1970s

The 1970s saw more than just the rise of the disco era. They was the birthplace of what we now associate with a modern-day college student’s spring break experience.

Trips were a more on the fly, low-budget venture that students planned for much less than they do now.

“There was virtually no rational thought applied to our itinerary,” said Todd Shaffer, who graduated from MSU in December 1978. “Our planning consisted of buying a map and emptying our bank accounts.”

Emptying bank accounts or not, most students managed to keep the trips at an affordable cost by cutting out what they considered luxuries and sticking to what they found to be necessities.

“We camped, slept in the car, crashed with people we met and ate at dives,” Shaffer said.

Students also tried to pack lightly, keeping everything they needed to a minimum so they really were experiencing a worry-free week.

“Our clothes for a week fit in a pillowcase,” said Scott Odette, who made the trip in 1972.

While keeping things on the mostly inexpensive side, it was still a vacation, and students were still not afraid to occasionally indulge.

“We could buy Michelob for 50 cents a can at a little tiki bar on the water,” Odette said. “We were big spenders.”

While the prices and modes of transportation may change, it seems that some things such as destination may always stay similar. Like now, Florida was always a front-runner in the spectrum of options.

“We always went to Florida for spring break because it was the closest way we could reach sunshine by car,” said Kathy Strand, 1978 MSU graduate. “Fort Lauderdale, Daytona, Tampa and once all the way to Key West were our choices.”

There are some changes, however, that were bound to occur with the times. To keep things spontaneous, most students tended to opt out of the now-popular plane ticket, choosing instead to load up a car with food and friends and drive straight through to their destination.

“We would always drive straight through from Michigan to (Florida), each taking shifts of about four hours,” Strand said. “We got caught in snowstorms, had car trouble, got speeding tickets … but we always made it!”

One thing almost all graduates have in common now when looking back on their spring break experience is the sense that at the time, despite the price or the trouble, they did exactly what they would regret not doing later.

“Sunshine hardly seems worth the trouble now,” said Jim Moore, who graduated MSU in 1974. “But back then I wanted to live in Florida and be warm forever.”

1980s

Florida continued to be the popular destination stepping into the ’80s, with many students still heading south to get their spring break experience.

“We picked Ft. Lauderdale because in (the) mid-1980s, it was the hot spot,” said Lawrence Stawiarski, who made the trip in 1986.

Phil Harwood, who graduated from MSU in 1984, agreed.

“Florida was the most popular destination for spring break in the ’80s,” Harwood said. “A group of four of us decided to go to Ft. Lauderdale since it was one of the hottest places for spring break at the time.”

As spring breakers in the 1980s took off, so did the popularity of the tradition as a necessary part of the college experience — and it wasn’t just the students who were taking notice of the trip.

Popular magazines aimed toward the spring break audience, such as Playboy, were taking cues from the collegiate calendar as well.

“One spring break experience I can remember was an aerial photo op done on the beach by Playboy magazine where students stood in a roped-off area outlining the famous bunny,” said Craig Fick, a 1989 MSU graduate. “Our group held a 3-by-5 block ‘S’ flag as a part of the bunny. More than one person told me it made the magazine, but having never actually seen that particular edition, I cannot verify its validity.”

Playboy was not alone in its interest, since the whole trip saw more and more commercialization through the ’80s.

“Every club was competing for the attention of the college students,” Fick said. “I was impressed that they knew exactly which colleges were on break at that time and would market directly to them.”

While spring breakers from the decade will assure you there was no shortage of people wanting to go wild on their vacation, it is agreed that things have changed since the time.

“Today’s level of debauchery was not present,” Fick said.

However, this didn’t seem to be a problem for him.

“I would not have changed a thing. It was the perfect spring break trip,” he said. “While we were in Florida, East Lansing was getting pounded with snow, which made our escape from the ‘great white north’ that much more rewarding.”

1990s

In the 1990s, road trips and Florida vacations for spring break were still the rage among college students.

Bill McCullough, branch manager of Lansing’s AAA office, 2829 E. Grand River Ave., and a 35-year veteran of the travel industry, said Florida was the most popular destination.

“I think that Florida was a big one in the ’90s: Fort Lauderdale, Daytona Beach and Clearwater. In Texas, South Padre Island had always been popular. That’s probably what it was in the past,” McCullough said.

“We don’t see as many people going to those Florida destinations anymore. Some still go to Clearwater or the (Florida) Keys, others to Texas, but more and more, they’re going out of the country.”

Jim Johnson, a graduate of the class of 1992, said he agrees with McCullough.

“People weren’t going to the Caribbean or Mexico or Aruba. The people I knew were going to Florida. People weren’t going to exotic places. It’s very different now,” Johnson said. “I know (spring break) is bigger now. I’ve seen MTV. I know it’s a big industry. It wasn’t as big of an event back then. … It’s grown into a whole new level in this day and age.”

In March 1990, Johnson and two of his college friends made a last-minute road trip not to Florida, but to New Orleans. Johnson said he had an old jeep the three of them “just picked up and went in” so they could watch the MSU basketball team compete against Georgia Tech in the NCAA Tournament.

“We drove from Michigan to New Orleans and it was quite a drive, quite a trip,” Johnson said. “We only planned a week or two ahead of time, if that, and just went.”

While they had tight budgets as college students, Johnson said in retrospect, their four-day trip was probably cheap compared to present-day college spring break trips.

“(The gas) wasn’t a small expense. My Jeep got bad mileage. But between the three of us, we spent maybe $750 to $1,000 for gas, tickets to the games, food, alcohol and the hotel. It was very reasonable,” Johnson said. “For us, it was a chunk of money at the time, but for us going from Michigan to Louisiana at the last minute, budget wise, we did just fine.”

Even though he didn’t get to see MSU win a championship in 1990, Johnson said he and his friends saw other things in New Orleans that left him with fond and risqué memories.

“My impressions I’m left with from that trip years ago was slacking off at the pool all afternoon … and then going to the games at the Superdome, and then going to the French Quarter for food and beer,” Johnson said. “Being exposed to the red light district for the first time, even the crowds, it was definitely somewhat raunchy there.”

The experience was one Johnson would never forget.

“New Orleans was a whole new experience and just incredible and unforgettable. The food was incredible. We ate crawfish that we had never eaten before. It was spicy, Cajun. We were three wide-eyed boys from up North, experiencing new things, consuming a lot of alcohol, seeing a new place.”

2000s

The advent of the 2000s has brought with it a change in spring break destinations. Domestic locations in
Florida have remained popular, but the popularity of exotic locations has increased throughout the present decade, said travel adviser Tamara Olton of STA Travel, 207 E. Grand River Ave.

“The two big (locations) we get are Cancun and Jamaica, but we’ve started seeing a variety of other destinations pop up as well,” Olton said.

“The Dominican Republic is coming up a bit, as well as the Bahamas and different places in Mexico.”

Places such as Cancun and Jamaica offer students a more exotic destination for their trip.

“Cancun is the quintessential spring break destination. When people want something different but still want a beautiful beach, they choose Negril, Jamaica,” she said.

“Cancun is more traditional. Jamaica is a great alternative.”

In recent years, the purpose of spring break trips also has changed for some MSU students, as well, Olton said.

“Trips for volunteering have come up, too. Some people like to go to Costa Rica to do sea turtle conservation and things like that,” she said.

However, the sun and parties remain a big factor when students plan their trips.

“I’m going to Fort Lauderdale, Florida this year. It’s kind of standard, but why not? It’s warm,” said physiology junior Clarissa Turton. “I’ll be going to the beach, probably to a club of some sort and going to the bar.”

Alcohol has become a spring break staple, Olton said.

“Going along more with the spring break culture, a lot of people like to do boat rides on the water (in Cancun) where they can drink while on the water. Sort of like ‘booze cruises,’” Olton said.

In Mexico, the drinking age is 18.

Despite changes in spring break hot spots over the years, Florida vacations have remained the fallback for a number of college students.

Olton said that due to current economic conditions, some people are watching their budgets by vacationing in domestic locations. Fort Lauderdale and Miami are places they often choose for the beaches and the nightlife, she said.

Turton’s friend, marketing junior Veronica Vanhulle said she has gone to Miami and St. Simons Island, Ga., for past spring break trips. She said Miami was her favorite of the two places.

“I definitely had a lot of fun in Miami ’cause the nightlife’s good. I shopped, tanned, swam and partied,” Vanhulle said.

“There were a lot of restaurants that also have dance floors in Miami, and you could just walk around and find a place that was having a party.”