We finally got a vacation IN!! I know the timing of going on vacation is a little scary during these times, but let’s be real- a vacation is extremely necessary. We planned a trip last year to go to Puerto Vallarta (ya’ll know we love Mexico), and we pushed it out to 2022, just to be on the safe side with Covid. All this year, I have been so excited about traveling and getting out of the house, but it wasn’t until the last week before travel that I started to get nervous about the possibility of testing positive while on vacation and being stuck. (Don’t worry, she’s vaxxed over here!)
I sucked it up, got tested for COVID 2 days before our trip (even though it is not necessary to enter Mexico, we just wanted to know what we were dealing with), and packed our bags for our friends + “framily” vacation. We left from DC and headed to Secrets Vallarta Bay . Since Jay and I have been in the house for the most part when it comes to outings, I decided to splurge and get a swim out room in the preferred tower. Let me just say this, it was AMAZING! We have stayed at pretty decent resorts, but honestly this resort set the vibes for where we should be staying in the future.
Photo from Secrets Puerto Vallarta- Vallarta Bay Website
The Preferred Club was an added bonus, that wasn’t all the way necessary, but it was worth it. Having a bartender there at all times, snacks on demand (the ceviche. bruh!), and just all of us staying in the same tower- was worth it. Other than that, there were no special restaurants associated with the tower, nor were there any special pool chairs. I still would opt for the experience tho!
The food was ABSOLUTELY amazing, there was not one restaurant that we were allowed in (I’ll touch more on this as I talk about the resort), that didn’t have amazing food. And the best part about the entire vacation- it was adult only.
- The Itinerary
You all will be surprised, this is the only trip I’ve probably ever been on, that I did not do any extreme planning. We were so happy to be out of the house, we relaxed by the pool the entire time. Just a little travel tip- I wasn’t aware that Puerto Vallarta has a rainy season, so we would get enough pool time until around 4-6pm, then it would be an extreme monsoon. It would rain so hard, that it almost looked like flooding.
On our second to last day, we did go on a boat tour to a few different areas. The waters were extremely choppy, so our boat ride to the first location took almost an hour +, only for us to turn around and go to another location.
Also during our boat ride, we made another stop a very cool “Tulum” vibey beach location. It was super cute, and you know the group enjoyed some fresh lemonade, and partially drowning on the banana boat.
- The Group
I hate to brag, but we had the best friend group to travel with. Honestly- we all knew the assignment, and it was the best. We had endless laughs and jokes the entire trip.
Overall, traveling during Covid wasn’t the worst thing in the world. Once we got tested at our resort (which was included in our all-inclusive package), we relaxed our shoulders a little bit. The Covid test at the resort also wasn’t the worst thing in the world, I was little confused why we did group testing with others, in the event that someone did test positive- what would we do?
The resort was extremely clean, and always prompted us to wear our masks unless we were eating, drinking, or in the pool. We only left the resort once for fun, and the clubs were shut down due to Covid. We had authentic Mexican food at this restaurant downtown Puerto Vallarta, and once again the food was drop dead amazing.
The only downfall that I had in the resort was for our last dinner, there was a little snag in the Italian restaurant. They wanted the men to wear polo shirts and long pants, and to be real- it is August, no one packed no long pants to go to Mexico. It was so disheartening that they couldn’t bend the rules just a little. It would be one thing if we came in with our beach wear, we were actually dressed up- just weren’t wearing long pants.
That “tried” to put a damper on the evening, but we ended up going “off campus”, and really being immersed in the wonderful culture of Mexico!
This will be the most international traveling I will attend besides maybe my Bachelorette and my Honeymoon, so it was nice to see all of the procedures to feel safe while traveling out of the country.
Check out my shop the look below for some of my favorite looks/or items from vacation. Some of my items were sold out, but I tagged dupes or things I would wear.
I hope you all enjoyed my mini run down of our Mexico vacation, and while we are here- drop some bomb recommendations for Honeymoon destinations 😉
Until Next Time,
JM