One of the best pieces of advice my parents gave Adam and I before we got married was to “invest in our marriage” and take time each year just the two of us. We have really tried to do this and find that this special time away strengthens our marriage so much. There is just something about being footloose and fancy free and away from kids and distractions and responsibilities that allows us to get back in sync as a couple and remember why we fell in love in the first place! We cherish these trips and love making special memories together just the two of us!
Because we knew we’d be having a baby in April, we decided we’d better take our couples trip early this year so that we’d actually get that time away in. So in January I began scouring the travel sights for deals. We had originally wanted to do a cruise (the ultimate relaxation vacation) but because I was so far along, that wasn’t an option. So we started looking into all inclusive type places where we could sort of get the same experience (aka: not having to cook or clean) and have plenty of time to relax and enjoy our get away. Besides, I was pregnant, which meant that we would be severely limited in which excursions we could do. So relaxation vacation it was!
It was technically our low budget year which usually means we go somewhere stateside, but when I found a great deal on an all inclusive place down in Cancun Mexico for the same price, we just couldn’t pass it up. Both of us had been to Cancun before, but never together, so we thought it would be fun! And boy was it!
We ended up booking a week away leaving on Valentines day and then returning on the 21st. We were able to hire our awesome friend (and one of my old YW) Sydney Olsen Sheriff to come and watch the kids for us during the day, and then at nights she would take them to Mum and Smurfs house to spend the night! It really was the perfect arrangement so that both babysitters got breaks from the kids and never had them for too long. And we loved that our kids were with people we loved and trusted. My sister also helped out the first night and last day as well when my Mother in Law ended up needing an emergency surgery! We sure are grateful for good friends and family who are always willing to help out!
We had a super early flight on Valentines though (7:30 flight so we had to be there at 5:30am) and so we ended up asking Adam’s awesome sister Marcie and her husband Steve if we could crash at their place the night before to save us some driving time in the morning. They were kind enough to oblige us! Thanks guys! From there we drove to an LDS church near the airport where we could park for free and then we booked a reservation on Uber to have a car come and pick us up! It ended up being super fast, and saved us tons of money not having to park at the airport and pay parking fees. It was going to be almost $100 to park at the airport for a week, but with uber we only ended up paying about $17! Nice! Love that company!
The airport was super busy when we arrived and our Airline Frontier had probably the longest lines of everyone. It took what seemed like forever to make it to the front and then we found out that our seats weren’t even together! Guess you have to pay extra for that. Lame. So we ended up sitting behind each other instead. Then we also had to pay extra for our bags, and then you even had to pay extra for drinks and snacks on the plane! I was so glad I had brought my own water bottle and munchies! Needless to say we weren’t too impressed with the airline and won’t be flying Frontier again anytime soon.
The flight to Cancun was pretty uneventful though, and was direct which was SO nice! Adam ended up watching movies most of the time on his phone, while I read a book my Mom had gotten me for my birthday about our Canadian Indian ancestors and their Explorer husbands. Then I also spent some time playing Candy crush on my ipad, and of course took a few naps seeing as we’d gotten up at 4:30 that morning. I was bushed!
We arrived in Cancun about 2:30 Mexico time and couldn’t believe the amazing water as we flew in! Check out those colors!! I just knew it was going to be an incredible week and I was instantly filled with happiness going from dull gray and brown colors of Utah to these bright green and blue colors of Mexico! Oh how the sun and color bring me joy!
After arriving at the Cancun airport and going through customs we headed out to where we were supposed to meet out van for our airport transfer, but were quickly disappointed when we saw the size of the line of people waiting! Holy Frijoles! It ended up taking us almost an hour to finally get in a van, and by that point my feet and ankles were swelling and getting painful so I ended up sitting on the cement just so I could sort of “put my feet up.” I guess the change in climate didn’t agree with my pregnancy.
Once we arrived at our hotel (Omni Cancun Hotel and Villas) – all was well. The staff was amazing and instantly got our bags for us, took drink orders (Virgin Pinja Colada and Strawberry Daiquiri) got us checked in, and then gave us a run down of the activities, restaurants, and what our all inclusive package included. Not only that but they upgraded us (at Adam’s request) from a Lagoon view to an Ocean view which totally impressed me! It was a $300 difference but they gave it to us anyway for free! AWESOME!
Our room was great too and was on the 20th floor and had an amazing view of the resort and ocean! I had to keep pinching myself that we were really in Mexico and that the water really was that beautiful. I felt like I’d died and gone to heaven! Below is the view from our hotel room balcony. Gorgeous no?
And here are some shots of our hotel room. We had no idea it came with a kitchenette, but we actually never used it seeing as our package included all our meals.
After getting unpacked a little, we both changed from our warm winter Utah clothes into our swim suits and decided to head down and check out the rest of the resort. We loved that you could see the ocean from the pools!
And they had fun little restaurants all over that you could eat at anytime you wanted. Mexican food, Hambergers and fries, Pizza, and even a Sushi bar! (That was the first place Adam went!)
This was the Mexican place where you could get drinks, Fajitas, burritos, Quessadillas, or other Mexican food pretty much anytime day or night.
After getting a few snacks at the sushi bar and Mexican place we decided to head down to the beach to check it out! Holy Amazing water! I really just was loving every minute!
After our walk down the beach we returned to the resort to do some more exploring. We found this restaurant which was right on the beach and booked a dinner there the next night.
The resort also had these nice canopy beds you could lay on during the day, but you had to reserve them.
Or you could use these chairs and umbrellas anytime.
They also had this adult swim up bar that was open pretty much all day and each day they would serve a “special drink” that usually came in some sort of fruit. One day it was served in half a cantaloupe, another day in a full pineapple! Adam loved to go and get these and would just have them make whatever it was in virgin form. They were always delicious!
Here we are back at the Mexican restaurant where Adam insisted I posed with this Hermano!
That night we ended up just going to the main buffet for dinner which we both felt was “okay.” Being used to cruise food which is usually super good, it just paled in comparison, but hey, we didn’t have to cook it which we were thrilled about! So it was all good.
Sure was a wonderful first day in Mexico!