A few things to think about while traveling overseas for Spring Break

By Joseph Tkacik
Staff Writer

For many of you out there, Spring Break may be that time in your lives when nothing else matters, everything goes, and consequences don’t even enter the mind.
These things are ok, but just don’t get yourself into too much trouble (that’s what summers were invented for). Seriously though, wherever you are going this Spring Break be sure to come back in one piece.
If you are traveling to far away exotic lands, such as, let’s say, Mexico for the break, there are a few things that you need to be sure to know before you arrive.
One thing that you have to remember about the Mexican judicial system is that it’s not the same as ours.
I know that that is pretty obvious to most, but many United States spring breakers don’t take time to think about these types of things because they are too excited about the trip. But there are a few things Americans need to think about while they are in Mexico.
Cancun Mexico, one of Mexico’s Spring break hot spots sees more than 100,000 American students every year. Drug possession, importation, purchase and use, one of the most handed out charges during Spring Break season, can result in imprisonment without bail for up to one year.
I’m sure that the Mexican jails are nothing like the posh television laden establishments that we have here. Just something to think about while you are vacationing.
Another misconception that many American travelers have is that many of the Mexican authorities can be bribed if you do find yourself in trouble, and this is not true.
Mexican authorities, like Americans, are not to keen on having money thrown at them so that they might be able to forget those random obscenities that you may have thrown in their direction.
Another thing about Mexico is that the water isn’t of the most potable variety. Unless you feel like taking up permanent residence in your local lavatory, buy bottled water. You won’t be sorry about the extra cash spent in the long run.
Whatever part of the world you find yourself in for this year’s Spring Break festivities be sure to be as safe as possible and come back to us safely.
The Colonnade needs as many of you readers as possible, and we don’t want to lose any of you all to bad judgment, double dog dares, or any of the other thousands of evils of that surround us in this crazy world we live in. Oh yeah, one more thing. Don’t forget to bring a towel.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Mar 15 2002. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry