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As you might remember, it began with an airplane — more specifically, the kind that flies right over your head as you stand on a tiny beach. That phenomenon, if you will, was what brought us to Saint Martin, an island in the northeastern Caribbean Sea comprised of territory belonging to the Netherlands and France.
While experiencing the “Maho Blast,” if you will, provided the initial motivation to fly down to the Caribbean, we also knew Saint Martin had much more to offer than that. Some things we planned in advance; some things we left to chance, just going with the flow and seeing what the travel gods had in store for us. The end result was a trip for the books.
As humans, we are easily influenced by things we see on the internet — for better, and for worse. Sometimes we’re aware that someone is trying to sell us something; other times it’s much more subliminal. Whether or not it was their intention, the makers of a particular music video that I found a couple years back definitely sold me on traveling to a certain part of Panama.
Going out in Cancún’s Zona Hotelera, where all of its most well-known clubs and bars are conveniently located one after the other on a strip of Boulevard Kukulcan, is the typical playbook here, but there are some things you’ll want to know before choosing where to party your pants off for the night — especially if you’re not looking to blow upwards of $150 or so in a single evening.
On the third day of a five-day trip to Cancún, my girlfriend and I put our swimsuits on, climbed into the shuttle waiting outside our hotel, and headed off to the Punta Norte Marina to get our underwater adventure underway. It would be the first time snorkeling for both of us, which is why it was definitely a good thing that we were in the capable hands of the staff at Total Snorkel Cancún.
Renting a car when you travel is obviously the most convenient way of getting around. When traveling internationally, though, the process of renting a car can become a little trickier. One place where this is especially true is in Mexico. If you don’t know what you’re getting into south of the border when renting a car, you could find yourself behind bars after getting into a minor accident.
While our primary purpose in visiting the Yucatan was to escape Michigan’s cold and live it up for a few days in Cancún, we used one morning/afternoon to take a day trip down to Tulum, which sits just under 80 miles to the south. Not feeling the need to rent a car and risk running into hidden fees, gas station scam artists, or corrupt cops, we opted to take a bus tour to see the ruins — and it was one of the best experiences of our trip.
Winter may not have officially begun just yet, but I’d guess that hasn’t stopped you from thinking about heading to warmer pastures. Unless you’re a complete winter fanatic — and props to you if so — those of us who live in places that experience all four seasons throughout the year tend to wish the cold weather wouldn’t stick around so long.
Statehood might not exactly be in the cards just yet, but there's no need to put your vacation to Puerto Rico on hold too.
It would be very easy to write something here about the island of Anguilla not necessarily being anyone’s first choice when it comes to planning a Caribbean vacation. It would be even easier to say that you might instead consider destinations such as the Bahamas, St. Thomas, or the Dominican. And it would be tempting to remark that you could hardly be blamed for choosing one of those other destinations. So let’s not do any of that.