Thailand Trip

Cancun – Mexico (November 2014 - 5 Days Trip)

Mexico was on our LIST for some time now and finally decided to vacation in Cancun in November 2014. It is shoulder season for travelling since it is tail end of rainy season, but wonderful time to go if you want less crowd and beaches to all by yourself!!

Being USA Permanent Residents, we don’t need visa for Mexico travel. YAY! one less thing to worry about!

All Inclusive or European Plan:

Before making any bookings, the first decision to make is, if you want to stay at an All-Inclusive resort where all your food/drinks and room are included in the pre-paid price, or a European Plan Resort where you just book the room and pay as you for the food.

Easy decision for us, we wanted hassle free travelling and decided to have the experience of All-Inclusive resort packages, although we don’t eat meat/egg or drink alcohol, we had plenty of food options. Resorts would love guests like us though!

It was a wonderful experience, you feel pampered with all the food/drinks readily available and served to you everywhere on the resort!! Reminded me of the cruise experience, but this is even better since you are not constrained to the ship, can freely roam around and plan your desired itinerary.

Choosing the Resort:

Cancun is a simple place to figure out. Think of the Hotel Zone, the area with the major resorts, as an island that is shaped like the number 7. Resorts have the beautiful Caribbean Sea in their backyard and most these resorts have a secluded beach and elegant swimming pool. Water color is assorted colors ranging from blue, to bright teal, intense turquoise to emerald green, it’s a feast to your eyes to see miles and miles of clear Caribbean Sea. Hotel zone also has the lagoon back waters separating it from the city. The Hotel Zone is broken down into Kilometers, and buses run the length of the Hotel Zone into the area known as Centro, which is Downtown.

Most of the excitement of vacation is in planning for me. I love to research and read up the reviews and come up with an itinerary. So, after much research, we decided on GRAND OASIS PALM resort. It’s a 4-star resort with 2 huge pools and a spectacular beach. It exceeded our expectations and we highly recommend this resort for families with kids. Entertainment was too good. FIRE show in front of the beach and the traditional Mexican culture show was mind blowing. They had around 8-10 restaurants, pool bar, concierge services, attentive staff. Everything was well taken care of. We had a wonderful time and glad we choose this resort!

 I still remember the cool breeze and the sound of the ocean in late evening times, sitting in front of the beach and relaxing and sipping the Pina Colada (nonalcoholic). These are the moments I yearn for on my vacations, building lifetime of unforgettable memories.

Itinerary (5 days)

Day 1:

Took a direct flight from Detroit, Michigan and it’s a 4.5 hours nonstop flight.

We ended up buying timeshare in the airport, had heard some good/bad reviews about it, so decided to give it a try. We had to attend a 45min presentation and got free tickets for XCaret. We arrived at the resort by evening 6PM. We freshened up and had dinner attended a Mexican cultural show in the resort. Walked around the resort and spent some time at the beach and was ready to hit the bed!

Day 2:

As part of the Timeshare, we were picked up at the resort to go to the presentation at HardRock Café. We had a sumptuous breakfast and attend a presentation and we hanged around at the beach for some time and headed back to the resort. Timeshare works if you have a relaxed itinerary, it will take half a day’s time by the time you are done.

We rested in the afternoon and decided to check out other public beaches. We hopped on to a local bus and got down at Playa Delfines. It’s a public beach right on the hotel strip. It has a stunning Emerald green beach with white sand and the view will take your breath away!! There was hardly anybody at the beach and we had an amazing time and took some great photos. It also has that big sign CANCUN in the front. Totally worth a stop!

On the way back, we bought tickets to Chichen itza, there are a lot of travel agents along the strip selling variety of tourist packages.

We relaxed in the evening and watched another show(FIRE) at the resort. Again, an amazing and MUST-see show!

Day 3:

We were supposed to be picked up at the lobby by 830 AM to head to Chichen Itza day trip. We ended up getting ready by 730 AM and decided to spend some time at the beach.

We had told at the front desk that we will be at the beach, if the bus comes please inform us. Well, that never happened and we were too engrossed at the beach and we finally missed the bus!!!

It was 9 AM and we managed to call the bus driver and he asked us to board the bus at a different stop. We quickly hired a Cab and managed to get to the bus. Later when we got the angry stares from bus passengers, we realized that the bus was waiting for us and had a delayed start due to us. My husband was mad at me too, it was my brain wave to spend time at beach while waiting for the bus. Luckily, it turned out OK in the end.

It took us almost 4 hours to reach Chichen Itza, we had to stop for lunch and shopping along the way. It was a bumpy ride and very uncomfortable seats. The tour guide was enthusiastically talking in Spanish! We were clueless of course!

Chichen Itza is one of the 7 wonders of the world located in in Yucatan province. It’s a ruined ancient Mayan City and the tour guide narrative was quite interesting. It is a significant archeological and scientific marvel, had lot of history to it. Well, half way through the narrative, my little one wanted to go to restroom, which was like 15min walk each way. By the time I came back they were all done!

On the way back from Chichen Itza we stopped at a couple different cenotes. They are sinkholes that is formed due to the collapsing of the limestone that exposes the groundwater beneath. You can safely swim in these open holes, really fun experience.

Day 4:

Xcaret is a privately owned eco-park full of fun activities. We did the underground river floating, it was most fun! It also rained for sometime, how much more wet can we get!

Later went to the beach, aquarium, butterfly pavilion and finally ended the day with Mayan Cultural Show.

Day 5:

We did more beach time, kids played with the sand and we played beach volleyball and had lunch, relaxed at the swimming pool and finally headed back to Michigan in the evening flight.

One of the best vacations we were had! Access to Caribbean and stunning beaches is just 4 hours away from Michigan. How cool is that!