I went to Miami, Fla., for spring break and my experience was unique and underwhelming. I left for the trip before things regarding COVID-19 got significantly bad, and it just began getting worse once I was there. As we were there, Massachusetts called into effect the closings of public restaurants (except for takeout) and all public schools. Come the middle of the week, Miami was soon behind Boston’s move of social distancing and began closing public dining areas and beaches. When I say I spent my spring break in Miami, I know it’s easy to picture packed beaches with drunk college students completely disregarding the pandemic we are currently facing. However, I spent most of my days inside the house of a friend who lives in Miami, or just sitting outside on his porch. We went to the beach twice, but they weren’t busy at all so it really was just a vacation, not so much a “spring break” as one may think. Most places didn’t have many people there anyway, and my friends and I opted to go to less populated areas still. We went to one restaurant while there with maybe two other parties eating, spaced apart from where we sat. Otherwise, we opted for take out or just visited the local grocery store for the rest of our needs. 

Though there have been many news clips of crazy students celebrating Spring Break regardless of the pandemic, that wasn’t what a typical beach in Miami looked like. Of course there are some places where this is occurring, but I literally spent five days there and never once saw more than 30 people at a beach evenly spread apart, so it’s not as worrying of an environment as you might imagine. It was a relaxing way to get some sun and try to ignore the chaos that was happening all around us. Even sitting on a beach at the most southern point of the country could not distract us however; this was something that no one could ignore. The anxiety was weighing on us from the hours we spent on our flights getting to Miami, and what awaited us when we returned home.

 After being there for a few days, I got a call from my mother saying I had to change my flight to come home, because talk of the airports shutting down came up on whatever news channel she was watching. Annoyed and not wanting to end my vacation early, I hung up. I didn’t believe it was as bad as it really is. Within a few hours, my friends who I was on vacation with got calls from their parents urging them to do the same. One of my friends’ father is in the active military and so she is considered military as well, and the restrictions on flights for military personnel can get tricky and complicated. To avoid getting stranded in Miami (though that wouldn’t be all that bad), we each bought an early flight home for the following day. I was definitely very sad to leave, as social distancing in Boston is much more isolating than it is in Florida, where you can just sit on your front porch and at least get some sun. However, it was a decision that had to be made in order to keep the health of myself and the public safe. My “spring break” in Miami was an anxiety filled vacation that I spent trying to avoid the inevitable fate of ending due to the COVID-19, but some things are worth the extra hassle for the better health and safety of all people.