Mexico was the first place I visited outside the United States. I was young and in college, so guess where I ended up? Cancun, of course!
The year was 2015, and man does that feel like a lifetime ago. I do not have a ton of photos from this trip. In fact, I didn’t bring a camera or even my phone. I brought a burner flip phone from a department store just in case I ran into any emergencies. So the few photos I do have were taken from another person’s phone.
My memory is a bit fuzzy on some of the details, as I don’t even I remember the name of the resort. I do however, remember that it was the second resort on what I coined as “Resort Row” on the island.
If you’ve never been to Cancun before, the resorts are all lined up on the edge of the beach for a span of 14 miles facing the Caribbean Sea. And if you look on a map, the area is literally labeled “Hotel Zone”.
I did a little deep dive on google maps and found the resort that I stayed at. It has switched names and owners since my visit so I won’t include details. Plus, I didn’t really have many positives to add. So my only advice is make sure to do your research before booking a resort stay to get exactly what you want out the trip!!
The resort we stayed at was an all inclusive – meals and drinks were included. I remember thinking that the drinks were weak, couldn’t taste the alcohol, and the food was fine, mainly just catered to the American tourist pallet.
As for entertainment, the resort didn’t really provide much. It was still enjoyable but if you’re going to an all inclusive, many people don’t want to leave the resort. And this is where research will come in handy. At the time, we were broke college kids so most likely this was all we could afford anyway.
Which lead to, most days after the beach, we entertained ourselves. My favorite two days of the trip were when we went out exploring downtown Cancun and taking a trip to a local island, Isla Mujeres.
Downtown was busy with locals, cops, and tourists a like. It seemed as if every business owner or worker was out on the street trying to bring people into their establishment – I respect the hustle. The most memorable was a place called Coco Bongo. It was a club and they were promoting it as the place to be, but how they promoted it really stuck out to us. They had people dressed up in 90s pop culture costumes. And the most memorable was Jim Carey’s the Mask character. So so many Jim Carey’s the Mask. We didn’t make it to the club but to this day the imagine of Jim Carey Mask character is stuck in my head saying “Coco Bongo!?”.
During the downtown venture, we also explored the local grocery store tucked away off of main street. When I travel I love going to grocery stores as it almost feels like an interactive museum. You feel more immersed into the area and get to check out all the unique products on the shelf.
The market we went into also had a bakery. We picked up some snacks and this is where I fell in love with a treat called a Concha. It’s like a bread with a cookie outer shell. Outside of Mexico, you can find them in Mexican bakeries and some grocery stores in California and Texas. But hands down, that one I had in Cancun was the best I’ve ever had.
This trip really taught me how I like to travel, aka I’m not into the all inclusive resort life. To me a hotel is simply a place to sleep at night, I prefer to be out from dawn to dusk exploring the area and immersing myself into the local culture.
Now I’ve never been on a vacation cruise but I imagine it is somewhat of a similar experience – the closest was my venture down to Antarctica on a research vessel and I’m told that doesn’t count. But if the right cruise comes along, I might just give it a try.
I am happy that I had this experience as my first venture out of the country. And I do recommend this type of travel if it is your first time out of the country or if you get nervous about travel. It will help you build confidence, especially as there’s a wonderful world out there that’s yearning for exploration!
