The Honeymooners

"May your time be filled with relaxing sunsets, cool drinks and sand between your toes."
--Author Unknown

Kyle and I left for our honeymoon the Monday after our wedding (6:00 from an airport an hour drive away -- so glad we had a day to recover from the wedding before spending an entire day in airplanes and airports). We spend seven nights in Riviera Maya, Mexico, at an all-inclusive resort (Do you know what all-inclusive means? Oh, yes. Free food. Free booze. Free room service. And we took TOTAL advantage).

Check out our room:


It was huge! There was an enormous TV, a living area, a great balcony, and banner on the front door that said "Honeymoon." Adorbs. And it got even better when we explored the resort a little bit.


This is one of the eight or so pools around the resort. One of them had a swim-up bar, but we only got in the water long enough to get a couple of mudslides, as the water was rather cold. The resort also had a jillion restaurants, and we oddly didn't eat any Mexican food. Instead we feasted on French, Japanese, Mediterranean and Italian cuisine. And it was all fantastic. We had dessert for lunch and dinner every day. We had soups and salads and appetizers. Holy shiz, I wish we were wealthy so we could do that all the time.

We didn't just lounge around the beach and drink all day, though (well...not every day). We took a trip one evening to Playa del Carmen and did some shopping and went to a tequila tasting. AND we swam with dolphins in Cancun! When I first created my bucket list in like the eighth grade, "Swim with dolphins" was the first thing on my list. So you can imagine how awesome that was. We bought a video of us with the dolphins, and we've watched it several times with various family members. It's still hard to believe we got to do that.

We also took a side trip to the Mayan ruins in Tulum. Because we had to get up so early, we decided to watch the sunrise on the beach (which, by the way, was another item on my bucket list).


Isn't that gorgeous?! Anyway, it was a long drive to get to Tulum, but it was totally worth it. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable (being half Mayan himself) and we learned a lot. It's an incredible place and we were glad we got to go.


There were iguanas everywhere. I think I counted about 20.


Oh, and another thing. When we booked the side trip to Tulum, we were told we could bring our bathing suits and towels if we wanted to, because there was a beach we could swim at. We just thought to ourselves, "We have a beach at the hotel! We're going to want to look at the ruins!" So we didn't bring our suits. Then we got there and our tour guide is all, "By the way, this is one of the Top 10 Most Beautiful Beaches in the World!"

...CRAP!

No matter, we still had a great time.

The rest of the trip was amazing. At my first bridal shower, my mom got Kyle and me these flip flops that make some pretty cool messages in the sand as you walk:


The week went by way too fast, but we had the best time. It's hard to imagine going to any beach now without having such amazing service. I still find myself looking at the clock at work and thinking to myself, "If we were still in Mexico, I'd be on my third daquiri by now..."


The real kicker is that our last meal in Mexico consisted of goat cheese salad, braised beef soaked in a red wine sauce, and creme brulee. Then we got to the airport in Maryland and paid $8.00 for a handful of McNuggets.

Back to the harsh reality of the real world.

At least we made some great memories!