Month: July 2019

Cancun – 24th July 2019

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Wednesday

I did not gym today. My alarm went off at 8am and I kept sleeping until 9am. In my defense, Nathan was the one that didn’t really want to get up, I was showered and dressed when he eventually pulled himself out of bed. I will say though that he’s coming down with a store throat so he’s trying to get as much sleep as he can so he doesn’t get sick before he moves back to New Zealand and starts the rugby season.

At 10am we headed off to the buffet! I thought I’d switch it up with something different today (like maybe a bagel or some French toast maybe) but I went for the omlette station and toast again 👨‍🍳 My omelettes at home are never that good so I enjoy it when someone else makes them for me 😊

Again we had no plans for today! The only decision we had to make was if we wanted to relax in the pool or at the beach. We agreed on the beach today and thankfully found a spare sun lounger. It was another beautiful 30° today so the sand was hot and the water was warm. ☀️ I must say, Hyatt Ziva has one of the nicer beaches in Cancun. The sand is white and soft and the water is clear and blue – I could even see fishies swimming around which I loved! They even have these hammocks out in the water you can relax in. 🏝

I didn’t take any photos as I was in the water but we relaxed in the hammocks for a bit, swum out to the iceberg so Nathan could climb it and took the kayaks out into the water for a little paddle.

After the swim I relaxed on the beach with a drink and read some of my kindle 💜

It was getting pretty hot near the beach so eventually we headed to the pool around noon. Sadly I missed my aqua aerobics today! They were just finishing up when I hopped in.

Instead, we joined in with this soccer contest they had going where you had to try and kick the soccer ball into a goal in the water, however I was absolutely terrible at it. You had to stand on the side of the pool in front of everyone to do it and I pretty much embarrassed myself by kicking it about 1m into the water with both tries. Nathan nearly got it in but unfortunately we both didn’t make it to the final rounds 😔

We decided to eat at Chevy’s diner for lunch again today, I must say though, it wasn’t terribly good. All the other food here is nice but I thought Chevy’s was average. I ordered a vege burger which I wasn’t a fan of and Nathan got a beef BBQ burger which he couldn’t finish. It was all a bit dry and didn’t have much flavour. Not to mention the waiter took forever to come and take our order. I had to ask like twice if we could order and they just kept saying our waitress would come and take it but she didn’t.

Afterwards we decided to take advantage of the rooftop infinity pool, exclusive for guests staying in the adults only tower. I don’t know why we didn’t do this before. There were lots of loungers free and there’s no kids splashing around which Is great. Plus you get these amazing views overlooking the ocean. There’s also a bat with pool wait service so you don’t even need to get up to get a drink 😍

I relaxed by the pool for a few hours while Nathan went and worked out at the gym. (He can only do so much relaxing haha) we did consider going to Coco Bongo tonight (which is like a nightclub/show not far from our hotel) but we decided not to. We thought it’d be better if we were in a group of people and we’re pretty much on a relaxation/sleepy/drinky buzz this vacation. Clubbing requires energy I do not have. 😄

We booked a massage tonight for 8pm so we had a couple of hours to spare until our appointment. I convinced Nathan to have Italian with me tonight and it did not disappoint. Pretty sure it was Nathan’s favourite meal this whole trip. We had some bread to start and a caprese salad, then came our mains. Nathan ordered two mains, a Salmon dish AND beef tenderloin. I ordered a carbonara type dish, along with a Lorenzo’s pizza which was basically chocolate and onion on a pizza. Sounds weird but was actually amazing.

I couldn’t finish my Pasta and pizza but of course Nathan finished it off for me. When we finished, he actually told me that while I was at the adults only pool he went to the 24 Hour Snack Bar after the gym and had a pre-dinner meal of beef and gravy, grilled veges and shrimp. 😐 “I kept it light so I wouldnt be full for dinner” is what he said.

Does anyone else have a boyfriend that can eat crazy amounts?? Nathan has the fastest metabolism of anyone I know and it drives me insane. I look at a piece of pizza and it goes straight to my stomach 😭 I am however a very proud girlfriend. I’d enter him in an eating contest any day.

After declining desert at the Italian restaurant Lorenzo’s, we headed to the Zen Spa at the resort an hour before our massage so we could take advantage of the hydrotherapy pools.

After meeting with the concierge, we were shown to the bathrooms where we were given a key with our own lockers. The lockers were set up really cute with a bathrobe, slippers, water and a towel in them. If anyone knows me, I have clown feet so these little slippers didn’t do much for me. My hooves were falling over the sides as I walked to the pools 🙄

We enjoyed the spa though! They had a cold plunge pool, hot spa and steam room. My sunburn didn’t appreciate the hot spa too much but I got over the pain pretty quick and relaxed in there for about 10 minutes with cucumbers on my eyes. 👌💜

Soon enough, our masseuses came to grab us and showed us to our couples room. I had a masseuse called Ramiro and he was very lovely and professional.

We were booked in for a couples Deep Tissue Massage and my God it was amazing! I have this girl in Vancouver that I thought gave the best massages until i had Ramiro. He didn’t go easy on me that’s for sure. I had so many knots in my back and he went really deep to get them all out. The massage wasn’t repetitive and everything he did felt amazing. I was so gutted for it to be over! If you’re ever at the Hyatt Ziva in Cancun, ask for Ramiro if you’re planning on getting a massage!

Afterwards, it was only 9pm so we went to the buffet and had another dinner 😂 I was in no state to be going to another restaurant. My hair was full of massage oil, my face is sunburnt and I generally just look like a fat peppa pig at the moment. I told Nathan how sorry I felt for him having me on his arm at this 5-star resort 🤣

At the buffet I just got a crepe for dessert while Nathan loaded a plate with meats and salads. – like I said, this boy can eat!

Once our second dinner was done, it was off to our room to chill out for the rest of the night! I got the pillows right tonight, our Butler spoke to us in the morning and asked if I’d decided on what pillows I wanted for our sleep tonight. I mentioned the aromatic ones but he said the gel memory foam ones were much better.

I’ll have to review how my sleep went tomorrow! 😄

Cancun – Tuesday 23rd July 2019

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Tuesday

Believe it or not I actually woke up to my alarm this morning and got out of bed. I had the most wonderful sleep last night! Whenever I sleep at hotels I fall in love with the pillows 😍 I wish I could take them home with me!! Or at least know where to buy them from for my own bed at home 💛

It was a quick shower & dress before Nathan and I headed downstairs at Panama Jack Cancun for the buffet breakfast. We were heading to the gym afterwards so I stuck with some light fruit and yogurt (I know – who even am I) while Nathan of course had eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, sausages etc..

The gym at the resort was pretty good. It had the usual treadmills, weights, machines etc – way better than some hotels I’ve been to, however it was so hot! It was definitely cooler than outside as it was like 30° outside, but way too warm for a gym. I had to keep using the paper towels to wipe my face as I was sweating so much. Nathan and I lasted about 40 minutes before we quickly went back to our room so we could shower.

Check-out wasn’t until 12pm but we packed up our bags around 10am so we could check-out and head to Hyatt Ziva for the rest of our stay in Cancun.

The hotel kindly organized us a taxi to take us for the 5 minute drive down the road however we were completely ripped off. When it came to pay, we asked the driver how much we owe and he said “10”. I was like “Pesos?” And he saw we had USD as Nathan had opened up his wallet and was like “oh, no dollars”

Before I could even say anything Nathan gave him USD$10 🤦‍♀️. Oh well 🙄

Our check-in with Hyatt Ziva was smooth and breezy. We were treated with champagne on arrival and taken to the Adults Only tower for a private check-in. Our room wasn’t quite ready as we were there pretty early so we headed downstairs to the buffet for (you guessed it) our second breakfast of the day. I ate an omlette and some toast but I didn’t go overboard as i didn’t feel like sinking in the pool today 😂

As we had walked around the whole resort before breakfast, we were super hot and sweaty so I smashed back our food pretty fast. Luckily I was already dressed in my togs so we headed to the pool pretty quick. Unfortunately every man and their friend had reserved a cabana or sun lounger with a towel so we couldn’t find anywhere to relax and put our stuff. People must get there pretty early in the morning because there definitely weren’t as many people in the pool then there were reserved sun loungers.

Anyways, it didn’t matter too much. I found a place for my handbag and chucked some towels over it and hoped it wouldn’t get stolen as I had my wallet and phones in it 😥

The water was refreshing and the drinks were great! I’m currently in the process of working my way through the cocktail menu. I think I’m about 6 or 7 cocktails through out of about 20. 🤤

Half way through our swim, I saw they were doing aqua aerobics so I decided to join in! It may have been the alcohol talking but i had a great time splashing around the pool and running through the water. Nathan of course did not join in and instead decided to film me and drink from the sidelines. I don’t think you can really see me in the video below but I’m bopping around there somewhere.

We relaxed in the pool until about 3pm and our hands had turned wrinkly. I was worried I was going to get sunburnt because our sunscreen was in our suitcase which we’d given to the bell boy so I was trying to alternate between shade and sun for the afternoon. However I was right in being worried because now as I type this I’m lying in bed with very red shoulders and a burnt nose. I hateeee getting sunburnt on my face. I use Retinol & stuff on my face too so it gets sunburnt really quick 😖

Anyways, we thought our room must be ready by now so we headed to the adults only tower and met with our Butler who showed us to our room. He took us to our room and it’s so nice! We’re on the 8th floor so we have really nice views of the ocean, plus we have a jacuzzi hot tub on the balcony!

Our butler very kindly showed us where everything was and told us all the amenities included in our stay (private access to rooftop infinity pool, private elevator to the spa, complimentary hydrotherapy circuit etc) he also showed us these cool tablets in our room where we can order 24 hour room service, choose our pillows, choose our essence for the room (I chose a lime scent) etc…I did also order some aromatic pillows but they didn’t deliever them. I’m not 100% sure it went through correctly on the tablet though so maybe I did something wrong 🤷‍♀️

He also offered us a bottle of spirits to have during our stay or take home as a gift. We chose Vodka but I have no idea if we’ll even drink it or not Haha 😂 there’s so much alcohol here that we’ll probably just take it home.

We were all chlorinated from the pool so we both had showers and I tidied myself up a bit so we could go and eat. (And by this I mean putting make up on and doing my hair so Nathan didn’t feel like he took a homeless person on holiday haha) By this stage it was around 4pm so we went to Chevy’s diner downstairs and had some appetizers to tide Nathan over until Dinner time.

We thought we’d check out the rooftop infinity pool and grab a drink from there too. Looking back, I don’t think we actually even went in the pool, we just lounged on a Bali bed and talked for about an hour.

The sun was beginning to set so we headed down to the beach and took a few photos. It was so beautiful! There was a couple having a dinner on the little pier too which looked really romantic.

Dinner was calling after the beach so we walked around a few of the restaurants until we decided on eating at the buffet. (I promised myself that we wouldn’t eat here for dinner but they were having a Brazilian steakhouse night and Nathan insisted)

We were pretty full after the Buffet so we only had 1 dinner tonight (not the 2 that was expected of us) however I did manage to squeeze in a couple of treats from the desert parlour after playing a couple rounds of pool with Nathan 😋

Now I’m In bed, Nathan is kicking me to turn my light off and go to sleep because he’s trying to sleep 🙄 you’d think he has work or something tomorrow from the way he’d acting.

Tomorrow we may check out the Sister resort Hyatt Zilara or do the hydrotherapy circuit at the Spa who knows!🤷‍♀️ I will update tomorrow 🤗

Ciao xo

Cancun – 22nd July 2019

SarahLeave a comment

Monday July 22nd

Such an early morning for us today! My boyfriend and I had a 6am flight to catch, meaning we had to be at the airport 3 hours beforehand. It didn’t help that we also did a big hike yesterday so by the time we got back home it was around 9pm which resulted in us falling into bed around 11pm. 😴😴 Hello 4 hours of sleep!

This is my third visit to Cancun in the last two years but the first visit that isn’t work related! Yay 🤗

My boyfriend is about to head back home to New Zealand this month (I will follow later) so this was our last chance to have a couples getaway before we go back and live in New Zealand and Mexico is a million miles away 🛫 Plus, I feel bad I’ve been to Cancun twice already for work and Nathan has never even set foot on Mexico soil! I always said we’d experience it together so here we are!

We arrived into Cancun around 2.15pm this afternoon. We flew Interjet (Mexican airline) from Vancouver and they were pretty good. They’re defintaly nothing fancy (I think their Airbuses are a little old), there’s no seat back entertainment or wi-fi but the seats had heaps of legroom which is always surprising to see on aircrafts these days. Luckily I got us sat in the third row and the two rows in front of us were free during the flight so we both got our own row to stretch out on and catch up on some sleep.

I had organized a private transfer for us from the airport to our first hotel (we’re switching up between 2 hotels during our stay) however I stupidly organized a transfer from the HOTEL to the AIRPORT instead of the other way round 🙈 I’m a travel agent but I swear when it comes to my own travel I never do anything right. I didn’t even realise we were leaving for Cancun today until a couple of days ago 🤦‍♀️

Anyways, the transfer company sorted it for us and took us to Panama Jack Cancun. Our resort located right in the Hotel Zone. I’ve visited this place before for work and thought it was pretty good. We’re actually staying here for free as I have a free night through work, then we’ll switch it up tomorrow and star at a 5-star luxury resort 😍

As we’re only here for one night, they upgraded us to a Junior Suite Ocean View which was very nice of them! The room is immaculate, the shower pressure is great (I’m picky with those kinds of things) and the bar fridge is stocked (however I feel it could be stocked with more alcohol haha)

After showering off our plane ride, we headed downstairs to find some food options. This resort has a nice selection of options. There’s a coffee bar in the lobby, a beachfront buffet, plus Mongolian, Mexican & Italian restaurants. – can’t complain!

We decided to eat at one of the smaller buffets for lunch then head to the beach for a walk.

Our walk didn’t last long as the sand was too soft which made walking a little difficult 😂 we soon decided it was best if we chilled by the pool with a drink.

The pool was great to cool down in, however it was over-run with kids. Panama Jack Cancun is 100% a great place for families. The rooms are spacious, the food is varied at the buffets (even for the fussy eaters) however for me personally I don’t like being surrounded by lots of youngsters – especially as I used to be a nanny so I have this motive to smile at every little kid or converse with them if they start a conversation with me but then I’m sucked in to playing with them for a few hours 😫

When we were done swimming, we headed back up to our room to get ready for dinner. Mexican seemed like the best option to me, however Nathan was pretty keen to go back to the buffet. It took a bit of convincing from me to get him to agree to have an intimate sit down dinner at the Mexican restaurant instead of joining the buffet line 😒 but we got there eventually. It’s always nice trying new food, ecspecially when it’s all included in the rate! I can’t do a buffet 3 times in a day!

After our two-course Mexican meal (I skipped dessert) we actually went to the buffet so I could get some sweet treats and Nathan could finish his night off with some sausage meatloaf, oysters and mashed potato (randomest mix I know)

We’re now currently in bed at 9:30pm – Nanas 🛌 However we want to get up early-ish and hit the gym before breakfast. Gotta try even out all the eating with a weight or two 😜