Itinerary up for scrutiny...

[Shebug]

Hi all,:wave:

Today is a big day - only one month and we will be in Tulum. Another reason to celebrate, is that we have (finally!!!) finalized our itinerary. That doesn't mean there's no room for anything else - there definitely still is.

So I hope you will all tell me what little things to add, you know, dinners, cenotes etc...

I know most would probably prefer to end up their vacation in Tulum, but we will be so beat and desperate to relax when vacationtime arrives, that we figured we would do the most relaxing thing first. And work up an appetite for things more active...

Here goes:

August 21st
Arrive in Cancun and private transfer to Nueva Vida. We won't be there till maybe 10 pm, so I'm hoping I can get them to arrange something to eat for us. We are staying in the Extasis room in one of the new units. Looks gorgeous!

August 22nd-23rd
Relax, relax and then relax again. We would like to eat in the pueblo for some of our meals, and I plan to squeeze in a massage or two. Sunday night Salsa at la Zebra is on my fun-to-do-list too.

August 24th
We are leaving at 7 am to be at Coba before 8. We are going with Ricardo, who is a Tulum local. We will get bikes and poke around the site for a while. And climb the biggie!

After we will snorkel at Nohoch Nah Chich, with Ricardo leading the way.

August 25th
More relaxation!

August 26th
Up insanely early to catch 5 am bus to Merida. Sleep on the bus. We are staying at Hotel Julamis, which seems really nice and gets great reviews on TA. Spend the rest of the day (after lunch anyway) wandering around the city.

www.hoteljulamis.com (http://www.hoteljulamis.com)

August 27th
Again, wander the city and see where it takes us. We will also go for Thursday night dancing in one of the plazas.

August 28th
Again, up at an indecent hour, to sleep on a 6 am bus to Playa del Carmen.

We originally planned to stay at Las Palapas for a week. We stayed there before and loved it. We have a pupose with this visit though - we both want to take the PADI Open Water Diver course. So we emailed with a few diveshops. And while several offered deals with Las Palapas+diving, the deals weren't great.

So we talked about whether we absolutely needed a hotel on the beach, when we'd already have spent 5 days in Tulum, and would be spending a lot of time in a pool, on a boat and in the sea anyway. We decided the answer to all this was no, and went with a great deal with Divemex and Hotel Villa del Mar. Cute little hotel on 10th, between 2nd and 4th, so very good location.

www.hotelvilladelmar.net (http://www.hotelvilladelmar.net)

We have started studying at home, so that we minimize study-time on our vacation.

Other than our diving project, we plan to do lots and lots of eating. Will definitely visit La Floresta on 307 for shrimp tacos and Yaxche for great Mayan cooking.

August 29th-31st
Diving lessons... have no idea how much more we will have the energy for.

September 1st
Hubby will be plaing the Playacar golf course in the afternoon. Which means I will probably indulge myself with a massage... I love being on vacation! And then a beach club to relax and people watch. Nice!

September 2nd
Someone (you know who you are, and I love you for it!) on this forum bullied me into going to see the whale sharks. So we are, and I'm so excited. The pics of people swimming with them on this forum have been amazing. We are doing it as a daytrip starting at 6 am or so, and will be heading out from north of Cancun. Some snorkeling around Isla Contoy included too. On the way back to Playa we will be dropped off mid/late afternoon in Cancun for some intensive shopping at the malls in the hotel zone. We will be picked up again at 10 pm after having dinner somewhere (any ideas??).

September 3rd
You guessed it...more relaxing...

September 4th
Heading home, transfer to airport in the morning.

Sooooo....that's the itinerary. You will have noticed that theres lots of blank space in Tulum and I'd love ideas on what to do, if there's something we absolutely can't miss out on. Or anywhere we absolutely have to eat? Or anything we absolutely shouldn't do.

Of course, I realize that there is now no way to get out of a tripreport when we get home. Which is only right - I owe you all! I have a feeling that the whole attaching photos will prove itself harder than the writing though. I think we will be head over heels in love with Tulum, and dying to share.

Thanks for all your replies to my questions till now and for letting me lurk...

Hunbille

[beatfarmer]

A busy but fun agenda you have! I'm guessing you travel just as a couple in order to keep on schedule!

[letele]

Hunbille, I think that sounds like a great vacation! I'm SO glad you're swimming with the whale sharks - you guys will love it! What company are you using?

Hotel Julamis looks gorgeous - and cheap! Wow! Can't wait to hear all about Merida!

In Tulum pueblo, check out one of the seafood places (if you like seafood, of course!) like Oasis or Los Pepes. My mouth still waters when I think about the food I got at Oasis. Yum!

[beachreader]

What a great trip, can I come along? I really want to see Merida one of these days. Looks like a lovely hotel, and I really love the picture marked "ancient relic". Shows a great sense of humor. :)

I'm also curious as to what company you're using for your whale sharking, especially given that they'll apparently also do a Contoy stop?

Depending on how hot things are away from the beach (I understand it's seriously hot), I'd recommend El Tabano for dinner one night. The food and atmosphere are really great, but if it's crazy hot, maybe not so much. I'd hit up Mezzanine on the north beach for either a lunch or dinner. Food is very good (Mex-Thai fusion), but the view is awesome, and at lunchtime they have 2/1 margaritas from 1-4 p.m., so that's something to consider.

If you take a walk north on the beach from Mezzanine for about 15 minutes, you can see the Tulum ruins in the distance, just in case you want to remind yourself where you are. :)

[minniemex]

I think it sounds fantastic!! Of course, I would have done Tulum last, (always save the best for last:)) but I understand why you are doing it that way.

Picture posting is a bummer first time, but after a few, it gets really easy. Lots of info here on how to do it!! You will need to pick a "hosting" site such as Smugmug (our fav around here, but costs $)(not alot, maybe $30 a year) or Photobucket which is free. I think just learning all that is what takes the time, posting here is easy:eek:

I can hardly wait for your trip report and you haven't even left yet:D

[pepper]

Sounds perfect because you are doing plenty of relaxing and not pushing yourselves too much.

You will thank that "bully" for pushing you toward the whalesharks. We did it a few years a ago and enjoyed it.

While you are at NV, you might see about massage from a lovely neighbor of their's...part of the relaxation and all.

[TnTWalter]

I love it!! And I totally agree about relaxing first and then playing before heading back to reality...sort of easing you back into it....plus it's closer to airport that way!!

PERFECT-O...

You MUST provide lots of details and pictures....I'm especially interested in contact info for the Coba tour you are doing...we found a kind soul on playa.info to take us around for a day Akumal Dos Ojos & PDC but I'd love to do the Coba thing next time.

You would regret being there and NOT doing the whale sharks. Have a blast!!!!

[tbpeaceful]

SheBug, it sounds like a wonderful trip! Tulum was our first stop and it did wonders to relax us so we could truly enjoy the rest of the vacation. We arranged a massage the evening of the first day and it really was magic.


Hurray another trip report! The photos aren't as hard as they appear, once you get the hang of it. Minnie and Beachreader have great info in the resources section. Thanks to Letele's post, I did the 1/2 price smugmug and have been delighted so far. (code Yahoo)

Have a super trip!

Happy days - T.

[Shebug]

Lots of responses...thanks! As I'm in a totally different timezone than most of you, my replies come at times that may seem odd. Right here, it is now 7.50 am.

Anyway, answers...

The whaleshark tour is arranged through Divemex - I'm not sure what company they are using. I was very explicit in requests though, regarding safety and such, and they ticked all the boxes. We are doing snorkling just off Contoy, then lunch on Isla Mujeres. I'll make sure to post all the details when we get back. We dealt with Dirk there, lovely guy.

Pepper, I already have that set up....;) Not specific dates, but am going to get in touch closer to the actual dates.

tbpeaceful, thats exactly what I was thinking with the massages...first night would be great. Good on those stiff shoulders after a long flight.

Uhmmm, my mouth is watering - food is such a big thing for me, and especially on vacation.

Hmm, I've already got all my photos (well, travelrelated ones that are any good) on flickr.com. I wonder if that will work? I may have to experiment with it, so if something odd appears on this thread, just ignore it!

Shebug

[Shebug]

Just posting a photo from our last trip to the Riveiera Maya as a test. Taken at Chichen Itza.

http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/hunbille/3585500887_5b9a3e9d06_b.jpg

[Shebug]

And in my first go!:D

[PhyllisB]

What a great photo! Love it!

[minniemex]

Success!! Great photo!! She is a cutie.

I guess you are 7 hours ahead of us here right?? So right now your time is 2:30PM?? (ok, I am figuring from Central time zone)

How long is your flight going to be?? Is it non-stop??

[beachreader]

Just posting a photo from our last trip to the Riveiera Maya as a test. Taken at Chichen Itza.

http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv118/hunbille/3585500887_5b9a3e9d06_b.jpg



And we have a winner! First try! Now don't forget how you did that, because it's the perfect size and everything. You're now our official flickr expert, so if anyone says they have flickr and can't figure it out, we're sending them to you!

[Shebug]

minniemex, we are 7 hours ahead of Mexico, or at least ahead of Cancun, I'm not really sure if all of Mexico is in the same time zone.

I wish we could get nonstop flights, but there is no such thing from Copenhagen. So we fly to Atlanta and from there to Cancun (Delta). The Copenhagen-Atlanta stretch is 10 hours, so that's a pretty long flight. But well worth it!

Less than a month now!

Shebug

[minniemex]

Thanks for the info!! Do you have a long layover in Atlanta?? Kinda a bummer you have to do customs in the states and then customs again in Mexico. I thought maybe you had a charter flight straight to Cancun.

So much fun when your ticker starts getting really down in the numbers. Wait, you don't have a ticker! You really need to get one so you can just come here to look at how many days left:)

http://tulum.info/showthread.php?t=2075

[Shebug]

minniemex, is that true? That we will have to clear custums in both the US and Mexico? I guess that I just assumed that seeing as we were in transit we wouldn't get our luggage (that we could check in for both flights in Copenhagen) and not have to do customs in the US??? Does anyone know?:confused:

Come to think of it, every time I've gone overseas and have had connecting flights, I've always connected at some European airport. I wonder if this would make a difference?

Oh, and we have a 2 hour layover - so not a lot if we have to clear customs, but otherwise should be good.

Shebug

[minniemex]

I do think you have to clear customs in Atlanta. I thought about it and they have no idea who's final destination it is or isn't so you all go to customs when you enter the states. I think with 2 hours you will be fine. You will probably have to claim your baggage, take it through and on the other side of customs just drop it off.


What airlines are you flying?? You could probably just call them and ask??

I do think flying in Europe is different for those that live there. I remember when we flew with our friends who live in England to Menorca, the Brits were all just passing through customs in Menorca and when they saw our passports they were caught unawares and held us up to fill out some forms. (This was a charter flight from England)

[Shebug]

Hmmm, I just hope that I will have to clear customs, but my luggage won't. Meaning, I once tried being able to check my luggage in for the entire trip, while I still had to go through customs - if I have to wait for my luggage to come off the plane it could be a bit tight.

Europe is different. And within Europe you generally won't get checked, being European. Usually it will be at the first arrival point in Europe, and then not again - and I've never had to get my luggage out in these situations. So here's hoping that I can check in for the entire trip. We'll see.

I tried phoning Delta in Copenhagen - they refused to answer anything about US costums/Atlanta customs. So I guess we'll just see what happens...

Thanks, minniemex!:):):)

[Lynnette]

Unfortunately, your checked bags will have to be claimed by you in the US, go through customs, and be re-checked for your flight to Mexico. We had that happen to us once, for a connecting flight with less time than you have between flights....you should be ok. :)

[beachreader]

Yes, and any duty free fluids you bought in Mex and carried on board there will then have to re-packed into your checked baggage b/c you won't get through security with it in your bags.

It's a big PIA, but like Lynnette I've had some pretty smooth transitions--they (usually) know what they're doing.