The visit from my family had been a long time in the planning. While we were scurrying around in Canada desperately trying to salvage something from our beloved fire truck, my parents were trying to pin us down to a date that we might be in Mexico.

In November, when the outlook on the fire truck still was naively positive, we committed to a mid-February date. Fortunately, that no longer worked for the family, so they pushed it back out to March. No worries, we said, whatever happens, we will definitely be in Mexico by March.

As the date came round, we were in Mexico, but, nowhere near their destination of Mexico City. We planned in a mid-way solution. We could hop on a bus to Puerto Vallarta, they could hop on a flight, and we’d meet them there.

Given some of the dramatic twists and turns with the van crash saga, to say I was nervous about everything falling into place for this arrangement was a bit of an understatement. From our side, as you can read in our previous blog, we had 100s of kms to cycle, a ferry to catch (that often gets cancelled due to bad weather, and only goes three times a week) and then a 10 hour bus ride. Any number of possible hiccups.

From the family’s side, things seemed a lot smoother. They’d drive to the airport, hop on a flight to Mexico City. Stay the night in Mexico City and then take a flight to Puerto Vallarta the next day. Simple.

Then the Beast from the East hit. While Knut and I were navigating our Mexican based transport logistics with a level of smoothness and efficiency that would make the Germans proud, my family was nervously watching reports of road closures, flights being grounded and even more snow on the way. As we arrived in Puerto Vallarta and breathed a sigh of relief – they started driving through ice and snow to Heathrow Airport.

I sat nervously on WhatsApp waiting for news.

“How’s it going?” I asked.

“Good, its fine. There’s a bit of snow. But it’s okay”. My sister replied.

Cool. Relax Janneke.

“Uh oh. I spoke too soon”. My sister continued. “There’s been an accident.”

“Shit”. I replied and asked for more news, with trepidation.

“Ha, no worries we got round it no problem”.

Phew.

Eventually they got to the hotel. Hurdle 1 – tick.

The next day we woke to the news that their flight was in the air! Hurdle 2 – tick! By 6pm we were in the same country! Now, all they had to do was avoid getting kidnapped by banditos between the airport and the airport hotel and we were golden.

Everything went smoothly, and they even got to try out some Mexican food – Father learning the hard way that the green sauce is usually not guacamole, but an incredibly spicy salsa. Mwhaha.

On Sunday we woke up and headed to the airport to pick them up. We hadn’t specifically arranged this with them – but obviously we had to do that dramatic set of airport hugs! Their flight arrived on time – hurdle 3 – tick!

After 9 months of not seeing each other – it was lovely to see their pasty white faces. Mother cried, of course. We headed back to our airbnb for some Coronas, actual guacamole and a proper good catch up.

Puerto Vallarta (Days 1-4)

Puerto Vallarta has some very pretty sections in some of the town – but it is primarily a resort town. Massive hotels line the beaches and the air is alive with the chatter of Americans.

However, the lovely thing with resort towns is they do cater pretty well for a tourists’ needs. And what we needed was a beautiful setting to chat, and chat some more. The whole beach is lined with bars and restaurants where you can sit with your feet in the sand, looking out onto the ocean, drinking beers for less than a £1. Can’t argue with that.

After exploring the town on the second day, we booked into a boat tour for day three. Before we departed we were ushered into a holding area where they tried to get us to part with more cash.

“You NEED a hat. You NEED sunglasses.” A man implored into a microphone. We all scoffed loudly, while Bear rubbed his freshly shaven head.

“I’m going to get a hat” He announced, succumbing to the less than subtle tactics of the gentleman with the mic. He came back proudly sporting the epitome of a tourist cap with Puerto Vallarta scrawled largely across the front.

“Great Bear” we all nodded encouragement.

“It also can get VERY choppy out there” The man with the microphone continued, while admiring Bear’s new hat. “We have sea-sickness pills available for sale here for anyone who wants them”.

Hannah and I looked at each other, remembering with amusement the hilariously disastrous and vomit ridden sailing trip we took in Barcelona for her hen do.

“I’m definitely getting one” She announced.

“Me too” I agreed. As amusing as the hen-do vomfest was, I’d rather not have a repeat.

“Well if you are, I will too”. Mother continued.

“I’ve never been sea sick in my life. I don’t need a pill”. Father announced confidently, refusing the offer.

So, with random pills popped, hats bought, and odd cinnamon flavoured coffee half-drunk, we made our way onto the boat.

It was moored next to one of the most expensive yachts in the world – making the plastic Tecate chairs that were to be our home for the next few hours look rather less than luxurious. But our host and guide was hilarious, and we knew we were in for an….interesting… journey.

The plan was to head on out over to some islands where we could do some snorkelling, visit a hidden beach, go sea kayaking and attempt stand up paddle boarding. The boat ride out was three hours long (a bit longer than we were expecting!), but it was nice to be out in the sunshine, enjoying the gentle rock of the waves.

“Is Father alright?” Hannah asked, looking askew at him.

“Oh god, Nico you’ve gone yellow”. Mother cried.

She ran to get one of the crew and Father was ushered into the ‘sick bay’ – a section at the back of the boat where poor souls were sat stooped over plastic bags, trying not to lose their breakfast.

After, unfortunately, not managing to keep down his cinnamon roll, colour began to return to Father’s cheeks. Which was our cue to launch a barrage of helpful, observant comments on him.

“Father, I thought you never got sea-sick” I offered.

“I’m feeling fine”, Hannah added, “These pills seem to be working”

Father mumbled something that might have been “piss off”, but I prefer to think it was “I’m so lucky to have such hilarious daughters”.

Our first stop was to go snorkelling. They took people out to the spot in groups, and Knut, Bear and I piled into the second boat for our turn. As we got out there, the previous group swam wildly over to us, barely giving us time to bale out before they jumped into our places.

We soon found out why. It was bloody freezing. And, the water was so choppy (as Father well knew), that it had kicked up all the sand and there was no visibility. We treaded water for fifteen minutes with our snorkelling masks on our heads, without even seeing a fish.

“Let’s just pretend we’ve been swimming with pods of dolphins through a gorgeous coral reef when we get back” We all agreed.

After the “snorkelling” trip, we had a chance to play around with some stand up paddle boards and sea kayaks. Hannah and I did laps of the boat at lightening speed, looking like we knew exactly what we were doing. The boys on the stand up paddle boards were less natural.

Every time we looked over Bear was in one of the following three positions: 1) Standing with incredibly wobbly legs and a look of fear 2) Mid fall 3) No where near the board. Knut was fairing a little better, but had no ability to turn the board, and so was just heading further and further out into the ocean in a straight line.

It was very amusing.

While we were playing with our random toys, Father and Mother had gone with a group over to the hidden beach. As we were waiting for our turn out there, they returned back. Father’s face was covered in blood and he had lost his glasses.

“Oh my god, what the hell happened?” We exclaimed.

Coming off the beach you had to swim out to the boat through a series of protruding rocks. Perhaps fairly simple on a calm day, but it was seriously choppy (as Father was yet again being reminded), and as the parents were swimming back out to the boat a huge wave overwhelmed them and whacked them both against some rocks – cutting fathers head and causing him to lose his glasses.

This was less funny. But as we passed for our turn to go on the boat I whispered to Mother – ‘make sure you get a photo”.

With all the activities completed, we started the journey back to Puerto Vallarta, at which point they opened the free bar. We sat in the sunshine, drinking cocktails and beer and had a very enjoyable journey back… Completely oblivious to the fact we were getting burnt to a cinder. Back at the Airbnb we surveyed the damage – a range of colours from tomato to lobster. We probably should have got more hats.

The next day was operation sort out hire car. Father had booked us a six-seater vehicle one way to Mexico City. We sent off Knut and Father to do the admin, as we relaxed by the pool, expecting to see them within the hour.

An hour rolled by, then another one. We were starting to get worried. Just as we were considering next steps, Father and Knut pull up in a brand new, shiny VW minibus.

“Huh?” We exclaimed.

“Long story – they didn’t have the car we booked and so had given us an alternative where not even a child would be able to sit comfortably in the “sixth” seat, let alone six foot something Bear. Not forgetting we had to fit all our luggage and two bikes on the back. We refused, the guy was incredibly helpful, found this VW bus, and gave us a $200 refund for the hassle. It couldn’t have worked out better”

So with that sorted, we headed over to the very cute little town of El Tuito an hour from Puerto Vallarta to explore and get some lunch.

We then spent the afternoon in the glorious botanical gardens admiring the beautiful flowers and colourful birds.

With Puerto Vallarta complete, it was time for our next stop.

Tequila and Guadalajara (Days 5-6)

On the way over to Guadalajara we took an afternoon detour to the quaint town of Tequila – the centre of the area where ALL the tequila in the world is produced.

We found a restaurant to try out some tequila. None of the drinks we ordered were very nice, but we at least got to tick the box!!

We got back in the car and went onto “Guadaaala-HARA” as Mother continually sang in the back. We had booked another airbnb and navigated there incredibly easily, but unfortunately the access instructions were like something out of an escape room puzzle. After ten minutes standing in a lift, completely befuddled by what we should be doing, we rang the man who explained what to do. Sorted, we were in the flat.

Now we needed to find the parking garage and see whether our beloved hire car would fit into it. We roll up. Bear jumps out.

“It’s tight, my god it’s tight”.

Knut channels his inner Schumacher and prepares for some of the best driving of his life. As he creeps forward the angle of the floor changes and the ceiling edges closer. Eventually we get through, but then we meet another low ceiling, this one with an even sharper angle of floor.

The parking attendant looks nervously on.

But, we make it!!

“When you leave,” The parking attendant proposes “You fill the car with people and weigh it down just a bit further”. Yes, genius.

That night we headed out into Guadalajara – it’s an absolutely buzzing place. There is a long road (the Chapeltepec) which has a huge number of really cool restaurants and bars. We settled on a cool brewpub and had a lovely meal.

The rest of the family headed home, but Knut and I headed out to another brewery and spend the evening watching an amazing Afro-Beat band from Colombia.

Guadalajara itself was very cool. There were lots of awesome museums, quirky cafes and funky street art. Well worth a stop on a trip.

Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende (Days 7-9)

Heading over to San Miguel De Allende we found google’s route timing to be actually accurate and we had made really good time.

“Shall we go for lunch in Guanajuato?” I suggested just as we were passing the turn…

“Urm….” the reply came from the family

“Quick, we have two seconds to decide!” I hurried them!

“Okay…lets go!”

We quickly rerouted and swung into the BEAUTIFUL city of Guanajuato. It’s all cut into rocks and so we travelled through cool tunnels to get to the centre. We had some lunch and gave ourselves an hour to get round (very ambitious!). But, lovely to get a taster of this delightful city.

In San Miguel de Allende we got the opportunity to test Konstantin’s driving skills again. The streets are narrow, sometimes steep, often one way (often not, when they should be!), and very full of random pedestrians stepping out without looking. Our airbnb had promised free parking, but there wasn’t anything available when we got there. A bit of back and forth, some very poor pleading in Spanish and we sorted it out!

The town was gorgeous, as was our airbnb. We had two full days there, which was enough to get out and see the sights and RELAX (which we hadn’t had much time for up to this point).

We did have another water based situation (again involving Father…). The parents woke up to their whole bathroom flooded, with water pouring in from a drain out on the street. We contacted the airbnb host who was very relaxed about the situation – ‘Oh yeah, that can happen when it rains’.

It hadn’t rained for weeks. We pointed this out to him.

‘Oh well I’ll send someone round to clear it up’. At this point Mother had been mopping up every hour and had used most of the towels to stop the persistent encroach of the water to their bed.

We pointed out it might be a slightly bigger issue – as we’d also noticed the whole street was flooded. Eventually some people came round and cordoned off the whole road to halt the tide. By our last day Mother was only having to mop up every 4 hours, which we took as a result.

Mexico City (Days 10-13)

On from San Miguel we headed to Teotihuacan.

We were full of nervous anticipation about this visit. We’d heard it can be so crowded you can barely move around, and that the advice was to get there as early as possible to avoid the hoards of tourist buses. But, unfortunately, that wasn’t an option.

Thankfully, the fear-mongers on the internet and in the guidebook were wrong. It was busy, but it wasn’t heaving. We didn’t have to queue to climb up any of the pyramids, it wasn’t a problem to park, and we got very little hassle from hawkers.

Which meant we got to enjoy the place very stress free. And my, what a completely INCREDIBLE place.

After exploring for around 2 hours we felt we had taken in quite a lot and were ready for some lunch. We passed all the really touristy places surrounding the pyramids and ended up in a very cute restaurant in a back street and ordered the menu el dia – a two course meal with drinks for £2 per person! It was very yummy!

On from Teotihuacan we had the next big stress-inducing event of the day. Driving in to Mexico City. This is one of the biggest cities in the world and is renowned for its traffic and pollution. So it was with trepidation that we drove in late Tuesday evening.

But, it was surprisingly fine. Konstantin yet again showed off his driving skills and was able to deftly avoid taxi drivers cutting him up, bus drivers randomly pulling out (not sure whether they don’t have indicators or they don’t know how to use them), and the complications of google navigation when three roads are piled on top of each other!

We made it to the hotel in one piece and relaxed.

The next day we headed back out of the city to Xochimilco to visit the ‘Floating Gardens’, a series of canals snaking through a number of different city farms. We hired one of the brightly coloured boats for an hour to explore – and were very pleased to see another boat in the first few minutes who came up and sold us all a beer! Cheers!

It was a beautiful little journey and the boats looked really cool.

After Xochilmilco we took a trip to Frida Kahlo’s very BLUE house – it was pretty crowded, but great to see the home of this amazing artist. It was particularly awesome to see a new exhibition of her dresses!

We got back to the hotel just in time, as the heavens quite dramatically opened. The waters in the street rose and rose, and we sat watching and wondering whether half a bottle of wine and four beers was enough to last the evening. It wasn’t.

We spent the next two days exploring Mexico City properly. One day for the central area…

And one day for the Museum of Anthropology – an incredible collection of Mexican history and fascinating to learn more about this amazing country. Just bring enough water and energy! It’s big.

And then, unfortunately, it was time to say goodbye! One of our best holidays ever for sure.

…After the family left we headed out to Lucha Libre (Mexican wrestling) on the Friday night in the Arena Mexico. This was very good fun and well worth trying to plan in (it starts at 8pm, but actually most people didn’t turn up until about 9.30). We also went to watch the Ballet Folkloria de Mexico at the Palacio de Bellas Artes for 300 pesos. This was excellent and very worth it.

Mexico for two weeks – The Logistics

 

The Plan Summary

This is a summary of our itinerary, with some suggestions of tweaks and alternative options below.

Date	Activity
Saturday 3rd March	Arrive Mexico 18.45pm Flight BA243 from London Heathrow to Mexico City
Sunday 4th March	Fly to Puerto Vallarta (multiple flights a day)
Monday 5th March	Puerto Vallarta – Explore Puerto Vallarta. Drink cocktails on the beach.
Tuesday 6th March	Puerto Vallarta – Boat trip out to islands
Wednesday 7th March	Puerto Vallarta – Afternoon trip to Botanical Gardens
Thursday 8th March	Drive to Guadalajara Via Tequila
Friday 9th March	Guadalajara – Day exploring Guadalajara
Saturday 10th March	Drive to San Miguel de Allende via Guanajuato
Sunday 11th March	San Miguel Allende – Day exploring
Monday 12th March	San Miguel Allende – Day exploring
Tuesday 13th March	Drive to Mexico City – via Teotihuacan
Wednesday 14th March	Mexico City – Trip to Xochilmilco and Frida Kahlo Museum
Thursday 15th March	Mexico City – Exploring Mexico City centre
Friday 16th March	Mexico City – Visit Anthropology Museum. Leave Mexico 21.00 Flight BA242 Mexico City to London Heather.

Possible adaptations of this plan:

• Flying to Puerto Vallarta but staying in one of the other smaller coastal towns nearby (Sayulita, San Blas)
• Visiting Guanajuato instead of San Miguel de Allende (there is a lot of debate about which is better, they are both beautiful!)
• Not flying to Puerto Vallarta at all but staying in the vicinity of Mexico City – a few days in Guanajuato, a few days in San Miguel de Allende, a few days in Mexico City, and then south through the Paso de Cortes (to see volcanoes) and then visit Cholula and Puebla for a few days.

Other options for two week holidays to Mexico from the UK could be:

• Baja California (Flying into La Paz and heading North, or Tijuana and heading South).
• Cancun and the Yucatan peninsula out to Palenque (and maybe Chiapas, depending on timings)
• Mexico City and South to Cholula, Puebla and Oaxaca (with an internal flight to/from Oaxaca at start or end of the trip).

The Destinations

We’ve plotted most of the highlights of our trip on this google map so you can see the geography:

Transport

We hired a car via a car comparison website through Thrifty. We had quite specific needs – one way car hire and a car big enough to fit 6 people and two bikes in (or on). It was relatively difficult and expensive to get transport one way for 6 people, but the benefits of the flexibility of having our own car were definitely worth it. There was a bit of confusion about the car we had hired which you can read about above!

We drove the toll roads between all the cities and these were incredibly good (we think it worked out at about 3 pesos a km, so not completely cheap). The traffic wasn’t too bad between the cities, but the cities themselves were relatively stressful to drive. We navigated with google maps and found it very reliable (both on routes and its estimates of trip duration).

Accommodation

We wanted a certain level of privacy and ability to sit around and catch up, so we generally booked into airbnbs. These have their benefits, but also can be frustrating when you need to arrange key pick up and can’t leave your bags there earlier in the day. It was hard to find whole airbnb properties that had space for 3 couples. There are lots of cheap hotel options (although it does get more expensive in Mexico City) if you are less bothered about a communal space (…and some even have courtyards so you can get that).