pouches and money belts.