If you follow me on Instagram (which I would love for you to if you don’t) then you probably know that I spent all of last week in Cancun! As someone who loves to travel but has never made it to Mexico, I was so excited!
The story of how this trip came about is pretty crazy. Last September, while I was still living in LA, a group of friends and I were audience members on The Kelly Clarkson Show. We got to see Kristen Bell and it was an absolute blast!! Crazy enough that day the whole audience won a trip to Cancun — still in shock over it. While flights were not covered, The Kelly Clarkson Show + NBC arranged for each audience member to have 3 complimentary nights for 2 guests at the Marriott Cancun Resort which is so generous!
I knew no matter what I had to go because I mean…it was basically a free trip… who doesn’t take advantage of that?! I ended up taking my very best friend Rachel and we were able to use airline miles to get us there for almost nothing, which gave us plenty of money to budget for food/drinks. We also ended up booking an extra night and I am so glad we did.
1st Day: We decided to catch a 6am flight on Monday morning from Birmingham to Miami to Cancun because we wanted to have as many full days as possible. While it was painful to wake up at 4am, it was so worth it because we arrived to the hotel around 1:30pm and had the rest of the day to explore the hotel, go to the beach, and hang at the pool! Our first day we made zero plans because we weren’t sure how we would feel. After checking in, we unpacked our bags, changed into our swimsuits, and went in search of lunch! We ended up eating lunch at the Sacbé Beach Shack that is literally right on the beach complete with great cocktails and delicious Mexican food. We then made our way to the pool where we were hit on by pilots that were very gross and pretty much convinced me to never ever date a pilot 😂 (story time in another blog post…maybe). That night we made our way to the Lobby Bar at the adjoining hotel — the JW Marriott — and split an order of calamari over delicious margaritas! We were in bed early though after getting up so early we were exhausted.
2nd Day: To be honest the second day is a somewhat of a blur simply because we were so tired the day before, we don’t even remember falling asleep! We slept in till around 10:30am, then made our way to the pool where we hung out for most of the day. The pool had a swim up bar which you know we took full advantage of. We laid out, read our books, ate nachos again, and enjoyed the cool ocean breeze while we sipped white wine. Truly a dream. We got ready for dinner and had a delicious spread of different sushi rolls for dinner. We finished the night having beer at the hotel’s sports bar — which was hilarious. The hotel had two tech conferences in town which made for incredible people watching.
3rd Day: Our third day was spent almost exclusively at the pool. We did end up booking 80 min massages at the hotel which were AMAZING. Expensive yes, but one of the best massages I’ve ever had. Worth every single penny. We then got dressed and had a delicious Hibachi dinner at the resort! We topped off the night having margaritas back at the Lobby Bar where the great people watching was at an all time high.
4th Day: For our last day we started the day off with breakfast at the HANA Polynesian restaurant that included a delicious buffet and a full breakfast menu — everything was sooooo yummy! We then decided that our whole day was going to spent by the pool. We both finished our beach reads, enjoyed the sunshine, and soaked up every min. The night was finished with dinner at the Gustino Italian Grill in the JW Marriott which was an amazing way to end our trip. I had the best lasagna of my life, a live violinist played while we ate, and the staff could not have been more kind or attentive. Cannot recommend this restaurant enough!!
We ended our trip on Friday where we flew home and felt the post-vacation blues HARD. Travel back was definitely trickier this time because customs in Miami took FOREVER. Note to self: make sure to have at least 2.5 hours when traveling back in the USA because you never know how long customs and security will take.
This vacation was one of the best I’ve been on in a long time and I cannot recommend taking a vacation that is focused solely on resting. While there my biggest concern was what drink I was going to order and how long I wanted to spend in the pool…aka the dream.,
I cannot recommend The Marriott Cancun enough. The staff was absolutely fabulous. Every single person on the property was incredibly kind and helpful for whatever we needed. To check the resort out click here!
Hope you enjoyed my travel diary! Where should I go next? Do you have a vacation planned for this summer? Comment and let me know!
Amazing! ❤️