"Life's a Beach"

One of the things that first attracted me to Rob when I was first dating him was his interest and appreciation of good food, good wine and quality spirits. At the time, I was selling wine for a very nice importer/distributor so we always had plenty of great wine on hand to pair with delicious food with my favorite restaurant accounts! Throughout ...

Our first full day in Mexico City was sunny and warm. Warm enough for shorts and flip flops but, having learned my lesson in Monterrey and Guadalajara, I knew that more formal attire would be expected. So, despite the weather, Rob and I wore long pants and closed shoes. While our scheduled trip to the zoo in Chapultepec Park would be a casual ...

In our eight years in Mexico we have never had the chance nor the inclination to explore Mexico City. In fact, the only time we have ever been there was for an overnight layover on the way to Acapulco for our honeymoon in 2001. I was so intimidated by the "idea" of Mexico City that I booked us into a hotel right at the airport and ...

If you have been hanging around the "Life's a Beach" blog for a while, you already know that we try to take one big road trip every year during the kids' semana santa break. We have explored Belize, Guatemala, Chiapas, Campeche, the Yucatan and pretty much anywhere we could easily reach by car. This year, no one was interested in ...

So, here's something you might not know about us. Every year, we (notice I said we) spend months talking about and planning our big family vacation. It never takes us long to decide on location as we know we will have a great time no matter where we end up. The actual trip planning falls mostly to me. I book the flights, investigate and ...

  Greetings from sunny Playa del Carmen!! Once again, our little blog "Life's a Beach" was nominated for the About.com Readers Choice Award for Favorite Mexico Blog. I just found out that I am now a finalist. Huzzah!! But wait...it get's even better! "Life's a Beach" blog was not the only nod ...

  "Accomplished: A room full of people who are passionate about tourism and social media." So tweeted Arianna Bañuelos from her @AryCancun twitter account at the close of the first ever Social Media Boot Camp for Riviera Maya Tourism. Looking around the room, I see people ...

In The Roo Travel Guide, Buy Playa Real Estate Advisors and Wicky's are joining forces to sponsor a Trip Report Competition each month through the end of 2010. The best trip report submitted each month will win $100 USD in cash, while runners up will win $50 USD in cash or a $25 Gift certificate for Wicky's Restaurant and Beach Club. ...

After the fabulous tequila tasting and dinner at Hacienda Tres Rios, Kay Walten (www.Locogringo.com) and I shuttled the group downtown for a short tour of a few of the Playa del Carmen restaurants and bars participating in the Taste of Playa 2010 culinary event. I have to admit, we put this together on pretty short notice and I credit our ...

The highlight of my evening at Hacienda Tres Rios, aside from meeting all the great travel writers and bloggers, was the informative tequila seminar and tasting presented by Chef Oscar. Because, I have the good fortune to live in Mexico where I have access to a plethora of fine tequilas, you might think that this would be "old hat" for ...