My son and I have travelled since he was about three years old. Next June he will finish high school and then? I was thinking of taking him somewhere for Spring Break (March, one week) but plane prices seem so high and convoluted to Europe from the west coast. Any suggestions for how and where? I was looking for somewhere warm and just to hang out for the week, perhaps rent an apartment?

Perhaps you might like to check out www Ramblersholidays.co.uk, there are plenty of programmes, all depart from London (easier to find cheaper flights from N.America), such as " The Algarve in a four star hotel" or "walking in Madeira" or " Relaxing in Luxury on Ischia", most of them priced quite reasonablly, besides your son might enjoy some walking with you.

Mexico! It's warm and sunny in March, easy to get to from the west coast, way cheaper than Europe, lots of options for a great place to hang out for a week.

I would not spend the money to go to Europe for just 7 days myself.

You didn't mention if you're his father or mother - but that would change the dynamics tremendously (for me, anyway). Two men could go frills-free as far a lodging went, to a point - I still need a decent night's sleep at my advanced age, and I snore mercilessly now. Also, I've been intrigued lately by the Globetrekker shows I've seen about Argentina & Nicaragua, which would almost certainly be less expensive once there - tho' airfare would be just as high, or higher. I hear you about convoluted flight plans... we've been taking Jet Blue to JFK and flying from there (west coast'ers, too) to find cheaper fares and the 2-3 days you "lose" traveling to Europe & back would be daunting if it was a week-long stay.

Or Hawaii, rent a condo thru vrbo.

Has he been studying a language? Perhaps you could choose a country where he could use his linguistic skills. Europe is a bit far from the West Coast for just a week. How about the Caribbean or Central America?