The honeymoon, on the other hand, has plenty of pictures ready and lots of stories to share.
We are so grateful to all of you who supported our honeymoon fund and made this trip possible. It was exactly what we needed and we will cherish the memories for many years to come.
I have always wanted to go to Italy for my honeymoon. Wisdom was on my side, however, when I took the advice of others saying that we need a place to relax on our honeymoon. When we do travel to Italy, I don't envision much relaxation. So...we chose the Playa del Carmen/Cancun area of Mexico? Why? This place has special meaning to me. I studied abroad in Puebla, Mexico 13 years ago and with classmates, we travelled south throughout Mexico, ending our trip in Playa del Carmen. I remember relaxation, incredible white sand and blue waters.
My memory didn't fail me this time, the beaches were almost as beautiful as I remember them! I wanted Tyler's first trip to Mexico to be in the most beautiful part of the country. We both enjoyed the opportunity to practice our spanish, eat amazing food, relax and partake in adventures.
So how do I tell you about the best trip of our lives? How do I break it down into words and do it justice? I will do my best :)
First, I will blog about relaxation since that was the purpose of the trip. Next, I will blog about food because you know how much I love food. Third, I will blog about adventure. Sound good?!
OK, here is the relaxation part! Our friend Juliana helped us choose the perfect all-inclusive resort (thank you Juliana!). We had a lot of questions being that it was our first time to an all-inclusive. We wanted a place that was within walking distance of "real" Mexico (i.e. not a resort that was super secluded to the point where you only see Americans), a beautiful beach and good options for food.
We chose Excellence Riviera Cancun. It was hard not to relax here. Except when I was so excited to see the sun rise from our room that I was jumping up and down in our room at 5:45am :) It was so worth the early wake-up. And, yes, I did go back to sleep eventually.
These are views from our balcony:
A stroll on the beach:
pina colada at the beach near the Tulum ruins
The room at Excellence was large and ornate. The bed was super comfortable. Room service was included. How can you not relax?!
One of TWO jacuzzis we had - one in the room and one on the patio!
First night of room service.
Breakfast room service on our last day:
The pools were immaculate and so relaxing.
There were no lines for food, the staff were very friendly, and things like this made the experience so easy to enjoy.
"This circuit lets you work directly in aqua exercises, massages with jets, and cascades, which contrast with the iced pool and make the perfect preamble to the Hammam, our arab style steam baths. This area also includes dry saunas, ice room and the biothermic and sensations showers."
I know that this description does not do it justice. It was an incredibly relaxing experience and very refreshing. We were all ready to pay for our second trip to the spa for aqua wellness when we realized it was free, an even better bonus!
Our therapist joked that this was our ice bucket challenge. After rounds in the showers, pools, ice bath and saunas, we stepped into this shower and "surprise!", the bucket was filled with ice and cold water :) It actually felt really good!
Here is a view of the central part of the spa. This is the pool used in part of the aqua therapy session. The right portion is the ice bath. The left portion where you see the silver rounded things are jets that stream water for the circulation components.
Overall, day 2 and 4 of our honeymoon were the most relaxing -- they were spent in the spa and on the beach mostly! Hope you've enjoyed this installment of our honeymoon recap. More to come :)
