In mexico with my O

As if it wasn't an amazing enough end to 2021 to spend it in New York, but we were on a mission to start 2022 even stronger and so on New Year's Day we jetted onto our next destination; Cancún, Mexico! The whole thing was part of a package holiday on wowcher so it wasn't necessarily a twin centre holiday I'd think to put together myself but it was actually perfect; NYE celebrating in the city and then the first week of January (otherwise known as one of the most depressing of the year) in the sunshine.

After a fairly quick flight spent watching When Harry Met Sally (because what other film is more perfect after spending New Years in New York), we arrived in sunny Mexico and headed to our hotel! Well, our first hotel. As I've mentioned before, me and Ollie always have some bout of bad luck on all our holidays (from mumps to terrible boat rides to lost suitcases) and so I thought the whole missed flight thing might suffice as our bad luck for this holiday. Apparently the universe was working on a country-by-country basis though as when we checked into the hotel, we were put in the most awful room. And it really was a case of bad luck as they had loads of blocks of normal rooms and then 2 old blocks made up of 8 terrible rooms; one of which we were in. Well, for atleast an hour or two. Ollie is not one for roughing it and I could've probably put up with it if we weren't in an epicentre of luxury hotels (I've stayed in less-than-modern hotels before like in Morocco). So after a quick search on booking.com, we were straight back outta there and onto hotel number 2.

The Hotel Emporio was much more our speed and thanks to the same day booking, we managed to get a crazy deal on one of their deluxe king suites. The room was incredible with one of the biggest beds ever and a super luxury bath tub too. The hotel also had about 5 pools, 6 or 7 restaurants and about 11 buildings so it was definitely a better place to stay for a week all inclusive. After a bit of a rollercoaster of a day, we celebrated with some alls-well-that-ends-well cocktails and nachos. Then it really felt like we'd arrived in Mexico!

After a soak in the tub (it was as good as it looks), it was time to get ready for night 1! This lemon print playsuit is an oldie-but-goodie which I may think about retiring after this holiday (it's getting waaay too short). I love this yellow Ted Baker bag that I got for my last birthday, especially for holidays because it adds a pop of colour and packs perfectly flat. It goes with a surprising amount too, although it was hardly surprising that it went with this outfit. I finished the look with black lace up heels, which are the third reincarnation of their kind, their predecessor having died a death in the Maldives.

Sundays are for chilling, wherever you are in the world. Except chilling in Cancun is soooo much better than at home. We started with breakfast with a serious view (I couldn't get over how blue the sea was; it was as blue as in the Maldives) and then sunbathed round the pool with endless margaritas.

Sunday night was one of my favourite parts of the whole holiday! I'd done a fair amount of research before we went away and Xoximilco caught my eye straight away. There were a number of parks in Cancún that were all part of the same group (and all started with X) and this one was a floating fiesta boat party with dinner, all inclusive drinks and floating mariachi bands on a trip through the Mayan jungle. The music was amazing, the hosts were amazing (they got everyone up dancing and joining in) and it was clearly a place for everyone (there were young groups, couples, families, and older people alike). I've not had so much fun (or so much tequila) in a long time!

There was no time for tequila-related headaches the next day though as we were on for another fun-packed day at another of the X parks; Xplor. Because we knew ahead of time that we wanted to go to 2 of them, we were able to get a discount online for booking both together so it's worth planning ahead. We knew we wanted to do something adrenaline based while in Mexico and there were a number of tours offering various things on TripAdvisor. However, they were put together by tour operators, so we figured you'd spend more time on and off a coach rather than actually doing the activities. The parks meant the activities were all in one place so you could do the activities at your own pace and really make the most of your time. We drove ATV's through dirt tracks and caves, we rode rafts through underground canals and we did a zip line course through the jungle and into a lagoon! It was so much fun and such an amazing day. Top tip: if you're going to Xplor from Cancún then get your own taxi there. It was an hour away so you may think it's worth adding the transport on as part of your ticket but taxis are crazy cheap over there so it only cost us about £40 each way, and saved us getting picked up at 7am(!!!!) to do the rounds of hotel pick-ups.

We hadn't quite been organised enough to think to pack another set of clothes and after getting drenched, we knew we wouldn't be able to get in a taxi without something dry. So we made ourselves look like insufferable tourists by getting some t-shirts from the gift shop. Well, insufferable tourists or school children who have had an accident; take your pick. My outfit for the evening was less than glamorous but we were pretty wiped from a full-on day anyway. So we just had a chilled evening and grabbed some food and a few drinks at another of the many hotel restaurants; the sliders were amazing.

From the beginning, we'd had the clever plan that we would alternate between activity days and chill days and it worked out perfectly! It meant we didn't get bored from too many days spent lounging around and didn't get burnt out from too many days spent rushing around. Tuesday was another chill day so we made the most of the poolside all inclusive drinks and had a dip in the giant hot tub that overlooks the sea. In other exciting news, I feel like this holiday I finally cracked the beer drinking and got myself to actually like it! But like my friend Katie said, it's easy to like a cold beer on a sunny day; we'll see if the love continues back in the cold.

Even when we stay all-inclusive, Ollie and I still like to eat out at least once or twice. All those fabulous local restaurants, it'd be a travesty not to visit any of them. So we ventured out to a place called Chambao which was a jungle-themed steakhouse and grill. It was a really cool place and the food was amazing; we got empanadas and lobster tacos, followed by gigantic steaks. However I'd say it was more of a dinner-and-drinks-with-friends kind of place rather than a date night venue. It was super loud and there were random impromptu fashion shows every half an hour or so that meant women were walking around the restaurant in bikinis(?). It didn't exactly lend itself to intimate conversation but overall I'd still recommend it. I'd also recommend the outfit I wore; this cherub print dress remains a favourite of mine and I paired it with cream shoes and bag.

The next day was the one I was most excited about and it had been the very first thing we booked after deciding to go to Mexico; a trip to chichén itza and to see one of the 7 wonders of the modern world (important to differentiate because there are the 7 ancient, the 7 modern and the 7 natural). It was about 3 hours away from Cancún so we were up horrendously early but when we got there, wow it was SO worth it! The whole place was so beautiful and so fascinating too. We were doing an excursion for the day so we had a guided tour of the park and we found out loads of interesting facts about the pyramid, the Mayan culture and even human sacrifices. Most importantly we found out something that I'd known all along; that I'm a goddess (thanks to being born in June).

The next stop on our day of fun was a cenote, which is like an underground lagoon in a sinkhole. We started with a little tequila tasting and a traditional Yucatan lunch (we'd crossed into another state on our travels) before going swimming in the cenote! It was so cool (and according to Ollie, also so cold) and such an amazing activity to do. It was like a full set-up there as well with lots of shops, changing rooms and lockers so you didn't have to stay in wet stuff for the rest of the day which was a problem on our excursion day in Cyprus.

The third and final stop on our excursion day was the colonial town of Valladolid. I'd read in online reviews that this stop was nothing more than a toilet break and so I wasn't expecting much but wow it was really beautiful! It was the cutest little square and we arrived at the most beautiful time of day, just as the sun was starting to go down. Yes, you didn't get a lot of time there but it was time enough to find ourselves a little ice cream cart and treat ourselves. Overall, I couldn't have been more impressed with the day trip. The guide was local so all his knowledge was very authentic and everything was run super efficiently. There was no waiting around whatsoever! Every stop felt like it was in the right order and we had just the right amount of time at all of them. Don't get me wrong it was a super full-on day (we got picked up at 7:20am and got dropped back at our hotel just before 9pm) but it was SO amazing, SO worth doing and such good value as it was only £40 each. An absolute must-do while in Cancún I'd say.

Obviously because we'd got back late and our hotel buffet restaurant closed at 11pm, we didn't have much time to get ready and hotfoot it down there to make sure we got some dinner. So I threw my hair up in a pony and then changed into this black bralet under yellow bodysuit and blue shorts. Bright on bright for this one! I added black bag and shoes and some dangly butterfly earrings.

The next day we were back to a chilled day and that's exactly how the drinks were being served all day. We started with mimosas at breakfast, then had beer on the sun loungers, rum and mixer with shots at the swim-up pool bar and then cocktails and nachos for lunch. And then a little snooze and a wander on the beach to make sure I made it as far as dinner later!

Having recovered from our boozy day, it was time to get ready for dinner! I went with a green ensemble with this milkmaid top and printed skorts. I love this top because it works just as well worn as a cap sleeve as it does worn off the shoulder (it was a toss-up but I went with the latter option on this occasion). And then we headed down to sample another of the hotel's restaurants; the Italian. I have to say they did amazingly with offering my favourites; beef carpaccio to start and cannoli for dessert. The mains were pretty average but even average pizza and pasta is still pretty good.

Me and Ollie do a boat trip on most of our holidays so obviously this one was going to be no different! However, after a few quite full-on days of activities, we didn't want a long one. The one we found was perfect; 2 hours of speed boat driving through the jungle and then snorkelling in perfect turquoise water. It was the ideal snorkelling spot as it was really calm and there weren't many other groups around but there were hundreds of pretty fish and even an underwater museum of sunken statues! Obviously it wouldn't be us without a little drama and we nearly got stranded in the jungle when our speedboat cut out, but luckily the guide came back to rescue us! So we spent the rest of our afternoon chilling by the pool rather than stranded at sea.

As it was our last night, we were heading out for a celebratory dinner at a seafood restaurant called Fred's. This place had a similar vibe to the last place actually and I really liked the decor. It also had a lot of fancy features like they brought over a platter of lemon, lime and cucumber slices to ask what "accent" we'd like in our water and they brought a mixology cart over to make our cocktails tableside! The food was amazing, we had the loveliest time and I loved my outfit too. I often like to wear white on the last night of a holiday to accentuate my tan so I paired this bardot top with printed skirt, cream heels and cream bag.

Our flight home wasn't until the early evening the next day so we had a few hours left to soak in the sun. Well, one of us was soaking in the sun; can you tell from the sunbed placement that one of us is a sun worshipper and the other not-so-much? Then we ended the holiday on a high; with one last cocktail.

And then we were off! First from Cancún to New York (where it was about -4 degrees!) and then from New York to London and then from London to home (that last stretch of the journey was an absolute struggle with how tired we both were). We honestly had the best time and we've both said that this was probably our favourite holiday together so far. It had everything; the city life, the glamour, the magic, the sunshine, the culture, the sightseeing, the adrenaline, the cocktails. It's certainly going to be hard to top but I like a challenge; watch this space!