Cabo San Lucas - 2/19/2022

The first day is always filled with a bit of chaos as it's our travel day.  We left Spokane at 5am and arrived in Cabo around 3pm.  The past couple of years have been pretty easy because of reduced travel caused by COVID and travel restrictions.  This year was the busiest I have seen it.  The customs lines were long, but they move quickly.  I am amazed at the number of people that try to get ahead of everyone else in line...like they're the most important person in the world.  It requires a lot of patience, which I am short on (ask Debbie).

We typically stay at Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach (PBSB) and do the all-inclusive (food and drinks paid for up front), which makes things super easy as it also includes shuttle transportation to and from the hotel.  This year, Debbie found an awesome condo for rent on the Sunset Beach property as a change of pace.  It's in a section of the resort called Mavilla and is a three-bedroom condo (there are only two of us this time) and is privately owned.  It's in a gated community and there is access to everything that PBSB has to offer but does require a car as it sits pretty far away from everything.  The units are new and are going through some growing pains but are very nice and have their own private pool area.  It does make finding pool chairs way easier than other pools at PBSB, which can be a real challenge when the resort is busy and adds stress to your vacation.

Probably the first thing we realized when we booked the condo was that we would need a rental car and would need to stop at Costco and Walmart for food and supplies.  Since we've never done that before, we are experiencing what Brene Brown calls FFT (F***ing First Time).  We're in new space with things we haven't done before...renting a car, shopping, getting access to the condo, and driving in Mexico.  All of these things present new challenges and we have to keep remembering not to let the "newness" of experiences get in the way of our opinion about travelling a different way.  Honestly, for someone with little patience, that was a hard one for me.

One of the things that we always seem to forget is to have snacks with us on the plane.  There's not much food service on the flight, and when you land in Cabo, it can take an hour or two to get through customs, get your baggage, etc.  There are plenty of bars right outside the airport, but no food that we could find.  And, all food options are at least a 30-45 minute drive or shuttle ride.  By the time you hit the ground, you're tired, you're hungry, and done waiting in lines.  Additionally, right after you get through customs, you are bombarded with timeshare folks, who are quite assertive (see tip below)

For this trip, instead of getting through customs and finding the shuttle, we had to get in line to get a shuttle to the rental cars.  Then once we got to the rental car counter, we had to wait in line to fill out the paperwork.  Before we left the rental car lot, we had a timeshare salesman wanting to give us a presentation for a discount on our rental car (ugh).  After that, we had to stop at Costco to get supplies for food and drink.  Costco was jam packed with travelers all doing what we were doing, and even getting a slice of pizza from Costco for dinner was a 30 minute wait.  We left Spokane at 5am, landed at 2:30pm, and then got to our condo around 7:30pm.  With the all-inclusive we usually do, we're on the resort by 5pm, but we still have to wait in line to get our room, etc.

Lines and crowds stress me out, so I was pretty stressed and not eating for a long time made that even harder.  We didn't know what to plan for this time, but now we know.  Did I mention that I hate travel days?  It's worth it in the end but makes for a long day.

We finally got to our condo but didn't have the combination to get in the door as there is no formal checkin process.  By then, I was beyond stressed, but Debbie figured out how to contact the owner and we got in.  Did I mention that I hate travel days...  😀😀😀

Once we got into our condo, we discovered it was quite nice.  Pictures below

Travel Tips:

1.  Have a supply of snacks with you.  Lines can be long and you can get pretty stressed from being "hangry" (hunger angry).  As long as we've been travelling to Cabo (several years now), we always forget that piece.  Mental note for next time.

2.  When you are bombarded with Timeshare sales folks (they even are at the rental car places when you pick up your car), walk right through.  Do not engage with them or make eye contact.  Just say no and keep walking.  They will tell you they can get you to your resort...and they can...after you sit through their high-pressure timeshare presentation.

3.  Get an alcoholic beverage outside the airport (like 20 feet outside the door).  I couldn't this time because I was driving and I could have really used on.