Take Me to the Breezes

I'm kinda on a spring break kick. Even though its September. I think I need a vacation.

For senior year spring break, my friends along with half of the senior class decided to go to the Bahamas.

TAKE ME TO THE BREEZES SHE SAID!

We decide to continue on the all-inclusive streak and chose to stay at the Breezes resort. There is one in Nassau (where we stayed) and there are a number of them in Jamaica and Central and South America. The Breezes are pretty typical tropical resorts, nothing too special but fun and clean. It had a few different restaurants and a nice pool/beach. You can find information on the website here: http://www.breezes.com/. The greatest part of the hotel was the rum station. They kept a machine with pina coladas, margaritas, etc. on a counter top with a huge bottle of rum and you could make your own drinks. Rum station + college students = disaster.

I didn't see much of Nassau. I was too busy drinking strawberry margaritas on the beach. The clubs were laid back and nothing like Acapulco. The whole trip was way more low key than Acapulco and it did not end up in a hospital visit which is always a plus. It was more expensive than Acapulco (flights, hotel, and nightlife were about $1400) but it was a nicer island and at least I wasn't swimming with trash. Overall, it was a great trip and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a fun but low key spring break!

We pretty much spent every day like this:
 

Waking up to the beautiful sunshine.....

Sunning ourselves on the beach or at the pool....

Burying each other in the sand....

Handstand Contests.....

Watching Villanova games during March Madness....

Going to happy hour....

Drinking out of obnoxiously large plastic cups....

Or entire bottles of wine....

Taking lots of girl pictures out at night....

Hanging out with Senor Frog....

Dancing with each other....

Or with the Bahama natives....

And ALWAYS ending the night with a snack pack!

Acapulco

My First Spring Break. Ahhhh memories. It started early on Sunday morning at the Philadelphia airport, continued on in Mexico, had a little setback in a Houston hospital and finally arrived safely back to Philadelphia.

Clearly, I had been watching MTV Spring Break my entire life (even though I was never allowed to). So during my sophomore year of college, my girlfriends and I decided to head to Acapulco with the rest of the student body at Villanova. Looking back, why did I ever want to go on spring break with people from my own school?!

Someone was a student rep from Student City and signed us all up for the trip (I think it was around $900 for flights and all-inclusive hotel).  All-inclusive is a MUST for a college spring break trip. We also purchased the party package which provided one club a night, open bar and transportation to the club. These bracelets have both positives and negatives but I think it was around $120 and totally worth it. Its nice to have everything organized for you and its cheap. But you are also somewhat stuck at a club all night (no bouncing around) and you don't return to any of the same clubs if you wanted to go again.

We spent 5 days and 6 nights down there and then I was ready to GO HOME and check myself into rehab. The clubs were AMAZING down there - like nothing I've ever seen. (Granted I was only 19 so I had not been to many places outside of Villanova dive bars). The devil was in all the clubs and we danced every night with him. My favorite club was Palladium. It was on the hill overlooking the entire bay and was so so so much fun (probably too much fun!!)

I must apologize for the poor picture quality. Most of these pictures were taken with a Kodak instant camera and my scanner is not working. The first picture below is what I imagined when I thought of Acapulco....

This is what is actually looked like:

The picture seriously looks like it was taken in 1975. To be quite honest, Acapulco is a shithole. The resort area is nice, the rest of the town is actually a little scary and a total dump. The view of the bay above is beautiful and very scenic. 1000 Places book calls the bay one of the "most romantic views on Earth".  However, its a very poor city with lots of crime and poverty. I originally thought Acapulco would be this beautiful and glamorous town similar to the South of France. Not in any way.

The ocean is really dirty down there. I literally was swimming with trash (an old tire actually floated by me at one point) and it was pretty disgusting. 

I swear this photo was taken in 2004. 

This restaurant was called "Tacos and Beer". No joke. And it was delish.

Getting ready for a night out! (Beth- what are you wearing?!!)

My roomies! 

Palladium!

Ahhhhhh nothing captures spring break fever better than this picture. 

Villanova girls out on the town!

 Loving life down in Mexico!

Confession: This picture was actually taken in Atlantic City when we went to see the devil perform in 2006. Can't get enough of that devil!

The greatest piece of advice I can give is DO NOT EAT LETTUCE!!! I was so careful in Mexico - no water, no frozen margaritas, and even brushing my teeth with bottled water. I did not think of the water that would be used to wash the vegetables. So after I threw up for the third morning in a row, I figured something was up - it couldn't be just the alcohol?  (Actually it probably could....). Turns out it was a parasite! Lovely!

On the last day, I was sick as a dog. All of the beach chairs were taken except for one. I couldn't believe my luck! Well I soon found out that the reason it wasnt taken was because there was a huge piece of jagged metal which I immediately cut my leg. There was a doctor at the hotel that told me I could go either way on getting stitches so I opted out of the Mexican hospital field trip.

Finally, we land in Houston for our layover after a tearful phone call to my parents begging them to let me fly home (no go). We miss the connecting flight. I throw up everywhere in the airport. My friend Lauren has some kind of bug bite under her eye that had swelled her eye shut and was getting worse. Things could not be worse. Luckily, my good friend Steph offers to take both Lauren and I to the hospital. That night, I spent in the Houston hospital getting an IV and parasite meds and a tetnus shot. The good ol' American doctor told me that I did need stitches but it was too late so I was going to be stuck with a nasty scar. Just a little token I will keep with me forever to remember this trip.

Long story short - don't eat the veggies and if there is only one beach chair left, there is a reason why!!

My Latest Project

I collect two things when I am traveling - teacups and postcards.

I wanted to figure out a way to display my postcards in a nice way. I didn't want to just tape them up on the wall (which is what I did back in my college decorating days). I had been looking online for different ideas and most of them were heinous. Finally, I decided that I was going to make a collage and this was my art project for August.

First, I found this frame at IKEA. It was super cheap (less than $20 each) and is very lightweight and easy to hang. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/series/16456/. In the end, between the frames, rubber cement, etc. it was less than $50 for two collages that will hang on my living room wall.

I used the background paper to glue (used regular rubber cement) the postcards to. First, I arranged all the postcards and then I drew their outline onto the paper. Next, I numbered the spots in the order that I was going to glue the postcards down so I could work around the ones that overlapped.

I found that glossy postcards are much better fit for this project and the rubber cement goes on smoother. I mixed up the two collages and tried to vary the postcards in order to make sure of all of my major trips to faraway destinations were represented.

Collage #1 (before I put it in the frame)

Collage #2

TA DA.....the finished products!

Do-Re-Mi

The hills are alive.........

with the Sound of Music.........

The Sound of Music is my all time favorite movie. I still probably watch it 5 times a year (who am I kidding? at least 10). My favorite memory is watching it with my mother whenever I was home sick from school. My dream in life was to head to Salzburg and take the tour. Finally, in the spring of 2005, my dream came true.

Our trip to Salzburg had a rough start. Nina realized at the airport ticket counter (circa 6am) that she had forgotten her passport back in Oxford. She had a lovely day of traveling back and forth and I decided to head to Salzburg by myself. Later in Salzburg that day, I accidentally got on a regional train (not the local I was looking for) and found myself headed to the city of Attnang-Puchheim about two hours away. We were determined not to let our little mixups get in the way of the glorious day ahead.

The bus tour is in the morning and is amazing. It takes you to all of the big sites (minus the graveyard), and even plays clips from the movie. This is the tour website: http://www.panoramatours.com/salzburg-Original-Sound-of-Music-Tour.aspx.

I would consider it one of the top ten days of my life.

However, the tour also shocked me and changed my life forever. Towards the end of the tour, the guide warns you he is about to tell you some secrets behind the movie and psychotic worshipping fans like myself should plug their ears. If you take this tour, I beg you to do this. It is devastating to learn the true story and how much Hollywood changed it for the movie. For example, they did not escape by climbing into the mountains to Switzerland after a daring escape from the Nazis. If you climb the mountains in Salzburg, you actually cross into Germany. In reality, they just hopped on a train behind their house. Maria was the strict one. Captain Von Trapp died two years after they escaped. I cant go on.

But hey, at least they give you a pack of Edelweiss seeds on the way out.

Warning: you are about to see some serious cheesy pictures. I can assure you that not only did we do all of this and more, but we sang at the top of our lungs the entire time.

This is the bridge they run across on their way to the mountains to learn how to sing. Unfortunately, it is closed to foot traffic otherwise Nina and I clearly would have recreated that scene for your viewing pleasure. 

These would be the trees that the children dangled in their new play clothes as the Captain drove by with the Baroness and Uncle Max.

Fun fact: they actually used two houses to film the movie. This is the back of the house. Unfortunately, it is winter so the lake is frozen over. Otherwise, Nina and I may have rented a canoe and paddled up to the house (hopefully not standing up and tipping it over). 

It's good to know Nina and I aren't the only fans with issues. The gazebo was moved from its original location because it was on private property and the owners were sick of dealing with trespassers. Unfortunately, an 80 year old woman tried to reenact the famed "16 going on 17" song by leaping from bench to bench and fell and broke her hip. It is now locked. Sad.

Reenacting Do-Re-Mi

This would be the church where Maria and the Captain were married. (Also known as the first scene on the second VHS tape. Do you now believe I am a superfan?)

How do you solve a problem like Maria?

The graveyard where the Von Trapp family hid from the Nazis is not on the tour. Nina and I just happened to stumble upon it as we were walking around the downtown area to our delight.

If you shake the gates, you hear the unmistakable CLANG CLANG from the movie.

One more thing: ROLPH PLEASE.

This is how I imagine I looked throughout the day. 

For your viewing pleasure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtLIAWAI0EA

Travel Buddies

Great travel buddies are essential! They can make or break any trip. Travel buddies must have the same schedules, interests and be able to deal with each other's annoying habits because you are usually living in quite close quarters.

My favorite travel buddies are my two girlfriends from Oxford. We spent a semester (Spring 2005) studying abroad at St. Anne's College in Oxford, UK and traveled around Europe together and now the globe. Almost every weekend, we would hit the town on Thursday night in Oxford, pack when we got home (always forgetting essentials), take a 2 hour nap and leave for the airport at the crack of dawn.

I am the planner. I get the guide books, pick the sites to visit and force everyone to get up early and out the door. Everyone knows that I am usually pretty happy until I am hungry and then I better get food into my system or the crankpants in me comes out.

Nina is the enforcer. When its late in the afternoon and all you want to do is go back to the hotel, she will make everyone go to that one last site. She is also the picture Nazi. You may hate posing for the 5000th picture but you will be happy you did when you get home!

Christina is the laid back entertainer. She is never one to turn down a glass of red wine. 

I am headed out to DC the first weekend in October for a reunion with the girls and can't wait to see them!!

I think this picture is from Edinburgh, circa March of 2005

London, May of 2007

We really never have any fun together.