A vacation means so many things to so many people. For some, it is merely a break from their typical routine. For others, it entails elaborate travel excursions. 

The majority of students and their families travel to various destinations inside of the United States. Upon reaching certain destinations, it is often possible for underage kids to indulge in certain illegal activities. At such vacation hotspots as South Padre Island, Rehobeth, and West Palm Beach, there are an abundance of bar and restaurant proprietors whose establishments will either not check I.D.s or simply look the other way. Underage drinking, drug use, and other unlawful actions all run rampant for teenagers while on vacation. 

"When I was in Miami and Costa Rica recently, it was so easy to obtain alcoholic beverages it was like a sick joke," said one senior who wishes to remain anonymous, about her recent vacations. "In South Beach, I knew I was not really going to get in serious trouble. When I went to Costa Rica however, I was a little more wary of the consequences. I wouldn’t have had the right to an attorney or anything."

Being teenager, many adolescents are not wise about their behavior and often get caught by or turned in to authorities. Unfortunately for them and their parents, once they are outside of the United States, American citizens lose their right to a phone call, the right to consult a lawyer and the right to remain silent when arrested. 

"When I was in Israel, I saw tons of underage kids doing plenty of really illegal things. I restrained myself for two reasons. Not only are these illegal activities immoral and wrong, but there were also soldiers with guns around so I didn’t really want to mess with that. I didn’t have my U.S. rights which would protect me from say, getting shot in the head… or going to jail without a trial," said senior Guy Penland.

"The good news and the bad news is that students will be treated under the laws of wherever they are. A lot of them go there so they can, for example, drink. Then, they find out they don’t have American constitutional rights and that’s the bad news," said Lee Lonzo, an assistant principal and attorney in Indiana. "You can’t have it both ways. The kids who get arrested down there have big problems.

"My experience is that Americans go [out of the country] and they drink until they throw up and they hurt themselves. Then they are publicly intoxicated, which is different from drinking," said Lonzo. "They get arrested and they find out they don’t have American rights, and then they’re in some jail, and they don’t even get a phone call, and they lost their plane ride home. In Cancun, you could be in jail for years, literally.

"[In other countries], they don’t care if you’re 16, 14, 12 years old, male, female, if your parents are there, if your parents aren’t there or if you are a U.S. citizen; it’s all irrelevant," said Lonzo. "[Students] could literally ruin their life for what they think is one week of actions with no consequences, and that is hardly the case."