Skip to main content

Spring Break, Mental Break

This week is Spring Break! Not only do I get a week off from classes but I also get a week off from the newsroom.

When trying to plan out what I was going to do for this week I decided to look online to see what some of the "hot spots" were for this Spring Break. I ended up stumbling upon an article from Thrillist Travel. It laid out the top 12 locations to visit for Spring Break and a little bit of information on each place.

The Top Spring Break Destinations, Ranked

Spring Break really is the great American contribution to leisure travel. A week every year where the youngest, sexiest people in America go somewhere hot, with virtually no rules, and nobody there to recognize them. It's a week where you can be whomever you want, do things you wouldn't dare do back home, and generally enjoy life without much consequence.

While I was looking at the article what I found interesting the most was that Florida destinations took four out of 12 of the hot spot locations. I was so surprised but honored to know that I have some of the most desired and beautiful vacation locations right in my backyard here in Florida.

Although this article did help me learn something about the state I live in, I realized that instead, I should've been looking at some of the hidden gems to visit in Florida so I wouldn't have to worry about crowds or packed locations for my Spring Break.

So, I decided to visit a location I used to go to all the time with my family when I was younger... Longboat Key, Florida. Just a short distance away from Sarasota, Manatee County, and Bradenton Beach, Longboat Key is tucked away in all its glory.


I would spend weeks at a time during the summer with my grandparents and my mom here at Longboat Key. One of my favorite spots to visit while here is called St. Armands Circle. This is a huge round-about with a shopping center wrapped around it on all four sides. It has been over 10 years since I had last been there and was taken aback when I saw how modern and different it looked. The shopping center has over 100 restaurants and shops divided into four colored sections, ranging in menu options and apparel type/styles. While it has seen an upgrade since the last time I visited, it had one place in particular that holds many of my childhood memories - Kilwins Ice Creamery and Fudge Shop.


After visiting St. Armands Circle, I decided to spend a full day out on the beach. One of the main reasons for me coming down to Longboat Key instead of a Florida "hot spot" was because of it's calm and peaceful environment. There is never a crowd or overly chaotic scene on the beach, leaving me to never fight for a spot on the beach. 



Overall, my visit to Longboat Key was extremely refreshing and nostalgic as I got to take a look at some of my favorite childhood locations but now as a grown up. If you haven't had a chance yet to visit Longboat Key yet, I would highly recommend it. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Let Me Introduce Myself...

I'm going to take a second and break from our tradition programming (aka blog posts) to take a step back and properly introduce myself...  For those that are just now tagging along to read my blog posts, I would like to say hi! I know I did a brief introduction a few months ago but I would like to give a more in-depth bio about myself that I never got the chance to do.  (Don't worry, I'm wearing shorts :) ) My name is Alexis Pastore. I am a 21-year-old fourth-year telecommunication major with a specialization in news and a concentration in sports management at the University of Florida. I was born and raised in Tampa, Florida, and grew up with a passion for sports, sharing stories and helping those around me.  I first found my love for broadcast journalism and news when I joined my high school's TV production program. There, I learned how to film, edit and write for newscasts, feature stories, public service announcements and music videos.  Then...
2 comments
Read more

The Tipping Point Review

A couple months ago I read a great book called Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug and have recently found another great read. This time the book was called The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference and is by Malcolm Gladwell. Here's a quick summary of the book: Gladwell touched on how different ideas, concepts or social trends can spread extremely fast, gain popularity overnight and make incredible impacts on the world. He also touches on how smaller ideas or concepts can snowball into something bigger, causing new major impacts on how a person functions throughout their day-to-day life personally, socially, mentally, physically and professionally. To start off, I would just like to talk about two words that can be found throughout and on the book quite frequently... "tipping point." After reading Gladwell's book and taking away the many concepts he discussed, one thing that always stuck out to me in reference to a tipping point would be how...
Post a Comment
Read more

What It's Like Being a Student Reporter

Hi everyone! Welcome to my blog site "The Life of a Student Reporter." My name is Alexis Pastore, I am currently a third year Telecommunications - News major at the University of Florida. I was born and raised in Tampa, Florida and come from a family of five. Going to college has been one of the most scariest yet best decisions I have ever made, but with that being said there is a lot of work that comes with it. Being a college student alone can be extremely tough. You go through major life transitions such as living on your own to finding out how "adulting" really is. But on top of that, I am also a reporter for the on-campus news station, WUFT News . We are the local PBS affiliate for the North Central Florida region and broadcast as far as Jacksonville to Orlando. On a weekly basis, I pitch, report and edit stories for our nightly newscast called First at Five and do News in 90 segments for our sister station, WRUF. So not only do I have to balance the co...
Post a Comment
Read more