More insight on our family vacation, with more travel tips and more advice!

All about our trip to the Mayan Riviera continues: in case you were wondering what a family vacation to an all-inclusive resort looks like

This is part two of a two-part vacation series. Read part one here.

I hope I answer a lot of your questions here. If not, leave me a comment about what you really want to know.

Be sure to read through to the end for my three big takeaways from this trip!

All about our family vacation to the Mayan Riviera. #familytravel #traveltips #beachvacation

Find out how everything played out on our family vacation to the Mayan Riviera, with more hot travel tips and other advice!

Of course a long travel day didn’t stop the girls from being up bright and early (Mexico being an hour earlier) on our first full day in the Mayan Riviera. We hit up the buffet for 8 a.m. When we left, there was a long line to get in which told us it would be wise to get to breakfast before the rush. We weren’t setting any alarms but didn’t waste time getting over there to grab a seat in the mornings.

Hot tip
Watch what other people are doing for the first couple of days and try to eat outside of those rush times to avoid waiting for a table, service, food, etc. We were often one of the first tables seated and there was always a big crowd by the time we’d leave. Our resort didn’t require reservations at any of the restaurants so we had a bit of freedom there, but I still think it’s better to bring the kids on either side of a rush. Earlier is probably wiser for kids!

A word about the food at an all-inclusive resort

I think a resort is a great place to bring children to eat, even the picky eaters. The buffet had a huge range of everything - breads, plain rice, vegetable rice, raw veggies, cooked veggies, your standard chicken and pork chops and beef, authentic dishes, and always the safe pizza and fries. I threw out a rule you had to try something authentic or traditional at each dinner and they totally bought it, even though Anna also ordered spaghetti I think four out of seven nights?

The fruit salad bar and ice cream buffet were also huge highlights. Anna talked excitedly about making ice cream sundaes every day. It was actually sorbet, with sprinkles and cookies to top it off. Then there was the dessert bar with every pastry under the sun.

I’m not sure it’s even possible to go hungry at a resort. We brought snacks for the room but never really needed them. Our restaurant had a buffet where we had breakfast every morning, enjoyed two of our dinners, and hit up the sundae bar a few extra times. There was no going hungry because this resort also had a:

-taco truck
-sausage truck
-Five dinner restaurants including Mexican (also open every afternoon with a lunch buffet), Italian, Spanish Tapas, a Steakhouse, and Japanese, each perfectly themed with authentic cuisine. They all offered the same kids menu with pizza, burgers, spaghetti, burritos, quesadillas, and chicken fingers. Between the girls they tried everything on that menu, and picked something from the traditional menu to try
-crêperie
-smoothie bar
-coffee shop with sandwiches and pastries
-popcorn machine in the lobby

The cutest taco truck in the world, on our family beach vacation. We were good customers. #tacos #familyvacations #mexico

Those themed-cuisine restaurants are pretty standard at all-inclusive resorts. While Cuba’s known for bland food, that usually works in the favour of most kids. So if you are thinking about a family vacation, I don’t think you need to stress about food and meals. Personally, I ended every breakfast with a doughnut and a bowl of fruit, #becausebalance. I had a heaping plate of tortilla chips loaded with cheese sauce, guacamole, and salsa for every day for lunch.

Breakfast dessert every morning. Because balance. #traveltips #balance #breakfastdessert

What do you do on a family beach vacation?

Pool, eat, beach, repeat.

Days two through five looked very much the same. Half the day at the pool, lunch, then a couple hours on the beach, get cleaned up for dinner, hit the lobby after for live music and drinks. The girls were exhausted every single night (I’m talking falling asleep at dinner exhausted) and bedtime was never an issue. One night they asked me NOT to read them a story they were so tired! When I think about it, they were outside in the fresh air ALL day long. And while Matt and I traded off to have chill time, they never stopped. I mean, they were swimming for hours, building sand castles, kicking a soccer ball around, and walking the beach.That’s way more than an average school day. It was a lot to ask of them and they did really, really, well (for the most part, more on that in a minute). They are both great travellers and adventurers and have pretty great endurance.

The resort was surrounded by jungle, and we got to walk through the lush, tropical, vegetation every day which was a highlight for me. There were little racoon-monkey type animals called Coatis everywhere. We came across iguanas, geckos, and Matt saw a five-foot snake hanging in the trees. Thankfully I did not. Another highlight for me was the morning we saw a monkey and its baby hanging out and playing in the trees behind our room!

Hot tip

After breakfast we’d drop back into our room to get what we’d need for the day. Once we left our room for the beach or pool, we didn’t bring the kids back until it was time to get ready for supper.

We learned this after our first day when we went back to our room before lunch. We realized this was unnecessary and a waste of time. Hauling the kids and all our stuff around at mid-day was a lot of work. We could go to lunch as we were (beach cover-ups, no need to freshen up. Some days we just got lunch or snacks from the food trucks and ate poolside anyway). The resort wasn’t even very big or spread out, but as you may know, doing anything with kids in tow takes three times longer. When there was anything we needed, Matt or I could easily pop back to the room for it.

It may have served us well to build in some down-time or quiet-time into the day for the girls. Maybe we should have tried to work in some siestas. It would have been a battle to tear them away from their fun and get them to rest, and no one wanted to give up time in the sun and water. Then maybe they could’ve stayed awake and enjoyed dinner and the shows a little more. Now we know for next time.

On vacation it’s all about long days, late nights, and lazy mornings. #familytravel #Mexico #beachresort

Day six was our excursion to the ruins of Tulum, I wrote a separate post all about it. Our seventh and last day was cloudy and grey but it didn’t stop us from spending the morning at the pool and afternoon on the beach. We threw caution to the wind and didn’t worry about the time. We stayed outside as long as we wanted. We took our time getting ready for dinner and starting to pack up i.e. folding/stuffing dirty clothes into suitcases. I wanted to get most of it done so I wouldn’t be thinking about it during our last evening. We ate late, enjoyed music and drinks in the lobby, and went to our last show.

There were shows every night that didn’t start until 9:30 p.m., even those geared toward kids. We went to three of them, and at least one of the girls fell asleep during each one. We went to a magic show (trip highlight for Anna, host by “Bruno Mars”), a Disney-themed show that was amazing for everyone, and a Mexican-themed show on our last night, filled with Mexican music and dancing. A fabulous way to end our vacation.

Departure day

On Sunday morning we had just enough time to sleep in a little, grab breakfast at the buffet, and be in the lobby for our departure time of 10 a.m.

Our travel home was another fairly flawless day. Minus the outrageously over-priced pretzels. We left the resort at 10 a.m, went through the motions of check-in and and security at the airport, then boarded a 1 p.m. flight. The kids mostly watched shows and movies once again. We landed back in Halifax shortly after 7 p.m. and we were home before 9 p.m., dropping my dad, who picked us up in our car, home along the way.

We served the girls english muffins with peanut butter for dinner. We ordered Chinese food after they went to bed. The next morning, a Monday, Matt grabbed a few groceries to get us through the day while he was out with the dog. I let the girls sleep in but they were dropped off at school by recess. Now the tans are fading and it all seems like just a dream...

Our family vacation at an all-inclusive beach resort was both busy and relaxing. #familytravel #beachvacation #Mexico

I have three takeaways from this trip.

Next time I’d travel with friends or family. As much as I absolutely loved our family trip and time together, we now can say we’ve done that. If the girls had friends there they would have been way more independent with them and distracted away from wanting us to do every.thing.with.them. Anna so badly wanted to make a friend but the crowd was quite international and we couldn’t find any children who spoke English! (Well, there was one family but when the little brother barfed on the pool deck I wouldn’t let anyone in our family within a 10-foot radius of their family.) Matt and I did a good job trading off so the other could relax while the other had QT with the girls but we didn’t get much downtime with each other. Not much social interaction with any other adults either, save for Bill from Kelowna who made friends chatting with everyone throughout the day. More family would’ve been nice so we could sneak away for a drink at the bar or maybe a meal on our own, and to help share the load of responsibility (eyes on them in the pool, sunscreen applications, trips to the bathroom, etc.)
I’d travel later into the winter. Our trip, at the end of January, came up really fast after Christmas. For me, the anticipation of a trip is a huge part of the experience. We came home and I was actually kind of sad that it had already happened. It was over. We booked the vacation before Christmas and didn’t tell the girls until almost mid-January so we weren’t talking about it much. By the time I started thinking about it, it was time for the busy work of all the planning and packing. Also, it wasn’t as hot as it would be in, say, late February or March (though the weather is always a gamble. You never know what you’re going to get regardless of where and when you go). In one way this was a blessing. I don’t do well in super strong heat (nor do children, generally) so a temperature in the mid-20s was fine for us, but it cooled off at night.
I will be prepared for the fact that the kids are still kids, even on vacation. They aren’t suddenly going to behave differently just because we are somewhere else. They weren’t valuing the opportunity the same way I was. They couldn’t understand to appreciate every movement because once it’s over that’s it, we’re home to the daily grind. ‘Nor should they. They’re six and four. They still whined, and cried, and those sisters fought. Anna, age six, was fantastic at living her best left for the most part (I did have to break apart a coffee shop brawl by throwing a shirt at her head and she was strongly reprimanded at one restaurant for being just plain obnoxious).
By the end of the week, Rosie was ready to go home. I think she even asked to, at one point. She was homesick! She wanted all that was familiar to her. To be back in her routine. While that comment kind of hurt - in the heart and the wallet (are you freaking kidding me? Do you know how much we spent to bring you here? You’re on VACATION, what do you have to complain about?). By our last day, she was DONE. When we were at the pool, she wanted to be on the beach. When we were on the beach, she wanted to be at the pool. She wanted a snack, then refused to choose anything, then got mad everyone had a snack but her. I found it frustrating in the moment but in hindsight, I understand.

Please know that I’m remembering this vacation through rose-coloured glasses. There were definitely more tense moments than I’m recalling, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. We had a few minor health hiccups (will post about that another day). But the thing is that it wasn’t any different to what goes on at home. It was just parenting in a different place. With the added bonus of no work, laundry, cooking, or cleaning to be done, no schedules to adhere to, and we were under the hot sun. And that was dreamy.

Be sure to read part one of our vacation recap for more insight on our all-inclusive family vacation, including many more hot tips!

Read all about our excursion to the Ruins in Tulum

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