Take me to the Riviera Maya

I had a countdown on my phone from the day we booked this vacation. It was due time my inner beach babe was released. Months of tanning, dieting and working out in preparation for the beach were about to pay off.

We just had to get there first... It would be an understatement to say that flying is not my thing. I hate airports, I hate airplanes, I hate flying, I hate the stress, the confusion, the ear popping, the sick feeling in my stomach...bleh. I am pretty much Kristen Wiig in Bridesmaids. "THERE IS SOMETHING THEY'RE NOT TELLING US!" But enough about that....we made it! 

We walked into our hotel lobby and were greeted with cold hand towels, champagne, and a bell hop to boot. Holy seashells, Batman (but not the Ben Affleck Batman), I felt like royalty! Every single one of the staff members was incredibly friendly and welcoming. Our room was even complete with five liquor bottles (FIVE!), Oreos, M&Ms and a stocked fridge, free of charge. Is this real life?!

View from our room.

We ate...and drank...a lot. Can you blame us? We had to take advantage of everything the All-Inclusive resort had to offer. We ordered room service like some sort of celebrities. We tried smoked grasshoppers and escargot, had some traditional Mexican dishes like flan, ate a pig that was roasted over a campfire, enjoyed plenty of sea food and drank our weight in beachy cocktails....even one straight from a coconut.

Snails, anyone?

This was by far my favorite drink of the trip.... I only took about 5,000 pictures of it.

We spent a lot of time on the beach....it was glorious...

...but always cleaned up in time for a fancy dinner.

What a babe.

My absolute favorite part of the trip was swimming with dolphins. It has been at the tip top of my bucket list since Mary Kate and Ashley's Holiday in the Sun came out on VHS. Was it as incredible as I imagined?! Every bit. The dolphins were almost like water dogs - they were so friendly and each had their own personality. They were very strong and muscley, yet silky to the touch. They kissed me, sang to me, let me hug them, held my hands, and even took me for a ride (I held on to their fins). It was incredible, and something I highly recommend doing! My inner-mermaid was dancing with joy. 

Just so that the green monster of jealousy doesn't completely overtake you, I'll tell you a few disappointments. The water was kind of dirty, the service was a little slow at times, and the yoga on the beach class I had been looking forward to was cancelled. It also rained most of our last day, which was the biggest disappointment in my book. But, everything else totally made up for it. The room? Luxurious. The food? Tasty. The drinks? Plentiful. The staff? Attentive to our every need. The beach? Sunny and sandy - what else can you need?! In all honesty, I wished we could have stayed a little longer and gotten more beach time, but my hair couldn't handle much more humidity. Cole told me I looked like Nicky from Orange is the New Black......accurate.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip, and I am now suffering from a bad case of the post-vacation blues. If anyone wants to send cookies, please do so. Now, I'm just sitting here thinking, where should we go next?! 

To see more pictures, check out my Facebook album here: Take me to the Riviera Maya