It’s funny - family and friends back in Canada all think I go on vacation for six months each year. Yes, I winter in a beautiful place that people pay to visit on their vacations. That doesn’t mean I am on vacation. I work as much as I do when I am in Canada, the only difference is that my seasons are Summer - Spring - Summer - Fall. Or autumn for you fancy people.

So when digital nomads, digital vikings, or digital monarch butterflies, (see THIS POST) go on vacation, how does it work? I posted before on planning for vacation (HERE) but what is it really like? Does it feel strange to be on a tropical vacation 10 miles from my winter home? A little, honestly.

You see, on some level it is easy to think “I could just stay at home, order Uber Eats or go to restaurants every day, pay the cleaning lady for an extra visit, and do this for a fraction of the price”. After all, heading to a resort that is just around the corner is basically moving from my spacious apartment into a hotel room, eating at restaurants and laying by a pool, things which can be accomplished, with a better bed and unlimited restaurants, without going to an all inclusive. But the funny thing is - I never manage to vacation at home. Somehow I always end up working - either on my main business, side business, or working around the apartment. Going to a resort triggers the “I’m on vacation” part of my brain.

To get past the irritating “I could basically be doing this at home” voice, I did a few things. First, we picked a nice resort. The temptation is to go super cheap, but that is usually a mistake. So we went to the Riu Palace - Costa Mujeres. It is just north of Cancun, so a short ride up, but it is beautiful. I stayed at its sister resort - the Riu Dunamar - a couple years ago, and it was great, so I figured the more upscale “Palace” level resort would be even better.

Then - on check in we asked about upgrades. For a fee, there was an upgrade to a room with a private pool right in front. It cost a little more, but for me, it was worth every penny. This changed things. If I didn’t want to deal with crowds but wanted to be in a pool - one was right there. When returning from the steam room at the Spa (included, and definitely worth it) I would relax and enjoy a float. When coming back from swimming in the waves - into my private pool. When our friends who were also at the resort wanted a quiet afternoon with us - right there. For those who hate the “towel game”, the early morning rush to save poolside loungers before they are all gone - this changes everything. You win the game, every day, without even playing.

As I recommended in the previous post about heading to a resort, I went early. We got picked up at 10am, and were in the lobby at 10:30am. With the upgrade our room was ready, so we were actually in the room by 11 am. Dropped off the luggage, took some photos, and headed to the buffet for lunch.

These big resorts offer so many things to do that it can be easy to spend all your time running around, trying to extract every last drop of value. If that’s who you are, good for you, but may I advise a different approach? When you find something you really like - make sure you enjoy that as much as you can. For example, at the spa you can reserve time in the steam room/hot pool/cold pool area. Now, I love steam rooms and saunas, so we made a reservation here as soon as possible. It was great. Maybe going in a very hot steamy room while in Mexico isn’t for everyone, it definitely was for me. So, after the first steam I decided I would do this every day.

It was the same with the restaurants. My wife and I both really enjoyed Roma, the Italian restaurant. We liked the appetizer buffet, our main courses were terrific - really good lamb chops - and the ice cream for desert was some of the best we have had in Mexico. The ferrero was amazing! So, on our last night, we went back. We hadn’t been to every restaurant, but we knew we wanted to go back to Roma.

In a similar vein - if the staff is really good, keep going to them. Each morning we ate breakfast at the buffet. Our server was super friendly and attentive. So each day we made sure to eat in his section. This paid off - on our second last morning I left my phone on the table, and didn’t notice until I was halfway back to my room. When I came running back into the restaurant - he spotted me and returned my phone with a smile.

One more thing - it helps if you are not alone. My wife and I are capable of enjoying vacation just the two of us, for sure. But we had friends visiting from Canada. Being at the resort with them made it a little more special. For us this was a great resort with excellent food and amazing service. For them it was all those things, plus warm weather and the Caribbean sea. Spending some (though not all) of our time at the resort with dear friends made it a little more special.

And I can honestly say that I never once felt that I would rather be at home.

**Note - although I do post affiliate links (see below) I am not in any way affiliated with Riu Resorts

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