Christopher Guy

Christopher Guy by angie-garcia on Polyvore

Christopher Guy

Christopher Guy by angie-garcia on Polyvore

Christopher Guy

Christopher Guy by angie-garcia on Polyvore

Christopher Guy

Christopher Guy by angie-garcia on Polyvore

Traveling With My Best Friends

      It may seem a little far fetched but after taking five trips with my roommates (who I've lived with for 3 out of the 4 years of college) we have decided that our travels will not end after graduation. In fact, we have already compiled a list of the places we hope to visit in the future. As of now our plan is to go on a vacation a year. We know that all these trips will obviously require us to have a steady form of income so our next trip will not be until next year.

Places We've Gone/ Stayed:

• Palm Springs- Palm Canyon Resort
• Las Vegas- Planet Hollywood Towers Westgate
• Cabo San Lucas- Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach
• Lake Tahoe- Horizon Casino Resort
• Newport Beach- Private Beach House 

Our Big Plans:

• Major U.S. cities: 
•  New Orleans
• Seattle 
• Portland 
• New York
• Chicago
• Boston
• Miami
• Austin
• Atlanta 
• Europe (this will be in the distant future, when we are all more established) 

      Individually we have gone to some of the places listed above, but the point of these trips is to experience them together. As the trips get closer we will do more research about exactly where to stay and what to do. Any tips and previous experiences are welcome!

CABO After...

       For once Sonoma State got it right! They actually scheduled spring break at the same time as other colleges and now I can finally say I experienced a "real" college spring break, only took me four years. As I said in my last post, I didn't really know what to expect from this trip, all I really knew was what everyone had told me. "Mexico is dangerous!" and "Don't drink the water." I can now say that both of those statements did not ring true this trip. I don't know if it was because we stayed at a luxury resort or because there were so many people my age around, but I did not feel unsafe at any point of the trip. No one tried to rip us off and all the cabs we took were either provided by our hotel or by the bars/clubs we were at. Our hotel wouldn't even let us in the front gate without showing our ID's and comparing it with who was registered in our room. As for not drinking the water, its a lot easier said than done. I obviously wasn't drinking straight out of the tap, but it was very difficult for any of the girls I was with to remember that we couldn't order drinks with ice. We had our fair share of ice and luckily no one got sick. But now on to the fun stuff...

Mango Deck

   
PLACES TO GO:

• Day: Mango Deck- It is everything you image when you think about spring break (Wet T-shirt contests, booty shaking contests, drinking competitions). It is an out door restaurant/bar located right on the beach and by 1pm is packed with spring breakers. ALL drinks are two-for-one so you can drink a lot, without paying a lot. 
• Evening: Booze Cruise- For $35 a person, my friends and I went on a 2-hour booze cruise, with an unlimited supply of alcohol. It may not have been the best alcohol, but it definitely did the job. 
• Night: El Squid Roe- It is a bar/restaurant during the day but by 11pm it is THE place to be. With wall-to-wall college students, blaring dance music, and cocktail waitresses walking around with jello shots, Squid Roe is the epitome of Cabo spring break. 

LESSONS I LEARNED:

• BRING CASH: Even though you may think its unsafe to bring a large sum of cash with you, its the smartest thing to do. Lock it up in the safe in your hotel room and only bring out what you need for the day/night. One of my roommates learned this the hard way. Once she ran out of cash she started using her debit card, a very bad decision. What the bank doesn't tell you is how many international charges you will rack up every time you swipe your card. Not sure if it is just Bank of America, but a minimum $1 was withdrawn from her account each time she used her card. Also, the ATM's only dispense Pesos, which just adds more confusion. Every place we went to, along with cabs, accepted American money, so my number one tip would be to BRING CASH!!!
• LEARN TO BARTER: Whether you're buying something from a vendor or renting jet ski, NEVER accept the first offer you get. When you walk down the beach there are countless vendors trying to sell you anything and everything. When we decided we wanted to go jet skiing, we were able to talk the guy down from $50 a jet ski to $30. By the end of our trip we were paying $2 for headbands that we bought for $8 the first day. Just keep in mind they always offer you the highest price, in hopes you are dumb enough to accept it. 
• MEXICAN FOOD in Mexico isn't as great as you would think it would be. I don't know if I'm just used to Americanized Mexican food, but I was greatly disappointed by almost everything I ate. 

CABO Before....

       The first thing that has always come to mind when I think of Spring Break is CABO. In just 2 days, I will finally get to experience the ultimate Spring Break. After months of planning, the trip my friends and I have been waiting for most of college will finally be here. This will be the first time we have all traveled out of the country together so I do not even know what to expect. When telling people I am going to Cabo, the first reaction is get is, "Mexico is so dangerous!" From what I've been told, the area we are going is very "Americanized" so hopefully we do not have much to worry about.
       So far all I really know about this trip is when we are going and where we are staying. One of the girls I am going with has a time-share in Cabo at resort is called Pueblo Bonito, Sunset Beach. It is about 20 minutes from downtown and the resort offers a free shuttle. Other than this, I am leaving most of the planning to the other girls. I am just looking forward to laying all day, and drinking all night.

Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach 

Tips Before You Leave: 

• Make sure your passport is current (make copies) 
• Call your bank and make them aware of your travels so that your card does not get frozen for suspicious activity 
• Contact cellphone provider to find out if your plan works in Mexico (for Verizon it is 99 cents a minute for calls!) 

Price Breakdown/Budget: 

• Flight: $400 (from LAX) 
• Room (5 nights): $200/girl 
• Dinner and Drinks: $300 (hopefully we won't spend this much) 
• Fun Activities: $150

I'm not really sure if this is a realistic budget and won't know until I'm actually there. After the trip, I will give my readers a recap of everything that went down on SPRING BREAK 2012!