TheTraveler

 

Learning the Hard Way - Staying Safe on a Spring Break Vacation
Kate M. D'Imperio

Leave home the false sense of security while you prepare for your vacation fun!

The beaches, the boys, and fun in the sun…these priorities don’t leave much room for other issues when embarking on a Spring Break vacation. Personal safety is perhaps the last item on a college coed’s mind when packing and preparing for the semester’s long-due hiatus. “Be careful,” Mom warns, so we throw an extra bottle of sun block and a mini first aid kit in our bag and off we go. Never did we consider that “careful” could mean any number of unforeseen things….

The 17-hour long van trek landed me, my good friend Rachel and a dozen or so of our track and field teammates at the Days Inn in Orlando. We’d had a blast during the overnight journey to Florida, and we were ready for some serious fun—and exercise! Our practices were held twice a day, with the more intensive workout in the morning at the University of Central Florida’s track, and a more relaxed session on the sandy shores of Cocoa Beach.

After each and every morning workout, I diligently massaged ice onto my aching shins. When I thought of “careful,” I told myself I had better take care of my legs and prevent my shin splints from getting worse before the regular season began. Rachel was a pole-vaulter, so her practice routines differed from mine. Nevertheless, our afternoon sessions were spent doing a light jog on the shoreline, followed by some spirited beach volleyball!

Each moment of free time squandered led to memorable adventures, including near misses with creeps clamoring about keg parties from pickup truck beds, encounters with mysterious young men in the next-door restaurant/bar, and offers for alcoholic beverages from a stranger named “Richie,” to which we politely declined for the more appropriate bottled water. (We were both only 19 years of age!) Though we were not consciously thinking, “We have got to be careful,” Rach and I were arguably vigilant in our outings, whether with teammates or on our own.

Soon it was time to leave balmy, beautiful Florida to begin our trip back to Pennsylvania, where week-old snow awaited us. Our coach decided to allow us one final spot of fun, so after a few hours of traveling back home, we stopped at a local beach town for a few last hours of vacation to savor.

Due to our compulsion to pack every last item that we would never find time to use on a week’s vacation, Rach and I were the butt of many playful jokes. Our roller blades suffered the most ridicule… “When do you think you’re going to use those?” teammates would ask us. So we made up our minds that this perfect opportunity had just arrived. While our coaches and teammates baked themselves on the golden sands, we hunted for the nearest ladies restroom and then commenced our skating tour of the town.

Perhaps this is the part of the story where I should tell you that –though adventurous and playfully outgoing–my comrade and I were also a bit naïve and idealistic... Skating in bikini bottoms and a tank top, Rach delivered a comical sight to passersby, as she struggled to get her bearings on her blades. She was but a beginner, and resembled something of a comedy act on wheels… giggle, laugh, fall, giggle some more….

Little lizards wandered around the gardens and throughout the cracks in the sidewalk. The radiant sun, the unusual wildlife, and the laughter we shared as Rach tried to stay on her feet mesmerized us and rendered us oblivious to the grave fact that we were being followed.

All of the sudden, Rach exclaimed in a strange tone, “Kate, let’s skate over there on the grass.”

“On the grass?” I asked, incredulous, as I imagined how tough it would be to stay on our feet in the grass…for a novice like Rach, and for me, too! “We can’t skate on the grass,” I replied dryly.

“KATE, Let’s skate on the grass, NOW,” she said through clenched teeth.

A little light bulb turned on in my head as I caught the edge in her voice. It wasn’t just Rach wanting to try something different and crazy. For some reason, there was a definite note of fear in her voice. And that scared me.

As we stumbled along the grassy midsection between the sidewalk and some fencing, I cast a backward glance and caught sight of what had Rach so spooked. Six or seven unkempt and scraggly men were hot on our tail, gaining ground on our every move. After all, skating clumsily on the grass in roller blades was not optimum for a quick getaway.

“I wonder if these girls know whose car this is,” A taunting voice called loudly, It was one of the drifters, referring to a classic-looking black car parked only a few feet away from us in the small parking lot that we had entered in hopes of escape.

The car’s alarm sounded: “PLEASE Step away from the vehicle. PLEASE Step away from the vehicle.” Everything that was going on around me started to feel like something out of a movie. So surreal, yet so right in front of my face, screaming DANGER, you dummy, why didn’t you listen to your mom when she said to be careful?! Rach and I drew ourselves closer together as the pack of men circled us like ravenous sharks….

Just as the men were closing in, just when all hope began to dissipate on this gorgeous, sunny afternoon, a clean-cut, energetic man appeared –as if from out of nowhere– on a yellow sport bicycle.

“Hey, you men! Leave these girls alone!” He warned. “Just keep walking!”

One of the men turned his head as their circle broke toward the sidewalk. “We weren’t gonna do anything,” he sneered, with resentment in his eyes.

Our hero stayed with us for a few moments to ensure our safety and to confirm that we were all right. “You girls really have to be careful when you’re out by yourselves,” he told us. “Just last month, two girls were raped on this same strip by a pack of homeless men.”

He told us we could continue to skate a block up, on another street, but in just those endless minutes of terror, Rach and I had been through enough undue excitement and drama for the entire vacation, and many more to come. We dashed back to the van and then to find our coach, whose side we refused to leave until we were once again safe and secure inside our team’s van.

We are ever so grateful to the gentleman who rescued us from an unknown but ill fate. Through this terrifying experience, we learned a life lesson that will be ingrained in us forever. One can never be too careful in an unfamiliar locale, and, even in the most well known areas, one must still keep eyes open and wits about her. After all, guardian angels may only happen once in a lifetime.

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