As the year goes by and holidays come and go Thanksgiving is coming up and that means there will be a week off school to celebrate the holiday. During Thanksgiving break, many students and parents will go on vacation to different places to relax as a family. Well known spots known for their tourism are going to huge vacation spots like Hawaii or Florida.

With COVID-19 guidelines and protocols, many are now excited to start traveling more often, especially for this Thanksgiving break. For the holiday this year, Junior, Adnan Allan, is going to Broken Bow Oklahoma.

“Broken Bow is a great vacation destination for this weather and time. Me and my family can have a nice Thanksgiving dinner because we are staying in a cabin that has a kitchen and all. We’re surrounded by nature and it’s so perfect over there,” Allan.

Others are visiting family and friends during this break to enjoy Thanksgiving to the fullest. Some people haven’t seen family in a long time because of COVID and travel restrictions. Sophomore, Nathan Gallegos, is visiting family he hasn’t seen in a while over break.

“I’m going to go visit some family I have in Mexico. It’s hard to see them often because it’s another country so I’m excited to see them for the first time in a while. Even though Thanksgiving isn’t celebrated over there we are still going to have something similar just with the food and family during this break,” says Gallegos.

Others aren’t going anywhere or having family visits at all during this break. Sophomore, Tarek Hafza isn’t going anywhere, but he says he’s using this time to practice basketball and rest he wishes he could go somewhere though.

“I’m not going anywhere I know of, but I’m going to use this time wisely to get some rest because school is tiring. I also want to practice basketball because I got cut from the team and I need to get better and these cold conditions should help me perform better. I wish I could go to New York though. During the summer I went to New York for like 2 months and it was great. I got to see my family and I trained for basketball. I wish I could go there again, but I can’t because I already have some family visiting. I’m going to New York over the summer again though,” says Hafza.

For others the reason why they aren’t visiting family or having anyone over is because they don’t want to risk getting COVID or giving it to their family members. COVID is still going on, but it has gone down and the world is slowly turning back to normal. Sophomore, Brandon Pham, says he isn’t going anywhere until COVID is completely gone because he doesn’t trust travel right now.

“I would love to travel and go somewhere to have fun and relax, but COVID is restricting me from traveling and it’s very annoying because I don’t want to get covid, but I also want to visit family but that’ll put them at risk as well so it’s just better if I stay home and local,” says Pham.

COVID is clearing up and the world is getting better and better. Most places don’t require to wear a mask now but it is recommended to wear one in places like Starbucks, Marketstreet, and Kroger. In the airport and on airplanes a mask is required for most airlines to slow the spread of COVID along with the vaccine being available to almost everyone. Thanksgiving break is a time for everyone to just enjoy the time off and have some fun. As the holiday is coming closer so many students are getting ready for the cold and enjoying time with family and friends or having a nice time on vacation.