Jacque Janssen, arts/features editor
University Daily Kansan / Thursday, February 11, 1988
Leisure
11
Students find Mexico a cheaper alternative
By Kevin Dilmore
Kansan staff writer
Students and travel agents agree that Mexico is the hottest hot spot to go this year for spring break. But if your flight and motel accommodations are not booked already, you might be out of luck.
Beverly Berens, travel consultant for Maupintour Travel Service, said that she thought the main reason for Mexico's growing popularity with students was that a trip there could be made inexpensively.
"A trip to Mexico is a better value for your money, primarily due to the devaluation of the peso," she said. "Overall, things are cheaper there."
She said that a trip to Mexico could be made little with the $500 but that the low-cost package would be worth $100.
Ruth Nye, a travel agent at Adventure Travel, said a Mexico travel package would cost roughly $500. The package includes air fare and a week's stay at a motel.
Berens said that she worked at Maupintour for almost 10 years and that she saw a strong relationship between the cost of a travel package and its popularity.
"Students on a limited budget," she said. "It's a part of being in college."
Another part of being in college is procrastination, but that habit can be just as harmful to planning a vacation as it is to maintaining a good grade point average.
Travel agents in Lawrence said the less expensive packages to Mexico were booked for
Corrie Thompson, travel agent for Sunflower Travel, said flights and rooms in Mexico were booked solid for the month of March.
"It's hard to get any accommodations now, short of first class," she said. "But if you can get there, it's a great deal."
Berenis said some students booked their vacation packages before Christmas.
"We get some early birds," she said. "Mostly, they are people who had trouble getting what they wanted in previous years.
"Right now, I'm bracing for the rush," Berens said.
Student Union Activities is offering a trip to Cancun. Mexico.
Although travel agents are running out of options, a student does not have to be in left in the old
Brook Menees, Overland Park sophomore, is in charge of organizing the trip for SUA. He said Cancun had a different appeal.
"We wanted to plan a more mature trip," he said, "one getting away form the all-out parties but still fun."
Menees said areas in Florida, such as Dayton Beach and Ft. Lauderdale, had turned into a resort.
Mark Thatcher, Overland Park sophomore and travel committee member, agreed. "We're running this as a getaway from typical trips to Davtona," he said.
"That place is just billions of people packed on a beach and cheap hotels." Thatcher said.
"Almost any trip to Mexico is $650 for airfare and a week at a medium-range hotel," he said. "We really shopping around to get a good deal for students."
Michele Harder, Junction City junior, had signed up for the trip, and she said she was excited about it.
"Mexico is the up-and-coming place to be for spring break," she said. "It beats Padre and Florida all to hell."
Berens said Cancun had become one of the most popular resorts in Mexico since its construction a few years ago.
She said the Mexican government had used a computer to locate the best place in the country for a new resort area for foreign travelers, and Cancun was the site selected.
"It was the closest site in a direct line with the mainland United States, and it had gorgeous beaches, so they built a resort," Berens said.
"In essence, if what you want to see is Mexican culture, Cancun is not the place to do it," she said. "But you can take a daylong excursion from Maya ruins from there."
Harder said she watched the currency exchange rates closely and already cashed in $285.00.
"I plan on buying a lot of silver," she said.
saying a sucker, a sucker, "succ告"
Harder said of best friends on
staying in Mexico for the break, or at least
crossing the border once for some good bargains.
"Everybody is looking for a cheap break," she said.
Thatcher said he expected the trip to fill quickly.
"Now is a good time to offer something like this because a lot of students blow off making plans until the last minute," he said. "And our trip is a good deal."
But not everyone is heading south for a break from the cold. Although some students plan on lounging their break away on the shore, others will brave the snowy slopes of Colorado.
Berens said she had booked many ski trips for students this year.
"Many students like to ski over the break," but it depends on what kind of winter we have it."
"Usually, I get more ski questions than I have this year."
She said that the majority of the ski trips she booked were in Colorado but that she also had sent students to slopes in New Mexico and Wyoming.
SUA also is offering a ski trip for spring break this year. The trip includes five days of skiing and accommodations in Winter Park, Colo.
He said the travel committee worked hard to keep the standard of quality people had come to expect from SUA trips.
"We have a good condo line up and a very comfortable sleeper bus," he said. "I think it works."
Menees said that the SUA trip might be a little more expensive than others but that the price was worth it.
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Athletes might travel for spring break but not for leisure
Kansan staff writer
By Kevin Dilmore
Ask any KU student where he or she is going for spring break. Chances are good that the answer will be Texas or Florida. The reason behind these vacation choices may appear obvious: Texas and Florida are great places for fun in the sun.
But some students are heading south for the break with a different goal in mind. They are going to compete.
Many student athletes on campus are unfamiliar with the traditional week of rest and relief from school responsibilities. For them, they must take their free time, and the only traveling they do is with their team.
Reeen Noble, Omaha, Neb.
senior and second baseman for the
softball team, and she will be
missing her spring during her four years on the team.
haring four years on the earth.
"I don't know what a break is
like," she said, "except that I don't have as much homework."
The softball team is spending its break at the Sooner Invitational in Norman, Okla., and at the Houston Classic in Texas. Noble said that the team would be on the road March 10-20.
Noble said that the team would play two or three games a day during each tournament. "We're not going for a vacation, that's for sure," she said.
"We don't have much time to lay out in the sun," Noble said. "And when we do lay out, the coach will tie it for long because it tires us out."
Scott Taylor, Arkansas City junior and pitcher for the KU baseball team, said that he would make third break in a row with the team.
This year, he will play in the Pan American Citrus Tournament in
"So my face gets tanned,but my body stays white," she said.
Edinburg. Texas.
Taylor said that he never missed
"You can't miss what you never really had," he said.
He said that at least the break from classes and homework would help him concentrate more on his performance.
The team will play eight games during its week in Edinburgh. Although it is a full schedule, he said he was not without free time.
"We play afternoon games that are usually over by 5 p.m," he said. "So we have the evenings to ourselves."
Jon Pattin, Lawrence sophomore, catcher and first baseman for the team said that the location he made finding things to do easy.
"The Mexican border is about 10 minutes away, and Padre Island is about an hour away," he said.
Pattin said that parents of some
of the ball players took them down to Padre Island for one afternoon last year.
Taylor said that the location of the tournament was a definite benefit.
"it's kind of a vacation atmosphere," he said. "But we are down there for one thing: to play baseball."
Susan Pekar, Wausau, Wis.
senior, said that she would spend
her break in Orlando, Fla., with
the women's golf team.
She will be competing in her first tournament of the season, the Peggy Kirk Bell Invitational.
"In a sense, I'll have a break," she said. "It's fun to get away from school."
"And we won't be practicing every hour of daylight," she said.
"peeka" said that during the week she was in Orlando, she would get a day from practice and competition to do whatever she liked.
"I don't get to do the things most people do during spring break," she said, "like come in at 3:00 in the morning."
Pekar said that team trips were a nice way to travel but that she missed going places with her friends.
Scott Huffman, Quinter senior and pole vaulter for the men's track team, said that he found himself in an unfamiliar situation. He changed in the NCAA track schedule, will have a spring break this year.
He said that he would spend the time both in Quinter and in Newton, planning his wedding and training.
Huffman said that he appreciated the chance to go home for a while during the semester.
"Once I get back to Lawrence after Christmas, I'm gone with the team every weekend," he said.
"So I think we'll go to Disney World," she said.
Huffman said that he never felt bitter about losing his spring break to the track team.
"I was getting a great opportunity to go to faraway places, all expenses paid," he said.
"I if I went to Padre, I don't think I'd do much staying in shape," he said. "If I stay in Kansas, I will not nothing better to do than train."
Noble said that student athletes were well aware of the sacrifices to be made for their respective teams.
"We knew that when we came here," she said. "And if I didn't like it, I wouldn't have done it for four years."
He said that he had no interest in going anywhere exotic for the break.
"I never take time off from training," he said. "If I do, it scares me. I'll probably strap a pole to the car and run with it in Newton."
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