Tag: Travel Reviews

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Destination Mexico Playa del Carmen

Adventuring through Xplor in Playa del Carmen, Mexico

I haven’t been traveling much this year since I’m really buckling down and focusing on my financial goals so I’m living vicariously through myself and going through old photos. I realized I have a ton of trips I haven’t blogged about (I’m still backlogged on Hawaii earlier this year) so I figured, why not post all #laterblogs! I totally forgot I had this post sitting in my drafts so this Travel Thursday, we’re starting with Xplor theme park.

Xplor is an adventure theme park near Playa del Carmen, Mexico – about halfway between Cancun and Tulum. A coworker told me about it because she went ziplining there and loved it and I mentioned it in passing to one of my friends and she really wanted to go. I’ll be honest, I was not all for ziplining – I’m afraid of heights and the complete opposite of an adrenaline junky – but I am the friend who’s down for whatever so ziplining we went.



Admission is broken up between the day park and night park, which they call Xplor Fuego. The day park is open from 9 AM – 5 PM and Xplor Fuego is open from 5:30 PM – 11:30 PM. We opted for Xplor Fuego because we wanted to zipline through a ring of fire.

there are maps of the park all over

We looked on the Xplor website and found admission tickets for $89, but we didn’t have a car and needed transportation there so we talked to the concierge and got a round trip shuttle bus ride plus admission for $129. The shuttle bus picked us up at 3:30 PM, we made a few pit stops to pick up more people, then transferred at a bus station. Once we arrived at the park, we waited in line to get our helmets and a locker key then were let out into the park.

I wasn’t sure that we would need all 6 hours to see everything, but you really do. The major activities were:

  • Ziplining through a nine circuits and ending through a ring of fire and into the water.
  • Driving an Amphibious Vehicle through the jungle and caves.
  • Swimming in a 437 yard Lava River inside ancient caves
  • Paddling through 580 yards of underground river with special hand paddles
paddling through the underground river

I surprisingly really liked ziplining. I hate that feeling in your stomach you get when you drop on a rollercoaster, but it didn’t feel like that at all. It is scary being that high up but it’s so quick and there’s so much of the view that you wanna take in. The swimming was the most draining for me, mostly because I do not swim well so it took forever but it was still pretty cool. There’s also a decent dinner buffet and rest stops with coffee, drinks, and snacks. I wish I had better pictures, but I had to take my old waterproof camera and it was too risky taking it out while we were adventuring. Overall, if you’re into theme parks, I think it’s definitely worth a visit.

tons of cave photo ops walking to your next adventure



Have you ever been here? What's the best theme park you've been to?
Let me know in the comments below!

Categories
Destination Hawaii Kauai Reviews USA

Touring the Na Pali Coast by Sea with Blue Dolphin Charters

All views and opinions expressed here are my own and are in no way affiliated with Blue Dolphin Charters. I was not compensated in any way for this tour.

On our mini family trip to Kaua’i, we decided to do a Na Pali coast boat tour. If you don’t know, Na Pali is the iconic coast line of Kaua’i. It’s inaccessible by vehicle and the only way to see the coast in all its glory is either via boat or helicopter. It’s everything you dream Hawai’i is – the lush green mountains and big blue open sea. Before I get into my experience, as always, a little TLDR; summary for lazy people (like me) who don’t want to read everything!



TLDR;

  • Take a 5.5 hour boat tour around the Na Pali Coast in Kaua’i with Blue Dolphin Charters.
  • Cost is ~$100 – $150. Tours are rain or shine.
  • They feed you. And give you alcohol (if you’re of age, of course).
  • See dolphins! (And maybe whales and flying fish).
  • Be prepared with sunscreen, towels, and dramamine (if you get seasick!).
  • The sea crew was awesome and definitely made the trip entertaining and comfortable.
  • Definitely worth the cost, but wish it wasn’t rainy when we went. I’d love to do it again when it’s sunny.

The last time I went to Kaua’i was over 10 years ago when I was in high school. We went for a community service thing so we didn’t really get to do a lot of fun touristy things so visiting the Na Pali coast has been on my bucket list. When we checked into our hotel, we asked the concierge about different tours and she got us a deal through for around $500 for 6 of us (my parents, Aunt, sister, and brother in law). We booked a morning Deluxe Na Pali Snorkel & Scuba Tour with Blue Dolphin Charters. That was a complete steal because if you look on Blue Dolphin’s website, regular price for adults are $147, youths are $127, and children are $97.

View from the boat, a little ways out from the harbor.

The tour starts out at the Blue Dolphin home base in ‘Ele’ele, near Hanapepe on the southern part of the island. You have to check in, sign some waiver forms and wait for the rest of the tour group to get there. Once everyone checked in, the boat captain gave a little safety speech, and we were guided like school kids to the boat. The sucky thing about our trip was it was cloudy, a little rainy and cold, so we didn’t get the best views of Na Pali which is why I mentioned earlier that I would love to do it again. But the views are still amazing and it’s one of those places that you have to see for yourself.

Some of the coastline



Look how rainy/cloudy it was!

The trip took us around the west coast then back towards the harbor with a stop at a little snorkeling area. I did jump in the water when we stopped to snorkel even though it was cold, because I HAD to (we were in Kaua’i, YOLO!) but I didn’t swim far out enough from the boat to go snorkeling because I don’t swim very well LOL! They fed us a continental breakfast on the way out and lunch was served after we were done snorkeling. Lunch wasn’t anything fancy, just sandwiches and potato salad, but I actually really liked the sandwich spread they hand. They also had alcoholic beverages, but those were only served after you were done snorkeling/swimming.

Did you know part of Jurassic Park was filmed here?



I would recommend bringing sunscreen, a towel, and Dramamine. My Mom and Aunt got sea sick on the boat ride, so if you’re prone to that, definitely take some Dramamine or other preventative medicine beforehand. They did take some before, but because of the weather and how choppy the ocean was, it was pretty rough out there. You’re not allowed to wear shoes on the boat unless they’re boat shoes and if you didn’t have boat shoes, you had to leave them at the dock. Don’t worry, they’ll have a little place for you to put them!

Probably my favorite pic of the day

I think one of Blue Dolphin’s guarantees is that you’ll see dolphins – and we definitely saw some! I didn’t get any good pictures of them, but it’s always fun to see them out in the wild. (Totally normal for a Hawai’i girl like me.) We saw a couple different pods of bottlenose dolphins (groups of dolphins), but I remember seeing this baby dolphin that was a complete ham! He kept jump out of the water and twirling, it was the cutest thing!

one of the crew members messing with me

Overall, even though I didn’t get the amazing pictures that I wanted, the tour was a great experience and I would definitely recommend Blue Dolphin. The crew was super nice, entertaining, and helpful. When my mom got seasick, the crew members constantly came over to make sure she was okay. They were great hosts, super funny (as you can see from my picture above), and even pretty good photographers. I’ll just leave you with some pictures we took on the trip.



Me and my sister
One of the crew members taking candids of us
I seriously don’t know how people take pretty pictures in the wind.
Me in my element – totally awkward.
I love the ocean



bikini by Triangl

Mini photo shoot when we stopped to snorkel lol!
Love you Kaua’i! \m/



Have you done a boat tour? Where did you go?
Let me know in the comments below!
Categories
Boston Destination Hotels Massachusetts USA

YOTEL Boston Review | Boston Seaport


The YOTEL Boston

 

I did my first solo trip and had my first visit to Boston for the first time last September and before going, I really had no idea where to stay. A few friends have told me that I’d be fine almost anywhere since the city is so walkable. Before settling on two hotels, I checked Airbnb but didn’t see anything in my budget that I liked or felt like I would be safe in. My first night there, I used my Chase Sapphire Reserve points to stay at the Club Quarters Hotel in the Financial District but while googling for the cheapest, nicest hotel I liked, I found the YOTEL Boston and loved the pictures! It definitely helped that it just opened this past Summer and if you know me, I love new and shiny things.

 



 
Before I get into the nitty gritty, I know there’s some of you who are too lazy to read so here’s the TL;DR verison:

 

PROS

  • Great location
  • Nice amenities – full sized shampoo & conditioner, heated towel rack, bluetooth connection to TV
  • Rooftop bar with a view
  • Friendly and helpful staff

 

CONS

  • Regular rooms are smaller than average
  • Can be pricey, but average priced for Boston Seaport

 

Located in the Seaport District, YOTEL Boston is a “micro hotel” and the second U.S. location of the London based chain – the first is in New York. The YOTEL logo is kind of cartoon-y to me and there’s definitely a purple color scheme throughout, but I loved the modern / futuristic look. When you first walk in, there’s a concierge desk, but you check-in using the kiosk to the left of the desk. Check-in is similar to check-in kiosks they have at airports – you just pull up the reservation, follow the screens and get your room key programmed.

 


Programming my key.

 

Even the elevators were an experience – I was legitimately amused that the elevators were playing elevator music! The room was relatively easy to find and I was really satisfied with the floor plan I picked. When I said it was a “micro hotel”, I meant the rooms are smaller compared to the average hotel. When I travel, I enjoy being comfortable but I also know I’m probably not going to spend most of my time there. I didn’t completely mind staying in a smaller room, but I was worried about it a little so I ended up booking the Premium Queen Accessible Room. Not gonna lie, it was kind of nice having all that room!

 

I loved the design and amenities in the room – there’s a rain shower, full sized shampoo, conditioner, and body wash in the shower, a heated towel rack, bluetooth connection to the TV, an aux connection, a bottle opener built into the TV frame, plugs everywhere, and even a reclining bed! I think it had a reclining bed because it was the accessible room, but I can’t be completely sure. There isn’t a closet and the door to the bathroom has a clear sliding door – though there is a curtain, it doesn’t feel as private.

 


The backlit TV

 


This bed reclines!

 


Instead of a closet, there’s a little rack area equipped with an iron, ironing board, and a hair dryer.

 


The plugs are over the nightstand next to the bed, but they all connect to the TV.

 

 


The heated towel rack is to the left of me and you can see the full sized hand lotion and soap to the right.

 


The accessible shower.

 


Full sized everything!

 

There’s a bar with a kitchen in the lobby and on the roof. The rooftop bar is super cute because it has a view of the city – although I completely forgot to take a picture of it. 🙁 I did, however, get this picture of the entrance to the rooftop area:

 

 

I did a lot of price comparisons before finally settling on YOTEL. Boston is pretty expensive in general, but for a brand new hotel in that location, it was pretty reasonable. I ended up booking the hotel through Orbitz and the weekend I stayed it averaged out to $187 a night, but I found a coupon that gave me 15% off so my total after taxes and fees came out to $349. Seriously, I google coupons before pulling the trigger on anything online! I don’t think I would’ve booked it if I didn’t have the coupon, but I’m so glad that I did.

 

Overall, I loved staying here and I would definitely stay here again and consider staying at another YOTEL. The amenities are great, it’s clean, walking distance from a lot of things, and all the staff I encountered were super nice and helpful.

 

YOTEL Boston

65 Seaport Blvd
Boston, MA 02210
www.yotel.com/en/hotels/yotel-boston
@yotel_boston