Tag: vacation

Fort Lauderdale, FL – Day 4 & 5

by The Impatient Traveler, posted in Florida

Day 4-

It’s amazing how much you can get done in a day when you wake up at 6 AM. We had a nice breakfast on the patio while watching the sunrise over the ocean. Unfortunately the bagels we got from the store were pretty gross but, at least, the hotel coffee was decent. Of course, Harper had her moo moo. Day 4 was our “Miami Day”, but we had some time to kill before heading in town, so we decided to go for a nice long stroll along the beach and then to the pool for a little bit. It’s funny how different the pool is at 8:30 AM vs. 11 AM. It’s only filled with parents and kids. All of the “20 somethings” and partiers come out a little bit later after they sleep in. The transition of life stages opens you up to new time frames and new people.

We got a great little spot in the shade next to a cabana so Harper wouldn’t get sun burnt. We put her in her little swim diaper and floaty and hopped in the water. Thankfully, the pool was heated so we don’t have to worry too much about it being cold. It’s really cute watching Harper kick her little legs in the water and splish splash around and amazing to watch her learn her body parts and explore what they do. We were at the pool for about an hour and enjoyed some of our drinks that we smuggled in. We even talked to some of the parents that were there about their experiences with their kids. Everyone keeps telling us to enjoy Harper while she’s so little because it goes so fast. We are trying to soak up every moment.

It was time to head back up to the room, get changed for Miami, have an extra feed and do a little pumping. We got all of our bags packed in the car called and headed out for about a 45 minute drive. We got to Miami around lunchtime so we decided to go straight to Little Havana to a Cuban sandwich shop called Sanguich to try some of the local fair. Sanguich at great reviews and was not as sketchy looking at some of the other dives. It had a long line outside for people waiting for the sandwiches and smelled delicious. We got a table pretty quickly and the staff was so nice, cooing all over Harper. We probably could’ve split the sandwiches because they were huge! We also tried potato croquettes because I heard those were also all the rage. My croquettes were a little frozen on the inside, which was slightly disappointing, but the sandwich was a 10 out of 10. The bread was so crispy and delicious. Was a very filling lunch and definitely something we wouldn’t be able to get in Dallas!

While the GPS showed only a 15 minute drive to the Perez Art Museum, there was crazy traffic backed up for hundreds of yards at the Museum drive entrance. Thankfully, we were able to scoop around the traffic because of the way we are coming in but it was stressful. We waited about 25 minutes to get into the parking garage and find a parking spot. I ended up doing some journaling in the car while we were waiting and Ryan was just relaxing at the drive. We finally made it into the lot we are pretty wowed by the building itself. It was right next to the Frost Museum of Science and both buildings were beautifully architected it had some really cool gardens around them. They also looked out over the wharf with 10 out of 10 views.

We got into the museum and started looking around. Harper was really alert and started looking at all the art. She had never experienced anything like this before and a lot of the exhibits were very bold with color. We found a bright green tapestry and Harper just started talking and talking and talking. She couldn’t stop looking at the art and was very engaged with it. Her babbling was absolutely adorable and you could tell she loved all of the colors and patterns in the artist’s creation. Of course, the color didn’t stop as we entered the Andy Warhol exhibit. It was pretty incredible; full of color and fun prints. The museum combined Warhol’s art with another artist that Andy was inspired by and it was really cool to see the different styles of art from Warhols color blocks printing to the other artist block style of art.

The other collections within the museum were also compelling. We were in the museum for about an hour hour and a half before it is time to hop back in the car. I had to do a quick pump in the car on the way to the Wynwood walls. Ryan was running out of steam and I was getting kind of tired too after a long day. We drove up the walls and the art everywhere was pretty incredible! The Wynwood neighborhood just has murals after murals after murals on almost all the buildings. The Wynwood walls end up having a cover to get in and it was really crowded. It kind of felt like DiBella Maria and Dallas with a very young hip five. We decided not to go in since it was so crowded and we had Harper in the stroller.

We walked around for about 10 minutes and I did some of the pieces that we could see. Literally there’s art everywhere! There’s so much talent in this area. We decided to hop in the car and head back to the hotel pretty shortly after because we were pretty tuckered.  

It was Harper’s nap time but, every time we tried to put her down for a nap, she decided to start talking. She just lays in her crib and talks and talks and talks and then rolled around a bit. There’s a mirror at the back of her crib and, even though we put her in vertically as not face in the mirror, she somehow found a way to turn, look in the mirror, and talk at herself. It’s absolutely endearing! Of course, Ryan couldn’t nap while she was talking but how could we be mad? She’s just so freaking cute! We did get a darkening tent to put over her crib which helped her get to sleep, but I couldn’t help but go over and peak at her. Ever time I did, I got a big wide smile back. Ugh my heart just melttssss.

We did some relaxing for about an hour and a half before the rain rolled in. The winds were crazy and we watched the umbrellas and pillows at the hotel pool next to us flying all over the place. We plan the perfect getaway for our day Miami since the beach really wasn’t an option with the weather. Because we really couldn’t walk anywhere due to the rain we decided to go back to the C-stand and serve for restaurant downstairs. The food was excellent so it wasn’t no-brainer. Ended up getting the goat cheese croquettes again because how can go wrong with with fried local goat cheese in a passion and purée? We all tried the ba buns and a sushi roll. Of course they pass her table with this giant blonde cookie thing for dessert and couldn’t resist. It was probably one of those delicious cookies I’ve ever had with kind of a coconut E chocolate texture and vanilla ice cream on top with butter scotch. You could tell that cookie had almost a whole stick of butter in it because of how soft and Juliet was. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

After being immensely full and watching the rain hit the water from our table we were really tired. We went up to the room and played with Harper a little bit before passing out for the night.

Day 5- 

I couldn’t believe it was our last morning already on our trip. At 5 o’clock Harper decided to start talking and talking and talking. She’s usually sleeps in until 6:30 so Ryan got up and held her for a couple minutes and she went right back to sleep. Thank goodness!

We had our final breakfast on the patio enjoying the view and then decided to go for our morning stroll. It’s so nice to see all the people out running and we actually have started to see familiar faces that are at the same time is us every morning. We get so many smiles with little Harper in tow. After our walk, we grabbed our pool bag and went to the pool. You got our same spots as the day before and Harper was a little more fussy this morning. I think she’s just overall very tired since her naps have not been as consistent and cut cut short. We had her in a little floaty for a little bit and then suede in the water. And then we laid out a little bit while she took a nap on the lawn chair. It was all very relaxing and such a nice day!

Lunchtime when you are a parents is at like 9:45 AM. When you have breakfast at 6 AM you do get hungry for lunch really early! We ended up packing our bags up at 10:30, getting changed in the room, and headed back to our favorite Mexican restaurant down the street. I couldn’t get that lobster quesadilla out of my head so we went back for round two.

Along with some margaritas, we had a nice long lunch looking out at the water. It was a really hot day so Harper enjoyed a nice cold bottle of milk. I have to say, the food has been excellent on this trip. We’ve been so pleasantly surprised!

After lunch I was pretty exhausted. We went back to the hotel for a nice long nap and I just totally passed out. It was the heat of the day so we wanted to wait it out a little bit for to get cloudy so we can go to the beach. That plan ended up working perfectly because, by the time we went to the beach around 3 PM, it was overcast.

The tide was also out so there are some sand bars that we could go sit at. We sat there for about 10 minutes and put our toes in the water. Harper liked feeling the sand but she wasn’t really into it as she was little too hungry and a little too tired and a little too cold. We ended up making her a little fort in between our layout chairs so she could take a nap. I was actually kind of jealous because of how cool it looked.

Ryan and I just relaxed and enjoyed the sound of the waves and the people. We talked about how much we needed this vacation, how good it was to get away together, and how we’re such a good team. It’s really amazing to watch Ryan become a father. He is the perfect partner for everything we need to do for a little Harper and for managing each other’s stress in situations. If you can travel together, you can do anything together. If you travel with the baby together, boy you’re unstoppable!

Eventually, little Harper woke up and we went looking for shells. We walked along the seaside and enjoyed the water on our feet. Harper was wearing a swim diaper but those do not hold pee. I was holding her and had her wrapped in a towel, praying that she wouldn’t be on me!

We were on the beach until about 4:30 PM, until it was time to head to the hotel and get ready for dinner. We have to do dinner around 6 o’clock or else we get too close to Harper‘s bedtime and she gets fussy.

We opted to try a Peruvian place down the beach called Kousine. It had great reviews and we found out why pretty quickly! Our waitress was really nice and from Cusco, so we ended up chatting with her about our times in Cusco  and our favorite milk shake ever at a place near the cat park in Lima. She brought us these crispy corn curnals with this salty seasoning to start. Ryan and I also shared this insanely good passion fruit, ahi tuna ceviche. The waitress also told us that there is quite a Chinese influence in Peru, leading us to try this almost fried rice style dish with sweet Peruvian flavors. It was so different and so good! We have been trying a lot of different foods than we would typically order this trip which has been so rewarding! So many new things that we now love!

After dinner, we walked back to the hotel, packed our bags, and watched Below Deck while finishing off the rest of the birthday cake Oreos.

Fort Lauderdale, FL – Day 3

by The Impatient Traveler, posted in Florida

Day 3 

It was so nice to catch up on sleep on this trip. While I still had to wake up around 6:15, getting a good 8-9 hours was awesome. While Harper does make funny noises throughout the night, she doesn’t actually wake up. She’s so good to us!

Once the alarm went off, we changed and fed Harper, and enjoyed coffee and muffins on the patio while we watched people run up and down the beachside. There was a 5k of some sort going on and quite a lot of people! We eventually joined them for a stroll about a mile up the coast to Hugh Taylor Birch State Park.

Originally, we were going to do an hour long drive to the Everglades to explore for the day, but we opted to keep it local and do the Park instead. It was a nice morning; about 80 degrees and a bit humid but the beach breeze made it really nice. Once we got into the Preserve, the trees blocked the breeze and it was muggy and HOT. We had to be careful with Harper since her stroller was not vented and the little fan was just not cooling enough. We also quickly realized that the trails were not paved and off-roading in the stroller was pretty bumpy. Ryan walked in the front on the trails to help lift the stroller over big roots in the path that were pretty frequent. 

After we found our way along the trail, we came up to this massive, 20O+ year old tree. The only thing I’ve ever seen like it was was in El Salvador, but I think this one was bigger. It seemed like the roots grew out from the top and then down, making more and more trunks from the same tree as it grew. So cool!

As we walked, we also noticed about a million mosquitos and we didn’t bring our bug spray. Mozzies love me and I was getting eaten right and left. The trail led us into marshy section and this guy in front of us was being followed by 20+ mosquitoes. The trail was slightly flooded so we decided to turn around and walk on the paved road instead where there were not as many mosquitoes. Harper was getting hot so we were holding her as well. After about an hour of walking, we decided to turn around instead of continue the loop so we didn’t overheat. Overall, the park was nice but would have been much better on a cool day with bug spray. Thank goodness we didn’t go to the Everglades instead!

Thankfully, a quick shower helped us cool down and we were back out the door to head to the water Fort Lauderdale Water Taxi station about 5 mins down the road. The closest station was pretty shallow, so only the small water taxis stoped there and you had to call ahead. I did and the lady said it would be about a 20-30 minute wait for the next taxi. We hung out under the shade of a tree and a few more families showed up. About 45 mins in, we were getting impatient and I called again and the girl said it would be another 20 minutes, not the next way to spend vacation time. Some do the families decided to walk another .5 miles to the next station. We decided it wait it out and finally, after an hour, a taxi showed up. Good thing we waited since some of the walkers didn’t make it to the stop in time to be picked up by our boat (Yikes!).

We got settled and put Harper’s headphones on so it wouldn’t be too loud for her between the boat engine and the taxi driver’s speaker. The driver pointed out the big homes along the drive, who owned them, the cost, and the major yachts that went with them. The sheer number of billionaires that had places along the canals was incredible and the boats were really impressive. 

Harper was so interested in looking all around. It was about a 45 minute ride to Stop #2 of Los Olas Blvd where we were going to hop off for lunch. Just a few minutes before our stop, I moved my hand from holding Harper and realized it was slightly wet. Oh no! I tried not to panic Ryan and asked him gently to get the diapers and wipes out. I had poop all over my leg and it was all the way up Harper’s back to her neck. It was probably one of her biggest blow outs yet. Ryan got the wipes out but put them on top of the diaper bag and then put them back in the diaper bag and shut it. He didn’t understand what was happening so I had to tell him. He couldn’t hear me over the engine so I raised Harper up like Simba in the Lion King and showed him. His eyes went really wide as he saw the organge, goo all up her back, and it was business time. We got the wipes out and her outfit was just completely destroyed. Thankfully, I had a change of clothes in the diaper bag (and diapers this time!), so it was a quick change. Both the diaper and the onesie went into the garbage. There was no saving that really adorable outfit! As soon as the bag was packed, it was time to hop off the taxi. We cut it really close but everything was fine and we had a good laugh about it all.

We hopped off a taxi and were on our way to find something to eat. At this point it was 1:30 in the afternoon and we had breakfast at 6 AM so we were starving. El Camino was the first restaurant we came across and looked really good so we got a patio table. I ordered a strawberry basil margarita, chips and salsa, and we split some tacos. They were really tasty and filled us right up. Of course, Harper got her second lunch of the day at that time too. We only had about an hour left because I had to get back to the hotel and pump. Being on a 4 to 4 1/2 hour schedule really does make things a little complicated and the hour wait to get on the taxi really messed that up.

There were a few people walking around the boulevard with drinks in their hand so I asked the waiter if he could take some margaritas to go and he said the boulevard is actually open container! With two margaritas in hand, we started walking the boulevard. There were tons of really cute boutiques and galleries. I would’ve loved to go through all of them but we didn’t really have time. Effusion Gallery caught our eye and allowed drinks inside, so we popped in for a look. We like to buy art when we go places because there’s so much more meeting than just going to home goods and buying something off the shelf. We started this trend when we were in Santa Fe with a piece of abstract art featuring Marilyn Monroe. Given this was Harper’s first vacation, we had to get her something!

There were these really cool donut pieces of art that could not have been more perfect. Harper’s favorite onesie that she wears all the time has donuts on it and the donut art fate! While it doesn’t really match her room, it will definitely go somewhere in our house and will go with her for the rest of her life. We ended up buying three donuts and the gallery owner told us that the artist was actually her daughter. She was one of nine kids! The art had so much more meeting with our love for donuts for Harper and then the fact that this gallery owner’s daughter made the art.

With our big purchase made and ready to ship we had to walk back to the water taxi. We made it just in time to do a quick FaceTime call with my parents at the taxi station, check out some iguanas that were hanging out on the dock, and then hop on the boat. It was about a 45 minute ride back to our stop and went relatively easy compared to the first go-round. Harper was an angel, of course, and the weather was nice. This taxi driver definitely as an interesting facts about the homes etc. We even passed International Swimming Hall of Fame Museum which has the highest diving planks in the world at 880 feet. You if you drive off the top, you enter the water going over 55 miles an hour! The only other diving platform in the world that is as tall is in China! Really interesting to see considering I used to be a swimmer.

We were pretty exhausted and sweaty by the time we got back to the hotel. We freshened up and decided to take a bit of a siesta before heading out to dinner. We had reservations at a waterfront restaurant called Shooters Waterfront. Shooters was one of the stops on the water taxi route but, after how long the taxi took, we decided to drive there in our rental car. There was also a storm rolling in so we took a risk by sitting on the patio where we had a good view of the canal and all of the boats going by. One of the waiters kept running up and down the wharf yelling at the boats to slow down because they were causing too much of a wake.

I ordered this absolutely amazing strawberry frozen lemonade. It was probably one of the best drinks I’ve had in a long time (but also probably also a ton of calories – eh, it’s vacation!). Harper was very interested in trying some, but I only let her touch the glass.

I also had macadamia-crusted mahi-mahi with a peanut curry sauce. It was pretty decent but could’ve used some basil and a little more salt. Shooters was our least favorite meal of the entire trip.

We are pretty exhausted when we came home. We fed Harper and, while doing so, Ryan discovered his new favorite show Below Deck. It was dreaming on Bravo the entire trip and we ended up watching it every time we were back in the room! Ryan wanted us to sign-up for Peacock so he could watch it from start to finish. His obsession was is OK with me because it might inspire a chartered boat trip through the islands at some point, right?! I am always thinking of the next place to go and how to get Ryan’s OK to go there!

Ps. If you are a new mom or day and traveling with a little munchkin, I put together a quick guide with tons of tips and tricks for traveling with a kid. Check it out!

Fort Lauderdale, FL – Day 1 & 2

by The Impatient Traveler, posted in Florida

Boy, did we need a vacation. We had a few planned in 2021 but, due to pregnancy risk issues, we had to cancel. Those cancelations led to a $500 Sprit Airlines credit that had to be used by December 31st, 2021, so I had to book something. With our baby Harper on the way and no baby passport in hand, I needed to find a relaxing spot with a short flight that was in the US. Fort Lauderdale, FL seemed to fit all of our requirements for a long Memorial Day weekend trip with a baby.

The week leading up to our vacation ended up being crazy. We went on our first road trip to Houston; a combined a work trip with a visit to the in-laws so Harper could meet her great-grandmas for the first time. We got back Sunday and then I left early Monday for a two-day work trip to Minneapolis. I got back Tuesday, packed Wednesday, and we were off Thursday for Florida. I made our Florida packing list a week in advance and our Houston trip gave us traveling-with-a-baby practice, so we were good to go despite the jam-packed schedule.  

Our flight was at 7:10 AM so we woke up at 4:50 AM (yikes!). I pumped while getting ready and Ryan fed Harper quickly before the Uber pulled up. We brought soooo much stuff and filled up the Uber’s trunk. We used to just travel with carry-ons and a backpack but now we’re fully equipped with strollers, carriers, checked bags, 3 backpacks, and a baby!

The line for bag check was already really long at the airport, but we got to skip to the attendant area since we had Harper and our bags were checked pretty quickly. We walked past the longest line I’ve ever seen to get through security to the short TSA Pre line. Somehow, Ryan’s ticket didn’t have TSA Pre on it, so Harper and I went through while Ryan ran back to the gate agent to get his ticket reprinted. Going through security was not too hard but, when people say “wear your baby through it”, do it! You need both hands to break down your stroller and car seat and manage all of your bags. Fortunately, a nice man helped me get everything into the scanner. Harper and I grabbed Starbucks while Ryan got through and then we went to the gate to check the stroller. I tried to board but the agent said I needed a ticket for Harper. I thought we had one since I booked the trip with a lap child, but we had to go back to the gate agent for 15 minutes of unchecking and rechecking-in. Thankfully, we kept our row 4 seats.

We were excited to sit down and relax after the stress of getting everything onto the plane, but then realized Spirit had no in-flight entertainment and we only packed things to do for Harper! Whoops! Thankfully, Harper fell asleep on me and didn’t wake up until an hour into the flight. She was so perfect, just cooing at people around us and being a happy baby. We fed her about 2 hours into the flight and we smelled her “popcorn” poop (yes, her poo smells like movie-theater-grade, buttery popcorn). I got the diaper bag out in search of diapers, and I searched, and I searched.. and no diapers. I had put a whole sleeve of diapers in the bag but moved them into a carryon and just assumed the diaper bag had its usual supply. Oh boy! Thankfully, it didn’t smell thaaaat much so we were able to power through until we grabbed our bags from bag check and found a bathroom. Harper was such a trooper! (But seriously, who forgets diapers!?).

We hopped on the shuttle to grab our rental car and then it was off to the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort. Our room was perfect for a little family because it had a living room and kitchen area which was great for cleaning bottles, pump parts, and making breakfast! We had a stellar beach view too. The only thing I would have changed is that we could not see the view from the bedroom so we couldn’t relax and watch the ocean as I would have liked. Other than that, the hotel was in the perfect location and the staff was so nice. 

After we settled in, we took a short walk down the beach side to Wild Thyme for lunch . We sat on the patio and enjoyed the view and some fancy car watching (we saw a $1.9MM Bugatti Veyron). I had a delish Ahi Tuna salad and Ryan had buffalo style shrimp with these crazy crispy potato wedges. Yum! 

After lunch, we went to Publix to grab baby supplies, drinks, and breakfast stuff. It was an easy and short trek but we had to wait for the drawbridge both ways because there were some mega yachts going through the canals! It was pretty neat to watch such insane engineering. 

It’s amazing how time flies when you have a baby. After another feed and quick pump, it was time for dinner. We went to the S3 (Sea, Surf, & Sand) restaurant at the hotel and got seats looking at the beach. We were in for such a treat. We got local goal cheese croquettes (aka fried cheese balls) with this delish Peruvian sweet sauce. Ryan had never tried hamachi before and had apprehension to ordering it, but ended up loving the tender yellowtail with hints of truffle! We also split two sushi rolls and a ponzu old fashion. They were excellent! The funny thing was the wait staff also brought a kids menu and crayons for Harper. She was only 4.5 months and still only drinks breast milk so it was pretty funny thinking she could eat Mac and Cheese. It was nice of the staff to think of her though!

After dinner, we went back to up to the room and were asleep by 8:30 PM. We really needed a good rest! I still had to get up at 1:15 AM to pump as usual but I didn’t wake Ryan or Harper since we had have separate rooms.

Day 2

6:15 AM wake-ups were never a thing on trips in the past but, with a baby and pumping schedule, now they are! It was really nice to get an early start with some coffee on the patio. After enjoying some muffins and cuddle time with Harper, we took off on a morning beach side stroll. It was in the 80’s but not hot. We walked to a CVS to get some additional supplies and came back to grab our massive beach bag to head to the beach.

There were tons of chairs and umbrellas set up. We picked one with a good ocean view, put Harper in a swim diaper, and headed to the water. While the water was pretty warm, Harper was not a fan. We tried a few different ways of testing the sand and water with her but she just didn’t want it… probably because she was hungry. Nothing can get in the way of this munchkin and her food.

After about 10 mins of ocean time, we went back to the chairs, fed Harps, and relaxed for 1.5 hours or so. It was so nice. And yes, I did get Harper and I matching swimsuits!

We had noon reservations at a Mexican place called Lona which was just down the beach from our hotel. We took a short walk over and got a table looking out at the water. We had some passion fruit margaritas and I decided to try something new. Instead of my usual carnitas taco order, I went with the lobster quesadilla. OH MY GOSH. This quesadilla was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. It was stuffed with huge chunks of lobster, pickled red onion, cilantro, the perfect amount of cheese, and this super yummy southwest sauce. Even as I write this, I want it again! (Spoiler, we went back so I could have it again). Ugh, so good! Ryan, a quesadilla purest who proclaims that the perfect quesadilla is just tortillas and cheese, even admitted that this one changed his mind! I you are close to Lona, you MUST go try it.  

With full bellies, we decided it was time to test out the pool and see if Harper would like it more than the ocean. Ryan went back to the room to change her and grab the beach bag while I scored us a spot in the shade. There weren’t many so I had to be quick. It’s amazing how your pool priorities change when you have a baby from sunny spots with a good view to the most shaded area you can find! Ryan and Harper arrived and we blew up Harpers floaty and hopped into the warm water. The temp was perfect and Harper was quickly too comfortable in her floaty to stay awake. She passed out for about an hour while ryan, myself, and about half the other people in the pool obsessed over how cute she is and enjoyed floating around.

Eventually, our time at the pool was up. Being on a 4-4.5 hour pumping schedule does put a limit on things. We went up to the room and I took a bubble bath with Harper to get her all cleaned up. We took a family nap for about 1.5 hours and got ready to go to dinner. After a nice 15 minute walk down the shore, we arrived at Thai On The Beach, a tiny restaurant on the second floor of a shopping plaza overlooking the water. Ryan got a Thai boba tea and green curry and I had a Thai stir fry. It was really yummy and quite a cute little restaurant. We have been pleasantly surprised by how delicious all of the food has been on this trip!

After dinner, we went back to the room and got ready for bed. We had some birthday cake Oreos for desert and passed out around 9 PM.

Ps. If you are a new mom or dad and are traveling with a little munchkin, I put together a quick guide with tons of tips and tricks for traveling with a kid. Check it out!

Riviera Maya During Covid

by The Impatient Traveler, posted in Riviera Maya

Day 1 –

With everything going on with Covid, our trip to Spain and Portugal, two trips to Mexico, and trip to SXSW this year were all canceled. By July, I was getting very restless. We have a few friends who work for different airlines, like Southwest and American, and both of them were traveling and gave us all of the details on how the airlines were staying relatively safe. With that in mind, we decided to take a trip in September for our three-year anniversary to Riviera Maya Mexico.

After doing tons of research on TripAdvisor, we found the Unico 20 87 resort in Riviera Maya. Unico was only running at 50% capacity and they had major deals on their typically $800 a night room’s so we booked an ocean front, all inclusive, adults only room for only $350! Flights were $1,600 to fly direct from DFW on American when I originally when they are usually $250! I was panicking at first, but after some additional research and waiting a couple of days, we finally got a flight that was reasonable for the dates we wanted.

I couldn’t contain my excitement leading up to the trip! I broke out all of my resort wear and packed it all into our carry-on bags. We booked a whale shark tour and I couldn’t stop imaging swimming with such incredible creatures. However, we were at the tail end of the whale shark season so I wasn’t quite sure if we actually get to see any. I wasn’t holding high hopes that this trip was actually going to happen in 2020, let alone the whale sharks.

Luckily, we got to the airport without issue and were of security within five minutes. Our flight boarded on time and we even landed 15 minutes early! We were through customs and onto the private Happy Shuttle ride to our hotel within about 15 minutes. Crazily enough, everything went super smoothly for probably the first time in 2020! The drive to the resort was uneventful and we passed a few of the resorts we stayed at in the past, as well as Xplor, one of the adventure park so we went to. Most of the adventure parks and quite a few resorts were closed due to Covid in different cities since City regulations vary from place to place. Technically, we weren’t even supposed to enter the country unless it was for emergency reasons, but Cancun was letting people in for vacations anyways as tourism has such a huge impact on the economy.

We drove up to the resort and it was absolutely beautiful and situated in the middle of jungle. Our driver told us that there were monkeys and jaguars in the jungle around our resort! I was wearing a jungle blouse with jaguars to match LOL.

We walked into the resort and immediately felt relaxed. Everything was socially distant and all of the staff are wearing masks. They even sanitized our shoes when we came in with spray to make sure that we are safe. Upon check-in, we met Carlos, our personal concierge for our entire stay. He gave us his details via WhatsApp so we could communicate and also booked all of our restaurant reservations for the week so we didn’t have to worry about it later on in our trip. We were then taken up to our ocean-view room and, wow, it was absolutely gorgeous! The view of the ocean was 10 out of 10 and our room was super modern and clean. I absolutely loved it.

We put our stuff down and decided to go to one of the lunch spots right by all the pools for a bite to eat since we hadn’t had anything since breakfast and it was already 3 PM. While we were eating, we saw three different couples from our flight were actually staying at the same resort! We are amazed at just how many Texans we ended up meeting on our trip.

We tried quite a few different dishes for lunch. I would say the food was a 6 out of 10 on the yummy scale but it wasn’t one of the main restaurant so I wasn’t too worried. After filling up, we hopped into our bathing suits and went back to the pool for a swim. We found some lounge chairs by another couple who were just married that Saturday. They were super nice and we talked to them for a while before they got up for the dinner reservation. We hopped in the water and another couple came down to swim in the same area so we started chatting. The girl, Kayla, was a CrossFit gym owner and her boyfriend, Jordan, was an engineer. They were definitely “feeling themselves” with some drinks and we ended up having a very lively conversation. After about 30 minutes, they got up to leave for their dinner reservation but Kayla was having trouble getting out of the water and we were all laughing so hard as she kept falling down! It was hilarious. It was her first time in an all inclusive and the drinks really snuck up on her! After they left, we swam for about another half an hour and basically had the whole pool to ourselves.

As we were getting out, my phone started ringing. I answered it and some one said “can we get a wheelchair?” I told the person that he had the wrong number but, as I hung up, I realized it was Jordan! I looked around and saw Jordan and Kayla about 30 yards away – they hadn’t made it very far! Kayla was sitting on the ground laughing hysterically and Jordan couldn’t get her up to move around. I ran over to the closest restaurant, knocked on the door, and typed “too much to drink drink, need a wheelchair” into Google Translate. The waiter read it and walked over to our friends to help them get back up to the room! It was so funny and quite a scene.

We went back to the room ourselves and got ready for a nice dinner at the Mexican restaurant. We sat on the patio and, of course, I forgot to wear bug spray. Oops! Despite that, we ended up having a lovely dinner. We got these duck taco spring roll things that were absolutely so delicious that we had to order more. Got a love all inclusives!

We also had guacamole with crickets, steak, bone marrow, and a pork chop which was all really good. At one point, there was a mosquito on my cheek and instead of saying “Hey, there’s a mosquito on your face”, Ryan just looked at me and blurted out “Eat it”! It was such a weirdly funny reaction that we used that phrase for “there’s something on your face” the rest the trip.

After dinner we went back to the room, got ready for bed, and had an amazing night sleep!

Day 2 –

We were supposed to go on the whale shark excursion on this day but, because it was the end of the season and the tour hadn’t seen whale sharks in a couple days, they canceled. I was a bit bummed, but it is 2020 so what can you do? We will just see them the next time we visit Mexico.

We got up and went down to the breakfast restaurant for a delicious breakfast. We probably ordered way too much but, at all inclusives, you have to try different things, right?! I tried one of the Mexican egg dishes and wasn’t a big fan but still enjoyed our morning.

After breakfast, we went back to the pool area we were in the day prior. At some of the other resorts we’ve stayed at in past trips, we’ve had to get up super early in the morning to reserve chairs because there are so many people but, with 50% capacity, we had our pick of all of the best pool spots!

We claimed some chairs and decided to go walk along the beach for a little bit. The sand felt great between our toes and the water was a perfect temperature. It felt so nice to get out and walk a little bit. There was barely any people on the beach too!

We went back to the resort and laid out for a while. The sun was so intense. Eventually, I got up to walk around and saw Kayla and Jordan! We ended up moving over closer to them and they were so excited that we still wanted to talk to them even after the craziness of the night before! I was so proud of Kayla for being such a trooper. She was much better condition than I thought she might be LOL. We ended up chatting with them pretty much the whole day in the water. It was a really nice time.

One of the guys working in the activities part of the resort told us we could go stand-up paddle boarding and kayaking. So, after lunch of Hawaiian pizza and pork tacos, all four of us headed to the beach. We tried to find the kayak area and were flagged down by this guy. He was hanging by the lifeguard stand so he looked pretty legitimate. He came up to us and, instead of kayaks, offered us cigars. When we politly declined, he said “how about cocaine?”! What?! That was definitely not what we were going for. We laughed as we say “no” and walked way into the ocean water to relax for a while. The water temperature was absolutely perfect and, while there were some rocks in the water, we found a great, sandy patch to float around in. The colors of the water was so blue and amazing and I was very happy.

We eventually ventured back to the pool area and said goodbye to Kayla and Joe so they could go to dinner. We had an 8:30 reservation at the Italian so we have some time to kill. We ended up going back to the room and decided to try out the hot tub bath on the balcony. As I like overindulge, I put both containers of bubble bath in tub and turned the jets on. Bubbles were flying everywhere! It was absolutely hilarious. The people at the pool below us could see us being goofy and there was bubbles flying all out of our balcony down to the pool. I can only imagine what they thought of our laughter! 

After rinsing all the bubbles off, we got ready for our dinner at the Italian restaurant. Since our reservation was so late, we tried to go and get an earlier table but they were booked out. All of the restaurants were at half capacity so it was kind of hard to get reservations at decent times. We ended up going to the coffee bar for an espresso and then over to the reception bar for a couple cocktails and football.

8:30 finally hit and we walked over the pond area back to the restaurant. We ordered calamari and various pasta dishes that were all really tasty. I got raviolis for my main course but there were only three of them made of way-too-thick thick dough so I didn’t like them very much. We had a few glasses of wine and enjoyed the evening overall.

After dinner, we walked back to the room with full bellys and passed out.

Day 3 –

Day three of our trip started the same as day two, with a delicious breakfast trying all-of-the-things and getting a good spot at the pool. We decided to sit by the party pool today because it was a celebration of Mexican Independence Day. The resort put up these fun banners everywhere and hosted events and music throughout the day. There was a nice older couple that sat next to us and we ended up chatting with them for a good hour or so before Ryan and I decided to embark on a hard-core water basketball tournament. Mind you, he’s 6’2 and I am 5’2, but I still totally beat him (maybe with just a littttttle bit of cheating). We had a lot of fun with water basketball and were a little winded. Covid definitely got me out of shape, but after mudslide and a few strawberry margaritas, I got my wind back in my sales!

About 20 minutes later, the water volleyball tournament commenced and we ended up playing for three different games. No one wanted to play at first so we went over to just play each other and, after we entered the volleyball court, 20 showed up on each side! It was a bit crowded but really fun. Once volleyball ended, all of a sudden flamenco dancer started dancing. They did a great job and had wonderfully colorful outfits on. We enjoyed some alcoholic Popsicles while we were watching the show and then a guitarist appeared and played guitar alongside the DJ in this really awesome rhythm I’ve never heard before. It was quite entertaining.

We had another pizza for lunch and just relax by the pool until it was time to get ready for our dinner reservations at the sushi place at 5. The sushi restaurant was totally booked out and I had to check the Unico app every few hours to see if anyone had canceled just so we could get in.

I’m so glad we did! The sushi restaurant served some of the best sushi we’ve ever had, and we’ve been to Japan! The spring rolls were so crispy and delicious with so much flavor and the sushi was insane. We thought the portions were small so we ordered a hot pot of bbq pork ribs, pad thai, some steak thing and ended up with absolutely way too much food! But it was all sooooo good.

After dinner, we walked over to the breakfast restaurant located right by the beach where they were supposed to have live dancing and mariachis. We had some wine and churros while we waited. Ryan wanted to move spots to sit by the pool and, right after we moved the dancers started their performance where we were sitting. Talk about bad timing. We ended up just lounging in the dark, listening and watching the dancers run in and out of the bathroom as they changed into their numerous outfits.

Carlos, our Unico guide, texted us and said that there was a turtle release right before the fireworks at 9. We invited our friends Jordan and Kayla to go check it out and we all set off on an adventure to try and find the turtles. We walked on the beach and it was so dark! I turned on my cellphone light and saw a giant crab the size of a softball on the beach not 2 feet in font of me! There were bugs everywhere too. We kept walking into the darkness and thought we were going to get mugged but, eventually, we saw a group of three or four people crowded around a guy with a bucket of baby turtles. The bucket must have had a few hundred turtles in it and followed the guy down to the water’s edge. The guy who was in charge dug a small path in the sand and then tipped the bucket of turtles over and they all started running towards the water. It was absolutely wonderful to see. They were so cute and wiggley. Jordan had to pick one up and reroute it into the ocean because it was coming to hang out with us. Even though we didn’t get our whale shark experience, we still had a bit of nature love with the turtles.

Once all the turtles were safely in the ocean, we walked back to the pool area and relaxed on some lounge chairs facing the firework area. The fireworks went off with a bang (literally) and were right above us! It made for a wonderful view. The fireworks didn’t last very long but they were so fun to watch and made for an insanely great end to the night. We chatted with Jordan and Kayla for a while after the fireworks and eventually decided to call it a night. 

Day 4 –

I finally got my groove down at breakfast and ordered Mexican eggs with red bell peppers, green bell peppers, onions, homemade flour tortillas, salsa verde, and bacon to make breakfast tacos! While it all took absolutely forever to come out of the kitchen and my eggs came out 15 minutes before everything else, it all ended up being really delicious.

After breakfast, we went to the pool and decided to try the infinity pool area. We grabbed some chairs for Kayla and Jordan and figured out we had the best view in the house. It was only place in the resort that had ocean view and the infinity edge was just amazing!

We were right by the party pool and I was ready to work when Victor from the athletic’s team came out for some “pool-aties”. We jumped into the water with about 5 other people and were stretching and moving and grooving! It was pretty fun! Kayla and Jordan came up to our spot and then invited some other friends they had met throughout the resort, so we had quite a group going. Although our new friends didn’t want to join, Kayla and I indulged in the pool spin class. While there was no resistance on the pool spin bikes, the water made it hard to peddle, especially when we were out of the saddle! It was quite a workout! You’d think with my Peloton I’d be OK at water spin but, boy it was tougher than I thought.

After “spool”, spinning in the pool, we relaxed and just hang out by the poolside chatting and enjoying yourselves. Around 3 o’clock it was time for us to go to the spa for the experience pools in massage! We walked over to the spa and we’re taking through a series of experience pools and showers. We first had to to shower off, then go in the hot sauna for 10 minutes, then the steam room for 10 minutes, then the cold shower, then a Jacuzzi tub, and then a cold plunge into a freezing pool. After all of that, it was time for a massage. The massage was absolutely fantastic, especially on oils and my sunburnt skin. I was soooo red even though we had been putting on tubs and tubs of sunscreen. Oops!

After the spa we went back to the room and felt super relaxed. Ryan wanted a nap but we had to go to the sushi restaurant early to try and change our reservation from hibachi to sushi again. We had such an amazing dinner the night before that we wanted to enjoy it again, especially since it was our three-year anniversary. We grabbed an espresso and walked over to the restaurant and they were, thankfully, able to accommodate us.

We even talked to the sommelier and ordered a bottle of port 20 year Tawny port. We talked to the waiter about how good the food was and he brought out the chef to chat. We had a really nice night talking about how this place compared to all of the wonderful places we’ve been able to eat at like Gagan in Thailand,  Il Pagliaccio  in Italy,  Passion by Martín Berasategui. It was so nice to remember all of those very special nights.

Once we got to desert, we had some of our port and set two glasses over to Jordan and Kayla to enjoy as well. After dinner we grabbed the bottle and went to the bar lobby to drink the rest and chat with some of the new friends.

I ended up playing pool with this guy who was in the 60s and had moved to Mexico to DJ for 14 years before moving back to Florida to retire. He had led a pretty interesting life! While we didn’t do so well at pool, we had a good time playing.

Once Jordan and Kayla got done with dinner, we met up with their other friends and ended up going to one of the couples swim-up rooms to hang out. Eventually got kind of cold in right now headed back up to hit the hay.

Day 5 –

It was our last morning in Mexico and our checkout time was at 12:30. Boy did time fly! We went back to breakfast restaurant for another round of breakfast tacos and then out to the infinity pool for our favorite spot. Ryan was super sunburnt so he hid under towels and a big umbrella while took a quick walk on the beach to get one last look at it before we had to leave. Feeling refreshed, I laid out and absorbed some sunshine in the fresh air.

Eventually our group from the prior day trickled in and we all enjoyed each other’s company until it was time for Ryan and I to get ready to go. We went back to the room and ordered room service pizza intros for our “last meal” in front of our ocean view. We packed up, checked out, and were back in the Happy Shuttle van to the airport before we knew it. We were in the airport quickly, on the plane quickly, landed quickly, and were out a customs in no time. It almost felt like the entire trip it never happened as it went so fast. We were definitely relieved to have the time off to decompress.

Golden Temple, Kinkakuji outside of Kyoto, Japan

Kyoto, Day 2

by The Impatient Traveler, posted in Japan, Kyoto

After a quick and over priced breakfast of weird ham, egg, and lettuce finger sandwiches, we all met at 9 AM for our full Kyoto day tour. Unfortunately, our guide Mika had gone to the wrong hotel, so we had a bit of a wait before she came running into the lobby. Mika was very friendly and bubbly as she walked us down to the subway stations for our connections to our first stop, the Palace gardens.

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We wanted to see cherry blossoms and Mika said there was a part of the garden with quite a few in bloom. She was so right! They were beautiful and my mom was super happy that we got to see some. We are right on the brink of all of them flowering so, every day, more and more are popping out.

Cherry blossoms in Kyoto, Japan
Cherry blossoms in Kyoto, Japan
Cherry blossoms in Kyoto, Japan

The Emperor and Empress were actually residing in the palace we were at so we could not go look at the place itself. Instead, we walked to hop on a bus to get to the Golden Temple, Kinkakuji. There were tons of people but seeing the gold leaf temple reflecting in the pond below was so worth it. The gardens were also beautiful but the gold building stole the show.

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We enjoyed the gardens as much as we could while staying in line with the flow of tourists. Mika told us that this was a light day for traffic too since we hadn’t yet entered the peak season yet! I couldn’t even imagine how crowded that would be! At least Ryan, being 6’2, could see over everyone to find me when I got sidetracked.

After the Golden Pavilion, we stopped for lunch at a very traditional soba house. We had to take our shoes off downstairs and had a short table on the second floor to enjoy our food. I had tempura soba and it was quite good but a little over priced. Everyone else felt the same about their meal and we had to pay for our guides food and transport during the tour. I get paying for our own food and transport but you would think the tour cost would at least cover the guide.

Dinner at a soba house in Kyoto, Japan
Dinner at a soba house in Kyoto, Japan
Dinner at a soba house in Kyoto, Japan

After lunch we had a 30 minute bus ride to get to Kyoto station. Lunch must have had sleeping pills in it because I zonked out on Ryans shoulder. I kept waking up thinking we had missed our exit but all was good. We took a few subway connections and would up at the entrance to the famous Tori Gate shrine (Fushimi Inari Shrine). There are over one thousand gates of all heights within the property. It was also very crowded at the start and there were so many girls dressed in their kimonos and taking photos. It made it hard to navigate. We all decided to make a few poses of his own haha!

Tori Gate shrine (Fushimi Inari Shrine), Japan
Tori Gate shrine (Fushimi Inari Shrine), Japan
Tori Gate shrine (Fushimi Inari Shrine), Japan

The crowds did open up eventually and the walk through the forrest because much more enjoyable. Japan is, overall, just so crowded it takes away from the magic a little bit.

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After the Tori Gates, it was back on the public transit and to Gion. We walked through some more temples and were getting pretty burnt out. We ended back at the main temple in Gion to check on the massive cherry tree and see if it has bloomed more before saying goodbye to Mika.

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My parents took off in one direction and Ryan, Julia and I decided to check out Nana’s Café for a drink and to relax. I had this AMAZING drink with sweet black bean at the bottom. It was by far the best latte of any kind I’ve ever had! It felt so good to just sit and reflect after so much go, go, go!

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Post-latte, we went back to the hotel to freshen up and meet my parents for a drink at the bar. Ryan needed some serious calories so he went to McDonalds for dinner and we took off to this famous gyoza place down the street. We waited about 20 minutes but it was so worth it! My sister and I tried an assortment of gyoza flavors from veggie to pork, curry, and shrimp.

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Post gyoza, Ryan met us up for another ice-cream crepe before heading back to the hotel for bed.