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Surviving spring break
Staff Writer A couple of years ago, my husband and I looked around our home, took stock of the fact that two of the people we'd given birth to had moved into the high school and the other was heading to middle school and marveled about the passing of time.
We also realized the years had gone so quickly that we hadn't done some of the things we always thought we'd do "someday when the kids were older," like take family vacations.
The clock was ticking, we had a couple of years left and, well, we were going to create some warm, fuzzy, family vacation memories and that was that, darn it.
So, in the past few years, we've packed up the kids and the digital camera and crammed in trips to Florida, the Black Hills and a long, two-week car trip to the East Coast last summer. We now have photos of various combinations of us squinting in the sunlight, huddled in rain ponchos and standing in front of our nation's capitol to prove it.
Last week, we took an even bigger trip. We dug our summer things out of storage early, practiced sucking in our stomachs, bought a large supply of sunscreen and headed with the masses in search of sun, lawn chairs and a poolside for spring break vacation.
My friend, Michelle Joyce, and I were out for an evening walk last September and she told me that she and her husband, Bob, and their daughters, Whitney and Hailey, were planning a trip to Mexico over the spring break with her sister and brother-in-law, Tim and Lori Rustad, and their two children, Mara and Tyler, from Moorhead. Unaware of our oath to collect fond family vacation memories, she extended an invitation she probably never thought I'd accept.
"Do you think you guys would want to go, too?" she queried.
Would we?! Heck, yes!!
Not only did this surprise opportunity for yet another vacation land unexpectedly in our laps, but Michelle's sister took care of most of the arrangements, even finding a resort that would accommodate a group our size, with rooms close together with all of the amenities we could have hoped for: multiple pools, miles of beach, activities going on all day long and a great athletic facility for the kids. It also frowned on accommodating college spring breakers, meaning we'd be mostly in the company of other families.
In all, the vacation was an interesting choice for us. My husband, Kirk, is not a sun lover. He burns ridiculously easily. As much as he dislikes the rays of a scorching hot day, I dislike water. Mostly water over my head. Each of the seven days we were there, the temperature climbed into the high 80s. While the rest of us loved it, it did not bode well for my spouse, whose distasteful reaction to heat gave one friend cause a few years back to dub him the "Sweater." He stayed mostly in the shade by day and found the cooler evenings, after sunset, much more to his liking. I found a 4-foot deep pool that I could actually maneuver throughout end-to-end if I so desired, and all was good.
Our kids took in everything the trip had to offer. The seven of them, performed in karaoke, participated in beach-side Olympic contests, snorkled, danced in the teen disco in our hotel lobby at night, painted pottery on the shores of the Caribbean and ate endlessly at every buffet and snack bar. Our trip was all-inclusive and I can only imagine that had to have worked in our favor. Without once asking for cash our kids were able to munch, sip, and consume all of the ice cream they so desired daily.
Our trip to Mexico this year was not a novel idea. Many other area families boarded planes too for that general destination. Because of new laws, passports were required for the trip this year. We applied for ours around Thanksgiving and it added a cool $500 to our vacation tab long before we ever left.
In the months leading up to our trip Bob and Michelle and Tim and Lori, who had all made the trip several times, passed on lots of good advice to us first-timers. Things like: Bring floaties for the kids, pack multiple swimsuits and bring along some sort of upset stomach medicine (just in case).
Now that I'm a seasoned traveler to the tropics myself, I have a few things of my own I can pass on to future travelers heading south for spring break.
Do remember lip balm. With an SPF. We heeded the tales of blistered lips and mild sunburn. Also remember a cap, sunglasses and multiple bottles of sunscreen. Turns out when they advise to apply frequently, this is one place they mean it.
Do take in at least one local site-seeing trip. My husband, my oldest daughter and I took a two-hour bus ride to see Chichen Itza, a famous Mayan ruin. The history of the area was of great interest and leaving the glitzy resort area two hours behind us and traveling to the outlying area of Mexico by the Yucatan Peninsula was eye-opening. Things are different away from the sandy beaches and exquisite accommodations tourists experience.
Do know your entrees. On the bus trip to Chichen Itza the guide spoke only broken English which meant we had to concentrate on what he was saying and didn't always understand all of it. After we popped some pizza roll looking morsels into our mouths that he passed out for us to sample we began to understand that we were enthusiastically chewing on snake head. (But not for long.)
Learn at least a little of the language. (And not just because of the aforementioned reason). Most of our kids had taken Spanish in school, which helped the rest of us muddle through. The basic "please," "thank you" and "where's the restroom" are pretty good things for everyone to know.
Do look for a park-and-fly deal at a hotel if you're traveling from the Twin Cities. For the price of our room the night before our flight we also were able to keep our cars in their secured garage until we returned.
Do take lots of small bills for tipping hotel personnel and others that help your trip flow smoothly. They appreciate being appreciated.
Do travel in a large group if you'd like. Our group of 13 could have hindered our experience, but in most cases it actually worked in our favor. For a trip into Playa del Carmen one night and another excursion for some snorkeling we had enough people that we were given our own van and driver for the trips that allowed us to dictate when we wanted to arrive and leave our destinations.
Look for iguanas. They were everywhere at our resort and in every size. When you least expected it one might be standing beside you.
Our trip to Mexico was a great success. We had a fun week with good friends, we created a few more memories for our kids to recall and we got a little jump on summer.
The "Sweater" however, says next spring break, we're going skiing.
SHEILA HELMBERGER, staff writer, may be reached at sheila.helmberger@brainerddispatch.com or at 855-5886.
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