Making First Trip Memories

We did not plan a winter vacation this year and I am looking over these photographs from our little Mayan Riviera getaway back in February 2018 and I’m craving that warm Mexican sunshine more than ever!  Sunny sandy beaches, a cool breeze from the sea, delicious tropical fruits, my favourite Mexican foods, and the friendliness and kindness of the people we met during our journey.

I wanted to share a post about our first trip as a family of four as it has been a really special one. Little Alex was 6 months and his first time traveling to Mama’s homeland. Ellie had just started preschool and was getting old enough to remember. To this day, she talks about bits and pieces from the trip. I love the way she references Tulum in her conversations in her little voice. Also, I am not sure if it was the warm weather and the practicality of being in swimsuits and light layers all day, but she grasped the full concept of potty training whilst in Tulum. She returned home officially diaper free! If you have been through the usual challenges of potty training a two year old, you know that’s a big win!

Regardless of how big or small. Far away or close your break, that time away together as a family, is always so worth it. We both have busy jobs and our weekends are usually spent washing, folding, tidying and doing grocery shopping as well as all the other demands of everyday life. That time to break the weekly routine and relax, soak each other up as a family was lovely. It was just what we needed. Speaking with Rob this morning, I mentioned to him one of our goals as a family should be to spend less on things and more on travel experiences. He is adding up our air miles rewards as we speak 😂

There was something so special about escaping our normal routine that I just can’t wait to plan our next adventure. It appears that the nice weather and long days running around playing makes my children sleep better. We almost cancelled this trip because. Sleep. Both my children have been very challenging sleepers, but we decided to take the risk and hoped for the best. We did not regret it! We had the best DAY & NIGHT time sleep during our little getaway last year.

We flew into Cancun, Mexico and the resort’s transport service was there to pick us up and took us to our hotel which is in Tulum.  The journey only takes around an hour. We arrived at 5pm to a sunny evening and a warm welcome from the lovely staff. My father happened to be in the lobby when we arrived. We planned to meet Granny and Grandpa for a couple of days whilst in Tulum. We don’t see them very often, once a year if we are lucky and this made our family trip even more complete.

We stayed at the Luxury Bahia Principe Akumal Resort which I cannot recommend highly enough. Frankly, my single and kid-free old me was never a fan of all-inclusive resorts. I always chose more adventurous destinations but my thirty something year old with 2 children-on-hip married me, most definitely value the convenience and family friendliness that our friends at Bahia Principe offer. Bahia Principe Akumal turned out to be an actual gem.

The complex is massive! It’s four hotels all strung together offering easy access to all the resort facilities. They named each of the hotels after the local towns so there’s the Akumal, Sian Ka’an (Adults only), Tulum and Coba hotels. The distances between hotels are probably walkable for some but not ideal for others in over 30 C degrees temperatures. There are little trams that run regularly and go from hotel to hotel and others that will go down the charming paths to your rooms. If you ask Ellie, these method of transport around the complex, was her favourite part of the trip and the children’s waterpark of course.

We were committed to fully explore the resort. To give you a sense of the size of the place, we ran up and down all the pedestrian and access roads within the hotels and covered 7KM without backtracking or leaving the resort. For our next trip, we are already planning to take advantage of everything the area has to offer. Explore ancient towns and ruins, discover the beauty of the forest and the close by villages.

The meal was good with many options to choose from and the a la carte restaurants did not disappoint. These specialty restaurants included Mexican, Brazilian, Mediterranean, Italian, Japanese, French and Gourmet cuisine. They are included within your all-inclusive rate. We visited a couple of them. The only minor challenge we had was that these restaurants open just about my children’s bedtime. I have to say that the buffet meals were excellent and more convenient. It just worked better around our schedules.

The Akumal beach is absolutely lovely and perfect for the little ones as there is no one single big wave and mostly shallow enough for Ellie and Alex to play. One minor grumble we had about the Mayan Riviera is that there is an algae problem. The beach area from the Akumal hotel was not too bad as you can probably see from the pictures below, there is no algae in sight. But unfortunately, we saw mountains of it on the other two hotel beaches; Coba and Tulum. Sadly, this is a larger topic affecting the Caribbean’s sea and the problem goes way beyond this particular resort. That being said, the work the staff does to clear the beaches of the weed is outstanding.

All in all, an amazing break, one which I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to anyone looking for a family retreat. Now, these are three things we do in an effort to keep our family memories alive forever.

1. Photographs

The children , particularly Alex, are still too young to remember this journey but that’s what photographs are for! It is no secret that photographs is the easiest way to remember a travel experience.  According to Dr. Seuss, sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory. In the spirit of capturing all the potentially valuable moments of the journey, we take ALL the candid-natural-fun-in-the-moment pictures to remember these moments. This makes me sound like a really photo addict but, I assure you these pictures are typically the most treasured moments. I have found that these candid pictures bring back the definite detail of the sentiments of the trip. I cherish my collection of unposed almost accidental photos because many years from now, they will be the ones that will help me remember the little things.

I love these snaps. The one of the children playing on the beach was not an intentional one but now I think it will be one that I print off and pop on our wall in our bedroom. The kids first beach trip together. It is a keeper!

This below is another accidental photo. Sometimes those are the best. Ellie loved running around the sandy beach and I just happened to have my camera in my hand to capture the moment.

2. Souvenirs

A tradition that has been near and dear to my heart for over a decade now is to purchase a little fridge magnet from every new country or new place we visit. I have a terrible memory but because these little metal pieces are attached to so many experiences, they have become very meaningful to me. I can vividly remember the exact moment when we got each of them. As a result, we have half of the fridge full of “memories”. I hope one day; these little magnets will help us reminisce about our family trips.

The good thing about magnets is that you always have room for a fridge magnet in your backpack and also, sometimes the search for the perfect one is quite a story to remember in itself.

3. Notes

Another great way to recreate our travels and keep the memories alive is to write notes or a travel diary. Frankly, it gets a little tricky for me to make time for these things but that’s why I email myself five times a day and my draft folder is always full.

If you have any questions at all about planning a trip to Mexico or this resort in particular, I would be more than happy to help if I can, just post your comments below.

Off to plan our next trip……

Mercedes