Should fear replace fun?

18 to 30 holidays - beyond the fun.

Was I crazy?...

...Definitely for alcohol and sun, or crazy for booking an 18-30 getaway?
Sea, sand and sunbeds was all I could think about for months after booking a holiday to world renowned Magaluf, for it’s dirty dealings in neurotic night life.

My friends and I were lucky, our holiday was innocent fun. But my thoughts often drifted to the reps and their responsibilities of acting caretakers over the drunk and hung-over. Especially the ones that stripped naked during Sangria fuelled booze cruises across the Med…never asking themselves what sort of 18year old would want to see a forty-something ‘babysitter’ in the buff anyway.

Then I read of rapes, attacks, accidents, and drugs – and all the stuff that’s supposed to avoid the headlines when it comes to the drink driven tradition.
In 2008, an unnamed Thomas Cook Press Officer revealed all to the Daily Mail and what they said left me in shock. What reps did to earn excursion money and to entertain their near out-cold crowd was shameful, but what the press office would sell to keep things under wraps was disbelieving.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1044123/Binge-drinking-rapes-squalid-deaths-Club-18-30-insider-reveals-horrific-truth-Britons-abroad.html

For tour operators holidays such as these rake in the cash, but is it a question of false advertising? And is encouraging youngsters to drink excessively, in a strange country taking advantage of a common ‘I’ve paid, I can act how I like’ attitude?
Do they question their representatives, who drive young holiday-makers to act like them in all their rotting liver glory? Of course not – as long as they are making profits.

A 2008 report from Malia in Crete exposed that each day no less than 100 British girls were requesting the morning after pill. A further report, covering 15 popular 18-30 holiday destinations, counted 4,603 arrests in 2007 and 104 reported rapes.
There have been reports of death or near-death incidents in the papers for years, occurring in clubbing resorts such as Ibiza, Greece, and Majorca.

When I was away I received the ‘no naughty behaviour’ talk with reps reminiscing over the poor lad who broke his shoulder jumping off a boat. Didn’t he get the talk then, too?
Sometimes, it may be down to the reckless singleton who's trying to show off.
Then again - was it really a good idea to send us to a water park with a free bar and open the biggest rides, trying to nick our bikini tops on the way down? And it really isn’t professional to advise your minors of what not to do when you know full well you’re off to do it when the sun goes down.

Maybe touring operators should reconsider what reputation they are really after, before long fear will replace fun, and consequent in fines for the companies.
What will it take for them to really see the danger, for them to employ people who aren't taking advantage of the party vibes and tropical locations, and instead get some people with sense to look after the senseless.