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Another Birthday in Paradise

If this is not your first time reading my blog, then you know last year I planned a last-minute trip to Costa Mujeres (outside of Cancun) for my birthday . I gave my friends 45 day notice and 8 of them jumped on board. This year I gave ample notice, but still thought only bae and I would be going because the resort I chose was a bit pricey. However, I was blessed to have 5 friends join bae and I. My birthday was on a Wednesday, so bae and I flew down on Tuesday and the creaux came on Wednesday.

Travel Day from Hell

It was my birthday trip, so of course we flew first class. I typically travel American Airlines so I purposefully chose the flight that would allow us to fly in the pods to Cancun. We had a slight delay taking off from St. Louis, which decreased our layover time. I planned on chilling in the American Express Centurion Lounge between flights (I recently got the AMEX platinum card and was so excited to be a cool kid in the lounge), but we had no time. We did chill in the Admirals lounge for a little while before our flight departed St. Louis.

I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan, and recently decided to start re-reading the books, and re-watching the movies, so I watched the first Harry Potter movie, ordered a coffee and baileys (I never order coffee on planes, but I had not had any and a sister needs her coffee) and enjoyed my flight laying back in the pod. I was the 2^nd person to get off the flight so I knew I would have a good position in immigrations….as soon as I turned the corner, I was like WTF! There were hundreds of people in the immigration lines. We picked line #4 which did not appear that bad but proved to be a mistake. We spent 3.5 hours in that line, while we watched the other lines quickly get people out. What we later learned was, there was a plane from Russia (insert a side eye to Putin) and most of them did not have the proper VISA to enter Mexico, so all these Russians were holding up the line. When we finally made it through it was smooth sailing, we hopped in our private shuttle and off to Atelier Playa Mujeres Resort. It was about a 45-minute ride and our driver had some cold beers waiting for us and we drank so pulled up to this gorgeous resort.

Resort Life

I have sent a few clients to Atelier Resort and was dying to stay there myself. As soon as you walk in the resort, your nose is filled with this divine smell from the resort’s signature scent that fills the lobby. Your eyes are drawn everywhere looking at how beautiful the property is. We were booked in one of the Inspira rooms, which is their club level rooms, that gets extra amenities such as separate check-in, that has its own bar and some food for you to enjoy. My favorite part of the check-in process was choosing amongst three scents to be placed in your room each night for turndown service. I went with the ginger and lemongrass scent, but as I type this I realized I don’t think they ever put the scent in our room, or I was too tipsy each night to remember.

We checked in our Swim out suite, and it was beautiful, a very large spacious room, with a large bathroom. A bottle of chilled Moet (they know the way to my heart) and bottles of tequila, vodka, rum, and whiskey. A stocked mini bar with beers, soda, water, chips, cookies, chocolate bars, and nuts. All this is included in the room at no additional charge.

Since we were so late to the resort, we decided to quickly freshen up, get a drink and head to the Asian fusion restaurant for some sushi and dinner. The sushi was the bomb and so fresh, it made us question the sushi restaurants we frequent at home.

The next day, my 39^th birthday (my last year in my 30s…..jeez), I woke up in paradise! It was amazing. We had a chill day as we waited for the creaux to arrive. I chilled in our swimout pool, drank champs and tons of margaritas. Then part of the creaux had their own travel day from hell, they were sitting on the plane in Dallas for 3 hours due to freezing rain. Once everyone arrived it was late, I still had on my birthday queen swimsuit, and instead of putting on my birthday dress we just went to dinner as is. It was perfect!

Thursday, we started our resort routine, wake up, breakfast, drinks, then pool, drink, pool, drink, pool, drink. What I love about my travel creaux, when we go to islands we come to relax! We aren’t excursion people; we have ziplined till our hearts are content, we just want to drink in the pool, talk, laugh, and chill. We know what is ahead of us when we get back home. Now don’t get me wrong, we do go on many trips and immerse ourselves in the culture, we do tours, museums, etc…,but these resort trips, especially to the countries we have been to a million times, we come to relax and chill together.

The Food!

The food at this resort is seriously restaurant quality. The breakfast buffet is even good, and I am not a buffet girl. The seafood was fresh fresh. The best part about the Inspira rooms is you can order lobster for room service. Bae ordered it every day. The lobster was the BOMB. We ate at most of the restaurants, the seafood I had lobster (AGAIN), Asian (assortment of sushi and beef and noodle dish), Italian (seafood pasta), Japanese (assortment of sushi), Steak (NY strip). The steak house was probably my least favorite spot. The pool food was the bomb too, the vegetable springs rolls and shrimp dumplings were amazing. I must shout out Moises, our server every day at the pool, he was the man!

I would hands down go to this resort again. It is not a turn up resort, but they do have parties on the beach a couple times a week, a club, a vibey rooftop scene at night. We have come to the conclusion we are getting older and tired. If we stayed up past midnight, we were just sitting talking to each other and drinking. We did peek in the club during the day and it was beautiful. It reminded you of Truth, the night club from the tv series Power. The pool doesn’t have a DJ, they just play some music, but not very loudly. The last day we brought a speaker and had our own little dance party in the pool.

I literally had one of the best birthdays. I am forever thankful for those who came to be part of it. If you are looking for a luxury resort, with bomb food and some relaxation, I would highly recommend Atelier and I know a great travel agent you can help you.

Napa the Wine Way

In May my friends and I took a trip to Napa Valley for a friend’s birthday. This was my second time in Napa and I thought I learned how to properly navigate Napa the first time…4 years ago myself and 3 friends went to Napa to cheer on one of our friends who ran a half marathon from Napa to Sonoma. The 3 of us were at the finish line wearing matching tanks and glasses of wine to usher her across the finish line.

Napa in 2017. You can tell who was the runner and those of us who were just for the wine!

That trip we got a rental car and drove in from San Francisco and stayed at the amazing Meritage Resort and Spa in Napa. We had a great time but realized driving ourselves from winery to winery wasn’t the best move. We vowed then we would get a driver the next time around.

In booking this birthday trip for my bestie I booked a house for the 9 of us. It was a bit troublesome to find a suitable house that would comfortably fit all of us, but we lucked up with a great house in Santa Rosa. It was a 5-bedroom, 3-bathroom house with lots of outdoor space and a hot tub.

We booked private round-trip airport transportation to and from San Francisco. We also booked transportation for one of our winery days. In hindsight we should have booked transportation for both days. However, we honestly assumed we could Uber/Lyft from place to place. However, we learned quickly that the pandemic has greatly decreased Uber/Lyft drivers across the country. Due to the size of our group we had to split up and often one of the groups would wait 30 to 45 minutes for a car. That day was BRUTAL. The wine helped!

The major difference in Napa Valley pre and during pandemic is the need for reservations. It was difficult to get reservations at wineries and restaurants. The wineries kept you on a tight schedule, so it wasn’t a relaxing wine tasting experience as I had had before in Napa, but I am a true wine lover, so I enjoyed the experience regardless.

The wineries that stood out the most was Raymond Vineyards. This winery has been featured on Real Housewives of Atlanta and Orange County. Due to COVID we had to sit outside, which is a bummer, because the inside is so gorgeous and sexy. However, they have a little farm on their property with goats and…. It’s pretty cool, and I am not an animal girl. The other property I love is Castillo di Amorosa, it’s a beautiful castle, turned winery and it’s just beautiful inside and out. Taking a walk around the massive property is so picturesque.

The next time I do Napa, I will have transportation to the wineries on each day and would highly recommend to visit Napa when COVID restrictions are lifted so you have more time to sit and enjoy the wine at the amazing vineyards and get the true Napa experience.

The best part of the trip wasn’t the amazing wine or the bomb steak we had at Cole’s Chophouse in downtown Napa it was the time with my friends drinking champagne in the hot tub at our AirBnB. Obviously, I love to travel, but literally you can put me anywhere with amazing dope people and the laughs and memories we have will be the most lasting memory.

Jerk chicken…Rum punch Yeah Mon!

Jamaica will always have a special place in my heart! It was the first trip I ever booked for Divas Travels. I started Divas Travels in November of 2016. A couple of weeks later was my college homecoming, THE Xavier University of Louisiana (shout out to College of Pharmacy Class of 2007). I asked a few of my travel friends, “hey let’s do a trip to Jamaica next month”. I had no clue what I was doing, but a month later we were in Jamaica. It felt good to get my first booking under my belt, even if it was for my friends and me. I have been to Jamaica a few times since, and it is always nostalgic.

Before I was a travel agent, I started doing an annual Cinco de Mayo trip. Last year Jamaica was the location, but you know COVID happened 🙄. This year we resumed our Jamaica plans. Our schedules did not permit for us to be there on Cinco de Mayo, but we went as close to the day as we could.

I got a Secret…Breathless did not leave me breath-less

We stayed at Breathless Montego Bay. I love the Breathless properties and my goal is to try them all out. I have been to the property in Cancun a couple of times, and to the one in Cabo. The Jamaica property is currently the newest one, so I was too excited to see how it compared. Well Breathless did not meet my expectation or excitement. The property is small and does not have many restaurants. Now all the food was amazing at Breathless. Jamaicans can cook!! The Dj at the pool was on point, playing a good mix of reggae, R&B, and rap. Each night they had a silent party, which only consisted of one channel (very odd) which was reggae, R&B and rap. The great thing about Breathless is, it is next door to Secrets Wild Orchid and Secrets St James and you have full access to each resort. The Secrets side is amazing. It’s beautiful, very resorty, with plus green grass, lots of palm trees, and is much larger than Breathless with multiple pools and restaurants. If I could do this trip over, I would have stayed on the Secrets side, and went to the Breathless side late in the afternoon for the Dj turn up.

The Secret I never knew I wanted

The beach is located on the Secrets side of the resorts, so Secrets had beach parties at night, a Jerk chicken cart, which is basically a man with a grill and jerk chicken hot off the grill (yummy). They also had a food stand with authentic Jamaican patties. My absolute favorite restaurant was Blue Mountain, which consisted of Jamaican cuisine, oxtails, ackee, lamb curry, and more. We ate there twice because the oxtails were BOMB.. We honestly did not eat anything we truly did not like. I was leery of the Secrets side, as a travel agent I know the reputation of Secrets is stellar. It is comparable to Breathless in amenities and luxury, but Secrets is geared to couples and Breathless is the turn up resort. I stayed in my first Secrets property last October and I was not impressed. After experiencing the Secrets in Jamaica, I would for sure give them another try.

Curfews and COVID

Jamaica is under a strict curfew so movement outside of the resort is limited. I am not the excursion girl. I have done most of it before, zip-ling, ATVS, horseback riding….I am also VERY accident prone, so I don’t want to ruin everyone else’s trip because I broke a bone on an excursion. I said all of this to say, I don’t usually leave the resort unless it’s for “off campus” food (that’s what me and friends call it when we go off the resort to eat). I am usually game for one good meal off the resort, other than that you can catch me at the swim-up pool bar! Most of group did a bamboo float ride down a river, they really enjoyed it. We all left off campus to go to my favorite Jamaican food spot Scotchies. Unfortunately, due to the curfews in place in Jamaica, due to COVID surges, they were closed the day we tried to go. Our cab drive shout out @Khevlarmusic, took us to get takeout from about spot, Peppers. It was bomb too. Jamaica is currently on a curfew of 8 pm on weekdays, 6pm on Saturday and 2pm on Sunday. Restaurants stop letting people in about 2 hours before curfew and all excursions run early to avoid the curfew. The resorts do not have to abide by the curfew, but most resorts since Covid do not operate 24 hours, Breathless and Secrets shut down at 1am.

Jamaica requires a negative COVID test to enter, you must test within 72 hours of travel. The United States requires a negative COVID test within 3 days of travel back home. Breathless/Secrets offer complimentary COVID testing and complimentary quarantine if you test positive 🥴. The COVID testing process was a breeze in Jamaica. They emailed results the same day and have a workstation to print results, if you needed it. I flew American again, so I used the Verify app and uploaded my results and did not need a printed copy. My one word of caution, make sure you get to the airport on time on the US side. Due to the need of a COVID test to enter Jamaica, you cannot check in your flight online, you must see an agent. The lines were long. I was lucky because I was in first class and the priority line was super short.

Overall Jamaica was great, with bomb food and amazing friends. Next up was Napa Valley…blog post coming soon!

Car’s Creaux and Covid Test

For those that really know me (btw I hate when people say that), I am an avid traveler, minus a pandemic. I usually hop on a plane at least once a month. COVID changed my norm real real quick, I traveled a total of 5 times in 2020, once pre-pandemic to Charlotte for a bachelorette party, Atlanta in July and then Mexico twice and Las Vegas in November. I went to Puerto Vallarta for a week (see previous blog post), and then a couples’ trip to Cancun 3 weeks later. Needless to say I was sitting on ready for a trip.

National Holiday

I consider my birthday, February 23^rd, a national holiday. Ask anyone of my friends, each year I send out a multi-day itinerary of events for my birthday, but as much as I travel I like to be at home on my birthday, surrounded by my friends and family. However, with a nagging need to travel, I decided I am going out of the country for my birthday. This decision came on a Tuesday exactly 6 weeks before my birthday, so I knew if I wanted some people to come with bae and I, I needed something that wasn’t going to break the bank, because final payment was due NOW! I settled on ole faithful Cancun. Now bae and I love Breathless resort outside of Cancun and could go over and over and over again, but we had been there with friends, and we weren’t sure if they would want to go back so, I put my travel agent hat on to look for a good alternative.

In October for our couples’ trip to Cancun we stayed at Secrets The Vine in Cancun, I was not impressed, not sure if it was due to the COVID restrictions, but bae and I longed for Breathless the entire time. I did not want that experience again, so I looked high and low for a place that would suit our taste. I landed on Planet Hollywood Cancun Adult Scene. The resort had not opened yet, it opened January 29^th. As a travel agent I was a little nervous, resorts have growing pains in the beginning and are notorious for delaying their opening date. Planet Hollywood had delayed their opening date a few times already due to COVID, so I was more confident that it would open on time…this time. I was willing to endure the growing pains, plus the price was RIGHT! So 6 weeks to the day before my birthday I sent a text to some friends who I knew could be flexible in a short notice and were willing to travel in COVID. That same night I had a total of 3 rooms booked, and I was content with that, by Sunday the entire group of 10 was booked. My friends are the real MVPS! Like when I think about it I get emotional that they wanted to drop some coins to travel with me for my birthday in such a short amount of time.

DOOMS DAY

Then literally the next Tuesday after I text my friends, my phone was blowing up at work with notifications, but I was super busy so did not get a chance to take a look. I got home and realized that the CDC had made new requirements that required a negative COVID test to come back to the United States. The reason I had been to Mexico twice, back to back, and was willing to go back, was there were no COVID travel restrictions. Mexico does not require you to COVID test before travel or to to leave Mexico, and the US had no requirements to get back. I felt safer in Mexico than some places I had been at home with the COVID protocols. Then this testing bombshell!

As many may or may not know by day I am a pharmacist at an outpatient pharmacy located in a hospital. My hospital was one of the hardest hit hospitals with COVID patients in St. Louis County, at one point we had 100% COVID admissions in our hospital. Taking all of that into account, I have NEVER had a COVID scare, so if I had to test to come back home, that would be my very first COVID test and I was terrified. However, as a healthcare worker by the end of January I was fully vaccinated and I just knew that would carry weight. The CDC encouraged us to get vaccinated, but basically said we don’t care, you will still need a negative test, even if you are vaccinated. Therefore, I told my creaux let’s all get tested before to know we are safe going to Mexico, and pray we stay that way. I also got an antibody test 2 weeks before we left, which was 2 weeks after my last COVID vaccine just to make sure I had built immunity. Armed with positive antibodies, 2 COVID vaccines, a negative COVID test and a lot of prayer I set off for my birthday trip. Now you know it couldn’t be that easy, we had a false positive in the group, who then tested negative twice the same day, THE DRAMA!

Off to Paradise

I opted for 1^st class again this trip and this time it was not for COVID, I was being bougie! Bae and I had plenty of trip credits from trips we did not take in 2020 and I was like its my birthday I want the BEST! I canceled our Southwest tickets and booked first class on American Airlines!!! Bae got us N-95 masks to ensure we were safe. I sipped mimosas on the way to Mexico, bae had blood marys. We landed in Mexico with no issues and a little tipsy. There was no line for customs and we whisked right through. I ordered my customary margarita at the bar outside of the airport and then off to our accommodations at Planet Hollywood Adult Scene.

The resort took COVID serious, they took temperatures as we got out of our transportation, they took temperatures before entering every restaurant. This was a stark difference than Secrets The Vine. Secrets took our temperature upon entering the resort, but made it clear we can mix mingle with no mask around the resort, which made me very uncomfortable. Planet Hollywood preferred you to have your masks when entering restaurants and in the closed buildings. All workers had on masks, but most of them lifted up their masks to talk to you, which defeats the purpose entirely.

Answering the Call

Many Mexican resorts answered the call about COVID testing for those traveling back to the US quickly and setup protocols to offer complimentary testing. Planet Hollywood put out their policy within 2 days of the CDC requirements and offered complimentary testing and complimentary insurance. The insurance was a bit confusing to understand, but what we think it did, was reimburse you if you were positive and had to stay in Mexico. Planet Hollywood would offer you a discounted stay and the insurance would reimburse you for the costs of the stay. The insurance also offered medical assistance, if needed.

It was recommended to schedule the COVID test the day you arrive, but we were ready to drink so yeah that got pushed to the next day. Two people out of our group scheduled the day we arrived and were scheduled to test on that Friday. The rest of us losers went to schedule the next day and they scheduled us all on Saturday. My test was super easy, I saw the swab, but did not feel a thing. We were told test results would be emailed by 5pm and we could pick up physical results after 5pm. 5pm came and went with no results, at this point I am thinking if someone was positive they would have came to find us by now, or be waiting at our rooms. I went and got our results about 8pm and they were emailed about 8:30pm. ALL NEGATIVE! THANK GOD!!!

What I love about American Airlines is they already have an app called VeriFly that you upload your test results and 5 minutes later they tell you if the results are approved. Once we got to the airport and checked in, the agent looked at the Verifly results and we were good to go without showing our physical results. Our group were on various airlines, Southwest, Spirit, and Delta, they required the printed results, but their process was easy as well, they looked at the results, imputed something in the computer and you are good to go.

Flying in Style

Now on our flight back we had the Boeing 787-9 aircraft which their first class has these cool pods, like the ones were the seat lays completely flat. I was sad because I woke up with my stomach doing dances, so alcohol was out of the question for me. I got a ginger ale and a cheese plate, laid my seat almost flat and counted sheep.

Overall, the trip was a success. I had one of the most memorable birthdays with some amazing people. Planet Hollywood had some issues being a new resort, but they did not skimp on COVID protocols and we felt safe most of the time. I will warn you not to wear a swimsuit that says “Birthday Slay”, it gets you the obvious birthday attention, but it also gets you random hugs from strangers, which was really not ok pre-COVID, but for sure not ok in COVID and before your negative test to get back home. This trip put my anxiety at rest and now I am ready to travel. Jamaica up next!

Roses no Thorns

My friends and I decided to take a leap of faith and booked a trip during this pandemic. We wanted to go overseas, but the options were slim, so we spent a luxury vacation in AMAZING Puerto Vallarta (PV), Mexico. I love all things Bravo TV, and anyone who watches Real Housewives of Orange County knows that the OG of OC, Vickie Gunvalson, loves Puerto Vallarta. I was listening to her podcast earlier this summer and learned she had recently bought a condo there. This is what made me chose PV. We had all been to Cabo and Cancun a million times so, if we had to go to Mexico, lets at least choose a place we had not been to. We took our same overseas budget and Divas Travels, LLC booked a luxury private Oceanside villa for 7 nights.

Admittedly, I was nervous before our trip, I was nervous about COVID and the weather. We were going during the rainy season, but the weather did not affect us, while it did rain a few nights, the rain never put a damper on our fun.

Bougie or Safe?!

This was my first time in an airport since the beginning of March, so I was not sure what to expect. The airport was quiet in St. Louis (STL). My flight was on American Airlines and left at 7:30am, so I was not expecting too much at 6:30am, but it was much calmer than a non-pandemic Saturday. I opted for first class, not to suit my bougie taste, but I felt I would be more comfortable around less people and with more room. I had a million airline credits from cancelled flights, so this was at no cost to me; if I had paid outright for my ticket, it would have been around $700 round trip. I did have someone sitting next to me on my flight from STL to Dallas (DFW). He never said one word to me, but every time the flight attendant came around he ensured I had a fresh mimosa, now that’s my kind of plane neighbor. The only difference in first class, was there were no pre-departure drinks, all passengers were given a little baggie with a hand sanitizer wipe, a bottle of water and a Biscoff cookie (literally a cookie from God). Once at cruising altitude, we were able to order as normal in first Class and were given plastic cups instead of glass, which I personally preferred. I had a short layover in Dallas and met up with one of my travel buddies there. We sat next to each other on the connecting flight. The only difference on the flight from Dallas to Puerto Vallarta (PV), is a snack option was given to those in first class, chicken salad sandwich or fruit and cheese tray, of course I chose fruit and cheese tray to go with the red wine as my drink option for this flight.

But First Margaritas

The airport in PV was a breeze, by far the shortest and easiest customs experience I have ever had on any international trip. We literally got through customs in maybe 3 minutes. We had to fill out a form online about our health related to COVID, but no one ever collected or asked for them. I arranged airport transportation, so when we got outside there was a gentleman holding a sign with my name on it. We grabbed a margarita from the bar outside the airport, while we waited for some of our group, coming from Chicago.

Welcome to Paradise

We arrived at our Oceanside villa and it was AMAZING from the beginning. The staff were lined up waiting for us with a fresh cold towel and a refreshing bottle of water. The staff included Javier, the house manager and our EVERYTHING (bartender, exercise equipment retriever, sun-blocker, mood setter, etc.), Cesar, the chef, Luisa, the housekeeper, and Manuel the maintenance/pool guy and Sammy, the night time bartender/watchmen. They all wore masks to greet us, except for Luisa, I think she wanted to show off her bright red lipstick, but they all took them off once we got inside. They did not wear masks during our stay as they are tested prior to each set of guests arriving, so we felt comfortable being mask free while in the villa.

During the day Javier took care of all our needs, he served us our food and drinks and anything else we needed. Luisa cleaned our rooms daily and washed or ironed, if needed. Then Sammy came after dinner and was the night watchmen that took care of our drinks and needs overnight. Javier called and verified all of my reservations I made beforehand and like I said before he was literally our any and everything we needed and even thought we wanted. We literally can’t say anything negative about the staff at our villa. They were perfection and made our stay perfect.

We toured the villa in awe as we picked our rooms. The villa has 5 suites with en-suite bathrooms spread out on 3 floors. There is also a penthouse floor, which is not rented to guests. I believe the penthouse is only accessible via the elevator which requires a key to access that floor. Whoever was in the penthouse we never saw them. I chose the master bedroom, but of course. My massive room had a balcony that overlooked the ocean, a massive bathroom and a huge walk in closet. The villa had 3 rooms with king size beds on one side of the villa and 2 rooms with 2 queen side beds on the opposite side. Two bedrooms on each level and one bedroom on the lower level.

After we settled in our rooms we jumped in the pool. Javier started us off with fresh squeezed lime margaritas. Then Cesar provided us with a snack of guacamole, fresh pico de gallo and chips. Shortly after our last guest arrived from Michigan. We had dinner which was Tortilla soup, followed by shrimp tacos, and then dessert. Then we jumped right back in the pool.

Pool…Pool…more Pool

The following morning we started what would be our daily routine: breakfast at 11am, pool time, snack or lunch at 2/2:30pm, more pool time, then dinner at 6:30/7pm, then, you guessed it…more pool time, then perhaps a little hot tub time, then back in the pool to cool off until we called it a night.

Around Town

We did leave the villa on Sunday and Wednesday for dinner outside of the Villa for the 3 birthdays we were celebrating. We also had a cooking class one night outside of the villa and a fabulous private boat ride.

We ate at a restaurant called La Madelena for the two celebrating birthdays on Sunday night. The ambiance was cute, sexy and fun. Right away they seat you and a mixologist comes with a cart for specialty cocktails, 4 of us took the bait. They were all tasteless. We then switched to straight drinks or wine. The presentations at this restaurant was amazing. They come and let you pick your cut of meat or seafood and do all these table side presentations. The food was really good for the most part, but don’t order the seabass, they fry it (and it tastes like a fish stick). We then ordered churros for dessert and champagne; the churros were horrible. Overall a fun experience and would go again, but stay away from the churros and the mixologist. I will say this, at La Madelena was probably the only time we felt “non-COVID safe” in PV. The wait staff had on these clear mouth shields that were basically useless, and they always had several waiters come to the table at once for their tableside presentations.

We also ate at Sonora Grill Prime, which is a swanky steakhouse on the Marina. It had a very sexy date night vibe. They too have a mixologist, we didn’t bother. However, they offer 2 for 1 cocktails, and buy one get 50% off of bottles of wine. We indulged in cocktails and bottles of red wine. The steaks were better at La Madelena, but drinks were better at Sonora, and the wait staff had on regular masks.

We also took a cooking class with guy named, Mannie. The class was at his house…. well I wouldn’t call it a house, it was more like a 2 room living space. It was small, but well organized. We still are debating if he actually had a bathroom…the jury is still out. The cooking class was more of a demonstration than a cooking class, as we sat most of the time and watched him, but he was very informative, and taught us a lot, like, the proper way to cut a serrano pepper. He made fresh fish ceviche with mahi mahi, which I will be trying very soon, and enchiladas, authentic, not the American ones. The enchiladas were a bit too authentic for me (my idea of Mexican food is nachos and a margarita).

We also took a cruise on a beautiful private boat. They sailed us around PV and explained the different areas, we got a beautiful Oceanside picture of our villa. The boat crew prepared a nice lunch with a cheese and meat tray to start, then fresh fish and shrimp ceviche, guacamole and pico de gallo. The boat had a bar with rum, vodka, and tequila, I opted for Coronas with fresh limes.

Can Cesar be named a Saint?!

Our best meals were from our chef, Cesar. Cesar was quiet, he didn’t say much to us, but cooked his butt off. Breakfast started off with fresh fruit (kiwi, dragon fruit, strawberries, peaches, and watermelon) each morning, then a bread course, such as fluffy pancakes, French toast with fresh made bread, biscuits, or toast, then usually followed by, scrambled eggs with cheese and bacon (lots of bacon). We also had eggs benedict, chilaquiles, and a shrimp omelet. For lunch and snack we had beef and chicken empandas, massive steak tacos, steak and cheese quesadillas. Dinner was always amazing, we had a taco bar with shrimp, fish and steak, poblano fish with fresh vegetables. Our last night, the dinner was magical with bacon wrapped steak and freshly caught lobster by Sammy. We ate good, like too good. I mean who eats 3 meals a day!!

Is it a Vacay without Alcohol?

We drank until are hearts’ content. We pre-ordered a good portion of our alcohol, the first night’s dinner, and our first breakfast. We had margaritas for days with premium tequila, Tito’s Vodka, Bulliet for the whiskey drinkers, champagne for mimosas, Baileys for coffee every morning, Vevue Cliquout for the 2 birthday days and a couple bottles of Moet for the hell of it, and lots and lots of red wine for dinner and my drink of choice.

Surf and Turf with freshly caught lobster

The final dinner we always go around and say our Rose and Thorn of the trip, literally no one had a thorn but me (My phone drowned in the pool on day 2).

Villa Bahia Puerto Vallarta left an impression on all of us. I would go back in a heartbeat. It’s bookable on Airbnb, but of course, Divas Travels, scored if for a couple thousand less than what was advertised. This literally was the perfect vacation to run away during a pandemic.