Life of the Lorenzens: Playa del Carmen

Austin & I took an amazing 5-day vacation to Playa del Carmen, Mexico (located south of Cancun and across from Cozumel on the Yucatan Peninsula). It was our first big vacation since having kids, and the first time I had been on an airplane in six years. My sister, Abbie, found us a fabulous resort on Expedia called The Royal Haciendas. It wasn't an all-inclusive, but they had great restaurants and very nice grocery/convenience store on-site with everything charged to your room bill so you never had to carry or exchange any money.

For three days our view was usually one of the following three pictures:

From the terrace of our villa

Beach on the Caribbean

One of five pools

We both tried a little kayaking, although the rolling waves soon made me feel seasick.

I also got a massage in a cabana on the beach and a seaweed wrap in the spa. We took the shuttle into the town of Playa del Carmen one night and walked the entire length of the 5th Avenue shopping district. After selecting small souvenirs for the kids, we ate at a restaurant called Los Tulipanes and enjoyed great live music.

Another highlight of the trip (at least for me) was a complimentary upgrade to first class on the flight segments between Houston and Cancun. Flying first class has always been on my lifetime bucket list, and it was everything I hoped it would be. Austin has a high enough mileage status on United we got lots of little perks, but as Austin said, we both earned it with as much as he has to travel to get that status.

And what about the kids? My mom came to stay for the five days and they were perfect for her. :o)

Here are some things I learned on vacation:

It pays to travel light. This was the least amount of stuff I had ever packed on any kind of a trip, and it was plenty.
Airports and traveling in general can bring out the best and worst in people--especially if they are traveling with kids.
It is relatively cheap to eat at nice restaurants in Mexico. We had great seafood at very nice places for not a whole lot.
It's easy to be an American in the touristy areas because pretty much everyone speaks decent English. Driving down the road and seeing all the signs and billboards made me want to brush up on my limited Spanish skills.
Life can be unhurried. Within hours of arriving at the resort, I noticed that no one ever hurried anywhere. Even the resort staff strolled wherever they went. And it was so relaxing. The only exception was the high-strung manager on duty at one of the resort restaurants because there happened to be a large party that night that included one or more partners of the group who had built the chain of Royal resorts. One of the partners introduced himself to us at our table and asked about our stay.
I can be semi-unplugged. Before leaving I had debated whether or not to go totally unplugged as far as technology goes. It's a good thing I thought about it, because my phone apparently didn't like Mexico. It started acting strange and turning itself on and off, so I just left it in the room safe and didn't turn it on again until we landed back in the U.S. I did answer a text from my mom on Austin's phone and peeked at the iPad (which Austin used the whole time), but didn't really do anything else. In a way it was very relaxing to not be a slave to an electronic device. However, I missed having access to information at my fingertips. I didn't realize how often I look up stuff. Like, what is the current temperature and humidity level? How many U.S. dollars is 160 pesos? Is there such thing as a special fish knife? What does "cenote" mean? How far is it to walk the full length of 5th Avenue?
My eating habits are tied to the clock. At home I'm used to eating three solid meals plus two snacks every day. This is partially due to having young kids, but more about my ingrained habits based on what time it is. At home my tummy says I'm hungry for a snack if I look at the clock and it's past 10:00am and then again at 11:15am when it's time to get out lunch. On vacation I rarely wore a watch. After a simple breakfast, I could sit on the beach until 12:30pm before my tummy told me I was really hungry. The same thing was true of afternoon snack and dinner. I eat less often and later when I don't know what time it is.
I can never be perfectly prepared. Call me crazy, but I left a 2 1/2 page sheet of typed out instructions/information for my mom. Most of this was meal possibilities and notes about the idiosyncrasies of our house. However, I did forget a few important details--like where to find a house key.
Austin has more "sit" than I do on vacation. I think we were gone the perfect amount of time. Any more than three days of sitting around on the beach or by the pool and I would need to start looking for some kind of major excursion--like snorkeling, underground rivers, swimming with dolphins, Mayan ruins, etc. I also think it was the perfect length of time to be away from the kids. I was ready to see them again but didn't overwhelmingly miss them.
If you don't want to get sunburned, stay out of the sun. I think we both did a pretty good job of not getting too burned. We put really strong sunscreen on really thick and tried to stay out of the direct sunlight as much as possible except for two long walks along the beach that were not during the most intense sun of the day. We saw a LOT of retired, brown, wrinkled (and mostly overweight) Americans at the resort. I really don't ever want to look like that.
I am still a fiction reader at heart. I brought a whole stack of books that I had been saving for an occasion such as this. During the five days I made it through two magazines and two books. It took me less time to finish the 500-page Twilight book than it did a 200-page parenting book. I also did a lot of people-watching. :o)
This was a nearly perfect vacation. My only regrets are forgetting to bring back some famous Mexican vanilla and not taking more videos/pictures of the beach for the kids to see. We'll just have to do that next time!