daniel and i are vacation junkies. we go on at least one big vacation every year, but always end up taking a few trips in between. this year has been one for the books when it came to vacations. mexico was the best getaway we could have asked for to grow closer together. we stayed at the hard rock hotel riviera maya on the heaven side, which is for adults only! ADULTS ONLY! as a teacher that is music to my ears. we planned this trip a few months ago, and were lucky enough to book at a time when they were having double resort credit.... meaning we got $3200 to spend on anything at the resort (we had to pay the taxes though).
we spent some of it on excursions like swimming with dolphins. which was amazing.... i had never touched a dolphin, and had only seen them at sea world before so they were like unicorns to me. i had no idea what to expect, but wasn't disappointed. they called this a "dolphie" aka a selfie with a dolphin.
this area is also known for its underground caves and rivers. we went on an adventure excursion, snorkeling in the ocean, zip lining, rappelling, and cave swimming. i hate heights. so this was a tough day for me. i ended up not even rappelling, i bawled my eyes out and walked down the stairs instead, while my sweet husband was cheering for me to go. oops. he wasn't going to let me wimp out of zip lining though, so he made me go first. i didn't cry, but i wanted to.
the resort itself was amazing. we got a balinese bed over the water almost everyday, and i never wanted to leave it. it was so relaxing to just lay over the ocean with the breeze, and the tropical fish swimming everywhere. every night we went to a different incredible restaurant.
we adventured into playa del carmen for some afternoon shopping. this was pretty much my first time to really explore mexico without a tour guide, or being inside a cruise ship port. it was very touristy so i felt really safe, and got to use some of my spanish skills (while daniel made fun of me the whole time). I even found this cute booth where i bought some decorations for my classroom, which you'll see when I finally go up to school to redo my room!
we had a second floor room, with a rooftop terrace with a hot tub and lounge chairs! meaning we didn't even have to leave our room if we didn't want to. also, i broke our selfie stick on the first day.... so no more great selfies after this one. luckily we decided to get pictures done while we were there, so we still have something to remember the trip by.
this was such an amazing trip to reconnect with daniel after such a busy year with both of our new jobs. we were able to spend so much quality time(my love language) together, and not have to worry about normal adult responsibilities. we will definitely be returning to mexico as soon as possible!
xoxo,
kelsey
