Planning A Mexican Adventure

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - November 2014

Today marks the first day of unemployment for me, or rather, shall I say the pursuit of self-employment. Yesterday was my last day working for my company for nearly 3.5 years. And as bittersweet as it was to leave my company and great co-workers, it's time for more challenging endeavors. I'll going to start working on knocking out some of my 2015 Goals, which include traveling at least 30 days outside the US. Soon my girlfriend and I will be heading off to spend 18 days in different cities in Mexico. The last time I was in Mexico was last November and I stayed 4 nights at an all-inclusive resort in Puerto Vallarta.  I loved Puerto Vallarta and knew that I wanted to go back soon. It's so beautiful and inexpensive and just an overall fun place to be. It also helps that it's not too far away from my home base of Northern California so the flight isn't too long. 

Why Mexico?

There were several reasons why I ultimately chose Mexico as my next international destination to travel to:

• I want to practice my Spanish. In high school and in college I took Spanish classes and fell in love with the language. I've even took some lessons when I stayed in Malaga, Spain for a month. I've even have been practicing on the Duolingo app on my phone. The reality is, I'm not able to really use the language in conversations because I don't know many Spanish speaking friends. Ideally, I would like to immerse myself in the culture and force myself to use the language. Although this trip isn't long enough to really build up my Spanish speaking skills, I want to at least try and get more practice.
• I want my money to go far. The food, lodging, and transportation for this trip are inexpensive compared to other international destinations and I won't take a huge hit to my cash reserves.
• I want to do more exploring in a place I've already been to. The first time I went to Mexico was on a crusie ship that stopped in Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, and Cabo San Lucas. I mainly did touristy things but it was fun. The second time was on another crusie that stopped in Ensenada, Mexico and I didn't even get off the ship at the port. The third time I was with some of my coworkers on a CPE conference at an all-inclusive resort in Puerto Vallarta. During that trip, I spent most of my time at the resort but we did get a chance to go into the nearby town and eat at a restaurant and walk around a little bit. Even though it wasn't for long, it was being in the middle of the town that I was drawn to that environment and knew I had to return. I wanted to experience more of the Mexican culture and less of the touristy stuff. 
• I love the food, people, and culture. I love the laid back lifestyle and how connected they are to the food. I'm craving eating authentic Mexican food for a change and interacting with the locals.

I didn't have too much time for planning this trip and the original plan was to quit my job AND have my house sold before I left. Now, with my original buyers falling out of escrow I had to relist my house. Luckily, I got another full price offer after relisting, but if this sale goes through it won't close until I return from my trip. Also, I'm under the time constraints of my girlfriend's work schedule. She has a lot of available vacation hours to take, but she was recently promoted to a new position at her company. Not everyone has the luxury of just quitting their job and traveling for weeks at a time. I'm fortunate enough that she is able to join me on this adventure and she can experience her first international trip and see what I had experienced in Puerto Vallarta. 

Trip Details

My trip will start off at the Hyatt Ziva in Puerto Vallarta all-inclusive resort for 5 nights. From there, I have 10 days that are unplanned at this point. I was thinking of heading to Sayulita and other beach towns and possibly San Miguel de Allende. We will then make our way to Mexico City via bus where we will spend at least 2 nights before we return home. 

To me it was important to have the first several days booked and really wanted to just ease into the trip by relaxing first at an all-inclusive resort. I wanted to see what Hyatt had to offer with their all-inclusive property in Puerto Vallarta. And at only 20K points per night, I had no problem redeeming points, especially considering the fact that I will be getting 20% points refund on my redemption, which will be 20K points, good for at least another free night at a Hyatt property in the future. 

I also wanted the last couple days booked when we end up in Mexico City. The middle of the trip will just be about wandering around and seeing how we feel. If we come across other travelers or locals who have recommendations that worth checking out we will consider it. Through a combination of more hotel points, Airbnb and just stumbling upon places that appear to be nice enough, we will have a good mix of options. 

The Budget

Recently, I read a post from Justin at Root of Good where he shared his budget for seven weeks in Mexico. Not only did that post provide inspiration to travel to Mexico but I liked how he had his budget laid out. I decided to use his budget as a template for my trip. 

Here's my travel budget for the two of us:

So, with a net vacation cost of $104 per day, it seems a bit high but I expect this to be a conservative estimate. After I return I'll compare my budget to actual expenses and see how did overall. Spending less than $2K is very doable given the fact that I have no income and I don't want to drain my cash reserves too much. 

I'm very fortunate that a large portion of the trip will be covered with some of my points and miles balances and not eat up a lot of my cash. I was also able to take advantage of some great promotions including:

•  10% points back on American Airlines redemptions with the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select MasterCard that I applied for from my March Credit Card App-Spree
• 20% points refund on Hyatt award redemptions
• and the Club Carlson Rewards Visa credit card 2nd night free bonus award (unfortunately that benefit is going away soon)

Even after all of these huge redemptions I am still left with a healthy amount of points and miles for future travel. I may even take advantage of my recent credit card sign up bonus from my March Credit Card App-Spree where I applied for the IHG Rewards Club Select Credit Card. The IHG credit card bonus just posted to my account and I was planning on only receiving 70k points but I asked Chase to kindly match the better IHG offer of 80k points for me and they did (hat tip to Deals We Like). I got an extra 10k points for an easy secure message to Chase!

Right now, I'm really excited to finally be free from the cubicle and go on a trip longer than a week. Having my girlfriend by my side and being able to have a new adventure together is what it is all about. When I return, I'll hopefully be closing on my home sale and then it's down to business and focusing on some entrepreneurial ideas that I have. I want to make the most of my newfound freedom and combine business and travel together to achieve my ideal lifestyle.

Hasta Luego!

Do you have any suggestions for where to stay, eat, and play in or near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico City and places in between? I'd love to hear!