Why I didn’t go on a stereotypical spring break
To be frank, I didn’t think I would fit in with those types of crowds
Going away for spring break is arguably every college student’s dream. Between the warm weather and beaches, clubs and parties, and unlimited alcohol and drunken hookups, spring break has become a staple throughout colleges across the nation.
Chances are you know someone who has been on a textbook spring break vacation, whether it be to Cancun, Panama City Beach, or Miami. If this is the case, you probably lived vicariously through their social media posts for the entire week from the comfort of your bed at home, wishing you were in their shoes.
While I know borderline absurd amounts of people who have gone on these types of trips, the stereotypical concept of spring break never appealed to me. I had no desire to do what everyone else was doing at these “college spring break destinations.” To be frank, I didn’t think I would fit in with those types of crowds, but at the same time, I wasn’t upset about it. I didn’t judge those who chose to go on these types of spring break vacations, but I stood by my personal decision to not be a part of it.
Prior to this year, I had never gone away for spring break, nor had I ever considered it to be an option. All-inclusive resorts are expensive, and I knew I sure as hell didn’t have $1000+ to drop on a vacation. Sure, I wanted to go somewhere warm, but I didn’t think it was possible financially, and if it did somehow end up being possible, I thought that I would end up somewhere I didn’t really want to go.
What I wanted was simple: a beach, a tropical drink and my best friends.
The summer before senior year, my roommates and I began planning our own spring break vacation, far from the clichéd destinations flocked upon by people our age. We decided to take a much more conservative and inexpensive route by booking a cruise to the Bahamas. We didn’t know anyone else from our school going, but we were perfectly okay with it. We had each other and we couldn’t have been more excited to finally be getting away for one last hoorah before graduation.
The cruise was everything I could have asked for and more. I spent five days in the Bahamas with my closest friends since freshman year. Even though we were the only people from our school on the cruise, there were several other groups of students from other colleges aboard whom we ended up hanging out with. Nothing was ever out of hand, and there was never any drama. Everyone on board was so happy to be there.
Yes, we went to the beach. Yes, we drank. Yes, we went to clubs and danced. We did a lot of the same things that other students on spring break probably did, but we did it on our own. We didn’t need to be surrounded by thousands of other college students to make our vacation feel more like a “traditional” spring break, simply because it wasn’t important to us. We were just so happy to be somewhere nice with each other that nothing else really mattered.
In short, don’t feel pressured to go on a spring break vacation just to fit in with what everyone else is doing. I’m a firm believer that certain types of spring break destinations are not for everyone, and I’m so glad that my friends and I chose a vacation on our own instead. You don’t have to “do it big” to have fun – you just have to do it right.