Travel Time Is Here Again!

Mexico has been hit hard!

In May, 2009, International flights in May to and from airports serviced by one of the Mexican airport service companies (Grupo Aeroporutario Pacifico) reported in June that May traffic was down by 44% from the previous May. Wow!

Traffic overall was down 37%. So, for the first time in several months, International travel declined more rapidly than domestic travel.

So, why? We all know the biggest scare is the Swine Flu. But, the number of cases of the Swine Flu is far less than the number of cases of regular old flu flu!

Also, the drug cartels are trying their hardest to make travel to Mexico seem unsafe by terrorizing rival gangs/cartels. The media is having a field day with all this stuff. You Tube and other on-line services have been having a field day as well!

Finally, the economic downturn has created havoc on jobs and other income generating sources.

Just think of all the financial types who were traveling all over in the old days and who now do not have jobs.

Overlay the obvious on the drop in the stock market and the heretofore untouchable companies that have traveled through bankruptcy and you have increased the number of travelers who decided not to go anywhere enormously.

Well that was then and this is now.

We are not out of the woods by any stretch, but we can start planning with more confidence than in the recent past.

If you want to feel special, travel to some of the beautiful resorts in Mexico, specifically, and through out the world, more generally. Resorts that we are more familiar with include the Grupo Mayan / Grupo Vidanta resorts, which own the Grand Mayan and Mayan Palace resorts in Acapulco, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, Nuevo Vallarta, San Jose del Cabo, Puerto Penasco or Riviera Maya. Crowds are down and you have the whole beautifully manicured place to yourselves.

Our trip in November 2008 exposed us to the pleasure of reduced crowds. Although the resort seemed to have lots of guests, it did not seemed crowded. Beautiful place all to ourselves.

Look to the future. Plan now and let's get back to feeling positive about where we can go and what we can do!

Travel Ideas in Riviera Nayarit

Our objective was to see as many sites as we could while we visited Riviera Nayarit. Our base was the Grand Mayan Resort at Nuevo Vallarta, so we decided to see how far north we could get.

Originally, we checked out www.homeandabroad.com to get some ideas about specific interesting sites in the area. The website offers a great tool that allows you to personallize your interests and keep track of your trip. Changes are not a problem. There is an estimate of the amount of time the adventure will take. And there are lots of other tips and photos. Seems to be growing.

We created list of of things to see. Very ambitious list, I might add. But, as is the case with all best laid plans, we made changes. Instead of renting a car for the week, we decided to rent for a day. Instead of tackling all the projects we planned, we tackled one.

Our drive north included Rincon de Guayabitos (on the left, above), Los Ayala (on the right, above), San Francisco, Sayulita, and Punta Mita. We found each location to be quaint, quiet, beautiful and available.

Rincon de Guayabitos, for example is a phenomenal beach area, and it is beautiful in its simplicity. Los Ayala is just around the corner from the Guayabitos beach, and is very quiet, comfortable and unspoiled by the rest of the world.

For more photos, check out www.aimfair.com and click on "Excursions".

Not only are there additional photos of Guayabitos and Los Ayala, but there are pictures of San Francisco and Sayulita as well.

The beauty of this area is attracting hotel owners and other investors. We were told by a couple of Canadians, who are in the process of buying a home nearby, that plans to build large resorts are being made. Big resorts. So our suggestion is to get in your car and spend some time exploring the Riviera Nayarit now. You can tell your grand kids that you were there when is was beautiful and quiet.

Enjoy and hasta luego!

Belated Happy New Year

Our Holidays were great! Kids in town, grand kids all over the place and plenty of good wine!

In the meantime, we have added to our passion, which is traveling in Mexico. The only challenge we have now is to understand all of this "new" technology. You know, blogging, websites, posting interesting content, images that stimulate the thought process. All that stuff.

Well, since our last update, we did travel to Nuevo Vallarta and spent 2 weeks at the Grand Mayan Resort. Since this was our first visit without any children, we had great visions of accomplishments.

So, what did we do? We got the lay of the land. We checked out the new building called the Grand Luxxe, which is a new offering by the Grupo Mayan, now Vedanta Capital. We had seen pictures but had not visited. We own so we wanted to see what it was all about.

Take a look at the Grand Luxxe tower. Five stories when we arrived grew to 7 with the 8th on the way. Looks like it will be a 9 story tower.

Grand Luxxe Villa

More and more pictures and comments are coming from Puerto Vallarta about the new Grand Luxxe Villas. We expect these accommodations will be beautiful and luxurious, but don't know yet because they have not been built.

This is the first time we have stepped out to make a pre-construction purchase. On the surface, so far so good. We are traveling in November to take a first hand look at all the progress being made.

Lots of uncertainty and faith here. But, what the heck, isn't that what life is for.....taking a chance at something that appears to fit your interests and going with it? Of course, taking the chance assumes you know full well what you want and whether the chances of success are in your favor.

This is our first blog of what we hope to be many. Stay tuned and welcome to our world!