- Last year, a friend and I spent spring break about an hour north of the crazy island of Miami Beach.
- We embraced the “coastal grandma” aesthetic and interacted with retirees.
- Not traditional for college students, but it was fun to relax and avoid the Miami party scene
Early on a Saturday morning last March, I boarded a southbound plane to Florida with hundreds of other college students.
We shouted “Spring Break” as a group. They wore college attire in a variety of cuts and colors and looked happy to be away from the stress of school for a week.
But when we arrived in the Sunshine State and most of our passengers headed there; miami beach Because of the drinking and debauchery, neither my friends nor I went with them.
Instead, we headed to Hillsboro Beach, a quiet seaside community about an hour north of Miami, for a relaxing spring break.
We decided to skip the mobs and bad behavior that comes with spring break, especially spring break in Miami. This year, Miami Beach launched a “break up” campaign with spring break tourists and implemented new regulations to crack down on disruptive parties.
But we went to party schools and saw a lot of that in our hometown. Now, we're ready to spend our last spring break relaxing with retirees before graduating from college.
We found ourselves in a relaxed atmosphere throughout our trip. I made friends with a retiree.
The small seaside town we stayed in was populated mostly by retirees in their 60s. Even tourists visiting local businesses were rarely under the age of 50.
So when my friend and I showed up to check into the hotel, we received more than a few puzzled looks.
“Are you sure this is the right place?'' “Are you going to Miami?'' I repeated over and over again, but when I explained my plans for a relaxing vacation, they were often understood.
We embraced the “coastal grandma” aesthetic in white linen shirts and fluffy beach hats and read for hours on the beach.
When we weren't soaking up the sun, we played card games, bananagrams, and headed out to the (very tame) downtown area for dinner.
We slept a few steps away from a quiet beach, so we decided to get up early to watch the sunrise on a hungover late morning.
Many mornings new friends joined us. A retired woman is traveling alone and misses her grandchildren when they are home.
We enjoyed the sunrise together and watched ourLocal conservationists protect a sea turtle hatchling as it travels to the surface on an ATV.
If we were hungover on a crowded Miami Beach, we would have missed this unlikely formation friendship that transcends generations.
During our trip, we spent time with many kind, older tourists and hospitality workers. Once they realized we weren't unpleasant, havoc-causing spring break tourists, they were more than happy to share their time and stories with us.
By the time we got home, we knew we had made the right choice.
After a week in our little piece of heaven, it was time to go home.
In the Uber heading to the airport at 5am, the driver told us he would come. He shared horror stories straight from the night he drove with partygoers in Miami.
He said he was surprised that we chose an alternative spring break, but that he understood. He has seen many arrests, sick students, and lost youth during his career as a spring break driver.
When I boarded the plane heading north, I was reunited with my friends who looked tired and hungover.
Refreshed from a week of R&R, my friend and I exchanged knowledgeable glances and listened to their wild stories from Miami. “We made the right choice.”
Our spring break may not have been traditional for college students, but it was exactly what we needed.
