When I was in college, every day was a vacation… Yeah, I had classes, papers, projects, exams, etc, but I really had no responsibilities… And I was constantly around friends all day and night – drinking, eating, sleeping, watching tv, shopping – Always together. All the time.
After college, I am not around friends all the time… I’m at work… I’m at the gym… I’m at home in my room… I’m sleeping… and then I do it again the next day! And since we’re all on such different schedules, living in different places around the country, I can’t even see all my friends at least once a week anymore! Well, this past weekend I discovered the best part of post-college life: Saving money, time off, & vacations with friends!!!
Living at home has given me the opportunity to save money and what better way to spend my money than on a house in Cape Cod for Memorial Day weekend with about 18 of my friends? Renting a house isn’t even that expensive when you split it… Houses are usually 1000 to 2000 dollars a week – but since Memorial Day Weekend is off-season, we got a 4 night weekend special (Thursday – Monday). Even when you split the extra security deposit, it’s not that much… so fingers crossed we get it back, but it’s not a huge deal if we don’t! Would we have been able to do this in college? Probably, but not everyone would have been able to go – and you wouldn’t have the extra money to spend while on vacation.
The other best thing about the summer vacation is the time off from work. While unemployed and on summer vacation (and even while working an internship or un-salaried job), a day off was whatever. Staying home, working out during the day, going shopping, lying on the beach, etc was never a hugeeee accomplishment – It was just part of our daily life – and we never got paid for it!!! Well, now as college graduates with full time jobs, we can take off work, go on vacation, and get PAID while on vacation! Also, you appreciate your vacation time so much more…
This type of vacation is also very relaxing… You’re getting out of the city and the repetitive bar hopping weekend ritual – and going to a super calm beach town with no responsibilities. Start drinking when you wake up, head down to the beach, play mini golf, get seafood, bbq, play activities in your backyard (and not just drinking activities), eat ice cream, and continue drinking until you fall asleep. You will be brought right back to your high school days of summer house parties, except this time the house will be in your name and you’ll be above the legal drinking age… AND you will be amazed at how good you are at cleaning the house before you leave. Give your team an hour and you’ll have that 4 bedroom house looking like a six person family stayed there – and NOT a bunch of rowdy 22, 23, & 24 year olds. Thank you high school house parties!
My recommendations for The Twenty Something’s Perfect Cape Cod Summer Vaca:
– Get a house… Even if you rent it for a week and only go on the weekend, its STILL going to be cheaper than a hotel room. And you will have a central drinking location, you can play games outside and bbq, and it will be clean.
– Bring lots of food and alcohol or buy when you get there. If you start drinking during the day, you will have no one to drive you later to get food.
– Don’t drive drunk (or with others drinking in the car). There’s no point… You have a house… You have tons of food and drinks there. Just stay and be happy you are getting away from the bar scene for a weekend!
– Make sure there is at least one or two restaurants, a liquor store, and a convenience store in walking distance of where you are staying… just in case of an emergency… a drinking emergency!!!
– Also make sure you’re near the beach. Doesn’t need to be in walking distance, but it would be nice!
– Bring a frisbee, football, wiffleball, cornhole, etc for activities! If you buy a kiddie pool, it will most likely get really disgusting and no one will go in it. ALSO, bring indoor activities – aka games such as Taboo and Apples to Apples.
– If you’re going to drink during the day, drink casual beers… If you start drinking tequila at noon – or even 6pm – you will probably pass out by midnight and miss out on fun. No, we aren’t in college anymore so it can be hard to handle!
– Take a few hours in your morning/afternoon off from the beach & drinking and go mini golfing! It’s a really fun thing to do and who doesn’t like mini golfing?! I recommend Pirate’s Cove in West Yarmouth! Arrrrrrrrrr
– Get seafood!!!!! This pic is from Cooke’s seafood in Hyannis – there is also one in Mashpee. Best fried clams ever!
2 Comments
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