Top ten safety tips for Spring Break

[Steve]

There are deaths, injuries and imprisonments every year during Spring Break. Some of these tips will be obvious others not so I hope I dont sound patronising but here are things to be wary of:

1. Do not leave your drink unattended, I have heard several reports of drinks being spiked with drugs, including date rape drugs (guys too). If you have left your drink unattended get a fresh one and dont accept drinks from people you dont know.

2. Take care when crossing the street, the only pedestrian crossings where cars have to stop are the raised ones, there are very few of these in the Hotel Zone. The ones that look like pedestrian crossings by their markings but are not raised do not require cars to stop, and they dont! If getting off the bus always wait for the bus to leave before crossing, never cross in front of it.

3. When in a club try and orientate yourself on arriving where the nearest emergency exit is, if you are in a group and you have friends who are more drunk than you, make a point of pointing out the exits to them.

4. Ladies, I would recommend you take the bus rather than a taxi when going back to your hotel at night. As long as it is a decent hour then the bus will be crowded and you should be safe. The first thing you should learn is the landmarks close to your hotel. Look for something memorable a few minutes before your stop and watch for it.

5. People die every year from falling off balconies, don't try and cross rooms or worse still try and dive into the pool, you may find it is 4 feet deep, or miss.

6. Do not try and buy drugs, entrapment is a distinct possibility, also the drugs may well be mixed with chemicals.

7. Guys, do not piss in the street, you will be arrested if caught. The Mexican Police are underpaid and right now pissed off due to not being paid for a while - they will be looking to make extra money through bribes.

8. Condoms!

9. Take as little money out with you as you need, nobody thinks you are great just because you have several hundred dollars on you.

10. Respect the Mexican people, you are in their country - dont cause trouble with locals or you will play by their rules. I guarantee you that any Mexican guy in the hotel zone during Spring Break has ten buddies he can summon in 2 minutes and they wont mess around. Remember you are ambassadors for your country.

If anyone else has any safety tips please post them here. Be Safe, I dont want to see on here in 1 month time that someone got into trouble or worse.

[P H I L A D E L P H]

Great post, you should sticky it.

My only other point of safety is to be careful while swimming in the ocean. The undertow is really bad in some spots and you can drift without knowing. Don't swim where there is no lifeguard. A drunk buddy of mine almost drowned last year and had to be saved, thank god the lifegaurd was there.

[Steve]

Advice taken Philapdelph - made it a sticky, and good advice too about the undertow, that one must have slipped my mind

[gd_nimrod]

Nice one Steve, shows you really care

[jtslav]

just a question....do the locals go out and try to start s with the spring breakers? I'm not the one to go out and start stuff but alas, i am very hard headed and never back down no matter what the numbers against me are...

[Universal]

Originally Posted by jtslav

just a question....do the locals go out and try to start s with the spring breakers? I'm not the one to go out and start stuff but alas, i am very hard headed and never back down no matter what the numbers against me are...

The last thing you want to do is get your ass beat AND end up in a Mexican jail. It's not worth it.

[NormsKid]

For those who are intending on doing drugs in Mexico, at least read the following so that you know what your country can & can't do if you get busted.

BTW...if you get busted with drugs in Mexico, jail time is mandatory.

http://travel.state.gov/travel/livin...rugs_1237.html



As for the undertow........if you get caught in an undertow, DON'T PANIC!!

What you need to do is stop trying to swim directly to shore....you will exaust yourself and die trying. You MUST change direction and swim parallel with the shoreline for a bit to get yourself out of the undertow first.

It could be a matter of a few feet you need to swim or a few yards, but the only way to get out of the undertow is to swim horizontal to the shoreline first......then when you are out of the undertow.....THEN turn and swim to shore.

For most people, when they get tired, backfloating to shore is easier.....so if you get tired and feel like you need to stop to rest, rather than stopping, turn over on your back and float backwards til you catch your breath.

Just don't panic an start flailing around & yelling....your wasting much needed energy doing that.

Michelle

[LeahN47]

Thanks Michelle you beat me to the post about floating on your back... Good post STEVE....

Also dont stick your head out into the street last year a girl was looking to see if a bus was coming and sure enough he was and the bus decapitated her. It happened right down from us and there were Polica EVERYwhere. It was SOOOO SOOO Sad!!!


Be careful of pickpocketers at the club you are in a tight crowded area and might not feel it. I suggest keeping your things in your front pocket and close to your body. I carry a small purse with a zipper that is secured under my shoulder so no one can get to it.

Leah

[NormsKid]

If you are arrested or detained in Mexico, you should clearly inform the arresting authorities that you wish to have the nearest consular office from your home country notified immediately of your arrest.

The arresting authorities have an obligation, under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, to advise you of your rights of access to a consular representative and to make arrangements for such access. They are not required to inform a consular office of your detention or arrest unless you specifically ask them to do so.

Michelle

[jtslav]

Originally Posted by Universal

The last thing you want to do is get your ass beat AND end up in a Mexican jail. It's not worth it.

who says i would lose? :evil:

[nikkcole]

unless you know how to speak spanish i really wouldn't get into anything they will take your money and lock you up for like the rest of you trip

[Klaw]

Originally Posted by jtslav

.do the locals go out and try to start s with the spring breakers?

NO....respect the locals and the locals will respect you.

Karan

[NormsKid]

Originally Posted by jtslav

who says i would lose? :evil:

Go forth young man.....to the school of hard knocks....an when you graduate, come post some advise for the rest to follow......til then....might be a good idea to quit being so hard headed.

Michelle

[whdream]

Yes good info Michelle. I found that out last year. Me and my friend got stuck out in the OCean and couldn't get back. I even had to save some girl, she started freaking out so I managed to get her out, which only left me even worse off. The guard had to come out nad get my freind. Going sideways works so much better..Very good tip. But I pretty much collapsed when I got out onto the beach....I was so tired. And a little scared.

Originally Posted by NormsKid

For those who are intending on doing drugs in Mexico, at least read the following so that you know what your country can & can't do if you get busted.

BTW...if you get busted with drugs in Mexico, jail time is mandatory.

http://travel.state.gov/travel/livin...rugs_1237.html



As for the undertow........if you get caught in an undertow, DON'T PANIC!!

What you need to do is stop trying to swim directly to shore....you will exaust yourself and die trying. You MUST change direction and swim parallel with the shoreline for a bit to get yourself out of the undertow first.

It could be a matter of a few feet you need to swim or a few yards, but the only way to get out of the undertow is to swim horizontal to the shoreline first......then when you are out of the undertow.....THEN turn and swim to shore.

For most people, when they get tired, backfloating to shore is easier.....so if you get tired and feel like you need to stop to rest, rather than stopping, turn over on your back and float backwards til you catch your breath.

Just don't panic an start flailing around & yelling....your wasting much needed energy doing that.

Michelle

[Greta]

Never go anywhere alone, especially if you are a woman. Look at what happend to the girl in Aruba.

[*+*Kirstie*+*]

also guys... dont get drunk and go in the sea at night... huge mistake. there was a load of people who did that SB 2005 and one of them nearly drowned. also apparently sharks come close in at night to feed :-|

[EngineerGuy]

well, yes, it goes with out saying swimming+being drunk= bad news, but, I went in the ocean several times at night and had no problems!! I was having fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jtslav]

A quick tip....if your hand starts to shake while you are holding your beer at 5 in the afternoon....its time to call it quits and go to sleep for a couple hours....

[AJ0527]

Ladies, never go out alone at night.

[Sol_Gemma]

i was out alot of the time, it was ok because it was so busy.. however dont go in a taxi on your own

[Greta]

No matter how well you can or think you can swim, the water can get the best of you.. I took a panic attack while in the water up to my belly button, and it took me way out in the water.. I thought every breath was my last... It took the lifeguard, what seemed to me 5 minutes to get to me..

STAY SAFE IN THE WATER!!!!

[Scott in NH]

Please don't think that just because you did something and nothing happened to you that it was a good idea to do it. People have gone over Niagara Falls in a barrel and nothing happened to them so does that mean it was a good idea? No. it means they were very lucky.

Swimmng in the ocean at night is a bad idea. Drunk or sober. If nothing happened to you last time I am glad, but don't think that it is something that should be promoted as a good idea.

A woman going out alone at night is also a bad idea. Just because you did it before and nothing unsavory happened, does not make it a good idea.

Have a good time, but please, be safe.

[Chris_the Canadian]

really all everyone has to do is use some common since... ur in foreign country to begin with... justt use ur head, or if ur with a couple people pour ur heads together an du should be fine..

[spradioman]

A quick tip....if your hand starts to shake while you are holding your beer at 5 in the afternoon....its time to call it quits and go to sleep for a couple hours....

Good tip, but I heard if you sleep too long it can also be bad!! Doctor also says to take a shot and everything will be OK!! :lol:

[Isabelle]

haha.. good idea.... what if you take a shot every hour.. will that make things even better

[Zoolander]

Sounds like my kinda doctor!!

[spradioman]

haha.. good idea.... what if you take a shot every hour.. will that make things even better

Doctor say...."shot every hour will make time stand still....."

.....by the way..."doctor" is spring breakers confucius!! :lol: :lol:

[Isabelle]

time stands still... i like the sounds of that.. then we could be in Cancun forever!!!! YAY

[spradioman]

Problem is.........when time slows down too much you wake up on the beach at four in the morning going......"where's everybody at??"

"doctor say.....Man Who Stand On Toilet High On Pot."

[Isabelle]

umm.. yes this could be a problem

solution... don't wake up alone :wink: