Spriiiiinggggg Breeeaaak!

So...it's the week after Spring Break and as cliché as this may be, I'm going to talk about Spring Break. Only because it was simply amazing! Not because of the crazy parties on the beach (which I unfortunately, but fortunately didn't partake in this year), but because of the amazing week long vacation I had with NO social media. You guessed it, I went on a cruise. Now, I've been on cruises before, ones that were either three or four days long, but never a full week. A quick note about myself, I'm basically addicted to social media, so when I was overruled during Spring break planning, I was a little bummed about missing out on Miami to go on a cruise for SEVEN days. Little did I know, the cruise would actually be a little life changing. We cruised to the Bahamas, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and Cozumel, Mexico and I was able to enjoy every minute of it. Instead of experiencing these beautiful places through my snapchat camera, I was able to genuinely see and enjoy everything. I swam with dolphins, snorkeled with Stingrays, went kayaking and paddle boarding, all things that I had never done before and I literally enjoyed every single second of it without having my phone glued to my hand. Of course when we would visit certain places on the islands, "free wifi" was advertised, but it really wasn't unless you bought something, which I wasn't willing to do since I basically spent my whole life savings on the cruise in the first place! At the beginning of the week, I kept telling myself over and over, "I can't wait to touch down in the States". I was starving for a little Instagram and Snapchat. By the end of the week, I couldn't have cared less. I was so used to living without it and I realized that I enjoyed my time a whole lot without watching what everyone else was doing. I still haven't gotten back into the swing of things with social media and I've noticed that I get a lot more done now (what do ya know!?).

However, because I am Marketing major, I haven't lost sight of how important it is. I couldn't help but to wonder how the tourists venues were generating so much revenue with a pretty nonexistent social media presence. There were no ads for social media interaction anywhere! No "hashtag this" or "hashtag that", but then I remembered that they didn't need it because the cruise line did all the advertising and marketing for them! But, I wonder how much things would change if some of these places did get a hold of a few social media platforms. Would people start making special trips? Would anything change at all?

Any who, here are a few pictures from the trip! Enjoy.