Hey friends!! Welcome back! I've been meaning to get this Cancun recap posted for about 2 months now and today is the day! I knew I'd get there eventually. 🤪
If you read here or follow me on social media (or know me in real life), you probably know I have 2 best girlfriends, Dani and Pam. They are two of my favorite people and it doesn't matter if we're out to dinner on a random Tuesday night at our favorite Mexican place, sitting around a kitchen table in our sweats for 6 hours drinking wine, or playing Never Have I Ever on a rooftop bar in Cancun (😂...I mean, just when you THINK you know someone...haha), we are always having fun and thankful to have each other. There is never drama (between us anyway), we never get tired of each other, we are all super laid back and low-maintenance and it's just easy and fun wherever we go. And all of that makes for the best travel buddies!
(QUICK TIP WHEN TRAVELING WITH FRIENDS: If you have a friend who complains about everything, is never happy with the food, starts drama, isn't nice to waiters, and/or can't stand sunshine--you know the type--leave that girl at home, y'all. 😉 Don't do it.)
That's Pam on the left and Dani in the middle. I honestly, 1000% do not know what I'd do without them. ❤
Last year, we road-tripped it to Galveston for our first getaway together. We had so much fun even though the city was covered in a dense blanket of fog the entire time, but this year, we decided to take it up a notch. Our girl Dani is newly engaged which gave us the perfect excuse to be all, "Well, now we have to go to Mexico to celebrate!". I mean, we basically had no choice. 😉
Dani's fiance had a travel agent that took care of everything for us. He set us up at the all-inclusive TRS Coral Resort which I quickly realized was home to Love Is Blind on Netflix. #fancy
We flew out of DFW on April 7th and it was an easy flight into Cancun. Private transportation was arranged prior, thank goodness, so we just followed the instructions to find our ride. We met our happy driver and he loaded us into his white van. The ride there was expected to take about 45 minutes.
Driving in different countries is always an adventure. We quickly realized that lane markers in Cancun are more like suggestions, which was a little scary. And we had a bit of a tense moment when we turned onto a pretty rough 2-lane road with jungle on either side of us. Every once in a while we'd see another car pass us going the other way or a guy on a motorcycle with a big helmet zoom by. But y'all. At one point, our driver started to slow down and pull off to the side of the road. I'm pretty sure the 3 of us were thinking "What the ---- is going on...why are we slowing down? Are we stopping on the side of the road? Why? What do we do if some guys in motorcycles come flying up next to us or if another white van shows up and they throw us in there??" I mean, the answer was "Nothing." There was nothing we could have done. So instead of panicking (outwardly) we waited a few seconds and realized that our driver was actually just trying to avoid speed bumps that had started to appear as we got closer to the resort. He'd clearly driven the road a few times and knew how to turn into them or around them to avoid damage to his van and since it was also a standard, when he slowed down to go over those bumps, it basically came to a stop. But it really freaked us out for a minute.
We felt bad for even thinking that after we realized we were fine but you never know!
We were met with a glass of champagne when we got to the resort which is always appreciated. 🥂
The lobby was so pretty.
We had a Junior Suite Ocean View room and it was perfect for us.
Our view was nice but I think "ocean view" was a bit of a stretch. We could see the water a little bit when the trees blew sometimes. 😂
It was through those trees and a little way out. But we did have views of the pools below us.
After we got settled, we decided to change and get ready for dinner. Looking back, we should have made reservations at least a week in advance. There are 10-15 places to eat at the resort --everything from casual bars to nice steakhouses. But not everything is open every night. Our butler (we had 2 women who were around our age which was fun) helped us make reservations for the rest of the nights we'd be there but our first night we were on our own.
They have golf carts that will take you from the TRS Coral to the next property over (The Palladium) which is where the majority of the restaurants and entertainment is. So we made our way to the lobby to catch one of those.
But first, we snapped our first selfie of the trip. 😉 I wish I'd gotten a full-length shot of this dress. It's an Amazon find. Short, tight but comfy. I loved these earrings too! So fun!!
We ended up just going to the sports bar for bar food and margaritas once we realized it was kind of our only option! But is it ever a bad time for fried jalapenos and quesadillas?
After we ate, we did some exploring.
What is it about walking through a beautiful resort at night with that sea breeze blowing that seems to make you forget all your worries? I wish I could have that every day.
We found a rooftop bar to hang out at for a while and it was nice but a little dull.
We were quickly realizing this was not a party resort which we didn't want exactly but we had hoped for some better people watching. 😂 Most of the people there were couples but we did see a few wedding groups and a bachelor/bachelorette party or two. So fair warning: if you're into a livelier Cancun scene or like watching people do dumb stuff after one too many tequila shots, this is probably not the resort for you. If you're looking for quiet and relaxation or want a chill vibe so you can love up on your honey, this is the place.
We went to bed before midnight and woke up at 5am to all the power in the resort going out. It was eerily quiet once the A/C cut out and it was completely dark outside. I know I was thinking the worst. (Again.) I'd watched the movie No Escape a couple of months before about a hotel/apartment building in Asia that was overtaken by a terrorist group and they were killing every American they could find. Eek. It is a really good movie by the way, but it'll freak you out if you're not careful. Especially if you travel internationally. You can watch the trailer here.
So that movie was definitely flashing through my mind as I lay there thinking, "So is the Mexican cartel about to invade our resort? A terrorist group? What's happening? Shouldn't there be some generators that kick on about now? What would I do if we were being invaded like that movie? Not much more than I'm doing now, really. Guess I'll go back to sleep." So I did. 😂 The power came back on after about an hour and I was able to breathe a little easier.
We woke up later to realize that it was probably the crazy wind that knocked out the power. Our first full day met us like this. It was cloudy, cool, raining off and on, and not exactly what we'd pictured.
We weren't too mad though. It was Cancun!! We'll take it however we can get it!
We ordered room service for breakfast and toasted to our first full day with a mimosa.
It was a little cool for swimsuits but that wasn't going to stop us from doing it anyway. I never thought I'd be posting a bikini pic on this blog but here we are! 😂 (Thank you, Modere!) It's an Amazon find and the bottoms are cheeky but the top was so good, I had to share! It comes in a ton of colors and patterns too.
Hey Mexico! Bring out the SUN!
For lunch, we made our way to the main pool so we could order off that bar menu. Nachos by the pool are a must. Always.
And then we decided to head to the beach since the pool scene was kind of dead and even though it was cloudy, the beach and the water were still gorgeous.
I couldn't help but compare the main pool scene to the main pool at the Hard Rock Resort in Cabo. The music at this pool was mellow and fairly quiet and at the Hard Rock, it was party mode! Not that it mattered because all we wanted to do was snag some chairs on the beach.
I made us all Cancun tumblers to keep our drinks cold and that was a great call. I did the same thing in Cabo back in November. (You can read all about that trip HERE.) There's nothing fun about a watery margarita so don't forget to bring your own tumbler!
We spent the day on the beach alternating between wrapping up in towels when we got a little chilly and then throwing them off when we got too hot.
We showered and changed for our first real dinner at one of the nice restaurants on the property.
We had reservations at El Gaucho, one of the steakhouses. We had a great table with a pretty view.
The food was good. We tried the variety of turnovers (basically empanadas) for our appetizers and I could have just had those and been fine! The steak was...ok. The lemon pie for dessert was yummy. The chef even came out to say hi.
Can't pass up a good full-length bathroom selfie while on vacay! 😂 These white jeans are the best ones I've ever found in all 40 of my years, y'all. I can't remember which influencer shared them but I'm hoping to pay it forward. I sized down in these because they are high-waisted and stretchy. And so comfortable! They aren't really see-through but I wouldn't wear hot pink granny panties with them. Get you a nude thong, girls. Panty lines aren't cute.
After dinner, we found ourselves at an 80s night, complete with dancing Super Mario Brothers, a giant Rubix cube, and a ton of 80s music.
At one point, a kid (he swears he was 18) walked over and smiled at me with a mouth full of braces. He introduced himself and then proceeded to try out every cheesy line he'd ever heard while his parents looked on proudly from the next table. It was funny at first (he guessed I was 32 so I let him keep talking 😂) and we just kept expecting him to finally give up and say he was kidding, thanks for being nice to him, it was nice to meet us...whatever. We humored him for a little while but this kid was relentless. It definitely got a little creepy and if he hadn't been a CHILD with his parents right next to him, I'd have probably had security escort us back to our room that night. 😬 I'm honestly concerned about how he'll treat girls who are clearly not interested once he goes to college. We were relieved when they finally decided to leave and said they were going back home the next day
The next day we headed to the spa! The weather had cleared up and we had blue skies and it was a little warmer. This spa was gorgeous, y'all! But I expected nothing less. We all made massage appointments the day before but got there early to soak in the hot tub first. And then we took selfies. #ofcourse
This is the same swimsuit style that I wore the day before, just in a different color. The bottoms are different too. Still a little cheeky but more coverage overall.
My massage was every bit as heavenly as I needed it to be and afterward, we all headed up to the rooftop pool to relax a little more.
I was the only one who braved the water. It was cold!
The backs of these tops are cute too!
We stayed until lunchtime and then were ready to get back to the sand.
We stopped at the little bar on the beach for a picture or two first.
Those swings were just a photo opp waiting to happen.
I'm pretty sure the waiters were dying for us to move so they could get back to work without us getting in their way. 😂
It was a picture-perfect day!!
We ordered food from our beachside waiters and they were so attentive and ready to bring us whatever we needed. Great service from the nicest people!
The chicken tacos were simple but delicious! Get a side of guac and pile it on!
We stayed out there for hours doing absolutely nothing and it was perfect. But we had reservations for the resort's hottest show that night, Chic Cabaret. If you're a Housewives fan, let me assure you, this is nothing like a Luann Cabaret. 😂 This is dinner and a show with REAL talent.
tank | white jeans | shoes are old
The performers are all gorgeous and such great performers. They did covers of everything from 50s music to The Greatest Showman and even a pretty good Magic Mike number. 😳
I wish I'd have gotten more pictures but I took mainly video and it just does not do them justice. Such a great night! Be sure and book your reservations early if you want to go!!
The next morning we woke up to this beautiful view!
We threw on our swimsuits and headed straight for the beach. It was the hottest day we'd had so far and we wanted to enjoy it!
We had to stop for another picture on the swings though.
And then we hit the beach. I don't even know what we did out there for hours but it was our favorite day.
We stayed out there for as long as we could but had to go handle those pesky Covid tests since we were leaving the next day. The hotel has it all set up for their guests. We were in and out in 10 minutes. Super easy, no one tried to stab our brain and they emailed us our results later that night.
On our way back to our room we saw this little guy and he was practically begging for a picture so I obliged. 😉
I got a little sunburned which ended up turning into those sunburn chills that come later on. I sat out on the balcony for a while with my blanket until it was time to shower and get ready for our last dinner. So peaceful. ❤
Our last dinner was at the Italian restaurant at the resort called Tentazione. I got the seafood fettuccine.
Not bad at all.
But the best part (not sure "best" is the right word??), was the decor. They had this creepy tapestry hanging on the walls in a repeating pattern all the way around the room and I think it was Dani who decided we HAD to recreate it. 😂
So before we left, we sat down alongside our characters and tried as hard as we could to stop laughing long enough to get the picture. (Almost impossible.) The big group across from us loved it. I have money on it that they stole our idea and did the same before they left. 😂
#nailedit
My dress is here by the way and I highly recommend it! Super comfy especially if your shoulders are a little red. 💁♀️ And it comes in a ton of other colors.
After dinner, we found our way to a very lively rooftop bar where the party was clearly happening.
The three of us sat around talking, people watching, and even played a little game of Never Have I Ever which is always interesting. I've known these girls for over a decade and we all learned a few new things about each other that night. 😂 (Don't worry. We're still pretty tame.) We stayed for a couple of hours and then it was time for bed. We're old. We like to sleep.
We ordered breakfast for our final time and by this point, I had a set favorite. I loved the Huevos Divorciados which translates to "divorced eggs". 🤷♀️ It's two fried eggs on two tostadas but one with green chile salsa and one with red salsa along with some cotija cheese and red onion. It may look a mess but it was so good. I've got to try to recreate this.
We had to pack up and be out of the room by 12 so once they came to grab our stuff, we headed to the pool for a couple of hours until it was time to change and head to the airport.
I had a Pina Colada by the pool while we watched a group of people take an underwater spin class. It was interesting. 😂
And that's where my pictures end.
We had the best time and can't wait for our next trip. This is definitely going to become an annual thing for us from here on out. My girls are just good for my soul. They make me happy and fill me up.
Until next time...
What an incredible trip you had! I am so happy you had this special time with your bestfriends. You look AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!! ❤
DeleteI am not sure if my first comment went through. SO happy you had this incredible time with your bestfriends. The trip looked wonderful. You look absolutely AMAZING!!!!!
ReplyDeleteIt did! I have to publish them manually to keep away the spam (and trolls)! 🤪Thanks again, Donna!!
DeleteLooks like so much fun!
ReplyDeleteHighly recommend it!
DeleteThat sounds like a fabulous trip!
ReplyDeleteIt was much needed for us three!! Perfect!
DeleteWas the lively rooftop bar on the resort?
ReplyDeleteIt was! We never left the resort! So there is TRS Coral and then right next door is the Grand Palladium Resort. It's kind of like having 2 resorts in 1. TRS is adults only and has several restaurants and bars there including the rooftop bar we went to the first night that was boring. haha The livelier rooftop bar was next door at the Grand Palladium. They drive you over in a golf cart and its like a little shopping/entertainment center. Its where most of the restaurants and bars are and shops too. They also can take you over in a little boat.
ReplyDelete