Tag: secrets akumal

The Tajin Dream Tour 2025 Day Fifteen 16th July

by mkingdon, posted in The Tajin Dream Tour July 2025

The day of the journey home is the most polar opposite thing to the outgoing travel day possible. It’s grim.


We packed, which involved having to get a security guy in to sort our safe. We’d accidentally left it open yesterday so the staff had locked it and we needed someone to come and open it for us.

With that out of the way we spent an hour in our pool. It was lovely having the swim up pool but in truth we didn’t get as much use of it as we should have.


It made such a difference not having to be out of the room until 12. We could also just leave our suitcases in the room for someone to take to the taxi pick up point. We said our thanks and goodbyes to the Concierge for our building and headed off for some lunch.


We were gutted to see the buffet place didn’t open till 12.30. After a few minutes outside in our travel clothes we had to find a spot inside as it was just too hot.


We had buffet bits for lunch.


We then headed to the lobby for our taxi.

The taxi arrived on time and it was a 90 minute drive with a very chatty driver.

We were mildly disappointed to discover there was no Premium lounge in terminal 2 for TUI. I have never written a more first world problems sentence in my life.


We weren’t hungry but to get a seat and drink we went into TGI’s for chips and guacamole.


To the gate area and we got a Starbucks for Louise. She has a well developed addiction and had been missing them all holiday.


We browsed some shops until boarding late as ever.

An uneventful flight back into drab familiarity of Manchester.

So there we have it. Thanks for bearing with this trip as I have literally phoned it in. My notes were made on my phone and I’ve just copied those here with a bit of tidying and added photos from my phone. So it hasn’t had the diligence and effort of a Florida trip and I’m sure it has showed.

If you were in any doubt, we adored this resort and would highly recommend it to anyone wanting that adult only five star experience. The service is exceptional and crucially for us the food was not what can sometimes be all you can eat all inclusive “slop”. We will definitely return and we are planning to do so next year.

We’ve struggled for years to find somewhere outside of the US that we could trust to give us what we were looking for and I’m really glad we gave it and another country a chance.

Thanks again for you hardcore persisters. It’s always been appreciated.

Till the next time…..

The Tajin Dream Tour 2025 Day Fourteen 15th July

by mkingdon, posted in The Tajin Dream Tour July 2025

Welcome to some last full day sadness.

We were up and out at 9 heading for our Coffee and pastry when we saw one of our friends.

After eating we wandered to the beach and were glad to see our favourite beds were free.


I have to admit to feeling quite sad about the impending end of this holiday.

Got some sun for a change and then once again we shared a club sandwich.


I spent a while reading and wondering how I could avoid a return to work. With that in mind I tried to buy some Euromillions tickets but couldn’t as I was overseas so I messaged Emily back home and had her do it. I’ll let you guess if we won or not.


We went in the pool for a while. I had a
White Russian who was quite OK with it and Louise had a margarita.


More sun back at the beach. We left at at 5.15 taking lots of pictures laced with melancholy.

We were in building 8 which we felt was ideally placed for pretty much everything.


After one last get ready and relax we were out at 7.30. We went to reception to checkout followed by a drink in the bar.


Then we walked over to the Theatre for another watch of the Beatles show.


Choosing Asia for our last meal was an easy decision. It was our clear favourite.


The waiter, having discovered it was our last night brought out a special dessert with a nice message followed by all the staff which was a lovely touch.

Much lovelier than my photos.


We headed back to the bar for one last Nightcap and we were off to bed around 11.

Till the next time……

The Tajin Dream Tour 2025 Day Thirteen 14th July

by mkingdon, posted in The Tajin Dream Tour July 2025


We slept till 7.30 and left the room around 9. We strolled to the Coffee shop for our semi regular latte and a pastry.


We got to the beach around 10 for lots more of nothing.


We didn’t bother with lunch, saving ourselves for a good dinner later.

Recognising I live in a glass house in terms of hair we did enjoy the fact that Dog the Bounty Hunter was on the next set of beds.


We spiced things up with a visit to the pool where we had a couple of drinks before yet more beach until 5.30.

At the pool I managed to snap one of the pool/fun staff who we thought was a dead ringer for Zac Efron.

With our remaining days being few I started to just capture random stuff so we would remember how lovely this place was.

Another enjoyable couple of hours in the room enjoying the dressing gown, after sun, drink and complimentary nuts (not a euphemism). Once we were showered and ready we made our way to the Asian restaurant.

We spent the 20 min wait for a table in the sports bar.


Two starters each tonight. I did say we were saving ourselves.

Sweet and sour and Pad Thai. I couldn’t finish mine (the Pad Thai) as the double starter filled me up.


We wandered to the theatre at 9.30 for tonight’s show.

Once again the quality was good.


A nightcap at the main bar before heading back to our room around 10.30. We watched a bit of a film, The Fugitive, before welcome sleep.

Till the next time…..

The Tajin Dream Tour 2025 Day Twelve 13th July

by mkingdon, posted in The Tajin Dream Tour July 2025


No breakfast required this morning, just a lie in and we didn’t get to the beach until 10.


Yep we just lazed again. I was overly fascinated with these chaps for longer than a grown up should be.


Once the hour was civilized enough we had a Mojito and Margarita alongside our customary club sandwich.


We went into the pool for a bit as variety is everything.


More lazing.


We saw a wedding around 5pm so we watched that from afar. It looked lovely but I didn’t envy those wearing suits or huge wedding dress.


Room at 6. Readied and out for 8.

This will sound odd but this was one of my favourite bits of the day every day.

We headed to the Theatre for tonight’s Latin dance show.


I do think they are missing a large revenue stream by not selling those male dancer’s outfits in the gift shop.

To keep the cultural theme going we headed to the Mexican restaurant for tea. It was very quiet.

Tortilla soup and lamb thing for me.

Those are Mango margs. A new one for us. I seem to have failed to note a lot of what was served this evening.

We headed to the lobby bar for one bumping into an old friend on the way.

After such a demanding day we of course needed an early night.

Till the next time……

The Tajin Dream Tour 2025 Day Eleven 12th July

by mkingdon, posted in The Tajin Dream Tour July 2025


I was inexplicably and annoyingly awake early again. We felt the need for a proper breakfast and after wandering to the relevant building we had a 10 minute wait for a table. I went for a random bowl of fruits and museli type things and some toast.


Our usual beds at the beach had gone. I decided against violence and let them stay on them and we took the next set of beds instead.


From there we could stare at them in an intimidating manner. After some resting we both walked up the beach but we couldn’t get too far as the seaweed was pretty bad in places. Once again we were thankful for our resorts efforts.

Once back at our beds I finished my third book of the trip and then we watched the volleyball, both to admire the ever increasing levels of competitiveness and to make sure any rogue balls did not hit us which has to be an ambition in most situations.

We went in the pool again for a bit and we had a Baby Guinness each.


We stayed on the beach till 6. We weren’t out till 8 and there was no wait for a table at the
Asian restaurant.

We went crazy tonight and ordered two starters as the portions looked smallish. I had a Beer. The food here was excellent and it turned into our favourite of the trip.


After eating we headed to the theatre for a The Voice competition. This had the a big chance of being awful but it was very good fun.


After the show we walked to the lobby bar where some live music was happening. We took a seat across from a young couple who turned out to be two lovely Germans and we chatted with them for a good while, humbled by their mastery of the English language. They were recently engaged and proved to be lovely company over a few drinks.


We were in bed at Midnight.

Till the next time……

The Tajin Dream Tour 2025 Day Ten 11th July

by mkingdon, posted in The Tajin Dream Tour July 2025


A light breakfast of coffee and a pastry around 9am after a decent sleep. Guess what? We went to the beach again. On the way we nipped to the onsite shop as we had run out of toothpaste. I say we, but such matters are the sole responsibility of Louise and she had woefully under stocked for the trip in this area.

You can only imagine how we laughed when the chap at the till asked us for $18. Yep we paid £15 for a toothpaste. For that money I was expecting new teeth to start growing.


Just to mix things up today we shared a club sandwich for lunch after some lazing.


More beach ensued. Feeling guilty that we had not made use of all the food options on offer yet I went and got some meat from the poolside barbecue and a pizza from the pizza oven. The pizza was lovely but the meat was a bit fatty for me.

Whilst waiting for the pizza to be ready this chap was sunbathing and eating pizza.


After lots more beaching we wandered back to the room around 6 followed by our usual routine to get ready. Have I mentioned how much we loved the turndown service. We would get stupidly excited to get back to the room once it had been done.


Out at 7.30. Bordeaux tonight and we had a twenty minute wait so we got a drink in lobby.

We actually waited 40 minutes so there were two drinks.


We had our bouches amused before Cauliflower and onion soup.

Lamb for me and chicken wellington for Louise.


Once done we headed to the theatre for an acrobat show. There was a lot of impressive dangling from silks.


With that done we headed back to the bar for one more. It was incredibly hot and humid tonight so we were glad to get back to the room and bed at 10.45 for the air con.

Till the next time…..

The Tajin Dream Tour 2025 Day Nine 10th July

by mkingdon, posted in The Tajin Dream Tour July 2025


I was inexplicably awake at 5.30!! With seemingly no prospect of more sleep I lazed and scrolled until a more civilised hour.


One we were ready we headed to the Coffee shop for brekkie around 9. We encountered
two iguanas on the way. Latte and cinnamon roll and blueberry muffin. That was our breakfast order not the Iguana’s names.


You will be shocked to hear we went to the beach. The morning passed without incident until we shared a club sandwich for lunch.


More beach until we moved to the pool in the late afternoon. We had a couple of drinks in the pool before, you guessed it, returning to the Beach.


We were back in the room around 5.30 for our usual CNN and after sun session. Usual showers and getting ready etc.


We were out at 7.15 and we headed to the main pool for tonight’s Asado show.

It was a bit slow to start and it seemed to keep stopping but it picked up towards the end.


Once it was done we did the short stroll to the beach as we clearly hadn’t spent enough time there. The moon and the decor looked lovely.


It was time for food so we wandered to Portofino. We passed the half hour wait at the lobby bar.


Artichoke soup and Caprese.


Followed by Pappadelle and pizza.

Again it was all excellent.

Bed at 10.30 for a bit of TV before sleep.

Till the next time…..

The Tajin Dream Tour 2025 Day Eight 9th July

by mkingdon, posted in The Tajin Dream Tour July 2025, Uncategorized


We woke hungry so breakfast was required but not before saying hello to the locals.


We tried some beds at the main pool just to add some variety and we got the last two beds. However we did not stay long. There was no breeze and we just accepted that we preferred the beach and moved to our usual beach spot.


We rested all morning and had no need for lunch. We did have a few drinks though. There was some reading and I paddled in the sea. These extremes sport holidays are exciting aren’t they?


Around 3pm we could see storm clouds heading our way. I checked my weather radar app and it said we had about fifteen minutes before it got to us. It was five.

We quickly packed up and headed for the room. We were mildly concerned that a group of swimmers out on a turtle spotting trip were left out in the water.


We got rained on a bit on the walk back until we reached cover and our room.


We sat on our covered patio watching the rain and listening to our yank neighbour talk to their Brit neighbours. We chuckled as our US friend told their Brit friends all about the Beatles, the UK and at one point he even tried a Scouse accent. Emily’s scouse boyfriend Mikey felt a disturbance in the force at that exact moment.


Once the rain passed we went for a swim in our pool and then started to get ready. We were out by 7 and headed for Akumart which is a weekly craft fair at the resort.


The food was BBQ style and very varied.

There were stalls of local fares and food.

After eating we browsed the stalls and inexplicably spent a fortune on two fridge magnets and a carved wooden stingray. The drinks must have been strong.

We walked back to the lobby bar and had some drinks whilst listening to an excellent singer.


Apologies for the bar staff being in the way for some of this video but it is worth watching the whole thing. She was excellent.

Bed at 11.

Till the next time……

The Tajin Dream Tour 2025 Day Seven 8th July

by mkingdon, posted in The Tajin Dream Tour July 2025

I had a week off last week as it was my birthday and the day got away from me. What do you mean you didn’t notice?

Than I returned to write today up and my notes are quite sparse and I didn’t take any photos during the day. Can you tell I had little to no intention of writing about this trip.

Anyway, I’ve started it now so we plough on.


We ventured to the proper buffet breakfast but I only had toast. After a later start and a sit down brekkie we got to the beach around 10.30. Then we did absolutely nothing of note but don’t take that as a negative.


There were two more sessions of competitive volleyball and at some point Louise had a stroll up the beach. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed doing literally nothing all day on this trip.


We were back at the room at 5.30. The usual ritual of watching the news, having showers and a relax in my resort robe ensued.


Out at 7.30 and we started with a drink at the lobby bar.


There was a show at the theatre at 8 so we headed there deciding to eat later. I understand that a five piece Mexican Beatles Tribute might sound weird but we loved it.


We chose the Seaside restaurant for dinner. It was pretty empty being later now and we sat at a table at the edge of the restaurant and spotted raccoons wandering about again. They are very cute.

Obviously feeding them would be stupid but as we saw the staff throwing them some bread we did too and then of course it wouldn’t leave us alone.

We didn’t mind.


The food was great too.

I opted for steak and it was massive.

I couldn’t finish it and threw a couple of pieces to our new friend. Eventually he jumped up and the wall at the side of me and stared at me. Then, maintaining eye contact, his very human hand reached across the table and slowly dragged the steak from my plate and ran off into the bushes.

I was delighted to be honest. I couldn’t eat it and I was very happy it would go to a good cause. It made our night.

Full and tired we walked back to the room, transformed into a mood lit delight by our turndown service and went to be at 10.30.

Till the next time……

The Tajin Dream Tour 2025 Day Six 7th July

by mkingdon, posted in The Tajin Dream Tour July 2025


A later start today with us not getting to the beach till 10.30ish after the usual coffee and Danish for breakfast.

There was lots of reading and watching seaweed removal. To give them their credit our resort did all they could to move the seaweed out of the way. It’s a seasonal issue and beyond their control but they had a crew of men and trucks shifting it.

No lunch today as we just didn’t feel hungry enough after a late breakfast and we wanted to save ourselves for dinner. Our preference for the beach was justified again today with a lovely breeze making the silly temperature bearable.


Mid afternoon and I walked up the beach. The seaweed situation further up was pretty grim to be honest which increased my appreciation for our resort’s efforts.


After some more resting we went back to the room at 5.30. Showers. We both were nursing a fine collection of bites by now. Itchy was the main symptom. Somehow we would survive these horrors.


Out at 7.30 and we went to the main pool. Tonight was the Decades show and that was the glorious Starwberry Margarita with Tajin.

The buffet on offer was ok but we definitely preferred the restaurant food on offer.


I included that photo to show even the best photographers like me take a bad one.

The show was as you may have guessed a musical journey through the decades. We stayed till 9 and then walked to the lobby bar. We managed a couple more drinks before tiredness took over. We decided against going to the theatre show that was starting soon and instead went to bed at 10.30.

Till the next time……

The Tajin Dream Tour 2025 Day Five 6th July

by mkingdon, posted in The Tajin Dream Tour July 2025


I struck out solo leaving Louise in bed and got myself a coffee and a muffin and then secured beds by main pool. It was busy and the pickings were slim.


Louise didn’t know where I was so went to our usual spot on the beach and messaged me. I joined her there as there was zero breeze by the pool and we stayed on the beach every day from here on in.


Volleyball happened with the male competitiveness growing. We were in mild danger of stray balls a few times which is never nice.


Lunch time came around and we shared a club sandwich and chips. It was delicious.


I read for most of the afternoon and volleyball and ice cream happened again. We stayed on the beach till 6.


This little chap hung around with us all day.

After showers etc we were out around 8. There was a half hour wait for a table at The Patio which was the Mexican restaurant. We waited with a drink in the sports bar. In there were the most scouse family on the planet. The bar staff did a better job than us of understanding them.


I had Tortilla soup and the beef.


Pork belly and lamb for Louise.


We went a bit mad and ordered 2 tequila shots from the premium tequila trolley. Louise assured me it was fanstastic. Having never had tequila before I couldn’t comment.


Once we’d eaten we wandered to the theatre but there was no show tonight. Back to the lobby bar instead for drinks. Bed at 11.30.

Till the next time……

The Tajin Dream Tour 2025 Day Four 5th July

by mkingdon, posted in The Tajin Dream Tour July 2025

A more civilised awakening time today thankfully. I left Louise in the room and made the effort to secure us some beds around a pool as we fancied a change from the beach today. I took the opportunity to do a full resort stroll too.


It took me a long while to choose two beds that might give Louise the sun and me the shade and they turned out to be more in Louise’s favour.

This was the quiet pool.

We lazed and spent a good amount of time in the water as the sun was pretty brutal.

We had a raccoon sighting which would be a common occurrence.


We had a drink or two and then Lunch by the pool. Nachos and burrito.



The next beds to us which had been empty yet reserved all day had a lovely couple from California arrive. We chatted for a bit. They asked what “Europe” thought of what was happening in the US so we gave them our view and explained why we were in Mexico and not Orlando. They explained that despite being US citizens from birth they now felt the need to carry their passports everywhere as they were not white. That bit hit home.

At some point the Spa folks came round touting for business. We declined but Louise still got a head massage.

Then ice cream man came around with his cart.

We moved to one of the other pools around 4.30 for the last hour for reasons I can’t remember.


Back to the room at 5.45. Showers etc.


We made our way down to the main pool to check out the Mexican show and buffet that was on.


We decided against it and walked to the Mexican restaurant. Alas it was closed. We found out they close it when the Mexican show is on as if you want Mexican food you can get it there.


Several steps later and we were at the Asian restaurant.

With a twenty minute wait for a table we walked several more steps to the Sports bar to wait. Espresso martini for me and a mescal and wine for Louise.


The food was excellent. Spring roll chicken satay to start.


Sweet and sour and mixed teppanyaki for mains.

We wandered back to the lobby bar and watched a harpist. After he had finished we had a wander around the resort and sat by the main pool for a bit getting feasted on by biting things.


Back to the lobby bar again. I went back to our room to deal with a pressing issue. Luckily our room was steps from the bar!!


I briefly joined Louise again but it was bed time and sleep was welcome.

Till the next time…..

The Tajin Dream Tour 2025 Day Three 4th July

by mkingdon, posted in The Tajin Dream Tour July 2025

Awake at 4.30. Well that’s much better isn’t it.

Rather than the buffet breakfast we headed to the Coffee shop around 7. Coffee and a Danish each.

Mexico appears to have bigger lizards than Florida.

We loved seeing these guys almost every day too.

This will get repetitive really quickly as we headed to the beach again but for variety we chose some beds a little closer to the shore. That’s when we realised that all this seaweed could produce the odd waft of an unpleasant smell.

With no breakfast to speak of we were hungry nice and early so we walked up to the Sea Side Grill restaurant by the pool at 11.45.

I had the Toast Trio, a trip to the salad bar and Fish Tacos. I would never normally order that but when it’s “free” I get a little more daring.

Louise had a goat’s cheese stuffed chicken thing.

Beer for me and a Margarita for Louise.

Back to the beach again. We considered doing a pool for the afternoon but there were no beds with shade available which is a non-negotiable for me.

Reading and resting followed.

Towards the end of the day I went for a stroll up the beach then we went back to the room around 5.25.

Once there we went into the swim up pool for the first time. Our turn down service person came and made our room all delightful and ready for the evening and honestly this ritual became a real highlight of the trip.

We didn’t make it out for dinner till 8.30. Bordeaux was our choice tonight. French of course.

French onion and cauliflower soup for starters.

But only after our bousches had been amused.

Small but lovely. 

Steak for us both.

That was fruit tart thing and these, well you know what they are…

We stopped at the lobby bar for one drink and watched the band.

Bed at 10.30 still feeling jet laggy.

Till the next time……

The Tajin Dream Tour 2025 Day Two 3rd July

by mkingdon, posted in The Tajin Dream Tour July 2025, Uncategorized


Awake at 3.30, which was nice. Dozed and doomscrolled till 6ish. Showers and got ready.


Once 7am hit we were first in line for the market cafe for buffet. It had a seriously vast array of choices.


Just the one plate as my body is a temple.

We walked down to the beach passed some shy fish…well they weren’t shy just coy.

The beach was pretty much empty at this early hour so we easily got beds but to be honest that would be the case all holiday regardless of time, on the beach at least.


We just relaxed and half slept for a while, with some reading thrown in.


At 11am and 4pm every day the staff organised a volleyball game that I did not take part in once. We watched it though and over the days it would get ever more competitive.


That cloud makes it look like I have a white tuft of hair. If only.

At some point we went for swim and got a drink from the swim up bar. A margarita for Louise and I had an Iceberg which involved beer and some form of alcohol slush.


Back to the beach. More doing nothing.


We had noticed immediately that there was a seaweed issue. Mainly as the hotel had a team of workers, a JCB and two trucks carting it away. It’s a seasonal thing and couldn’t be helped but at least our resort was shifting it. Others up the beach not so much.


We had a small pizza from the pizza oven between us around 13.30. It was lovely.


More volleyball watching at 4.


We were both tired today with the travel and jet lag so we didn’t do a lot. That didn’t change over the holiday so maybe those were just excuses today.


We went back to the room for showers around 5pm and a lie down which was different to lying down in the beach of course.


Out at 7. I stopped at reception to change some larger dollar bills into smaller ones for tipping.


We ate at the Italian, Portifino.


Espresso Martini for me and wine for Louise.


We started with the first two items on the menu which were a Caprese and a meat thing.


Parm chicken for me and lasagne for Louise.

We were full but shared a tiramisu.


We paid the bill….oh no, there was no need but we left a tip. We made it back to the lobby bar for one drink before having to give up at 10. Knackered.

Till the next time…….

Hasta Luego

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon, Uncategorized

Well, as punishment for daring to go on holiday, last week at work was one of the worst I’ve experienced in all the decades I’ve been sucking this shit up to pay the bills. Just two more similar days to go before I can pretend to not think about it for two weeks.

I can feel the stress coursing through my body and my neck and shoulders feel like I’ve done something that is very bad for your neck and shoulders.

All that meant that yesterday was also stupidly busy as I had to do some work that has to be finished before I go and I’m in meetings for every hour God sends from the start of Monday to the end of Tuesday and then start to try and prep the stuff I prep for the holiday. That meant printing off the stuff we might need (I’ve been over cautious as this isn’t our familiar journey) and can I say, how is it that in 2025 AI can do your job for you but we still can’t build printers that print? I also filled the rucksack, which won’t be Ryan for this trip. Louise says he’s too scruffy to go a resort like ours and I gave in as his role is solely for US based trips. Instead I’m taking son of Ryan, the brand new exact replica Louse bought me a few years ago.

Filling the rucksack is faffy, ranging from the essential passports and docs to the relevant phone and watch chargers, camera, kindle, painkillers, money and credit cards etc.

What I also learned this week was trying to order some US dollars in specific denominations appears to be impossible. I tried a load of websites and nobody gives you the option to request smaller bills (these dollars are only for tipping folks) so in the end I had to go old school and rock up the local post office and ask them to give me the smallest they had. They were still mostly too big.

With Louise out working I was also in charge of doing multiple washer loads, mainly of the dog’s bedding, and our bedding despite the fact that our house sitter is Emily, who lives here. I waited in for a delivery for Louise, which I “missed” as when it arrived, the chap rang the bell and then seemingly sprinted to his van and drove away by the time I walked the thirty steps from the couch to the front door.

Then I had to do some mowing up on the field as the grass was getting ridiculous despite me attacking it with a strimmer for the past week and I had to at least cut some walking paths in it for when Emily walks them whilst we are away.

I took delivery of an obscene amount of pet food for the dogs and cats and then nipped to the supermarket to get enough food to feed us until Tuesday and then I made tea.

It was a busy Saturday and today is looking similar. I’ve done some more work this morning, wrote this clap trap and then I have to go to a shop to collect an order Louise clicked last night and then go and see my Mum.

Anyway, as it always does, time will pass, I’ll get through work and we’ll be off soon enough. I’ll probably share some stuff on the Mkingdon Facebook page whilst away so do what you need to do if you want those. A day by day trip report is unlikely as it would be (more) boring than a US trip and I almost certainly won’t have time to write it, but I will of course share thoughts, highlights and food in some way.

See you in a few weeks.

Till the next time……

Oh Chino

by mkingdon, posted in mkingdon

Usually, about now, in the standard cycle of our endless Disney trips, I would be elbow deep in all kinds of planning activities. Assuming a summer trip, once we start to see daffodils and daylight beyond tea time it normally feels like a proper sea change in daily life, everything looks literally and figuratively brighter and I undergo self imposed and unnecessary stress about where we might eat in a few months.

Do I miss it, with our plans not involving the US this year? A bit, yes. One of the big benefits of a holiday that takes more than the action of booking it is the continuing dopamine hit of doing the bits of planning that are the milestones in the countdown.

With us heading for Mexico and an all inclusive experience I have nothing to do other than ensure I have the appropriate attire for our activities that might even fit me. On Friday, not being allowed to work, I found myself in the unusual setting of a retail location and did cast my eye over some suitable long trousers for the posher restaurants at the resort which insist on such. After about twenty minutes of pushing things around racks I left with a pack of socks and nothing related to the holiday.

There’s plenty of time yet and I as ever I hold onto the hope that I will lose fourteen stone “in a daaaaay” before July and any wardrobe additions now would be wasted. Socks however, will fit me whatever shape my body is in.

Conversely, not having to keep up to date on all the happenings at our destination to understand what attractions might be closed and what format and price this week’s FastPass system may take is liberating. I’m not saying we’ll make a habit of it but this relaxed approach to going away to relax is definitely a change and in some ways welcome, especially with work being stupidly mad at the moment.

I am even thankful that our chosen resort does not operate a reservation system for their restaurants. I am an animal of extremes! The absolute extent of my pre-holiday activity has been watching the resort post on Instagram.

I really don’t want to wait four years before returning to the US so let’s hope something happens over there to return things to something approaching normality. It may just be my soft lefty liberal echo chamber on social media but I am seeing lots of articles detailing large downturns in tourism to the US. It’s a real shame that ordinary folks in the relevant industries will be affected, unless of course they voted for him, then not so much. Maybe the downturn in numbers will see some keener prices for flights and more offers from Disney and the like, but I suspect any downturn from the UK market won’t be significant enough to make that much of a difference.

So as we enter the season of bank holidays, allegedly higher temperatures (although nobody seems to have told the weather up North), power washing your flagging and unavoidably visiting DIY shops and garden centres I find myself with nothing holiday related to do. It’s different, but I’m not too sure whether that is good or bad different. I am absolutely looking forward to our change of pace and plans, mostly because I am just sick to death of being cold!

I’ll just have to spend the next few months browsing lightweight chinos online I suppose and call that holiday planning.

Till the next time…..

The Long Trousers

by mkingdon, posted in Walt Disney World

A week on from making the decision to change our holiday destination and it still feels like we made the right call. We’ve watched a lot of content about our new destination and we’re both excited about the trip now.

Our decision seemed to get endorsed a little during the week with the UK updating the travel advice for the US, albeit, just to be extra careful with your paperwork but I suspect those things aren’t done lightly.

I absolutely understand the sentiment that I see in many WDW Facebook groups that nothing has really changed, and lots of folks will, of course, still go ahead as planned, and I’m sure they will be fine. I think if we’d been at the peak of our (my) WDW obsession we would have made the same call.

I’m really hopeful that is the case, mainly because Emily is going in August and has no plans to change that. As worried as I may be about that, as Louise pointed out, she’s 30 in July and has been a gabillion times so I’m probably more concerned than I should be.

They are traveling with another couple who are first-timers and they have already had the lecture about how to behave at immigration. It always does depend on the agent you get as to how much interaction you could have but these days, with tales of them taking your phone to look for anti-Trump content, this is not the year to mess about it seems. If that was the case I would not make it past baggage reclaim.

Anyway, this year, for us, it didn’t feel right and let’s face it, we’re overdue a change in holiday destination so we’ve made the change and feel comfy with that decision.

Whilst it is very likely that those going to WDW will benefit from the Disney bubble effect and will not notice very much difference from any other year, it’s clear something is going on in the US that does not look great. Fingers crossed it results in nothing too nasty. We do very much want to return to our usual holiday destination and would rather not have to wait until the current administration is no more.

Since changing our booking, we’ve watched a couple of resort tours of Secrets Akumal on YouTube, and we’re delighted with our choice. It’s a bit posh, and one slightly annoying thing (the firstest of first-world problems) is that for many of the restaurants there, a slightly more formal dress code than I would normally like on holiday exists. This means that I shall have to wear long trousers on some evenings. Indeed, it means I shall have to acquire some long trousers suitable for warmer nights. There has never been the need to cover my knees of an evening in Florida and Mexico shall be denied the thrill of my legs after dark.

One thing that we are especially pleased with is the range and variety of cuisines from the restaurants at the resort. There are nine different eateries, including Italian, Mexican, French, Asian and your more general stuff. An additional plus is that there is no need to book a table, which seems odd for someone like me to say when I am usually online at 7am 90 days before a dining experience making sure we bag a table. But this is a different kind of trip and having to try and secure slots to eat that are not a buffet on a lie-down and do-nothing trip is one of the things that had put us off all all-inclusive trips previously.

From all the stuff we’ve watched the place never looks packed, there are sunbeds available with nobody up at 6am throwing towels down and you can walk up to any restaurant and be accommodated. Let’s hope it turns out that way.

The sunbed reservation thing is actively prevented it seems, with the staff insisting that even if you have beds and are going elsewhere for more than an hour or so, you take your stuff with you to allow others to use the beds.

Whilst everyone will of course make their own call on whether to travel or not, already it seems there has been a significant downturn in tourism to the US. Canada seems to be the main reason for this up until now. It’ll be interesting to see what all this costs the US in the end and you again have to wonder why the President would undertake anything to damage their own economy intentionally.

Whilst he will be OK of course due to the numerous ways in which his term will enrich him, it’s the folks who work in tourism who will be hit, hopefully resulting in fewer votes for his party in future, should there be any future elections!

Over dramatic? Probably. All I will say is that we’ve started re-watching the Handmaid’s Tale in preparation for the final season which should be out soon. Whilst we’ve always loved it, on this second time of watching there are elements more akin to documentary than drama.

And on that bombshell, I shall leave you to your Sundays.

Till the next time……

Bullet Bitten

by mkingdon, posted in Walt Disney World

Nobody will be more relieved than both of my readers to learn that a decision has been made for our July trip.

Yesterday we spent a good deal of time chatting about what we should do and it changed a lot during the day. Our first bit of thinking saw us considering sticking with Florida but having a completely non Disney adjacent trip and heading off down the coast, hopefully taking in Delray again and even getting as far as Key West.

I spent a while looking at options for that but soon discovered that with a flight in and out of Orlando, getting down to Key West and back up again in 14 days would mean a silly number of hotel hops and a lot of driving and in the end we discounted that as too much like hard work.

I even looked at internal flights to get us back up to Orlando from Key West on our last day but logisitically it was getting a bit silly and risky if that flight got delayed or cancelled too late in the day for us to drive up.

We then spent the afternoon looking at non US options, including places like the Dominican Republic and Mexico. We saw a few really nice top end hotels that we could do for the same budget as we had planned for Orlando and eventually stumbled across what has turned out to be our choice.

I have spent a couple of hours this morning contacting Virgin to cancel the flight and sucking up the associated fees and then going through everything else we had booked and cancelling or amending that. That included –

Airport Parking

Airport Lounge

Car Hire

Hotel

That took a while.

So America won’t be getting our hard earned and it feels like a subtle middle finger to the idiot in the Whitehouse to instead be giving them to Mexico.

We are going to Secrets Akumal, in Riviera Maya Mexico which of course 24 hours ago I had never heard of. I’ll share this video about it as this channel was the one we watched to get a good enough feel for the place to decide we should book.

I’ve been very brave and booked the flights seperately as all the packges were extortionate and involved indirect flights. So I managed to find direct flights with TUI from Manchester just by moving our dates back by one day from the 1st to the 2nd of July. We’ve been able to upgrade to Premium for a total price that is less than the refund we’ll be getting from Virgin. It also means I don’t need to rebook any airport lounge access as we’ll get that being TUI premium.

I’ve yet to book the accomodation as I want to scour the internet for the best possible deal, but a look at the obvious places shows I can book it at a price that makes it a fair bit cheaper than any of the packages offering flight and accomodation.

I’ve even booked a private transfer from Cancun airport to the resort and back again. It’s been a busy morning.

I do feel a bit sad cancelling Florida if I am honest. It wasn’t helped that literally just after we’d agreed to make this change yesterday I flicked the TV on and found Jayne McDonald doing a programme on Channel 5 about Key West and all the places in Southern Florida we had considered earlier that day. Like some weird fever dream she ended the programme by inexplicably singing Kids in America by Kim Wilde which sort of snapped me out of it, but I couldn’t escape the gutteral yearnings to stick with our original booking.

But I suppose a change is a good as a rest and we are nothing if not overdue a change in destination. I think we have sort of decided that our next Florida trip will be one that takes in the South of the state, but not with an Orlando flight making it hard to manage.

So, rightly or wrongly we’ve bitten the bullet and I’m happy with the decision, mostly, as it does feel strange and sad not to be heading to our usual haunts.

If by any chance anyone has stayed at this place do let me know your thoughts unless it was rubbish and then probably don’t as I can’t take the stress of having to unpick another holiday. At least we now get to see just how realistic the Mexico pavilion in Epcot really is. It’ll be 100% accurate I would imagine, just as the UK one is!

Till the next time……