By Kara Mae Adamo
It’s been a hot minute since I’ve traveled internationally. My passport, issued when I was a teenager, expired years ago and then Covid struck, and…well…I got lazy about it.
A huge part of why I wanted to work remotely was to satiate my wanderlust: that part of me that wants to walk barefoot along every coast and eat food from street vendors from every culture.
So, once I received my new passport and passport card in the mail, I started eagerly searching for an opportunity to break the thing in.
I happen to have a wide variety of exceptionally interesting, adventurous friends. Among them is a woman named Carrie Clark…and Carrie designs vacations for a living. She actually works for Jet Blue and the perks are off the charts. They send her all over the world so she can absorb various properties and resorts and market them to her clients. She’s solid at what she does and, because of this unique career path, she often has room for a travel buddy.
So, when Carrie asked if anyone wanted to spontaneously jet off to Cancún, Mexico for a long weekend, I jumped at the opportunity. Within days our flights were booked and our stay at the TRS Coral Hotel along Costa Mujeres was locked in.
It’s a 2 hour flight from Orlando to Cancún. I don’t know why I’d always imagined it would take longer.
TRS Coral is part of the Palladium hotel group. It’s an adults-only resort at the far end of a winding road in a relatively isolated portion of the coast and it’s absolutely beautiful.
Porters took our luggage and replaced it with freshly squeezed mango margaritas as they checked us in.
From there, we were free to roam the grounds of the all-inclusive resort, where we spotted countless iguanas that roam around here like reptilian squirrels…just as unafraid of people and just as common. I’ve been naming them.
Slate paths lead down toward an almost zero-entry pool area complete with floating cabanas and a swim-up bar. A number of the surrounding rooms on the ground floor are equipped with private swim-up terraces and hanging egg chairs.
We were free to indulge in margaritas, sushi, tacos, burritos, etc. while we watched a group of people participate in aquatic pole dancing lessons…which I never realized was a thing until now.
Carrie and I relaxed by the pool for a while before checking into our rooms around 3pm. I booked a 5-course dinner show for tonight and we’re going to check out the “Gravity Bar,” which is the rooftop bar on property.
Next, we were driven to our suite on the other side of the property. Walking in, we were introduced to our two butlers (I’m not kidding…we get butlers) and given a tour of the place, which comes with a large jet tub, a complimentary bottle of tequila, and a gorgeous view of the Gulf of Mexico off of our rather large terrace.
Right now, I can hear thunder rumbling in off the coast and it’s a bit surreal, as I grew up along the Gulf of Mexico, but on the Floridian side. It’s the same sort of storm over the same water, only it’s 810 nautical miles away from home. I actually wear a small stone on my right hand that is the exact color of a rainstorm over the Gulf. I’ve always thought of it as wearing a small drop of water from home…a tiny hint of the storms I loved watching roll in.
So, in a way, there is something familiar about this place.
Our short trip is packed with a number of cultural culinary experiences and hopefully an excursion or two, so I’m sure I’ll write more later. For now I’m waiting out the rain watching the 1995 film Jumanji and getting ready for dinner.
Until then, cheers.
Kara Adamo is a globe-trotting ex-bartender, booze nerd, and booze writer. She is the author of Fancy Grape Juice: De-Snootifying the World’s Snootiest Beverage; Artimals: Coloring the Whimsical Wild; and Brews & Hues: A Coloring Book About Beer. Adamo is also a UX writer and UX designer. She is currently working on the 2nd edition of Fancy Grape Juice.
Karita's Travels 