Playa del Carmen: Día 1 (settling in)
Consider yourself warned – these posts will be long and detailed because they’re my journal account of our trip and because I want to share some of the information we discovered there that other people browsing the internets may find helpful.
When we were looking for plane tickets to Cancún in September, we were actually able to find one that had a layover in Dallas on the way there and on the way back. Awesome! This meant we could arrive and depart Mexico with Gina and family (as they live in Dallas)!
The only odd thing about the flight there, was that it left on a Wednesday night from Chicago, got to Dallas that evening, then left for Mexico Thursday morning. I had never experienced a layover split over a day like that before! But (despite a delay and getting in really late), I discovered I liked splitting the travel between two days like that – it felt like I was wasting less time traveling splitting over two days (rather than spending one day of travel like we did on the way back). And of course, it helped that Gina’s husband, Steve, picked us up at the airport and we got a few hours of sleep at their place before our Thursday am flight!
Luca and me on the shuttle to the airport!
When we booked our tickets, we chose the row behind Gina, Steve and Luca on the flight. Which meant there was a bit of this going on:
Hee hee!
Every person on the plane seemed in great spirits on the flight from Dallas to Cancún. Hmm… I wonder why?! Maybe something to do with the weather? It was actually pretty chilly in Dallas when we left, at 31°F! I made sure to check the weather back home too…
Nope. Nopenopenope. Adiós cold weather! This trip seriously could not have been at a better time of the year!
Hola, Cancún!
We arrived in Cancún in the late morning and took a previously reserved (thanks, Steve!) Super Shuttle the 35 miles to Playa del Carmen. Someone had warned me that the Cancún Airport is really confusing and that even if you have a reservation for a car or ride, tons of people will be giving you transportation offers and you won’t know where to go. Yes, people were there offering rides… but there was only one way out of the airport and it was super clear where to go for what you wanted. Ha ha, makes me wonder what the heck happened to that person that they gave me such a warning!
Waiting for Super Shuttle. This Christmas, there was a gift from my parents marked “for Kim and Gina” and it had two matching pink hats in it! Gina and I loved them! And so did Luca. Ha ha. We had to get him a hat the day we arrived. Steven and Steve bought their hats the next day…
As I mentioned, we rented from Airbnb. Originally, we were looking at resorts, but I was hoping the five of us could share a suite together, and that wasn’t very affordable at a resort! And while I love love love being around Luca, I didn’t want to be in a family friendly resort full of other people’s children. And… I didn’t want to feel “stuck” on a resort compound. So! Airbnb it was!
Our rental ended up being great! It had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room and kitchen, front desk security, a serene interior courtyard, and a roof top pool! (And super nice neighbors)
The only problemo? Location. And not location to the beach. It was at a great location for that – just four blocks from the beach and three blocks from 5th Avenue (the 30 street long pedestrian-only avenue FILLED with shops and restaurants). And I will mention, two blocks from the only vegan restaurant in Playa del Carmen – and that was all by chance!
Nah, the location problem was right next door – the ADO bus stop. It was on the opposite street to the living room/bedroom Gina and Steve took, and it was quite loud. Other than that, the place was great!
After unpacking a bit we ventured out for our first meal. We didn’t even make it two blocks before we settled on a Mexican (of course) restaurant! I ordered the first of many dishes of delicious fajitas I would have there.
During the meal, I realized I hadn’t looked at the exchange rate, at all, and didn’t want to use the data on my phone to look it up (we added international call minutes/a bit of data to our phone planes but I didn’t want to use it too much). So… we just went with whatever the restaurant charged us (the bill total was provided in pesos and US dollars).
Now, this took awhile for me to figure out. The whole money exchange thing. A few people told us that most places will take US dollars or pesos. So, before we left, I got out a few hundred dollars in US currency, and planned to just use that. Easy, right? What I did not know though, is that if you pay in US dollars, you are likely being charged the commercial exchange rate (which most places had set at 12 pesos to 1 dollar) rather than the exchange rate of the day (which was commonly 14.85 pesos to 1 dollar, while we were there). So while you can pay with US currency, you might be paying more than you would with pesos, based on the rate you exchanged US currency for pesos in, or the rate your bank charged you to withdraw pesos from an ATM (which we ended up doing at the end of the trip). Blah blah, money mumbo jumbo. Overall, I am sure we lost a few bucks here and there, and it doesn’t bug me, but if that sort of thing would bug you, it’s something to think about before you travel!
After lunch we had to walk to the beach, just to check it out!
Aww, yes! This is why we came! Warm sun, sand and water = instant happiness!
But… we didn’t stay long. Duty called, and we wanted to get a few things from, dun dun dun – Walmart! Our place was literally a block away! Super cheesy to be going to Walmart in Mexico, but also, super convenient.
We made sure to get the essentials:
Then it was back to the beach for realzies, swimsuits and everything!
It was later in the evening and the water was a bit cool (and oddly stinky – maybe to do with the tide?), so we mostly just lounged around.
This isn’t documented in a photo, but I am pretty sure we made Mexican food (beans, rice and guac) for dinner! And we had our first encounter with a new friend…
And, that was Day 1! Day 2 brings an exciting adventure to Cozumel on what we lovingly named the “Barco del Barfo”! Ha! Stay tuned!
Themocracy
I’m CRAZY jealous of your time away! It looks great!
Do you have anything scheduled with your bestie and her fam again?! 🙂
Sounds awesome! Luca is getting so grown up!
He really is! Every time I see him he’s so different!!! 😀
Luca is cute, cute, cute! The money tip is good info, I would have had no idea. The weather does look perfect 🙂 How much running did you get to do? There’s a Wal-Mart everywhere lol
The place you stayed looks really nice.
I ran 5 times when I was there, just over 27 miles total. I loved running there! 🙂
I am so jealous. We are in the middle of another blizzard here! 11 days to New Zealand though!
And now, even less! Woo hoo!
Okay, now I want to book a Caribbean vacation. Maybe if I just turn the heat up real high, sit by a window, and stare at these photos I can pretend. 😉 Glad you had a great trip and that you were able to find a place with vegan food!
Ha ha! Just make sure you don’t sit by a window! 😀
It looks like y’all had an amazing time!! I can’t wait to read more and see more pics!! Luca is so handsome!! Yay for meeting a new friend!! 😉
=^..^=
Luca was being such a cutie the whole time! I have a zillion pics of him, of course!
I miss Pedro the cat! LOL (don’t tell Data)!
All the pictures look great! I know during our cold snaps I long for the beach.
How FUN! I can’t wait to read more. And goodness, the temperature difference! I can only imagine how nice Mexico must have felt, leaving THAT!
I was thinking of you when we were there and wondering if any of your cruises ever stopped in Cozumel?
Man, Mexico felt so good, compared to what we had been dealing with. And I am so happy the warm weather didn’t make us sick (headache for me, or sun rush or burn)!
What did you do in Mexico? Oh I went to Wal-Mart, nbd. hahaha 🙂 Love it!
I’m so happy you all got to take this vacay together!
And you even had a cat friend! How purrrfect!
LOLz! “I mean, if they would have had Tarjayjay…”
Me too! I told Gina we should take over Canada, next! 🙂
Count me in as super jealous!! This looks like an amazing vacation!!!
Wow, those side-by-side shots of the weather are crazy! You really went at just the right time.
The AirBnB option (minus the noisy location) sounds like such a good idea. I think it’s so fun to share suites with your traveling companions. I bet you’d miss out on a lot of fun interaction if you had been in totally separate suites!
Also, Steven…that beard! What!!!!
I was thinking that too – it would have been a bummer to go back to separate hotel rooms each night! It was cool to have a home base and place we could all chill together.
Ha ha! Have you not seen pics of the beard? He’s been growing it out since early July 😀
I laughed at the comment about the airport. So true. 🙂 Great idea to get an apartment/suite (??).