Hive Mind: Spring Break
The Local Foreigner team maintains a lively group text - swapping tips, experiences, stories, and photos from every corner of the globe and at all hours. Hive Mind is a peek inside the group think.
Spring Break gets a bad rap — and rightfully so. A rite of passage for college kids, the mid-semester break is synonymous with debauchery and bad decisions. Nostalgic for yester-year, The Local Foreigner team recently relived those beer soaked memories right here in our Trip Planning thread of Microsoft Teams. We’re sharing our favorite spring break memories, (and how to upgrade them them!!!) below.
Riviera Nayarit
Brooke Lavery
In college we did Apple Vacations package trips to Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco and had like 15 wristbands stacked on one arm for the CLUB access. I'd upgrade that to the brand new One & Only Mandarina, where the only wristbands on my radar are the ones that give my sons access to the kids club.
Los Cabos
amanda schulenberg
Cabo spring break forever!!! I’m trading in nights at Mandala and Squid Row for a relaxing weekend at Las Ventanas al Paraiso, which is basically the opposite of spring break.
Florida
Missy weil
One year 20 friends and I rented two lake boats called MisBehaven and MisDemeanor in a random area of Florida where they gave us the keys and said good luck. We crashed the boats multiple times and ended up just docking in the marina, where we made friends with one local, Skippy, age 80, who lived on a nearby boat shaped like a space ship. Since that trip officially ended my boating career, these days I’m content to stay put on terra firma at The Four Seasons Surf Club.
New Orleans
camilla catlin
I spent a spring break in New Orleans, and only remember about three hours of it total. Such a comforting thought after dropping off my son there for his freshman year at Tulane…luckily there’s Maison de la Luz, where I can pop in any time I feel like checking in on him.
The Bahamas
jordy lievers-eaton
I spent my senior year spring break at an all-inclusive in the Bahamas, so I'm upgrading to a buyout of Bahama House on Harbour Island. This time around, I’ll be a little more careful with the sunscreen and a lot more discerning with the F&B program — as in hiring a private chef and spending my evenings sitting around Bahama House’s hand-crafted rum bar.
Riviera Maya
Barkley hickox + Alex Erdman
I went to Cancun with my parents three years running. Alex was with me one of those years. I think we were in 7th grade when we met a kid from Seattle who we continued an AIM friendship with for years.
-Barkley
Yeah…I think his screen name was something with “dabomb” in it? But Cancun with Barkley wasn’t my only spring break in Mexico. I subsequently went to Acapulco during my second year of college. We were a group of 20 girls and went to a club called Palladium. At like 2:00 AM the cold air jets go off and the “devil” comes out and they play a song called dance with the devil. I’m not going to say any more than that. I’m not sure I’d trade any of this but if I had to perhaps the Rosewood Mayakoba with my newborn child?
-Alex
Turks + Caicos
Tatiana stroud
I did freshman year spring break at my friend’s house in Turks + Caicos where I got whiplash from falling off a jet ski....I would like to trade that in for a relaxing beach and spa sitch at Parrot Cay — sans motorized water sports.
Jamaica
Meg Nolan
I went to Negril where we attended foam parties with the biggest challenge being not to get foam in your yardstick neon cocktail and competed in female empowering competitions on stages for things like best bikini body. There was also a Margaritaville spring-break-only outpost where MTV would broadcast and I tried to charm the guy from Austin Powers (the redhead son whose name my shame won’t let me remember) by doing my best impersonation. I thought it was very sexy and funny - it was neither. I think my upgrade would be to Round Hill, where I talk to no one and sip dainty clear colored cocktails in my caftan.
Appalachia
Alex Creange
I was an angel child who never went on a proper spring break, but during my Sophomore year I went to rural Kentucky for a week of community service with a group of classmates (that I still keep in touch with!). We stayed on a working farm and participated in various community projects like stocking shelves at local food banks and laying foundations for new houses. Our accommodations were sparse — we slept in a cold bunk room and didn’t shower (?) the entire week. It was an experience I’ll never forget, but the next time I find myself in Appalachia, you can bet it’ll be at Blackberry Mountain.