All Inclusive, First Time for the Kids!

We just returned from an amazing trip to Los Cabos. We had an amazing time as a family and an amazing time individually!

I want to explain why Los Cabos is referred to by so many names. There is San Cabo, Cabo San Lucas, Los Cabos, Cabo. They are all a general area, like a city (although, more the sizes of Lagrange than an actual city), each of the other names are the burbs if you will. So Los Cabos is the general area and Cabos San Lucas is the marina area, and so on. So when you hear anything including Cabo, it’s the same general area.

The first question anyone ever asks me when I start talking about my travels is, do you feel safe? I want to start this blog by talking about how safe I do feel in Mexico. One of the questions someone asks was how did they treat you since we're talking about building a wall?

I will just say this, we were greeted by every single person that we came in contact with, whether at the airport or transfer drivers, at the resort, in the marina, on our taxi ride to another Resort, everywhere we went, we were treated with nothing but respect and love. We saw a t-shirt that I wish I had bought! It said “Congratulations you made it to the FUN side of Trump’s wall!” Haha, sense of humor is always needed in politics.

No matter what your politics are, no matter what you feel about people or a situation, try to broaden your horizons and live and visit as if you were going to live in that location. I promise if you will vacation to places you've only dreamed about, you will be a different person. My number one goals as a parent is help my children understand we are all fundamentally the same and travel helps me share that with them.

Enough about politics! We arrived in Cabo about noon and got through customs extremely quick. I don't know if our plane got there early, maybe they don't have as many coming in on a Monday, who knows I don't care, I was excited! When we got to our transfer, they greeted us with a nice wet hand towel to freshen up after our travels. It smelled like lemongrass it was amazing! We had a little Coke Lite and maybe a Corona and made our way to the resort. Cabo is in the desert it is extremely dry and extremely sandy and dusty. At first I was turned off and thought why did I come here? But as we pulled into a resort it became much more lush and much more green and definitely much more beautiful! Cabo has long been a golfer's Paradise but now it's also a sport Fisherman's dream! As we found out from our Taxi Driver, it's the second most visited destination based on sport fishing next to Australia.

We were not there to fish. We were there to soak in the sun, sit on the beach, lounge by the pool, go see the Arches, enjoy some great food and just be with each other as a family on vacation enjoying ourselves. We very much accomplished our goal!

I don't really have a lot to add or say about the actual destination, it is gorgeous the pictures speak for themselves. But I do want to mention a couple of things about traveling with your children. Sometimes it's hard to get into the groove of vacation, we're busy, we have very busy lives, sports, Scouts, drama, so many things that we have to deal with on a daily basis that sometimes it can be very difficult to unwind and be in the moment. I worked very hard on myself to make sure that I was in the moment as often as possible on this trip.

I spent a lot of time giggling and laughing on the beach at the resort. I have a video that I have embedded below because you have to see the water the water was gorgeous! I love the little fishies. I wanted to bring them home, I wanted to protect them and I wanted to play with them. Being in that moment with my daughter meant the world to me. She absolutely loved taking video of me acting silly, laughing and giggling with me, and acting like we've never seen fish before. Those are the moments that you can't predict. You can't create or Force. They just happen organically and magically. That is why we go on vacation! That is why we work hard so that we can play hard. We want to make sure that our children have fond memories of us, fond memories of their childhood, and learn a little bit about the world.

My kids would have adopted my attitude if I didn't love Mexico. They were little leary, they weren't exactly all excited about going other than getting the all included part of the package They were just going because it was somewhere fun to say have been. Oh and Mom and Dad paid for it! But they were just going with the flow. By the end of the first day, they realized that the Mexico they've been hearing about on TV is not the Mexico they visited. Yes there are bad parts, we drove through some pretty shady areas. We saw apartments that I wouldn't want to be in at night. But they saw the people who place their hand on their heart to say hola every single time they saw them. They greeted them with a warm smile they offered them towels when they needed it, they offered them food when they needed it. They showed the grace and the hospitality that I want my children to know and to show to other people.

I know they work at the resort and it's their job. I get that. I'm sure in some capacity my children know that, but probably not as black and white as you and I know. What it taught my children is that you can be different, you can visit, you can go to the beach, to the mall (yes we went to a mall, we had my daughter didn’t I?). We walked around the marina. They got to see panhandling first-hand. People of every age selling trinkets from the marina. They would walk up to us all the time asking us to buy this or that. They approached us while we were dining on a pier at the marina. They saw that when the band came over and play for us we tipped them when they were finished. This taught them that you treat people with respect, you pay for what you get and you appreciate every single moment of every single day.

I saw so many smiles on their faces, I will never forget a single one. My children are amazing! My husband is amazing! To have us all together in one place, where we could relax, be with each other, and not have to worry about budget or expenses was absolutely priceless. Sure, we could go to the beach in Florida. We could go to the beach in Georgia and we can have an amazing time. A trip is what you make of it. But to take the part of a trip (finances and ‘I want’) away from the actual trip, makes it so much better! It also helps that when you're sitting at the pool and you get thirsty,sweet little waiter comes over and asks if he can get you anything. He also brought food. You're really can't beat that with any type of relaxation!

So if you ever ask me for a price for an all-inclusive resort vacation, you have to keep in mind that it's going to sound higher than when you rent a condo and drive yourself to a beach in Florida. You also have to remember that everything, I mean every single detail, is included. The only time we spent money, was for tips, when we felt like we got extra service and of course when the Bellman moved our luggage for us. You have to experience it to understand it.

Hopefully I've given you a little taste of the freedom that an all-inclusive resort vacation can give you, because it is the most freeing vacation you will ever take! Oh and I don't want to be home! I miss Cabo terribly!
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