Two Tickets to Paradise

I still remember the day Mike called me to tell me he won an all inclusive trip to Mexico.  It was late January and I was sitting in a school computer lab working on a project.  Mike called me nine times in a row, but I kept ignoring his calls since I couldn't make noise while in the computer lab.  Finally I walked outside to talk to him, sort of annoyed.  He had randomly called into a "Two Tickets to Paradise" promotion from Detroit's classic radio station on his way home from work...and won!  The promotion name "Two Tickets to Paradise" was based off the Eddie Money song so the radio station arranged for Eddie Money to put on a concert on the beach during the trip.  This is the second big thing he has won this past year!

My lucky husband.

The trip was in the middle of April, during my busy end of the semester.  But as my friend Leslie says, sometimes you have to choose life.  So last week we found ourselves at the Detroit airport at 4 am to start our Mexico adventure.  We had some doubts going into the week.  Firstly, we've never been on an all beach vacation.  We usually take adventurous vacations that involve nature, backpacking, visiting towns, etc.  So we weren't sure if we would get bored staying in the same resort all week long.  Secondly, since we wont the trip, we didn't know if the place would be dumpy or cheap.  Luckily, we found neither things to be true AT ALL.  In fact, it turned out to be one of the more relaxing, rejuvenating vacations we had ever been on.

Even though we were in a resort, it felt so good to be outdoors for the whole week.  We tried to spend most of our time at the ocean.  Although, eventually we found ourselves setting into a routine of ocean for most of the day, but going to the pool for the last few hours of sunlight. The resort did a great job in incorporating natural plants into landscaping as well as wildlife.  Our souls and bodies needed the nature detox.

 

 

 

I learned some valuable lessons in what I called "un-vacationing".  As I have gotten married, I have become the head trip planner for our little family (taking after my mom).  I have found myself getting too wrapped up in the planning, details, and packing only to find myself with high unmet expectations once on the trip.  This vacation I did the complete opposite, with the idea of helping me to balance out.  I didn't manicure my nails, I didn't bring my real camera and borrowed a point and shoot from a friend to limit pressure of getting the "perfect shot", I threw everything into a checked suitcase instead of being intentional about what I brought, I didn't wear make up on the trip or do my hair.  I just let go, and it felt dang good. 

The Eddie Money concert was surprisingly decent.  He sang the three songs I knew.  The highlight was him pointing to me in the crowd and singing part of the song to me.

 

Waiting for the concert to start.

As I was reflecting at the end of the week, I came up with a few rules for vacationing.
1) Experience both a morning and a night.  We got up early a few mornings and it felt like a different place.  The sky was different, there was a general peace that didn't exist during the day.  We also went for a walk on the beach Thursday night when it was pitch black out.  It was just us and the waves.  These moments felt valuable in feeling "complete" in our trip experience.

2) Do one thing out of your comfort zone or engage in "whimsy".  For us that was building sand castles the last day.  People stopped to watch us.  I think they were a bit surprised to see an adult couple without kids getting super into their sand castle building.  But it was meaningful time filled with fun with my husband and diving into the flow of creating.  And honestly, it was much more fulfilling than getting drunk free drinks from the beach bar and passing out on the beach.

My sand castle.

Mike's sand castle based off of a Mayan ruin.

3) Do something outside of the bubble of your experience.  I think it as easy for us as humans to get stuck in the mindset of our immediate surroundings.  I find this to be true of my daily life in Ann Arbor whenever I get on the highway towards home and always remark "oh wow, there's life outside of Ann Arbor!"  For us, this was choosing to take a day trip to one of the Mayan ruins known as "Tulum" but originally named by the Mayans as "Zama".

I read a good amount of pretty typical Emily books:

Not pictured: A Heartbreaking Work of A Staggering Genius.  

Mike, the big animal lover that he is, bonded with a few different animals.  One night I come back to the room and had found him, binoculars in hand, watching a peacock that was perched on our balcony.  These are the endearing quirks you learn about your spouse as time goes on. 

Admiring the "gatito".

The cotes.

More peacocks.

The towel animals made by the maids.

More memories from the trip and bits/pieces of the resort:

Mike vs. Emily beach food: fried corn fritters vs. rice and beans.

Jean shorts I sewed the cuffs on.  Last summer, I wore my jean shorts almost everyday and would have to constantly re-roll the cuffs.  So this year, I decided to fight my laziness and just sew the cuffs down and voila!

Our last dinner.