What do a tanning salon, a fitness center, airlines, and a tropical island all have in common? Simple. They love spring breakers.
People have been getting memberships and going to the gym religiously in order to look their best while wearing their least, making it almost impossible to get onto the good cardio’ machines without calling two weeks in advance to reserve a half hour timeslot. And I’m serious when I say people get ferocious over these precious workouts.
They start out nice enough: “Excuse me, but I signed up for this machine at 5:30 p.m., and someone else signed up for that one.” They tell you, and you look at the clock and see it’s 5:35 p.m. You give them your apologies and hop off like it’s no big deal, which really, it shouldn’t be. Personally, I rebelled against the sign-up system for a while. I like the freedom of seeing an empty elliptical glider and hopping on. It’s welcoming.
But I gave in on my most recent trip to the gym mostly because I wanted to be able to bug someone if they were on my machine, just as I had been bugged several times before. And I wanted to be sure that people would leave me alone while I furiously burned off calories during the all-too-short timeslot of a half hour.
The competition over time at tanning salons is similar. You have to make appointments well in advance, whereas any other time of year you can just stroll right in and lie or stand while your skin is being turned a delicious golden brown. Some places even have cool themes to their tanning rooms to make you feel like you’re at an amusement park. Who cares that you’re also inviting wrinkles to decorate your body earlier in life than they previously would have? Who cares that you’re upping your chances of skin cancer? That doesn’t matter right now. You’re going to Cancun, and you don’t want to burn when you get there.
Sunscreen? Forget it. Nope, you’re sure that the best way to prevent burning is to make sure you have already acquired a base tan, which is technically almost-burnt skin. Thus, business in the tanning world is booming right now. Owners are thanking the tanning gods for their beloved spring breakers: guys suddenly don’t care about whether or not going tanning is “metro,” the girls who normally will tell you they don’t go tanning because it’s bad for you are going now because they need that base tan, and they still have their perma-tanned regular customers.
And the airlines! Do I even need to put in writing how psyched they are to have a thing called “spring break?” If you check out prices now for last minute trips, your eyes will pop. Even getting a flight is almost impossible. Same thing goes for tropical islands. I could have said hotels, or motels, or bars, or shops, but all of these businesses will be infinitely grateful for the spring breakers. Hotels and motels are booked, plus bars, nightclubs, and tourist shops know they will be making ridiculous amounts of money during spring break.
I’m no different. I have the spring break fever, too. I would go tanning if I could; I can’t because I got laser surgery. But I still got my tan, except it’s from a bottle. You’ll see me at the gym; I’m definitely in the population of new-found gym-rats. I’m going to be on a flight, spending money, and basking in the sun.
So all in all, I think spring break is a good system: tanning salons, fitness centers, airlines, tropical islands and various businesses are more than willing to take our money for that precious week in March. And we’re more than happy to spend it. We are content because, as college students, we’re just happy to be on spring break.
Hannah Drake is a UMass student.
