Travel Journal: Playa del Carmen & Chichén Itzá

Happy Friday, Friend! What a hectic week it has been since I last posted to the blog. I delivered a big elopement gallery as well as a newborn session gallery, and I could not be happier with how the photos turned out (coming soon, I promise!). I also worked two shifts in the emergency department and made some travel plans for my birthday weekend at the end of this month. I really want to share my birthday plans with you, but I have to wait until after! 

Today’s blog post is all about the trip my husband Keith and I took with some friends to Mexico about a month ago. I love posting about our personal trips, it’s like sharing my travel journal with you all. I also want to be very clear that I have never gotten paid to promote any of the businesses mentioned on this blog – trust me, if I ever am I will make it very clear (and I would also never promote something I didn’t 100% trust and believe in). 

Friday

We started the trip off strong by flying from our local airport here in Northwest Arkansas – XNA. It’s only about 20 minutes from our house, which makes the whole experience much more pleasant (the next closest airport is in Tulsa which is about an hour and a half from where we live – not very pleasant). We had a layover in Dallas, and all in all it was a very smooth trip to get to Mexico. Our ultimate destination was Playa del Carmen, so we were flying into Cancún. 

We almost couldn’t believe how quickly we got through customs (they have an automated system that doesn’t even stamp your passport anymore, which was a huge bummer for me because I just renewed mine and it still has no stamps in it!). And then our bags, which we’d been forced to check in Dallas due to a full flight, were the fourth and fifth ones to come out on the carousel. What luck! 

And then we went to the car rental place. That’s where they always get you – and by “they”, I mean “trips”. There was an issue with the type of insurance we had purchased when making the reservation, and they were going to charge us way more than we thought for the car rental. Luckily, they refunded us the full amount we’d already paid, and we hopped on the bus to Playa. The bus had been the original plan, and the rental car was kind of a last minute decision anyways. No harm done. Trip still going strong. 

When we arrived at the bus station in Playa del Carmen, our two friends who had arrived earlier in the day met us (you might remember Aida and Daniel from when I photographed their courthouse wedding back in 2021). It was such a relief to have arrived and to see our friends after a long day of traveling! The 1.5 mile walk to get from the bus station to our Airbnb didn’t even phase us. 

Saturday

After sleeping in the next morning, the four of us ate breakfast at Choux Choux Café. I got the avocado toast and I have no regrets, it was amazing! They top it with crispy onions and I’m still dreaming about it. I also got a chai tea, but it wasn’t my favorite. 

Once our stomachs were full, we decided to walk around town while waiting for the rest of our friends to arrive. Little did we know it wouldn’t be until after 3:00 pm. Slowly, making our way from one air conditioned store to the next, we made it to the bus stop once again. It was so hot, and at the time I thought that was the hottest I’d be on the trip. Poor, young Bree. So much to learn. 

After picking up our friend from the bus stop, we stopped for a snack. It was way after lunchtime, but our supper reservation wasn’t until around 8:00 pm, so we decided to get a snack to hold us over. I got guacamole, and once again I have no regrets. If you can’t tell, I love avocados. Fueled up once again, we made the long trek back to our Airbnb. Soon after, the last two friends who were joining us on the trip arrived. Our group was finally complete!

When I say the sweat was pouring off of me … it was pouring. A dip in the Airbnb apartment complex’s pool and an electrolyte drink were completely necessary before showering and getting ready for dinner. 

Aida used to live in Playa del Carmen, and she still has several friends in the area. We met up with several of them for supper that night at Trujillos Cantina de Selva. As are most restaurants in Mexico, it is open air seating. Honestly, as soon as the sun goes down, the heat goes with it. It was quite pleasant sitting outdoors for supper that night, and the staff had something burning that kept the mosquitos away. 

Sunday

Sunday morning breakfast at La Cueva del Chango (translation: The Monkey Cave) was a must. It’s always so nice to travel with someone who is familiar with the area and can take you to the best restaurants. There I had a delicious juice of the day and my favorite breakfast of chilaquiles. It was such a unique restaurant, I definitely recommend it if you’re in the area. 

One of Aida’s friends is getting married in a few months, and her bachelorette party coincided with our trip. Aida and I and Laura, our other girlfriend on the trip, were invited to the party, which consisted of going to a private beach club. The three of us were the first to arrive, and it was really nice to have the pool to ourselves. But once other people (not with the bachelorette party) started coming in, it got pretty loud and crazy. Laura and I decided to leave the party early and meet up with Keith and Laura’s husband Joe for supper at Tahini, a Greek restaurant not far away. It turned out to be one of my favorite meals of the trip – a big plus was the fact that it had indoor seating and air conditioning, along with delicious food. 

Monday

Beach day! Okay, we technically only went to the beach for a few hours early in the morning, but it still counts. Playing in the ocean is fun and all, but as I’ve said before on this blog, I’m more of a mountain person. I got my fill of the ocean for at least the next year on this trip.

After the beach we poked around in a few shops, ate lunch at a vegetarian restaurant called BIO-Natural, stopped in for chocolate and wifi at Ah Cacao Chocolate Café, and visited Louis Tussaud’s Wax Museum, which was just as terrible as we expected it to be (but it had air conditioning, so there were no complaints from us). Then for supper we ate at 500 Gramos Italian Steakhouse & Grill and it was quite delicious. 

Tuesday

The best and worst day of the trip.

We had booked a tour of Chichén Itzá, the Mayan pyramids, one of the “New 7 Wonders of the World”. Thanks to my fifth grade social studies project, I’ve always had a fascination for the place. Our bus was to pick us up at 7:15 am, which was fine, but what we didn’t know was that the air conditioning in the bus wouldn’t be working. We also didn’t know that we were the first to be picked up and that it would take about two hours before we actually left Playa to make the two hour drive to our first stop on the tour. 

Luckily, or maybe not so luckily, it wasn’t immediately evident that the air conditioning wasn’t working. It just kind of seemed like it didn’t work very well (the understatement of the century).

Our first stop was at a cenote – an underground spring created from a sinkhole. After the warm bus ride and the rising temperature, jumping into 68 degree water was at first a shock, and then perfectly refreshing. We were also fed an incredible meal of authentic Mexican food, and felt pretty good as we headed back to the bus to resume our trip to the pyramids. 

It was then that the day took a turn for the worse. It was now hotter outside, and the bus had been off for the entire time we were swimming and eating. It was never able to cool down. We had about an hour drive to Chichén Itzá, and it was unbearably hot in that bus. It reminded me of our RV days when we drove all day in the California heat (our hottest day of driving was 117 degrees in Needles, CA) and then had to wait half the night for the camper to cool down. We would put frozen t-shirts on our necks and take cold showers in the campsite bathroom. It was absolutely miserable then, and it was absolutely miserable in Mexico. I’m pretty sure I dissociated for most of that drive.

The tour company handled it very well. They bought us complimentary water bottles to make sure we stayed hydrated, and they called for a new bus to meet us at the pyramids to switch out with the old bus. 

At the pyramids, our tour guide told us about some of the amazing architectural aspects of the pyramids, and how they were built to optimize sound. It’s very fascinating, and I’m so glad I was able to see the pyramids in person. 

Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of shade at Chichén Itzá. Although I had water to drink and had had an ice cream bar to cool down when we first arrived after riding in the hot bus, I was still very close to experiencing heat stroke. Like, I stopped sweating altogether. Fortunately, there is one store at the pyramids that has air conditioning. I was able to go in there, drink another water bottle, start sweating again, and felt much better. 

By the time our tour group was ready to leave the pyramids, our new bus had arrived. We simply moved our things over and then enjoyed the ice cold air conditioning (at least, that’s how it felt to us!). Our last stop of the day was at Valladolid, a historic town with beautiful architecture and an amazing churro scene. 

By the time we headed back to Playa del Carmen, we were tired but feeling much better than we had earlier in the day. Luckily, we had a two hour drive to rest up, as well as another hour of dropping people off at their resorts before we were dropped off near our Airbnb. 

Wednesday

Our last morning of the trip, we went back to Choux Choux Café, this time with the whole group. I obviously got the avocado toast again (it was just as good as I remembered it) as well as Le ChouChou smoothie, which was so refreshing and delicious. 

Keith and I were the first ones to leave, so after breakfast we walked to the nearby bus station, and took the bus back to Cancún. 

I only wish this was the end of the story. 

Our flight back to Arkansas had a layover in Charlotte, NC. Now, I’ve flown through Charlotte a number of times, and never – not once – have I had an uneventful trip through that airport. Either my incoming flight gets delayed and I have to run across the airport to make my connection, or my outgoing flight gets delayed and I have to wait for several hours in the airport, or my gate gets changed at the last minute and I have to run across the airport to the new gate … I’m telling you, not one. Single. Time. 

And this trip was no different. 

Due to rain, on our incoming flight from Mexico we had to circle the airport for about 45 minutes waiting to see if the conditions cleared enough to land. The captain announced that if it would be longer than that, we would have to divert to another airport due to being low on fuel. Great. 

Luckily, we were able to land in Charlotte. But, again because of the rain, all the flights from earlier in the day had been delayed and the plane for our outgoing flight back to Arkansas wouldn’t be arriving on time. Thus, our four hour layover (already long) turned into about six hours. We didn’t arrive back home until after 1:00 am and didn’t get to sleep until about 2:00 am. Fortunately, I did not have to work the next day. 

Okay, now the story is complete! I hope you enjoy reading realistic travel content that is full of mishaps, miscalculations, and misadventures – because you are definitely in the right place. All in all it was such a fun trip, and jumping in the cenote and seeing Chichén Itzá were definitely the highlights for me. If you’ve ever been on a trip that had major mishaps (but that you still had a blast on), I want to hear about it in the comments! 

*All my blog posts contain a selection of images that I’ve taken. This blog post contains images that I took myself for personal use and enjoyment and are not intended to be used for marketing purposes. Most of them were taken on a cell phone, and all of them are unedited. If you are interested in viewing some galleries of my couples, intimate wedding, and elopement photography, click here. If you’re interested in booking a wedding or session with me, I am more than happy to send you a full gallery upon request!

I’m a wife, a dog mom, a foodie, a wanderer, a registered nurse, and a couples/intimate wedding/elopement photographer … and this blog will cover it all! If you enjoyed this post, first of all thank you, and second of all please follow me on Instagram + Facebook and sign up for my monthly newsletter to get exclusive wedding planning advice and access to all of my new (and old) freebies! If you have any questions about elopement photography, my journey from nursing to photography, or my time spent as a full-time RVer, drop a comment and I just might write a blog post answering your question (but I definitely will)!

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