The Chichen Itza Story: Part 1
On a recent trip to Mexico, my husband and I were looking for some serious rest and relaxation. We didn’t want to do too many activities, and were planning on taking it easy reading our books by the pool. But, we also booked our trip to a resort that included admission to numerous adventure parks and complimentary tours. How can you not take advantage of at least a few of these… right!? Exactly.
So, without knowing much about the tours or parks, I made us reservations for a dinner cruise at Xoximilco (the Mexican Floating Fiesta) and a tour to Chichen Itza. Not only was I excited to see both of these attractions on our trip, but I was especially excited that they were included in our stay! I didn’t give it another thought… until the day of our dinner fiesta.
You’re probably wondering: what was the mistake that almost made us miss seeing Chichen Itza? Well actually, there were two!
Mistake #1: I didn’t do any research in advance. Because of this (and in my excitement to book) I didn’t ask about key details that would allow me to better plan our excursions:
- How far away was Xoximilco from our resort?
- How long is the dinner?
- Are there activities before or after the dinner?
Mistake #2: I booked the activities back to back.
They both sound like innocent mistakes, right? Well, it turned out that Xoximilco was about an hour away from our resort. There were activities before the dinner fiesta began, and an “intermission”. By the time we got finished dinner, got everyone on our bus, and made it back to the hotel it was almost 1:00 AM. Add on the walk to our room, quickly getting ready for bed, and falling asleep it was at least 1:30-1:45 AM.
Pick-up for Chichen Itza was 7:20 AM. For some of you that might not sound too bad. But as someone who doesn’t just like getting eight hours of sleep, but someone who needs it to function like a regular human being (and also not to get migraines, which is a story for another day) this was a big problem.
Alarm rings at 6:15… snooze… snooze… snooze…PANIC!
It almost didn’t happen folks.
We had to get ready, eat, and be on the bus in roughly 30 minutes. I’ll also admit, those 30 minutes… well they weren’t our finest. I’m happy to say that we did in fact make it. We did eat. And we were the second last couple on the bus. It was a long and tiring day, but I am so glad we pulled ourselves together to make it to see one of the New 7 Wonders of the World.
Moral of the story, make sure you do your research in advance and ask questions if you aren’t sure! I could have easily reversed these reservations or left a day in between and it would have made for a much more relaxing experience.
Stay tuned for a full review of our Chichen Itza experience and Xoximilco Dinner Fiesta!
16 comments
Haha, love it. I am the king of not reading or finding out the info I need before taking a tour so dont feel bad! It happens to all of us. I can only imagine rushing around in less than 30 minutes tired and cranky trying to get out the door!
Glad you made it though, cause Chichen Itza is a definite bucket list destination.
Yes, we were glad we made it too! Though, next time we won’t make these mistakes again. 🙂
Great story! Happens to the best of us. I’m glad you did get to see Chichen Itza. I saw it many years ago, but I was on spring break and, well, let’s just say I wasn’t big into travel research back then. I didn’t get much out of it. It would be great to go back as my mature self. 🙂
Ha, I know exactly what you mean. Different travel priorities as students!
Yes I totally get what you tried conveying. Researching well in advance is advisable and blogs like these only help. I would be careful during my Mexico trip. I will keep time in between for sure. Thanks for the blog.
Glad it could be helpful! Never hurts to plan in advance.
I hate when this happens to me. When I think I have time, but I’m glad you make it. And for sure, it’s always better to leave enough time to be sure you can make it – but that’s the life. We learn all the time. I’m glad you had an amazing time on the end and the pictures are really stunning! 🙂
Good thing you still made it in the end!!! I visited a few years back and loved it. Funny enough, I didn’t do any research at all and booked a tour with my hotel like a day before going hahaa. Maybe I got lucky, who knows!
You must have the lucky travel gene!
Thanks for sharing your experience. It is always important to know what can go wrong. Not many bloggers share this kind of information.
Just keeping it real! Not everything goes smoothly 🙂
I can totally understand your experience! The sleep time is so important for me too. The consecutive days were not exactly relaxing. But it was great that you did not miss Chichen Itza. Thanks for sharing your experience.
I think it’s these experiences that are the best as we learn from them for the future! Glad you still got to visit; it’s an incredible site!
That’s why prior research is so important. I’m glad you finally made it to the two places though, all is well that ends well, right? Your pictures show you had fun!
I’m glad there was a happy ending on to this! And yeah, sleep is somehow thrown out the window when travelling. I never get enough sleep while travelling but thank god I don’t have any migraine.
Haha, I have been there! I have missed out on important details so many times that I can’t remember. I guess its just the excitement of doing all these amazing things that you miss out necessary details. Nevertheless glad you made it to the tour.