TAKE A TRIP

SPRING BREAK MEMORIES

The MOTHER team put together our best and naughtiest Spring Break memories. 

Let the nostalgia and second-hand embarrassment commence.

ERICA

One year in college, I convinced my best friend to go to Acapulco for spring break.  We had no hotel and no plan.  At the time, it seemed perfectly reasonable to just figure it out when we got there.  I’m pretty sure our parents had heart attacks when they found out where we were going without telling a soul.  It was one of the most amazing and fun adventures I’ve ever been on.  There were some highs and lows, but I have the best memories.  To this day, my friend and I are bonded for life because of this trip and have agreed to take our stories of what happened to the grave.

VINCENT

One particular spring break, I was going through yet another break-up with an on-and-off-again boyfriend. Eager to get away from inquiring minds and reminders of said (ex-)boyfriend, I planned a trip to Europe on a whim and had inadvertently booked a 36-hour layover in Iceland.

Although The Terminal starring Tom Hanks is easily one of my favorite movies, I refused to remain trapped in the airport so I decided to rent a car to go into town. I quickly learned as I leaned into the driver’s seat that stick-shift cars were the norm in Europe, and I am certain the robots at Google were in hysterics when they came upon my search inquiries:

“Why won’t my car start?”

“Why does my car have three pedals?”

“How to drive a manual car”

“How to turn my car automatic”

I eventually made it out of the airport parking lot and into Reykjavik thanks to a portly Danish woman and a 20-minute YouTube tutorial. I didn’t sleep that whole 36-hour layover and even got the chance to drive the full Golden Circle, in the middle of which I made one more Google search:

“What fuel do manual cars need – diesel or regular”

My travels eventually took me to London, Paris, and Scotland – saw some things, met some friends, and learned that if I could teach myself how to drive stick-shift via Google, I can learn to love and care for myself in ways no boyfriend/partner ever can.

LILLY

In the Spring of 2011, my friends and I packed up my car and drove to Indio for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Already seasoned Coachella vets at this time, we were determined to make it the best festival yet by spending our time between sets cooling off at the beer garden. Though none of us were of age, I had acquired an old ID from a friend who was 8 years my senior. She was tall, dark, 27 years old and looked nothing like me, but I was determined to make it work.

Our plan was that I would sneak in using this ID, get a wristband, and shimmy it off my wrist afterwards to share with my friends while we took independent trips for beer. Terrific. Our plan went into motion as I approached the woman guarding the gate. Trembling, I handed her the ID while I stood as tall as possible, with huge sunglasses covering features that looked nothing like the photo in her hand. She glanced up at me, back down to the ID, back up at me, and again at the ID. She shrugged her shoulders and affixed the neon band around my wrist. I was IN. Riding the high of my victory with adrenaline peaked, I ordered my drink and was soon after approached by a handsome Australian man named Liam. Nervous that he would discover I was a teenager and out me to security, I played along and answered questions I thought made me seem older.

All was going well until he asked me what I did for work. I had never had a real job. Furiously anxious and unable to think of literally anything else, I blurted out “KINKOS. I work at Kinkos.” Of all the lies I could tell… Maybe he was unimpressed with my career in printing, or he had never heard of Kinkos, but he scratched his head and offered a simple “oh!” and introduced me to his friends as “Lilly who works at Kinkos.” I finished my beer and hightailed it out of there without returning for the rest of the weekend. I don’t think I ever used another fake ID after that, but I certainly learned that beers are best when you can share them with friends. I like to think that Liam is out there enjoying a cold one for me, still wondering what the fuck a Kinkos is.

CATIE

What happens when you bring 30 high school Seniors from Missouri to Mexico for Spring Break? Chaos, pure and utter chaos.

After arriving at the resort, it took less than four hours for one of us to almost get arrested. That must be some kind of record. A friend of ours had a bit too much to drink and decided it would be a good idea to pee off of a balcony. Unfortunately, there was a family of four sitting below him, directly in the line of fire. Afterwards, invigorated by his narrow escape from serving jail time, he proceeded to shave his entire head, leaving nothing but a tiny ponytail in the back. This was day one of seven.
 
The rest of the trip continued this trend of being an absolute shit show. But at least we had fun! One day, my best friend walked into her room and found three people playing flip cup, one of whom was an employee of the resort. Oddly enough, they weren’t even playing with beer, but an entire pitcher of mimosas. When the pitcher ran dry, one of the girls playing ran out of the room, found a custodian and snatched his hotel key ring. She then ran downstairs to unlock the hotel lobby bar, and when the staff members cornered her, she refused to give them back until the pitcher was refilled. The strategy worked and the game resumed. Life hack, I guess!

My personal experience was also belligerent, but thankfully, much less destructive. One day at the pool I entered a ring-throwing game and ended up winning. My win allowed me to submit for the hotel talent show, so I decided to take the plunge. Later that night, I got on stage in front of about 100 people and sang “Sunday Morning” by Maroon 5 on karaoke. I won third place, which earned me a lame bottle of champagne. I’m pretty positive they didn’t give me first or second place because the prize was a longer stay at the hotel.

In all, we had a blast, and no one was arrested or irrevocably harmed. Thankfully, I have grown out of this phase of anarchy, but the memories still live rent-free in my head.

EMILY

Senior year of college, my friend and I found flights from Cleveland to Miami for $25 and decided to take a spontaneous weekend trip. Unfortunately, when we arrived we realized my friend had booked us possibly the worst hotel she could have found. The room was dirty, but the worst part was the shower had water trapped underneath it. Every time we showered it felt like standing on a waterbed (gross). On top of all that, it rained for two whole days while we were there, so we didn’t get to spend any time on the beach like we hoped. On the one sunny day we had, we went to the Wynwood Walls to take some photos and walk around. The highlight of the trip was when we went to a cute taco place that had a speakeasy bar attached to it. We got to drink and eat tacos (which was all we really wanted to do at that point)! Overall, it wasn’t a great trip, but it’s pretty funny to look back on now.

TAYLOR

For spring break in 2012, I headed to Sayulita, Mexico with my then boyfriend for a week of sun, surf and legal margaritas. I’d grown up going to the small beach town outside of Puerto Vallarta and was excited to show him around, as well as explore the town as an adult. After an hour drive from the airport, we were hungry, thirsty, and ready to unwind, but first we had to find the villa. Easier said than done. What should have been a five-minute drive through town turned into two hours of driving in circles, cussing, and asking locals in broken Spanish Dónde esta Villa Pcaso?

By some miracle, we finally found the house up a hill we’d drove by ten-plus times. It turned out, the locals all knew of the house as Villa Azul since it was blue…so every time we’d get close, they’d tell us “no está aquí”. Relieved but hangry, we decided to walk into town for dinner and a drink (or four). As we headed down to the beach, we heard music getting louder and then out of nowhere spotted a stage out on the sand. Live reggae music drifted through the warm night air and event vendors passed out free canned cocktails and appetizers under the restaurant’s palapa roof. We drank and danced the night away with sand between our toes and stars overhead. It was EXACTLY what we needed after a very long travel day and set the perfect mood for the rest of the trip. Overall, it was an incredible week of swimming, tanning, and stuffing ourselves full of tacos and margaritas.

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